9,3x74R on Elephant

[grand veneur]

I have never used a formula for selecting a cartridge. I base it on the size of the game I want to shoot and the distance at which I perhaps have to do it. The caliber that I regularly use also plays a role. I have shot many of various game species with cartridges caliber 9,3mm, but all of them were much smaller than an elephant. For this reason, I would newer have considered using the cartridge 9,3x74R for shooting an elephant which is, as I also knew before I saw one in the wild, much bigger than a wild boar or a deer.

 

[PCC600]

When I think of 9.3x74R I think of driven boar shooting not elephant hunting . I guess anything is possible but why take the risk ?

 

[IvW]

The question was if a 9.3x74R with the right bullet and good shot placement can kill an elephant......not is it the ideal elephant caliber or is there anything better....etc. etc......

The simple answer is yes.....right bullet, right shot placement=dead elephant....nothing less nothing more.....

 

[AZDAVE]

I will throw up a couple pictures of the late Don Heath using his 9.3x62 (Same performance as the x74) to defend himself on a full on charge. The x74 and x62 would not be my first choice for elephant But as @IvW pointed out "right bullet + right shot placement = dead elephant."

 

[Jefferry404]

505 Gibbs

 

[Certus]

Don’t see why not, if you trust the .375H&H flanged then 9.3x74 is a skinnier revision.
Neither really seem ele cartridges but they work and are allowed.

 

[1dirthawker]

for what its worth,

harry manners and wally johnson both shot a lot of elephants with a 375, and lived into old age. using on an elephant, i don't suspect there is a noticeable difference between a 9.3 x 62/74 and the 375.

 

[grand veneur]

for what its worth,

harry manners and wally johnson both shot a lot of elephants with a 375, and lived into old age. using on an elephant, i don't suspect there is a noticeable difference between a 9.3 x 62/74 and the 375.

That's true, there are hardly any noticeable differences. Cartridges like the 9,3x64 Brenneke or 375 H&H Magnum allow, due do to a higher muzzle velocity, to shoot at little longer distance with the same bullets and preserved impact velocity.

As for the preferential use of the cartridges 9,3x62 or 375 H&H Magnum by well-known hunters for shooting elephants, one must view it somewhat critically. Above all, you have to go back to that time and take into account the hunting conditions of that time. From what I have read, it seems that these hunting conditions have deteriorated over time. Taylor noted this in his famous book at the end of the 1940s when he spoke about decades before and also Tony Sanchez Arino noted the same 50 years later in one of his books in the 1990s. Where elephants were shot in very open terrain in the past, nowadays you have to shoot them in the thick bush. Many of us refer primarily to well-know hunters who have hunted in the open areas of Africa, but there has always been a difference in the choice of cartridges depending on where the hunt was, in the open savannah or the dense forest. In the latter areas, much bigger calibers were often preferred. What you also have to consider is the vast experience all these hunters have gained over the course of their lives. This means that we as clients, even if some of us have a bit more experience than the average, cannot simply uncritically adopt everything they did back then and certainly no recommend this to hunters who want shoot elephants for the first time. In an old book about DG hunting in India, the author recommended beginners to use for shooting DG in all cases big bore rifles and to leave the shooting of this game with smaller calibers to very experienced hunters. I consider this a very wise recommendation.