Ladies and Gentlemen:

What has been your experience while using the 9.3 caliber Nosler Partition, Nosler Accubond and/or Swift A-Frame on brown bear hunts?

I am starting to like the 9.3 caliber the more I read about its effectiveness on bear, and will probably build a 9.3x62 for a brown bear hunt in Alaska.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Hey Chris,
I had a 9.3x62 for a couple of years and really liked using the 250g TSX best. I only shot one moose with it, (no bears,) but accuracy and bullet performance was as advertized. I leaned toward the 250g instead of the 286 because of the increase in velocity. The 250g is more than heavy enough bullet for anything in Alaska.

The A Frame and Partition was quite accurate in my rifle. I never tried the Accubond.

I have a Dakota 76 that I had built in 9.3x62 several years ago. I have used it in Africa with 250 grain Ballistic Tips for plains game up to zebra with good results. I used it in Alaska last fall and took an 8 1/2 foot brown bear using 320 grain Woodleigh Protected Points. My rifle really likes these bullets and shoots around 1/2 MOA with them at 2200 fps. I get slightly larger groups with the 300 grain A-Frames and a bit larger yet with the 286 grain Partitions and TSX. I have a couple boxes of the Accubonds but haven't shot them yet. I decided to use the heavier bullet for the bear hunt, but I am sure that the 300 grain Swifts or 286 grain Barnes' or Noslers would do the job perfectly well. The bears are tough - my first shot at about 80 yards raked through the chest and broke the off shoulder, knocking the bear down, but he got up again and it took 3 more to put him down and keep him down. The last shot was through the boiler room with complete penetration and a fist-sized exit hole. The 9.3 is plenty adequate for brown bear or anything else within reasonable range, which for me is not much more than 150 yards. If it is a lot further away than that I will try to get closer or pass up the shot. Good luck building your rifle and I hope your hunt is a success. RB

Chris, I think you already know my opinion on the 286 Partition in the 9.3. Although I've only used it on one big bear, it was as effective as a 300gr 375. Which means it is a great round and bullet for big bears.
I have more experience with the 285 gr in the 9.5x62 (aka 375 Scovill) and it also kills very well.

458Win

When you say a 375 diameter 285gr bullet, I am assuming it is the 285 Speer.

I have had excellent results on all sized game with my 9,3x74R and the 286 Woodleigh soft and the 286 Nosler Partition.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the 9.3 caliber bullets.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

I haven't used the 286 NPs on brown bear yet, but put 3 backup shots into large black bears last year and was very impressed with penetration (complete penetration even thru the large bones) and overall performance (internal damage and knockout effect). I will have no hesitation using it on browns.

I was refering to the 285 Grand Slams in my 375 Scovill. The 286 Partitons from my 9.3x62 was found on the off side just, under the hide after breaking the shoulders and spine of a 9 1/2 foot brown bear at 45 yards.
I initially tried to use the 300 Swifts but could not get them to feed in any of my 9.3x62 rifles: ( I have three) when crimped on the cannalure

Dear Mr. Shoemaker:

What maximum velocities did you obtain in the 9.3x62 with the 300 grain Swift bullets?

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Chris, due to where the canalure is on the 300 gr Swifts I could not even get them to feed in any of my three 9.3x62 rifles as they stopped up against the rifling before chambering.
I talked to Bill Hobert at Swift and he said he was aware of the problem as they had simply sized their 300gr 375 bullets down to 366 and the ogive radius was too large to use the canalure groove.
Hopefully they have fixed them or else your'll need to make sure your lead is long enough for them.

while not really what you asked, i've shot a fair amount of game with a 9.3x74R in africa using 300 gr a frames. always had excellent performance.

I have been very pleased with the 286gr Nosler Partition on moose. I have had great performance with this bullet at just over 2400fps.

I have used the 9.3x62 quite a bit in Africa on most plainsgame and on several buffalo and on one black bear, some elk and Mule deer...

The 286 Nosler is my all around load and its one tough bullet with a ton of penetration.. I get 2520 FPS in my long tube..I like the 320 Woodleighs on Cape Buffalo with my 26" barrel gun. I find the 26 inch barrel to be a boon to the this caliber...The Northforks are excellent bullets and the GS Custom HV monolithic bullets worked real well...All the Woodleigh bullets worked very well indeed..

The 9.3x62 comes within 75 FPS of the 9.3x64s I had and its in the .375 H&H class of killing powder..It is a real fine caliber.

All my rifles had a long throat and the magazine was lengthened to accept bullets set out.