9.3x62

[coreydb]

Oneday is right though....my copy paste was as close as a position as I could find when it came to use my own 9,3. This caliber appears to be a borderline acceptable caliber for DG, but............

 

[sgt_zim]

Oneday is right though....my copy paste was as close as a position as I could find when it came to use my own 9,3. This caliber appears to be a borderline acceptable caliber for DG, but............

So is 375 H&H. I wouldn't worry about it unless the law specifies "375 H&H minimum" or your outfitter/PH says "no."

You need to be discriminating on your shot angle with both of them.

Or just step up to a 416 or 404 Jeff.

 

[coreydb]

So is 375 H&H. I wouldn't worry about it unless the law specifies "375 H&H minimum" or your outfitter/PH says "no."

You need to be discriminating on your shot angle with both of them.

Or just step up to a 416 or 404 Jeff.

Amen brother!

 

[One Day...]

So is 375 H&H. I wouldn't worry about it unless the law specifies "375 H&H minimum" or your outfitter/PH says "no."

You need to be discriminating on your shot angle with both of them.

Or just step up to a 416 or 404 Jeff.

Yep. My own evolution path was to initially up gun from the ubiquitous .375 H&H to the romantic .416 Rigby. Perfect for Buffalo!

Then, as Elephant came into the realm of possibilities, I sold the .416 Rigby and up gunned to .470 double (Krieghoff) with the scoped Blaser R8 .375 H&H loaded with 350 gr solid as a backup.

Then, I carried the double for entire hunts for Elephant, Lion, Buffalo, with the R8 on the shoulder of one of the trackers, but I ended up always grabbing the scoped rifle for the shot as despite a number of close approaches at spitting distance in dense Jesse, all my shots (except one on Buffalo) came past 75 yards.

Note: this does not mean that all shots on DG are past 75 yards, a fair number of them ARE in the 25 to 50 yards range, but that did not happen much in my own experience.

This, combined with the fact that because I shoot the R8 literally thousands of times per year with both .22 LR and .223 barrels, it has become "an extension of my arm", led me to make the decision to sell the double.

I now have a .458 Lott barrel for Elephant, Buffalo, and Hippo on land, and a .375 H&H barrel for Lion, Eland and Leopard (where mandated by law). All the rest is dealt with either .300 Wby or .257 Wby barrels. I have no issue shooting the Lott at 25 yards, or 5 yards if need be, with or without the scope, and my second shot from it is virtually as fast as my second shot from the double, as I am already reloaded by the time the gun comes down from recoil. Not to mention that shots #3 and 4 are light years faster with the R8 than with the double.

This being said, both .458 and .375 are too much gun for my wife, and she uses, as previously mentioned, a 9.3x62 barrel on her R8, with perfect satisfaction. I would not let her shoot with it an Elephant or Hippo on land alone without my .458 Lott backup, but I have no qualm whatsoever with her using it on Buffalo with 286 gr TSX.

This being said, as discussed I am getting progressively more uncomfortable with the nominal 5300 Joules energy requirement in Zimbabwe and 5,400 Joules in Namibia, and the nominal .375 caliber requirement in Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Central African Republic.

Thankfully neither South Africa (in most Provinces) nor Mozambique have minimum energy nor caliber requirements, so we focus on these countries for her DG hunts.

A few other countries also do not have these requirements, but I am not very excited about Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, etc.

Interestingly, Cameroon stands alone with a .354 caliber minimum requirement.

As a parting thought, I would say that all these regulations date back multiple decades, if not a century, and that they do not reflect the incredible improvements made in bullet technologies that have dramatically increased the lethality and reliability of calibers once considered marginal.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

smp: here is the official copy-paste read out to your question, but my PH wouldn't let me hunt my buffalo and sable with my own 9.3x62. I had to use my brother's .375H&H. It depends on the PH's comfort level with the client.

Zimbabwe categorizes hunting into three different classes and when planning your game hunting safari, you will need to take note of the following info:

• Class A Game: This includes thick-skinned animals, namely elephants, buffalo, and hippos. Hunters must use a weapon with a rifled barrel propelling a projectile not less than 9.2mm (.362 inches) in diameter with a minimum velocity of 3909ft per second.
• Class B Game: This includes thin-skinned animals, namely eland, lion, and giraffe. Hunters must use a weapon with a rifled barrel propelling a projectile not less than 7mm (.275 inches) at a velocity of not less than 3172ft per second
• Class C Game: This classification includes general plains game and members of the Dangerous 7, namely, the leopard, kudu, nyala, sable, waterbuck, zebra, and wildebeest.
• Hunters Black Powder Rifles may be used if they are a minimum caliber of .4 inches.

@coreydb
Those are some awesome velocities for class a and b game.
I can see a 500 nitro at 3,909 fps but the recoil would be a bit lively. Me thinks you meant muzzle energy in fpe not velocity in fps.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Buffalo Bore ammo has a Barnes 250 tsx running at 2650 for 3976 pounds of energy, that is the next load I will be working with. but I don't think I will get close to that with a 22 in barrel maybe 2500fps, might have to buy a box and see what happens, when I get my rifle back, having the stocked shortened to 13.5 in lop and a decelerator pad installed

@Hyde Hunter
The Whelen loaded with 250s @2,700 meets the energy parameters with just over 4,000fpe and the 310s @2,455fps also exceeds the energy requirements but unfortunately it's .008 thou to small to be legal.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I also shot a cow with my Zastava 9.3 last August. A single 286 gr A Frame at 2475 and she was giving her death bellow within a half minute or so.

@sgt_zim
It frustrates the hell out of me that you can hunt DG with the 9.3x62 but not the Whelen. A 310gn Woodleigh at 2,455 fps would do the job on buff just as well as the 9.3 or the 375 under the right situation but because it's 0.008 thou to small it's a big no no. That's life and I ain't upgrading just to hunt buff or other big stuff .
Bob

 

[Hyde Hunter]

Bob, what would you suggest to get there with a 9.3x62 since RL15 and 17 are a no go. thinking about CFE223 I also have IMR8208xbr, Big Game, Hunter, 2700, N540, N150, Varget, on hand now. when I get my gun back I have a few loaded with 60 gr and 60.5 with Varget with 250 Barnes TSX and may call Steve at Hammer Bullets and get some 258 Stone Hammers. thanks Jim from So Dakota

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

From the horses mouth as they would say.
Very nice to see a post from you Kevin @doctari505 are you planning any future books?

Back to the post I would not hesitate to hunt an old buffalo bull with a 9.3x62 with proper constructed softs. There is so little difference between the 9.3 and 375 H&H.
But like the 375 H&H its not a real get yourself out of crap situation calibre.

@Frederik
If'n y'all are getting charged by an Angy buff just grab that 9.3 by the barrel. As he gets close enough smack him in the head with the but like a baseball bat. After that you have two options. Run very quickly or put your head between your legs and kiss your area good bye.
A good friend of mine was charged by a water buff bull after shooting it's companion. Fortunately he still had the rifle shouldered. All he could see thru the scope was a brown mass when he pulled the trigger. Fortunately the bullet hit the buff in the head and it piled up a few feet from him. That charge was stopped with his 358 Mitchell express. A bit less power than the Whelen. Fortunately he has good bum cheek muscles or his pants would have been horribly stained.
Bob

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I talked to the guy at Barnes yesterday and yes they are stopping production of loaded ammo but the are still making the 250 and 286 bullets

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob, what would you suggest to get there with a 9.3x62 since RL15 and 17 are a no go. thinking about CFE223 I also have IMR8208xbr, Big Game, Hunter, 2700, N540, N150, Varget, on hand now. when I get my gun back I have a few loaded with 60 gr and 60.5 with Varget with 250 Barnes TSX and may call Steve at Hammer Bullets and get some 258 Stone Hammers. thanks Jim from So Dakota

@Hyde Hunter
In my Whelen with the 310s I couldn't get enough velocity without high pressure. The Woodleigh advice I got if Geoff the owner was use 2209/ H4350. Using the max load gave me a case full of powder and compressed loads with low pressure.
By using a 2 foot drop tube I was able to add more powder (over max) with less compression and velocity was right at 2,455 fps.
Even after firing the case head expansion was the same as the other loads indicating that these loads were still SAFELY within pressure limits.
I have no experience with reloader powders but from all indications they work well in the 9.3.
CFE223 should be fine but others have said Re17 works well.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
Bob

 

[sgt_zim]

Bob, what would you suggest to get there with a 9.3x62 since RL15 and 17 are a no go. thinking about CFE223 I also have IMR8208xbr, Big Game, Hunter, 2700, N540, N150, Varget, on hand now. when I get my gun back I have a few loaded with 60 gr and 60.5 with Varget with 250 Barnes TSX and may call Steve at Hammer Bullets and get some 258 Stone Hammers. thanks Jim from So Dakota

I love Varget for a lot of applications - my 308, my daughter's 7mm-08, my 404 Jeff, my wife's 375 H&H. But for 9.3...seems like you need about a 50' drop tube to be able to get enough powder in the case. I imagine all-copper like Barnes and Hammer would just be worse.

258 gr Hammer on the left, 286 gr A Frame on the right

That said, I think Varget would probably be a good choice for a 250 gr like Accubond, Woodleigh, or Swift. For longer bullets, go with fine ball powders life 2000MR or Big Game - I've never tried CFE223 with my 9.3, but based on my own experience with 308 and @Bob Nelson 35Whelen 's with 35W, I don't see why it wouldn't work well.

CFE223 gives phenomenal velocity. I'm getting a skosh under 2900 fps with 168 gr Gold Dots, no pressure signs.

 

[Frederik]

@Frederik
If'n y'all are getting charged by an Angy buff just grab that 9.3 by the barrel. As he gets close enough smack him in the head with the but like a baseball bat. After that you have two options. Run very quickly or put your head between your legs and kiss your area good bye.
A good friend of mine was charged by a water buff bull after shooting it's companion. Fortunately he still had the rifle shouldered. All he could see thru the scope was a brown mass when he pulled the trigger. Fortunately the bullet hit the buff in the head and it piled up a few feet from him. That charge was stopped with his 358 Mitchell express. A bit less power than the Whelen. Fortunately he has good bum cheek muscles or his pants would have been horribly stained.
Bob

Are you talking about Ted Mitchell???

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Are you talking about Ted Mitchell???

@Frederik
The one and only.
Bob

 

[AZDAVE]

In my 9.3 the RL17 and Big game both get a 286gr over 2500fps with no problems.

Both my 9.3x62's have a long throat so my limitation in mag box length.

Going to start to workup some loads with CFE223 to see What is possible with it.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

In my 9.3 the RL17 and Big game both get a 286gr over 2500fps with no problems.

Both my 9.3x62's have a long throat so my limitation in mag box length.

Going to start to workup some loads with CFE223 to see What is possible with it.

on my Sauer the mag box can only get me to 3.325 oal, and I think I will also try the CFE223 when I get back and I like the price of the powder here $46.99

 

[sgt_zim]

on my Sauer the mag box can only get me to 3.325 oal, and I think I will also try the CFE223 when I get back and I like the price of the powder here $46.99

One word of caution on 2000MR and Big Game - they both seem to like running above 95% load density. I did not have good luck with either of those on Accubonds, but both did very well for all the different 285/286 loads I tried - Hornady, Swift, Nosler, Norma, and on the very long Shock Hammers. IDK if that's a thing with CFE223 or not, Bob would know better.

 

[Frederik]

@Frederik
The one and only.
Bob

You know he hunted with me when he was here? Mr Superman himself back in 2011.
Not with his famous 358 Mitchell but his 300 Weatherby and muzzlebreak that made me deaf.

 

[sgt_zim]

View attachment 675099You know he hunted with me when he was here? Mr Superman himself back in 2011.
Not with his famous 358 Mitchell but his 300 Weatherby and muzzlebreak that made me deaf.

Saw a recent video of a lioness hunt you were on in the Kalahari. Holy moly, dude, that was some good shooting.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

View attachment 675099You know he hunted with me when he was here? Mr Superman himself back in 2011.
Not with his famous 358 Mitchell but his 300 Weatherby and muzzlebreak that made me deaf.

@Frederik
Yeh Ted is a top bloke that I'm proud to call my mate. Bloody good hunter and great shot.
Funny as a barrel of monkeys to go with it.
He is slowing down a bit now he is over 80 but not much.
Bob