Assume that one of the above will be chambered in a conventional (say, CRF) bolt-action rifle with a barrel 23"-25" long, weighing between 7.5 and 8.5lbs.
Game hunted will be white-tail/muley/moose/elk/black bear in North America, and African plains game (up to, but not including, eland and giraffe).
Ranges will be 300yds. or less.
The owner is an experienced handloader, willing to lay in a lifetime supply of brass, and use super-premium bullets.
Which is a better choice?
George
Posts: 14623 | Location: San Antonio, TX | Registered: 22 May 2001
Damn, George, are tired of your big stuff already? Does the thought of having a mid-bore just beckon you? Personally, because of the brass availability, I choose the 9.3X62 instead of the 376 even it is based on the 9.3 brass. I think most would probably just get ready made brass when reloading and the 9.3 fits the bill. I've shot a couple and they definitely recoil less than the 375 H&H. When I was shooting regularly, I use to use it like a 30 Mag and I liked the bigger bullet. Down range no animal will notice but either way, you just flip the coin.
Based on your criteria they are pretty much equal. The 376 can be put in smaller actions if that is a factor; like an intermediate Mauser or an MRC shorty (not a true short like Rem or Win). Also, 9.3 may or may not stay popular in the US but 375 bullets will be always.
Posts: 11142 | Location: Texas, USA | Registered: 22 September 2003
I have a friend who has made a .375 RAS it is a 8X68s with a .375 bullet, fits in a mauser98 action. Their is also the 9,3X64 Brenneke. I know it is not what you asked about Of the two I would pick the 9,3X62 due to the fact that I know it well and like the look and feel of it.
Cheers,
Andr�
Posts: 2293 | Location: The Kingdom of Denmark | Registered: 13 January 2004
9.3x62 is my choice..Brass from Norma, Graff & Sons, Lapua and you can always use 30-06, 270, 280 brass for the 9.3x62..Bullets are abundant from most makers..It is good in any std. length action and only requires re-barreling and maybe a little opening of the bolt face in some guns..Its just an ideal caliber IMO, that's right in there with the 375 H&H...With a 26" barrel it will cook a 320 gr. Woodleigh at 2400 FPS without a hitch and that should surfice for anything that walks the earth as we know it.
I don't foresee the 376 Styr surviving, in fact its about as near dead as a cartridge can get today.
Posts: 42225 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000
I have no experience with either, but what MR. Atkinson said, brass and bullets are out there for the 9.3X62. I just got a Browning 95 in and down the road when I get some green ,I will have it chambered to a 9.3X62 for the reasons stated above,Kev
Posts: 1002 | Location: ALASKA, USA | Registered: 22 May 2002
I have a .376 Steyr and my analysis is the cartridge is a modern incarnation of the 9.3X62.
The .375" bullet gives you a bit more cross-sectional area than the .366" bullet, and there are a flock more .375 bullet choices available in North America than the 9.3s.
I have shot impala for bait, warthog and one big eland with my .376 so far.
jim
Posts: 4166 | Location: San Diego, CA USA | Registered: 14 November 2001
I really like the 9.3x62 and I especially like my cz 550 lux. It points and swings nice and the leupold 2-7x32 while a little overscoped for this rifle works a treat.
Posts: 7505 | Location: Australia | Registered: 22 May 2002
As a leftie, my CRF options are limited. Would it be a 'simple' conversion to go from a (Winchester Model 70) .270 Winchester to 9.3x62? Besides a new barrel, would the magazine need major modifications? Can I reasonably expect to maintain the existing four-round magazine capacity?
George
Posts: 14623 | Location: San Antonio, TX | Registered: 22 May 2001
My 9,3x62 was a Santa Barbara Mauser in 30-06. All it took was a barrel to move to the new caliber. It holds the same four down and one up it held before conversion.
I've only taken one deer with it so far, but I'm off for my first trip to Africa to hopefully change that next month.
Rick
Posts: 1912 | Location: Charleston, WV, USA | Registered: 10 January 2003
George, I have built three 9.3's. Two were husqvarna M98's and one was a model 54. There was NO FEEDING WORK that needed to be done. All function flawlessly. All started as a 30-06.
Posts: 18352 | Location: Salt Lake City, Utah USA | Registered: 20 April 2002
9.3x62. It's just a class act! Oh hell build one of each!
Posts: 8351 | Location: Jennings Louisiana, Arkansas by way of Alabama by way of South Carloina by way of County Antrim Irland by way of Lanarkshire Scotland. | Registered: 02 November 2001
I bet dollars to donuts that 9.3mm bullets are easier to come by than 376 Steyer brass, and that will hold for the future.
Asside from that aspect, I think the .473" dia casehead medium bores are fine performers, and you really don't need more case capacity to get those bullets traveling at a reasonable velocity.
I have a CZ-550 9.3X62 manlicher that keeps calling my name, one of these days!
Posts: 7213 | Location: Alaska | Registered: 27 February 2001
Right now 376 brass is plentiful and cheap; Hornady just ran another lot. And the premise of this thread was that a lifetime supply would be procured. So it's down to the bullets and in that repect the 9.3 takes second place even if the scores are only a couple of tenths apart.
Posts: 11142 | Location: Texas, USA | Registered: 22 September 2003
George, my current project is a Pre-64 Model 70 rebarreled to 9.3x62. You can get by with just a barrel swap but to make I feed perfectly I messed a little bit with the rail timing etc. but nothing major. The only real difference is that the shoulder is a little farther forward and smaller due to the bigger hole. Mag capacity is unchanged unless you go to different bottom metal and a longer or shorter mag box. I bet if we started calling it the 36 Whelen improved a lot more redneck wildcatters would have to have one. ....DJ
Posts: 3976 | Location: Oklahoma,USA | Registered: 27 February 2004
DJ, Danny Pedersen is doing the same thing on my pre 64, only in 9.3x64. If he has it done in time, it will go to Namibia with me this September. Otherwise, I will take the CZ in the same caliber.
Posts: 371 | Location: Florida | Registered: 25 April 2003
Being as the 9.3 x 62 has been around since '05 and the fact that you can (if needed) make the brass from the trusty 30/06 I would go with the 9.3 x 62. I have never shot the other but own two 9.3 x 62 rifles and just mad that I did not discover this easy kicking, animal killing cartridge until two years ago.
Posts: 1529 | Location: Texas | Registered: 15 December 2003
I've worked with a pre-64 in 9,3x64 and it's also a great fit. I would be making mine a -64 except for the brass is so hard to come by. I just wish the steyr brass was a little longer and would be easy to form into 9,3x64. Good luck with yours on you hunt........DJ
Posts: 3976 | Location: Oklahoma,USA | Registered: 27 February 2004
Since I have 300 new .376 Steyr cases out in the garage and no 9.3 bullets, I will take two raised donuts from Christie's Donut Shop down the street from my office.
Actually things are looking up a bit for the .376 as Steyr-Mannlicher announced they will start shipping rifles again.
jim
Posts: 4166 | Location: San Diego, CA USA | Registered: 14 November 2001
We'll talk in 10 years and see what happens, I'm not talking about current popularity. I'm sure the 376 steyr will develop a small and devoted folowing, but like my favorite 35 bores, won't stay around as a popular production round.
The 9.3X62 has been around for a long time, and is finally being noticed in the states. It fills a good niche.
The 376 Steyr is trying to take on teh 375 H&H market, and I don't think any new 375 will ever replace the H&H.
Posts: 7213 | Location: Alaska | Registered: 27 February 2001
There is more to a cartridge than brass, bullet and powder. It is not tangible, but it is omnipresent.
Certain cartridges were designed to fill a niche, while others are merely solutions to non-existant problems. If the cartridge was invented before WWI, it probably is the former. If it was designed after the war, odds are it's raison d'etre is to sell rifles that couldn't sell on their own merit.
If one is putting together a stainless-synthetic instrument for launching projectiles, than the choice of cartridge can be just as sterile. But if you intend to build a rifle that has a soul, you must choose a cartridge that has a soul as well. Otherwise, the rifle will not speak to you each time you pick it up. And this is very important.
Amen, brother Kurt! it must have soul...Thats why the 375 H&H reigns against all comers...
I like the the 376 Styr cartridge, but not those plastic abortions and poorly designed actions made by Styr...I wouldn't mind owning a 376 on a good Mauser action, but I have a 9.3x62, a 375 H&H, so that will probably not be in the cards for me, but I have no objection to anyone owning one, it will do the job I am sure.
Posts: 42225 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000
I would also vote for the 9.3x62, and for the same reasons as Kurt. The one I just built doesn't have any dings or stories of it's own yet, but it still has the history of the round. The one I just bought has wear on the barrel and floorplate from being carried pointing forward over a shoulder; the buttstock has been cracked and carefully repaired; something (blood?) dripped on the top of the barrel, which ran around underneath and left faint corrosion marks. Now that's history.
I think it's also a tad better ballistically due to slightly larger caliber and the already-improved case.
Todd
Posts: 1248 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 14 April 2001
