308 Win or 9.3x62 Mauser for Plains Game Hunt

sierraone said:

Many places in South Africa will not likely give you more than 250-300 yd shots. The Eastern Cape does allow for longer shots due to the mountain terrain. But most shots in the Northwest Province and Limpopo will be much less. I have been twice with the longest shot being 90 yards. .375 HH the first time and .404 Jeffery the second time. Once you know where you will hunt, ask your PH's opinion of the likely distances you may engage an animal.

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I will have to disagree with you in regards to the North West Province. I hunted with Henry Griffiths, Henry Griffiths Safaris, this year, 2025, and the area is fairly flat and and open, ~50/50 open to thick bush. The open areas; easy over 500+ yards shots.

It depends on the outfitter and area. But I agree on Limpopo. I also hunted with INFINTO SAFARIS, in the Limpopo area this year, 2025. Yes, unless the animal is in the roadway or in the few relatively small fields where shots can be 100 to 200 yards, most shots will be under 50 to maybe 75 yards in the thick stuff.

Edited: Just realized this OP is from 2019 and has been resurrected.

If you want to make an impression in Southern Africa, then a 9.3x62 is the way to go; it's an incredibly popular caliber. It's so versatile and robust. It's ideal for the bushveld. I've taken numerous kudu bulls with the 235-grain spear; they all dropped instantly or didn't go far. Personally, I can't warm to the .308; I much prefer the .30-06. But as I said, the 9.3x62 would be a top choice.

Sciptus said:

If you want to make an impression in Southern Africa, then a 9.3x62 is the way to go; it's an incredibly popular caliber. It's so versatile and robust. It's ideal for the bushveld. I've taken numerous kudu bulls with the 235-grain spear; they all dropped instantly or didn't go far. Personally, I can't warm to the .308; I much prefer the .30-06. But as I said, the 9.3x62 would be a top choice.

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@Sciptus
I can't warm to the 308 either and prefer my Whelen but there's no denying the 308 works and works well
In hindsight I could have killed all my game in Namibia just as dead with my son's 08, but where's the fun in that
Bob

Fastrig said:

Have two excellent rifles, a 308 win and a 9.3x62 Mauser. Both have the exact same 3.5-10x42 Sig Sauer scope, the Mauser does have iron sights as well where the 308 doesn’t, both carry five round mags, both are very accurate, the 9.3x62 is two pounds lighter than the 308, 20” barrel on the 308 and 22” on the 9.3x62.....on a strict plains game hunt, if only taking one of the two, which do you take? I’m leaning towards the 9.3x62 but it’s more of a 200-250 yard or less gun where the 308 is good quite a bit further out than that. Trophy level ammo in each, 168 or 180 grain in the 308 and 250 grain in the 9.3x62....not sure if I should go with the punch of the 9.3x62 or the longer reach of the 308 win.....

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I've used both on plainsgame. Both will work but I prefer the 9.3 with 286gr woodleighs

BruceS said:

I've used both on plainsgame. Both will work but I prefer the 9.3 with 286gr woodleighs

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@BruceS
In my case the Whelen was the more emphatic killer if game but the little 308 killed them just as dead.
Bob

Bob Nelson 35Whelen said:

@BruceS
In my case the Whelen was the more emphatic killer if game but the little 308 killed them just as dead.
Bob

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That is a caliber i need to add to inventory. Love the old stuff

BruceS said:

That is a caliber i need to add to inventory. Love the old stuff

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@BruceS
What an 08 or a Whelen
The Whelen is a hand loaders dream that came be made to perform along the lines of a 338wm and equal the 9.3 with heavy bullets.
From flat and fast to up close and personal bone crunching power.
Bob

Bob Nelson 35Whelen said:

@BruceS
What an 08 or a Whelen
The Whelen is a hand loaders dream that came be made to perform along the lines of a 338wm and equal the 9.3 with heavy bullets.
From flat and fast to up close and personal bone crunching power.
Bob

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Whelen

Bob Nelson 35Whelen said:

@BruceS
What an 08 or a Whelen
The Whelen is a hand loaders dream that came be made to perform along the lines of a 338wm and equal the 9.3 with heavy bullets.
From flat and fast to up close and personal bone crunching power.
Bob

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Was in my LGs yesterday and picked up a box of 100 pcs of NOS 35 caliber roundnose 275 grain Speer bullets.

MS 9x56 said:

Was in my LGs yesterday and picked up a box of 100 pcs of NOS 35 caliber roundnose 275 grain Speer bullets.

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@MS 9x56
Load them in the Whelen to over 2,500fps and you have similar SDto the 9.3 and more hitting power and penetration.
Bob

Both are fine. Shoot what you shoot the best.

I have both. Take both just in case one gets damaged during transport (really, it's just the scopes) or an accident during the hunt forces you to use your backup.

This is an old thread, but still a relevant topic.

IMO, only take two rifles if they do something different. A .308 and 9.3X64 do essentially the same thing, for all intents and purposes. I can see bringing a medium bore and a light bore for Tiny Ten species, say for example a .300 WM and a .223 Rem. Or bringing a medium/large bore carrying a good payload for heavy game at short range and then a lighter, faster, flatter cartridge for shooting lighter game at distance.
For example, this year I am bringing a pair of Ruger M77 Mark II rifles in .350 Rem Mag loaded with 250 grain Partitions, and a 6.5 Rem Mag loaded with 140 grain Accubonds. The .350 RM covers Kudu, Waterbuck, Oryx, Zebra, Hartebeest and Blue and Black Wildebeest, and the 6.5 RM covers Impala, Blesbuck, Springbok, Klipspringer, Duiker and Baboon.
A .416 and a 7 Mag are a good pair... etc... etc... I was in camp with a guy that brought two rifles, a .300 WM shooting 200 grain and a .338 WM shooting 225 grain... I don't see the point in that. The 9.3 and .308 are not nearly that bad of a combination. If one did use a .308 and 9.3, I think they should be optimized by going with light bullets in the .308, such as the 130 TTSX or 150 Accubond and the standard 286 grain in the 9.3... at least these would have different applications, but could still act as a back up rifle to each other in the event of equipment failure..

@hoytcannon
My son took a 308 loaded with mainly 150gn accubonds and 140gn outer edge monos.
Everything he shot fell down dead from impala to zebra and gemsbok He accounted for eight head of pg without a problem.
I took the Whelen loaded with 225s and 250s and took five head of game with it from impala to zebra, kudu and black wildebeest.
In hindsight I could have killed my game just as dead with the little 308 but where would the fun be in that. So either gun was more than adequate for PG upto eland but the 08 would have been a bit light for giraffe but the Whelen would have been fine.
Bob

hoytcanon said:

This is an old thread, but still a relevant topic.

IMO, only take two rifles if they do something different. A .308 and 9.3X64 do essentially the same thing, for all intents and purposes. I can see bringing a medium bore and a light bore for Tiny Ten species, say for example a .300 WM and a .223 Rem. Or bringing a medium/large bore carrying a good payload for heavy game at short range and then a lighter, faster, flatter cartridge for shooting lighter game at distance.
For example, this year I am bringing a pair of Ruger M77 Mark II rifles in .350 Rem Mag loaded with 250 grain Partitions, and a 6.5 Rem Mag loaded with 140 grain Accubonds. The .350 RM covers Kudu, Waterbuck, Oryx, Zebra, Hartebeest and Blue and Black Wildebeest, and the 6.5 RM covers Impala, Blesbuck, Springbok, Klipspringer, Duiker and Baboon.
A .416 and a 7 Mag are a good pair... etc... etc... I was in camp with a guy that brought two rifles, a .300 WM shooting 200 grain and a .338 WM shooting 225 grain... I don't see the point in that. The 9.3 and .308 are not nearly that bad of a combination. If one did use a .308 and 9.3, I think they should be optimized by going with light bullets in the .308, such as the 130 TTSX or 150 Accubond and the standard 286 grain in the 9.3... at least these would have different applications, but could still act as a back up rifle to each other in the event of equipment failure..

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Bob Nelson 35Whelen said:

@hoytcannon
My son took a 308 loaded with mainly 150gn accubonds and 140gn outer edge monos.
Everything he shot fell down dead from impala to zebra and gemsbok He accounted for eight head of pg without a problem.
I took the Whelen loaded with 225s and 250s and took five head of game with it from impala to zebra, kudu and black wildebeest.
In hindsight I could have killed my game just as dead with the little 308 but where would the fun be in that. So either gun was more than adequate for PG upto eland but the 08 would have been a bit light for giraffe but the Whelen would have been fine.
Bob

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I agree, Bob... that would be my point. Either the .308 or .35 Whelen are good choices, but bringing both would be unnecessary. I often bring backup rifles on domestic hunts, but when flying and potentially (in many countries) paying fees for EACH rifle, and lugging around the extra weight and bulk, it hardly seems necessary... how often do modern rifles and scopes break down... it does happen, but not often... and if it does, your host will invariably provide you with a good alternative. I will indeed travel with two rifles, but only if they have different or slightly overlapping applications.
It is a slight concern floating in the back of my Grey matter, that I have my two favorite hunting rifles in one case to be ruined or lost by the TSA baggage goons! There would be a grown man crying at the loss of two rifles with so many memories attached to them.

Both are adequate for PG. But, I would take both anyway. On each of my safaris, I have taken two rifles. A smaller, lighter, handier, rifle like the 308 or a 7mm and a heavier DG legal rifle like the 375HH or your 9.3x62. On every trip, I killed all but one or two animals with the smaller rifle. Why?, because it was enough rifle for the job.

On my first trip I brought a pair of matched FN Browning rifles in 308 and 375HH. I took five PG animals up to a Gemsbok with the 308 loaded with Federal Fusion bonded core ammo and every animal was a one shot kill. One that was spined with a high shoulder shot was dispatched with the PH's 9mm but it was not going anywhere and that was due to my poor shot placement. To date the 308 with fusions has been the most deadly rifle I have ever hunted with considering the number of bang flops I saw with it. I have taken four animals with my 375HH and all of them required at least one follow up shot. I shoot it well and all of the first shots were well placed. This could be due to the fact that I used it on tougher, larger beasts? This was true with the Wildebeest and Cape Buffalo but the Kudu is not any tougher than an Elk IMO. And the fourth animal was a Whitetail deer. I just think the heavy, tough bullets loaded in the 375 open up more slowly and do not expand much more than the 308 and thus do not kill much more effectively. They do penetrate more and that is the main advantage of the bigger, heavier cartridges. You can counter that somewhat in the 308 by using a Barnes TTSX bullet.

My PH has two main loaner rifles. A 308 Bergara and a 375HH Sako. He says that his clients use the 308 on ALL plains game and it is quite adequate. He often loads it with Hornady SST ammo. Even for Eland! He had to talk me into carrying my 308 for the Gemsbok since it is 2-3x the size of our typical deer at home and I thought the 375 a better choice. My point is that if all you are hunting is PG, all you need is your deer rifle loaded with heavy for caliber bullets of a quality type such as bonded core Swift Scirocco or Feder Fusion, etc.

Final answer: If I could only take one, I would take the 308.

Most of the time i choose a calibre to suit both what i am hunting and what might come hunting me. If i'm in a place where there is nothing in the latter category, it expands the choices.

JG, beautiful rifle!

Beautiful animal! I use my .308 for my plains game hunts, but switch to 300 Win Mag just because......
I also have a 9.3x62 for the same reason; just for variety.

Nomosendero said:

JG, beautiful rifle!

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Thank you. It is a '63 vintage Medallion Grade FN Browning made in Belgium with a CRF action wearing a 60's era B&L Balvar 2.5-8x optic. I killed my first African animal with it, a Nyala using 180g Federal Fusion. My PH says it is too pretty to hunt with but that is what it was meant to do. This week is only the 2nd time I have shot it since returning from that first safari a few years ago.

I entertain myself by buying a setting up old rifles and then hunting with them a few times before putting them on display in my trophy room. The little FN is special. I am currently playing with another old 60's era Euro rifle in a Husqvarna in 30-06. It will accompany me to Canada for a hunt in a few weeks and to be honest, it shoots much better than the FN. Husky made some amazing rifles and I am blessed to have one.