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Why is anything better than a 9.3 caliber for big game?
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<merkelmeister>
posted
Fun to shoot. good to all reasonable distances. easy on shoulder. hard on game. easy on meat. Only problem is expensive to buy factory loads.
comes in rimmed and rimless versions.
whats wrong with it?

a bit high in trajectory beyond 300 yards.

 
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<leo>
posted
There's nothing wrong with it in it's category. This huge U.S. market tends to dominate alot of what calibers are used around the world and the 9.3s just weren't thought of by Americans. However, that is changing. Another stiff competitor for the .35 whelen!
 
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They're pretty acurate too. When I first started to test load for my 9.3x62 I was expecting to praise god for 1.5" groups. I got 3 shots under a nickle, almost clover leafing, with 270 grain RNs, and, with the drop in the butt of the rifle, the height of the chair, bench and myself, unable to get the rifle to settel into my shoulder all to well... My father who's an inch or 2 shorter than me got 5 in one short dead center string.

This mind you from an out of the box factory rifle, not even bedded (yet) and with scope mounts we had to shim.

i wish i had a scanner, i post the groups....maybe in a few months....

------------------
"Laws are like sausages, it's better not to see either being made"--Otto Von Bismark

When in doubt, do a nuclear strike.

 
Posts: 1723 | Location: wyo | Registered: 03 March 2001Reply With Quote
<Gary Rihn>
posted
quote:
Originally posted by merkelmeister:
Fun to shoot. good to all reasonable distances. easy on shoulder. hard on game. easy on meat. Only problem is expensive to buy factory loads. whats wrong with it?

I guess the same could all be said about the 270 Win, 30-06, 7mm Mag, 300 Mag, 338 Mag, 35 Whelen, etc.

Except for the high ammo cost part.

 
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<merkelmeister>
posted
Which of these other calibers is available with a rimmed version?
 
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Picture of Paul H
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Only problem is, it's not a 35 caliber, so you don't have the vast selection of cast and jacketed bullets.

350 Rigby, rimless and rimmed, which would be rare and rarer

 
Posts: 7213 | Location: Alaska | Registered: 27 February 2001Reply With Quote
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Picture of HTRN
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I've shot Curtis Lemay's 9.3 and clover leafed it with a sub 3/4 inch group - It shocked the hell outta me. Cheap, round nosed Speers are not supposed to do that...

By Aim and by Effort

H.T.R.N.

 
Posts: 261 | Location: In my Subterranean lair, okay, I admit it, it's a basement | Registered: 04 May 2002Reply With Quote
<Gary Rihn>
posted
quote:
Originally posted by merkelmeister:
Which of these other calibers is available with a rimmed version?

I guess I'm wondering "why?". I don't see a rim as a selling point.

 
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quote:
Originally posted by Gary Rihn:
I guess I'm wondering "why?". I don't see a rim as a selling point.


So you can use the same reloading dies for your matching double rifle.

 
Posts: 7213 | Location: Alaska | Registered: 27 February 2001Reply With Quote
<Gary Rihn>
posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul H:
So you can use the same reloading dies for your matching double rifle.

If you can afford matching double rifles, you can afford another set of dies!

 
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<merkelmeister>
posted
Gotta love those hard choices. Rimmed or rimless. Last year I decided to go for rimmed 9.3 to fit into break actions. traded in four shotguns for a merkel double rifle 9.3 rimmed, and now have a single shot carpathian mountain rifle on order in 9.3 rimmed.

One for flatlanding and one for mountain topping. Had to sell about all the old guns and rifles to do it, but what the hey.

Now if only I could find a combination gun in 9.3 and a decent gauge... that would require selling off the rest of the surplus shooting sticks..

 
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Picture of Flip
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I love the caliber, If I have to choose one caliber to use for the rest of my life, I will sell my other rifles and keep my 9.3x62
 
Posts: 931 | Location: Nambia | Registered: 02 June 2000Reply With Quote
<konst>
posted
@ Merkelmeister,
there is a rimmed version of the 9,3mm , it�s the 9,3*65R.
The cartridge have been Developped by Brenneke. As far as i know there is only one gunsmith in Germany who has the chambering tool to build the chamber.
regards
konstantin
 
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Picture of MacD37
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Gentelmen, the 9.3X74R,in a double rifle, or the 9.3X62,in a bolt rifle is a real sleeper that Americans have not found for the most part. In Europe, and Africa, the 9.3s are just about the most used chamberings in the Big game fields. In the North American game fields the 9.3X74R in any good S/S double rifle is just about perfect for anything you would want to hunt. It is legal in all countries of Africa except Tanzania, for dangerous game up to and includeing Elephant. That cannot be said of any of the cartridges Gary Rihn listed. Of those not one is legal for anything dangerous,larger than Leopard. The 9.3X62 is almost the same as a 35 Whelen, but the .358 dia is not legal in Africa for anything the 243 Win isn't legal for, as well.

Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the cartridges listed here, but the exact same can be said of the 9.3s + it is legal for DGR.

I have a little Merkel 140E S/S double rifle chambered for the 9.3X74R that is fast becomeing my favorite rifle for everything, in North America, and It will go on my next trip to Africa,and Alaska as well. Since I have over 100 rifles in everything from .22 lr to 577 NE and that spread includes all the chamberings listed, and I can shoot what ever I choose, I think, says something for the little double 9.3X74R. It isn't the only chambering in the world, but make no mistake it sure as hell isn't the worse one for sure! Anyone who down grades the 9.3s just hasn't used one!

------------------
..Mac >>>===(x)===>
also DUGABOY1
DUGABOY DESIGNS
Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art

[This message has been edited by MacD37 (edited 05-20-2002).]

 
Posts: 14634 | Location: TEXAS | Registered: 08 June 2000Reply With Quote
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I don�t think its possible to use 9.3x62 dies for 9.3x74R. The above remark is valid for 6.5x57, 7x57 and 8x57IS.

Hermann ( owner of a 7x57R, 9.3x62 fan, thinking about a 9.3x74R.)

and shooting 30-06 most of the time - ???

------------------

 
Posts: 828 | Location: Europe | Registered: 13 June 2001Reply With Quote
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On my recent trip to Africa, I used the 9.3x62 to take bushbuck, grysbok, and bushpig. It was extremely capable. The bushbuck was shot the second time at full tilt at 25 yards. It was slammed down and slid about five yards. It died without getting up. The bushpig was a similar situation. One shot and it was done. Perhaps the most astounding was that it killed the little grysbok at about 50yds, entering just in front of the left hip and exiting the chest between the front legs without tearing blowing the skin up. All of this was with the 250 ballistic tip. Two of the South Africans said the saw the bullet going to the target it was so slow. (Chronographed velocity was just shy of 2600 feet.) Ku-dude
 
Posts: 959 | Registered: 27 February 2001Reply With Quote
<merkelmeister>
posted
I can sometimes see a 22 lr when teh sun is right, or see teh shot string at 1300 fps.

Do not believe I have seen a ballistic tip at 2600 fps. But then the 9.3 is a fairly big bullet.

I will have to look over my sons shoulder next time he shoots with me.

sounds like a great africa trip!

 
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<Harry>
posted
My son and I just used my custom Husky 9.3 x 62 to take Black Wildebeest, Kudu and Impala in RSA...it may have been used on the Blue Wildebeest and the Blesbok too. My son shot them and I can't recall if he used it or the old faitful '06. Both calibers just killed stuff dead.
I was using Norma factory 286 grn. Alaskan bullets and I got super expansion but not sure I got great penetration. Only able to recover two bullets. I think the new Oryx bullet or the good old Nosler would have done better.
I knocked my Black Wildebeest down three times with the 9.3 and still he got back up. Twice the PH said he was thru...wrong. I have much more respect for it now than I once did. The Kudu gave it up much easier than the Blk Wildebeest.
I have never shot a large caliber bullet that was so easy on my shoulder. The 338 is going on the auction block most likely.

 
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<eldeguello>
posted
In the U.S., we have always suffered from the "not invented here" syndrome. (of course, other countries also have this problem to some extent). Here, it has inhibited us from enjoying the advantages of a number of fine calibers. These have included over the yuears, primarily the 6.5mm, the 7mm, the 8mm, the 9mm, and the 9.3mm. Some, like the 7mm, and to some extent the 6.5mm, have begun to enjoy more popularity here in the past twenty or thirty years. Unfortunately, the 9.3mm has not yet begun to become available in domestically-produced rifles (to my current knowledge). I see no reason why a well-designed .366" bullet would not perform just as well as a .375" one, if travelling at a comparable velocity.

------------------
Larry

 
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Picture of Flip
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eldeguello

You are correct, there is very little to thoose between 9.3 and 375

 
Posts: 931 | Location: Nambia | Registered: 02 June 2000Reply With Quote
one of us
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Regarding 9.3 mm bullets availability...

Pickin's are slim, yes, but...

Nosler has a 250 gr BT and a 286 gr Partition...
Barnes has both a 250 gr and a 286 gr X bullet...

and Speer has an inexpensive 270 gr Hot Cor.

Hawk bullets also has a couple of 9.3 offerings.

More than enough to meet the needs of American hunter.

If you want real pricey...Swift and Woodleigh also make bullets for the 9.3 caliber.

TXLoader
 
Posts: 115 | Location: Bryan, TX, USA | Registered: 27 November 2001Reply With Quote
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