What are you guys using for large antelope, big bears, and big cats?

Question:
What 286 gr bullet would you select for ~2,400 fps muzzle velocity?

Choices:
Barnes TSX
Hornady Interlock
Northfork SP
Nosler Partition
Swift A-Frame
Woodleigh PP
Whatever Groups Best

 

Any of the choices except the Hornandy will be good choices. I would also include the Privi bullets as a possibility as they hold together quite well at 2400fps velocity.

My pick was the Nosler Partition as it really is a great all around bullet that will work in nearly all situations.

I have a write in vote for the 286 Lapua Mega.

The Nosler also has a pretty high BC.

I have to think the new Swift A-Frames in this weight would probably be darn good as well.

I'm waiting to hear the "real experiences on game" stories.
I shoot a lot of the PRVI and Norma Alaskans in 285 & 286 grain and Speer 270 grain bullets, however my targets have all been paper with a sand backstop. In the sand the PRVI seems to be the toughest and the Normas second Speer third, from what I've seen I'd shoot Elk and Black Bear with any of them.
If Dangerous game (Brown Bear) were on the menu I'd probably try Northforks or Partitions or Swift A frames.
If you dropped the Hornadys from your above list my answer would be whichever bullet groups best.

I've heard that the 270 gr Speers are all soft.

I think the A_Frame is probably the toughest, best expansion; with the Partition a "no brainer" option given it's reputation and high BC.

I'm concerned the TSXs might be too tough. I was punching holes through a black bear at 200 yards last fall in Alaska with a 375 H&H shooting 300 gr TSXs. Bear died, but the wound channels did not show much expansion.

I really like Barnes bullets but not sold on them in slow and big calibers. Just my personnal belief that they really shine when driven fast.

I load NP's for hunting but practice with Hornady Interlocks. They shoot to virtually the same POA in my rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I'm waiting to hear the "real experiences on game" stories.
I shoot a lot of the PRVI and Norma Alaskans in 285 & 286 grain and Speer 270 grain bullets, however my targets have all been paper with a sand backstop. In the sand the PRVI seems to be the toughest and the Normas second Speer third, from what I've seen I'd shoot Elk and Black Bear with any of them.
If Dangerous game (Brown Bear) were on the menu I'd probably try Northforks or Partitions or Swift A frames.
If you dropped the Hornadys from your above list my answer would be whichever bullet groups best.

286g Nosler Partition.


Something like 180 yards, standing broadside looking at me. I blinked at the recoil and when I opened my eyes I saw hooves up in the air.He never tried to get back up and when I got over to him he didn't need a finishing shot.

I really like the TSX's and used them this last fall in my .375, but The Nosler in the 9.3 seemed to work.

I was going to start with the Partition first and see how it groups; if good, then done. #2 would be the Aframe followed by the Woodleigh.

I had outstanding performance from the Barnes in Africa on plains game.

Barnes told me to plan for a minimum impact velocity of 1600fps in 9.3, which gives me plenty of reach.

Great Bull Scott!

quote:

Originally posted by rodell:
I had outstanding performance from the Barnes in Africa on plains game.

Barnes told me to plan for a minimum impact velocity of 1600fps in 9.3, which gives me plenty of reach.

How was the expansion/wound channel?

I use the Nosler 286 Partitions for first trip to RSA, shot Diker to Kudu.
Only recovered bullet was from a zebra. I "did not do my part" and shot as it jumped, went in right ham through everything stopping while breaking 2nd and 3rd (from front) ribs, penetration equal to the length of a zebra. Ran 100 yards. Other game shot went down in a couple seconds.
I tried the TSX but they did not group well in my Husky. Noslers group and work so I am sticking with them for now.

Mark

I have killed a lot of big game with my 9,3x74R using the 286gr Woodleigh RN and the 286 Nosler Partition.
Performance of both has been excellent.

In a 9,3x62 bolt rifle I would try the 286 North Fork Soft, the 286gr Swift, and the 286 Nosler Partition.

I would hunt with the one that shot the best in my rifle at 300 yards...

Lapua Mega, Norma Oryx or Swift A-frame in 286 grain(from softest to hardest).
Lapua Mega is the best standard cup and core bullet for the 9.3x62 in my opinion.
Norma Oryx is great for big cats as it is a rather soft bonded bullet. It opens much and still holds together for good penetration.
Swift A-frame is the best choice if penetration is paramount.

If you want to use a Barnes bullet, then the 250 grain TTSX is a much better choice in a 9.3x62 than the TSX in my opinion.
You get higher speed, flatter trajectory and the TTST opens faster/easier than the TSX, but still holds very well together with great penetration.

For big cats and bears I would use Norma Oryx.
For Eland and Buffalo I would use 250 grain Barnes TTSX.
For anything smaller than Eland, I would use the Lapua Mega.

If I was to choose 1 bullet only that should be used for anything that moves, I would use the 250 grain Barnes TTSX.

Hard to go wrong with any.....
I'd choose Norma Oryx, the poor man's premium.

I have excellent experience with the Nosler AccuBond in other calibers so I wouldn't hesitate to use it in 9,3x62 either.

- Lars/Finland

Obviously, any bullet must group well as a first priority.

Then comes guaranteed penetration.

Finally, a reasonable BC for use out to 300 yards.

While the TSX is a great bullet, the TTSX appears to do it one better as an all-around choice.

I was involved in a bullet test conducted in Australia - I supplied some of my bullets for the 9.3X62.

The usual premium bullets did well of course. The surprise (for those not in the know) was the Lapua mega 286 gr and the Nosler Bal Tip (old) or Accubond (new) 250 gr. If I remember correctly the Priv Partizans were a bit hard but still performed well.

What do you guys think of the RWS and Brenneke bullets?

If I remember correctly the RWS bullets were among the poorest performers for penetration & weight retention. They seem to be ok for European use on red deer & bore.

I have used a lot of different bullets on game in the 9.3x62. Most worked just fine, I don't recall any so called failures..

I think my favorites are the 286 gr. Nosler and Woodleigh PP, the PP penetrates better than the RN because it simply a tougher bullet...For high velocity, the Nosler it one tough cookie and works on about anything.

For long range shooting the GS Customs 232 gr. Monolithic HP bullet at 2700 to 2800 FPS shoots flat as a 30-06 with 180s, and is absolutly devastating on plainsgame and penetration is enough to slip thru a big ole Eland lengthwise..Its a great bullet..I have not used it on buffalo and probably never will, but if I ran across a good bull and thats what I had then I would kill him clean with it and I betcha it would come to rest on the off side hide fully expanded and had just raised hell on the way! and I wouldn't be surprised it it punched a two inch exit hole some of the time.

I shot Sable, Blue Wildebeest, Springbok, Mtn, Zebra @ 212 lasered yards with 286 Barnes TSX in Namibia July 2012 shooting my Husky 9.3x62.. Would have shot my Zim Buffalo if Delta had not left my 9.3 x 62 in Atlanta.
All one shot kills. Might have done as well with Nosler bullets which I love but that is what I used. Sable and Zebra were the long shots. Other two were close.

My 9.3 x 62 likes the 286 grain Barnes TSX and Solids and so do I. These two shoot to same POI with 54 grains of Varget. This combo has taken 2 Cape Buff, Hippo, Croc, Leopard, Sable, Eland, Zebra, Warthog, Baboon, Duiker, Bushbuck. Pretty much the same loads will go to Mozambique with me this year, but in a 9.3 x 74R double gun.

Also trying some CEB's out of both calibers in the 255grain Safari Raptor and 280grain Safari Solid. Varget still the powder of choice and groups are under an inch out of the Blaser R8 9.3 x 62 barrel.

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter
R8 Blaser
RSS

LArry,

What FPS are you getting out of that TSX load? Close to the 2350 from factory Barnes?

I have used the Woodleigh 286 PP in Africa on med and large PG, the RWS 258 H-Mantle on small game and the 286 Woodleigh RNSP and Lapua Mega on Feral camels. The Woodleigh 286 RNSP is easily the most versatile projectile for heavier game and ended up as my 'go to' projjie for soft skinned animals up to 750kg live weight. It was the most accurate and tended to give more 'thump' than the PP.

For the lighter weight game you mentioned, a conventional 286 will work better than a premium if accuracy is the same or better. I would not hesitate to recommend the RWS 258 H-Mantle in factory ammo for game up to 200kg eg large deer. If the sticker price was too much of a shock, the Privi Partisan or Lapua Mega would also work just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by Code4:
I have used the Woodleigh 286 PP in Africa on med and large PG, the RWS 258 H-Mantle on small game and the 286 Woodleigh RNSP and Lapua Mega on Feral camels. The Woodleigh 286 RNSP is easily the most versatile projectile for heavier game and ended up as my 'go to' projjie for soft skinned animals up to 750kg live weight. It was the most accurate and tended to give more 'thump' than the PP.

For the lighter weight game you mentioned, a conventional 286 will work better than a premium if accuracy is the same or better. I would not hesitate to recommend the RWS 258 H-Mantle in factory ammo for game up to 200kg eg large deer. If the sticker price was too much of a shock, the Privi Partisan or Lapua Mega would also work just fine.

Code4 - do you think the Woodleigh RNSP are tough enough for good penetration at 9.3x62 speeds? Or do they mushroom to much? The reason I ask is this is what I load for my 9.3x57 and it would be nice to have a single 9.3 bullet to load with.

Laupa Mega is one of the best standardbullets that is used for moose and boar hunting in sweden.

I would say my favorite bullet for 9,3x62 is Nosler Ab 250gr, groups real well. I have taken alot of boars and mooses with it. Can realy recomend it.

What folks discover with the 9.3x62 is because it's not a high velocity cartridge like many American calibers, that it's very kind to bullets and bullet performance therefore is exemplary with about every bullet out there, regardless of weitht. As a result you will get a lot of different bullet recomendations and all are correct.

The Woodleigh PP was designed to be a tougher, better penetrating bullet than the roundnose, The RN was designed to stop on the off side skin of a buffalo for instance so that you could use it in herd hunting and not likely to overpenetrate and wound or kill another buffalo. It also has a somewhant more devastating wound channel as it expands to a great degree than the RN...

The PP on the other hand is a better penetrator and although the wound channels I have observed are sufficient for sure, they are slightly less destructive I suppose, hard to tell..The PP also shoots flater it is claimed and tend to feed and function better in many rifles.

I like both the PP and the RN is Woodleighs, depending on hunting conditions. Expansion with Woodleighs is velocity managed and that information is available from Woodleigh.

About all I have gleaned from all this is that it's preferable to use RN in the Jesse, and PP's in the more open country..I believe this to be true. I also prefer the PP for going away shots, and for the second shot at going South pre-shot buffalo, Also I think I prefer solids for buffalo, schools still out on that as I tend to jump back and fourth on the subject...

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:


Code4 - do you think the Woodleigh RNSP are tough enough for good penetration at 9.3x62 speeds? Or do they mushroom to much? The reason I ask is this is what I load for my 9.3x57 and it would be nice to have a single 9.3 bullet to load with.

Being a bonded premium it has proven (to me) to be more than tough enough. No it does not expand too much.

Twinn has alluded to the core of 9.3x62 performance and is why I recommended the Privi or Lapua and would not hesitate to use them. The 9.3x62 killed tens of thousands of PG (and no doubt many DG) in German East Africa in the first half of the 20th century during the land clearing for agriculture. It did this with a 'recipe' of moderate velocities and 286 grain conventional cup and core projectiles. You can improve on that original 'recipe' with lighter wonder bullets and newer powders but the recipe still stays the same. Anything else is just skillful marketing to window dress what already works.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
What folks discover with the 9.3x62 is because it's not a high velocity cartridge like many American calibers, that it's very kind to bullets and bullet performance therefore is exemplary with about every bullet out there, regardless of weitht. As a result you will get a lot of different bullet recomendations and all are correct.

The Woodleigh PP was designed to be a tougher, better penetrating bullet than the roundnose, The RN was designed to stop on the off side skin of a buffalo for instance so that you could use it in herd hunting and not likely to overpenetrate and wound or kill another buffalo. It also has a somewhant more devastating wound channel as it expands to a great degree than the RN...

The PP on the other hand is a better penetrator and although the wound channels I have observed are sufficient for sure, they are slightly less destructive I suppose, hard to tell..The PP also shoots flater it is claimed and tend to feed and function better in many rifles.

I like both the PP and the RN is Woodleighs, depending on hunting conditions. Expansion with Woodleighs is velocity managed and that information is available from Woodleigh.

About all I have gleaned from all this is that it's preferable to use RN in the Jesse, and PP's in the more open country..I believe this to be true. I also prefer the PP for going away shots, and for the second shot at going South pre-shot buffalo, Also I think I prefer solids for buffalo, schools still out on that as I tend to jump back and fourth on the subject...

Ray - what would you use on a Kodiak bear? Woodleigh RN or PP? Thinking of leaving my 375 H&H home and taking the 9.3 with me in 2015.

For big bear I would use 286 or 300grn swift A Frames.

Here are some used 9.3x62 Woodelighs and Swifts bullets ;

It is quite obvious that the Swifts are a stronger bullet for heavy game such as Brown Bear and Buffalo and the Woodleigh is about as good as it gets for lighter game such as the likes of Lion , Kudu, Warthog and Hyena.

thanks!

Austin,
Personally I would opt for the 286 gr. Woodleigh PP for Brown Bear, but it would be a toss up with the 286 gr. Nosler Partition and the Swift A-Frame.

Swift bullets tend to expand into "smooth roundish balls" with a hump behind the mushroom, they penetrate and they kill, but sometimes they kill rather slowly and don't always leave a good blood trail..I have used swift A frames a good deal and I have mixed emotions about them, it was for this reason that Swift came out with the Sirroco they told me. The Woodleigh on the other hand expands like a fan blade and does more damage than either the Nosler of Swift and has sufficient penetration. The Nosler has the smallest cross section expanded bullet and lots of penetration, however it expands on contact and leaves a long cavity..

Don't get me wrong here, all three are excellent bullets, just trying to explain the difference as best I can.

Bear seem to be softer than Cape Buffalo, Hippo or elephant, as far as bullet penetration is concerned, in that the thickness of hide and overlapping rib cages of buffalo and general bone structure is less resistent. I know that I would never need or use a solid on a Bear, and I tend to use them on Buffalo, Hippo and elephant. I wouldn't hesitate to would use a Woodleigh PP or RN on bear as both have sufficient penetration for bear and a large cross section expanded. The PP is supposed to be a better long range missle?? maybe so!

As to which is harder to kill I have no idea, any of them can be very hard to put down under certain circumstances. It makes for some interesting conversation and sometimes quite heated!

Thats my assesment, but you won't go wrong with any of the bullets in question or even with other bullets, such as GS Customs,Northfork or Barnes.

Thanks Ray. I definitely would favor the best blood trail since that means the critter is bleeding out. I like BCs on the Woodleigh PP and Partition.

I'll start with the Partition and see where it leads.

BTW - speaking of "tough" animals, in my experience I've found on a pound for pound basis that Aoudad are the toughest critters out there.

Austin Hunter;

This is a "for what it's worth" -- I shot a 6-ft black bear last September with the 286 Nosler Partition. I could only see its head and part of the upper neck facing me in the 3-foot tall grass. Range was 68 yards and I aimed just a bit lower than what I could see for a center chest hit. Impact was about 2500 fps. As the rifle came down from recoil (a very light T3 Lite) the bear was "gone". It went down over the escarpment and was found dead at the bottom.

After field dressing, (there was massive internal hemorrhaging) it was hung in a tree over night for skinning in the early morning because by then it was dark. In skinning it out the entrance wound was a bit right of center on the bear (left from my view in shooting) as the bear was evidently slightly angled to my right, which I couldn't see in the tall grass (I was in a tree stand). Entrance cavity was about 1.25", taking out some bone high on it's right-center chest and came to rest in the right flank just poking through hide and hair. It was wet with blood there and I assumed the bullet had made exit. When I got to that point in skinning, I felt something hard with some sharp points -- I thought it was a bone fragment, but in pulling on it, it fell to the ground and turned out to be the bullet. It had penetrated 3-feet and retained 74% of its initial weight (211grs), typical Nos. Partition performance. It lost its front core.

The only bone broken was on entrance, heart was missed, took out right lung, liver, etc. The bear was dead by the time it reached the top of the escarpment and fell to the bottom. From where it was shot to the top of escarpment was about 20 feet.

While not a Kodiak, I just thought you might be interested in it's penetration and after effects. I've no doubt that it would take out the shoulders of a big brownie.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Nice!

Shootersproshop.com has 4 boxes of 286 blems in stock still.

Austin,
I would be happy with a 286 gr. 9.3 Nosler bullet for big bear and my good friend Phil Shoemaker who has shot his share and more of the big Alaskan Bears would pick the Nosler, in fact he has shot more than a few Alaskan bear with the the 30-06 and the 180 gr. Nosler was his favorite bullet, that was his back up rifle for some years..the 180 gr. at 2700 FPS, and the 200 gr. Nosler at 2600 FPS, are the only bullets I shoot in my 30-06 for big game.

I shoot the 286 Nosler in my 9.3x62s for deer and elk for the most part as they are cheap locally ( I shoot blems ) and save the Woodleighs mostly for Africa or sometimes for elk and deer also. Whatever moves me.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Austin,
I would be happy with a 286 gr. 9.3 Nosler bullet for big bear and my good friend Phil Shoemaker who has shot his share and more of the big Alaskan Bears would pick the Nosler, in fact he has shot more than a few Alaskan bear with the the 30-06 and the 180 gr. Nosler was his favorite bullet, that was his back up rifle for some years..the 180 gr. at 2700 FPS, and the 200 gr. Nosler at 2600 FPS, are the only bullets I shoot in my 30-06 for big game.

I shoot the 286 Nosler in my 9.3x62s for deer and elk for the most part as they are cheap locally ( I shoot blems ) and save the Woodleighs mostly for Africa or sometimes for elk and deer also. Whatever moves me.

Nice!