Sauer 100 9.3x62 For Sale

[Glenn Slaven]

Yep, nothing that a sturdy rubber mallet would not fix LOL


The best known real big boy of the 9.3 family is the 9.3x64 *. It achieves 3,000 fps with a 225 grain bullet and a little over 2,500 fps with 293 to 300 grain bullets. These velocities exceed the velocities from the 9.3x62 by 200 to 400 fps. This is not inconsequential. Actually this was the cause for some earlier issues when bullets designed for the x62 where fired in the x64 and failed to maintain structural integrity due to the additional velocity. The 9.3x64 is fully the ballistic equivalent of the .375 H&H Mag (many say it is better) with the huge advantage that it could be chambered in a standard length Mauser action without requiring magazine length alterations and the milling (hence weakening) of the action behind the lower lug.

The 9.3x74R operates at lower pressure (which was likely the purpose of its immensely longer case) to be reliable in break open single or double rifles, or the German's favorite drillings. Its performance are similar albeit a bit behind the .375 H&H Flanged, itself a tuned down .375 H&H Mag for the same reasons. In so many words, 9.3x74R, .375 H&H Flanged and 9.3x62 are ballistic triplets.

Actually, it may be interesting to mention that Russia recently adopted the 9.3x64 (.366 diameter) as its response to the US and NATO countries adopting the .338 Lapua as an anti personnel extended range and anti material sniper cartridge. That alone tells a lot about the merit of the 9.3x64 in term of payload potential and ballistics...

* there was also a 9.3x70 developed by DWM which is essentially a .404 Jeffery necked down to 9.3 but its actual diffusion has been very limited. I have never seen it, never shot it, and guess that it must be something comparable to the .375 RUM.

9.3x64!?!? I’m going to have to round out my collection of 9.3s now. Lol

 

[One Day...]

9.3x64!?!? I’m going to have to round out my collection of 9.3s now. Lol

Oh yes, you do!

This is not, by far, a new cartridge. It was introduced by Wilhelm Brenneke in 1927. One of its particularities is that it was a completely new case design. It is NOT a 7x64 necked up to 9.3, or a 9.3x62 lengthened to 64 mm. Its case base diameter is a full 0.507" (compared to 0.476" for the 9.3x62 and 0.467" for the 7x64). This is what explains its significantly larger powder capacity despite its nearly identical length: it is a fatter case.

As stated above its purpose was to beat the .375 H&H Mag in a case that would not require butchering a Mauser standard action and multiplying the cost of the rifle by 10x. As such it fully succeeded. It never caught up in America (like most European cartridges), but it is revered by connoisseurs in Europe despite the fact that it likely came too late, as the 9.3x62 released 20 years earlier by Otto Bock was already ubiquitous in German Africa and South Africa.

So much for the "modern revolution" of belt-less magnums! Brenneke duplicated the .375 H&H Mag in a shorter, fatter, belt-less (i.e. better) case only 15 years after the H&H introduction, and a full 80 years before the recent fashion in the US. "The more the things they are achangin, the more they stayin the same" LOL

I do not know if Blaser has been wise enough to chamber the 9.3x64 in the R8, but they sure did in the R93. For many years back when I grew up in Europe, I lusted for a Mauser 66 (the one that pioneered the concept of the telescopic action adopted by Blaser) with a set of 4 barrels: 6.5x68, 7x64, 8x68 and 9.3x64... There are a few floating around...

In Europe, from the 1920's to the 1970's, the 9.3x62 has always been the "utilitarian" cartridge, available in low cost rifles (the vast majority of them using Mauser surplus actions) and the 9.3x64 has been the "aristocratic" bolt action cartridge, generally only available in high cost rifles, and residing generally in the same gun rooms as 9.3x74R exquisite light doubles or drillings. A good example is currently for sale on Gun Broker (https://www.gunbroker.com/item/785568364)

If I already had a 9.3x62, I would not get another one but I would get a 9.3x64 and I would envision any variety of scenarios: heavy slow close x62 / lighter faster further x64; or lighter load & game x62 / heavier load & game x64, etc. Truth be told, there is significant overlap. I personally remain fascinated by a two barrel set 6.5x68 / 9.3x64...

 

[Glenn Slaven]

Dropping price to $899 plus actual shipping. Need to make room and money for the new R8 and the annual Ruger African release.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Beautiful rifle in my favorite caliber.

 

[Glenn Slaven]

I tried to edit so I could change price in the original post, but not seeing a way to do it.

 

[BWH]

I’m getting confused by all the different 9.3 variations!!!!!

 

[Ragman]

I’m getting confused by all the different 9.3 variations!!!!!

Don't feel bad...I never heard of them until I joined AH in 2015! I have never seen one or any ammo for them! Nice and shady under my rock

 

[BWH]

Don't feel bad...I never heard of them until I joined AH in 2015! I have never seen one or any ammo for them! Nice and shady under my rock

love it!!!

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

love it!!!

+1

 

[TNDave]

+1

+2

 

[TNDave]

Beautiful rifle, it’s on my bucket list, but my bucket has a hole in it at present

 

[One Day...]

So, it looks like it is just about time to talk about the 1890’s 9.3x57 LOL (which was virtually extinct since the 1905 introduction of the 9.3x62, but, believe it or not, has recently been sort of re-introduced by Blaser listing it as a barrel option for the R8.

So:
- 9.3x57 = 35 Remington (likely a good lower recoil option for short range wild boar driven hunts)
- 9.3x62 = 35 Whelen (anything, anywhere, not too far, for working men)
- 9.3x64 = .375 H&H (bigger hammer with more reach)
- 9.3x74R = .375 H&H flanged (anything, anywhere, not too far, for landed aristocrats)

Shelves full of ammo for them in Europe...

If memory serves, more than twenty different 9.3 mm cartridges were developed around the turn of the twentieth century (1900's), not to forget a few 9.5... Looks like the Europeans were as prolific with new redundant cartridges in those days, as we have been recently with the various short and super short offerings (WSM, WSSM, SAUM, etc. ) or with the mega offerings (RUM, Nosler, etc.)...

The more the things they are achangin, the more they stayin the same