Hello European Hunting Friends,

I live in Canada and in my local gun store they have Sako 75 SS in 9.3x66.
Can anyone shed some info on this caliber.
Is this more powerful then 9.3x62, 9.3x64.
Do you know where can I find any info on balistics and so.

Thanks

Peter

go to sako.fi and you'll see that it is they're new caliber.

Peter,
Sako's latest offering 9.3x66 is placed firmly in the middle between 9.3x62 and 9.3x64. And in my opinion thats not a bad place to be. The problem is the lenght of magazine, with a standard magazine lenght of 85 mm you'll not be able to use the additional 4 mm of the case effectivly.
If we use the 9.3x62 as a reference the 9.3x66 has room for 3.9% more powder and the 9.3x64 means an increase of 12.9% in case capacity over the 9.3x62. This figures do not take any consideration to seathing depth of the different chamberings.

Best Regards
Henrik

Thanks Henrik,

I am looking for a great cartridge for my Moose and Black Bear hunts. Where I live the king of the hill is old 30-06, and thats what I have in my Remington 700. Excellent caliber and accurate too, having groups of 20mm and under at 100m is something very common.
But, I've decided to go with something diff, so I looked at .300Magnum serries, like WinMag, RemUltraMag, WSM.
All three got something good to offer, and it is hard to choose the one.
Then I've noticed that 9.3x66 in my store.
Being a fun of 9.3mm calibers x72,x62,x64 I am wondering, maybe this gonna be an excellent mosse and bear cartridge.

tack s� mycket

Peter

Broder,
as I said the new 9.3x66 is in a really nice neighbourhood right between 9.3x62 and 9.3x64 and I doubt that any moose or bear will ever be able to tell them apart.
Each of them would make a very nice moose and beargun and as usual it all comes down to what you prefer. If you want to buy a new Sako then you could build a strong case for the 9.3x66 and you'll obviously find more used 9.3x62 then any of the other.
After 15 years of hunting with 9.3x62 I made the decision to have a custom gun made in 9.3x64, but the reason for that is not that I've found any flaws with the 9.3x62. I just wanted a new gun in a chambering that not everyone else (and their brother) is using. So I'm building a pair in 9.3x64 and 7x64

V�nliga h�lsningar
Henrik

.

Alf,
as we both know marketing works in mysterious ways
But I think you are right, if sako want their new baby to be a success they need to market it on the american continent. But when i talked to sako they said that they see their baby as a alternative to 375 H&H and that they only place where you actually need suce a gun would be in Africa? So if thats their approach I dont see how they could get a decent market share, but only time will tell.

Getting brass for 9.3x64 might be a problem in US but here in Europe it's not a big deal. If RWS should drop the 9.3x64 (something I see as unlikely as the have recently started to offer a new DK bullet in this chambering) we could by brass from Horneber or Barnaul.

Best Regards
Henrik

Henrik,
I am taking the same pair to Namibia early this September, 7x64 and 9.3x64

VFR,
how come you choosed to go "all european" But I'll bet that the your pair will prove a huge success on the dark continent.
Would it be possible to see a picture of your pair?

Regards
Henrik

I have tried to get the 9,3x66 SAKo in the US since it was announced. It just seems they do not see a good reception in the US for the gun and calibre. It is a shame that they would not even entertain a special order of a handful of them with ammunition
Aleko

Aleko,
I live in Ontario and my local hunting store have one in stock. I always like 9.3 calibers, but I think this one is little bit too much for my type of hunting.

Peter

I'd guess that this round will never make it in the US.

Good as it may be, people here will ask: "What will it do that the .338 Winchester doesn't do?" And the answer is: "Nothing, it's just different." (For that matter, how much does it really differ in useable ballistics from the .358 Norma; which died here nearly at birth!) It may be an excellent, well balanced cartridge but it's trying to fill a hole that exists only in the imagination of some marketing strategist.

US shooters have never embraced anything between the .338 and the .375 in numbers large enough to be meaningful.

And I'd also wager a decent dinner that Sako/Tikka are in trouble. The Beretta organization just doesn't seem to understand rifles or the people who shoot them. Look at the way they've 'improved' the Tikka -- not to mention the 'We know best' attitude they've had about model, option and caliber importation...

Nomad,

I think the 9.3x66 will do a hell of a lot more than the 338 win mag will do. Biggest projectiles for 9.3 are 320gn solids/softs versus 250gn for 338 win mag. Know which I would be using on DG. Suspect however that the 338 may be a little flatter shooting than the 9.3x66 and that could be an advantage to some.

Two quite different rounds but the 9.3 is more versatile if anything potentially nasty is going to be hunted.

I've shot lots of 275/300 grain bullets in .338 Winchester and .340 Weatherby. If they were any more capable than the 250s, I failed to see it in the field.

I doubt that anything hit properly with a .338/.358 Norma/9.3x62/9.3x66 would know the difference. (If it would, then just lug a .375 -- for which bigger bullets yet can be found. Or the 9.3x64 for the same size -- faster.)

Splitting ballistic hairs is fine for these boards (always good for an argument...or a laugh) but it doesn't mean much in the field. I've shot game on five continents. Within reasonable class limits (IOW, don't compare the .220 Swift to the .378 Weatherby) cartridge selection only matters to theorists. In my experience, the game doesn't comment. Given similar impact velocities and equivalent terminal behaviour of the bullet, anything hit with the .338/250 or .358/250 will die as quickly as anything taking the same hit with the .366/286 and so on and so on ad nauseum. A few thousandths of front-plate area or a few grains weight just doesn't matter that much. IOW, as has so often been said: "Tain't th' arrer, it's th' injin!" (And I note that what Sako is marketing for the 9.3x66 is 250 and 286 gr bullets. If you want to talk custom bullets, at least compare all the rounds with best-case projectiles.)

None of that's the point. The point is that this new round doesn't do anything enough better (IF at all better) than already existing, well-known, readily available rounds as to enable it to create its own gap. I'd bet that it'll die faster than the .358 Norma did.

And the way it's being marketed will make that a certainty.

Let's talk again in a couple of years...

I know what it's like trying to get a caliber into a country where importers feel it won't do well. The 9.3x62 is not a popular round in this country and I had to wait around 10 months to get my cz lux 9.3x62 into the country on special order. It annoys me really.

My vote, take the 9,3x70 and you can stop splitting 9,3 mm hairs.
The 9,3x66 is the answer on a never asked question.


Burkhard

Sako compares their new 9.3X66 to 375H&H
My opinion is that this is an BIG insult against old and legendary 375HH.
First..I cannot understand WHY Sako made this new cartridge. ?????
Of older 9.3 cals the 9.3X64 is superb,I wonder why Sako didnt wake this old RWS alive again
Instead they made a new one,discussions here in Finland are that this 9366 is not strong enough to survive in competition among the others.
Personally...I am not glad to say this,as I have used,and use Sako rifles,,..I dont walk in to Sako shop anymore,newer, I bought few months away one new rifle,it was not a Sako.I am so dissapointed to their service and prises..They are fucking crazy.I dont know what is happening there,after Beretta ewerything went to wrong direction..
Awoid trouble and forget the 93X66. Buy an 375HH instead.
Abowe is my honest opinion

Elias

I agree it probably isn't filling a void, but then again few cartridges have been filling voids in the last 50yrs but a lot have sold well anyway (the whole point of the introduction).

Last winter I built a 9,3X66 around a HVA/FN M-98 action for a trip to South Afrika i made in Apr. this year.

There is a few pictures of me, the gun and some game at "African big game hunting" on this forum.

The 9,3X66 isn�t really a sensation in my eyes. The cartridge is good and it gives a bit more punch than the old 62. It�s not a lot though...... My choise would be a 9,3X64 Brenneke if i wouldn�t been a gunsmith and can afford a "experiment" like this.

The two things that I (and other in previous posts) se as a problem with the 66 is the fact that you have to set the longer bullets far down the neck if you use the 66 in a standard length action and the fact that only Sako makes the brass.......

The problem with "hard to get brass" and the 9,3X64 isn�t a problem if you can stand a little fiddling on your own or know someone with a lathe. Regular belted magnums (long enough) can be used for the 9,3X64 if the belt is turned off! A friend of mine and one of his friends are buliding 9,3X64 rifles and i turned a couple of belted cases to check it out. It worked like a charm and they will never be in a "no brass" dilemma!

Stefan