Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Want to use my 9.3x62 on Buff with TSX bullets

I have not had good velocity with H414 in the 9.3x62, it always is short of what the books have quoted me..I have had more than a few revolations with the advent of the chronograph..I really love H414 in the 7x57 and 30-06 and was disapointed in it in my 9.3x62s. But take into consideration I really push my 9.3s to the limit, a safe limit, but still total max.

The only powder I use anymore is RL-15..It will make a 9.3 sizzle.

Wow. I tried H414 in my 9.3x62 but I couldn't get it to perform the way I wanted - specifically, I couldn't get much velocity out of it. I used Huntington brass; I wonder if that is on the soft or thin side, preventing the pressure from building up adequately?

What type of brass did you use, and, just to clairify, this was in the 9.3x62, not the 9.3x64, right?

9.3 X 62.

I've used mostly Norma brass, but have used RWS brass, which tends to have slightly less capacity, and hence lower MV. I have one rifle that is about 50 fps faster than the other. Both are custom Mausers with Krieger 24" barrels, but they were made and chambered at different times by different gunsmiths. The 2600 fps is out of the faster of the two. I'm sure the throats are different. I recall one 'smith was a fan of freebore. I've had no flat primers or sticky bolts even in the heat of the summer. I do not believe my load to be hot, and it is one that was listed in one of the Barnes books.

Powders change with the production lots, and I've been shooting out of an 8 lb can of H414 for a number of years now. Mule Deer has worked up loads for the 9.3 X 62. I can't fine his posts doing a search, but I recall he likes Ramshot and R15. Ray says he loves the 320 grain Woodleighs, but I suspect since they are about the size and shape of a javelin, this allows him to hunt during primitive weapon season.

I have tried a number of powders in the 9.3x62. With 286's (of whatever sort) I use 65.0 grains of Ramshot Big Game, for right around 2500 fps from the 23.6" barrel of my CZ 550. This rifle has a long throat, but I have tried this load in other 9.3x62's and it hasn't shown the slightest indication of high pressure. As a matter of fact my friend Charlie Sisk, the well-known Texas riflesmith, Pressure-Traced it in a rifle he built (using a reamer with a shorter throat) and it got around 60,000 psi.

With 250's I get around 2650 in the same rifle, with loads also pressure-tested by Charlie. I used to use RL-15 exclusively, around 62 grains (though one lot required 64 grains to match that velocity). But a couple of years ago I was headed to Africa and was real low on RL-15 and couldn't find any locally, to tried Varget and found it also worked very well. The load I ended up with was 60.5 grains. This chafrge works wel with either the 250 TSX or 250 Nosler AccuBond.

MD,
RE: your last post. The 2502650fps, what is the powder and charge? Also, the 250 behind 60.5gr of Varget, what is the velocity?
Thanks,

Cheers!
-Bob F.

Bob,
Thanks for the post. I forgot about that article, but I did cut it out and put it in my file.
Merry Christmas to all!!

Ray,

Our posts crossed in the mail, it would appear.

Ray, Hatari, and Mule Deer,

Thanks for the info. That�s a scorching velocity y�all are getting. But you gentlemen have waaaaay more reloading experience than me so I�m not too surprised.

Generally speaking I�ve been able to get around 2,500 fps with the 250 gr. TSX using RL15 and Varget and I�ve gotten close to 2,600 fps using BLC2.

With a 286 gr. Nosler Partition I�ve gotten approx. 2,400 fps with Varget and RL15, though with Varget I was starting to get the beginnings of pressure signs. With H414 and I got around 2,300 fps. I�ve also tried some other powders but that�s the gist of it. For what it�s worth�

I have two bits of load data for the Barnes 286 gr. X bullet: 58.0 gr RL-15, WLR primer, 20.5" CZ550, 2367 fps. I played outside listed parameters with my 23.5" model, getting 2480 fps using 61.3 gr RL-15. 58.5 grains is the maximum Nosler reloading manual #5 load. No current load data in the Barnes Reloading manual for RL-15 and TSX bullets. Hodgdon lists 59.0 grain Varget as a maximum load, with 286 gr Nosler Partition. Another Hodgdon listed load, 63.0 grains H414 is a third possibility. I would look at 2400 fps to 2450 fps as the maximum velocity for a 9.3x62, using medium powders appropriate for this size case, and 24 inch barrel. The Nosler Partition has a bit more velocity than the TSX with the same powder charge. Performance is really more of a heart-lung shot rather than an all out penetration load like the TSX. The heavy Barnes bullet don't get examined on broad side shots, at least for me, they just keep on going.

Wismon,
My 9.3x62 load is 59 grs. of RL-15 with a 286 gr. Woodleigh or Nosler and that is a minimun for buffalo IMO..My preference is the 320 gr. Woodleigh at 2450 FPS..I can get 2700 FPS with out any problem in my 9.3x62 with a 230 gr. GS Customs and the same with a 250 gr. Barnes X...

For Buffalo I shoot the 320 gr. Woodleigh solid or soft, mostly solids..it has worked well for me and I have shot a number of buffalo with that combination..I also really like the Northfork flat nose solids, they are very effective. This combo is the full equal to a .375 or close enough for goverment work anyway!

My gun is a 26 inch barrel with a long throat and lengthened magazine, Brno Mod. 21..

But the bottom line for me is I like the 40 calibers for buffalo, the 416s or 404s are for me, as they give you some breathing room in a crunch and up close and personal, plus they give you a free pass on faceing shots on buffalo. I like a big soft on top followed by all solids. The 40s are buff guns, but only if you can shoot them recoil wise.

I suggest you get a copy of the latest Hatari Times and read Harold Wolfs "About Big Guns and Failures" on Buffalo, it is a whole issue dedicated to hunting Buffalo, and is most informative, and accurate...

I should add as a second thought that I get these velocities with that longer tube, long throat and magazine, and I believe that may make a difference in the 9.3x62..Ganyana told me that he did not like the 320 gr. Woodleighs in his short tube gun as he could not get the velocity, but he may have been using the local Sochem powders also??

My loads are just a bit faster than most of the reloading books I have on hand and I am about a grain over thier max on average..

That article sounds like it would be very interesting. And I would think that a 320 gr. Woodleigh at 2,200 fps would go through a tank or half way through a hippo, whichever it hit first...but then, I'm just speculating...

I thought I remembered reading that at some point there are diminishing returns to long bullets, for example, that, other things being equal, a 180 gr. 30 cal bullet would out penentrate a 220 gr. 30 cal bullet. That seems counter-intuitive and I don't know how accurate it is, but, if so, that would fit with Gayana's experience. Then again, maybe he's just not getting the velocity required to make the most of it, like you said.

IFIRC, Atickson &/or .458 Win wrote about magazine media tests with 220 gr. .30 cal. NP in a 30-06. They had something like 23" of penetration, more than anything else tested. SD on that bullet is like .330

Nothing will penetrate any better than a 220 gr. 30-06 in tests that I have done and tests that Phil Shoemaker has done, and it will certainly out penetrate a 180 gr. Nosler.. My only problem is the 30-06 kills them a lot slower than say a 9.3, 375 or 416. They will make many more tracks...the lighter the caliber gets the more tracks they can make after a hit, that just makes since, and its a fact.

By the same token, the 9.3 and 375 kill buffalo very well indeed, they are minimum buffalo cartridges and the buffalo on average make more tracks before they die, thus the advantage of a bigger bores..

Ideally the 416 or 404 are buffalo rifles of choice IMO. The recoil is tolerable for me personally, and they are stoppers IMO.....Then you have the stopping issue, to some it's important and to others it's not, depending on how you look at it..In a charge situation I would say a 458 Lott or 505 is an excellent rifle to have in ones hands, but I am inclined towards a brain or spine shot in that situation, so a 9.3x62 is also a stopper ??????? your choice. I took the middle road after much experimentation, and chose the .416 Rem and 404, later dropped the 404 as I feel it needed an expensive Mauser M-20 action. and the 416 was just as good and could be built on any action.

I, personally, would not even consider a 250 gr. Monolithic for a Cape Buffalo, 9.3x62 Buffalo bullets begin with the 286 gr. bullets IMO and I also would prefer a GS Customs or Northfork flat nose solid or Northfork cup point, to any other bullet in the 9.3 or 375, and I believe them to be more reliable as the bore gets smaller..

A 9.3x62 or .375 H&H are capable buffalo calibers, but you must use them properly and you don't have a lot of room for error. A buff will normally make a lot of tracks shot with either, then fall over dead, the problem with that is they can make those tracks in your direction! ..Don't take frontal shots with either caliber as on ocassion they will deflect to the right or left and go under the shoulder on the outside of the rib cage, but if you use a cup point or flatnose solid this never seems to happen, thus my choice of solids in smaller buffalo callibers..You can always wait until he makes the turn to shoot him broadside, then shoot him going away as many times as you can or take the frontal brain shot. I won't argue with the experts about soft nose bullets and monolithics but only expound on my experiences and preferences that has worked for me...

In the 40 calibers I like a premium soft nose on top followed by flat nose solids. I like the Woodleigh in 400 and 450 gr., the Northfork 370 gr. soft, The 400 gr. Noslers. I have no problem with a gun full of flat nose solids or cup points either.

If I had to use a soft in the 9.3x62 it would be a Woodleigh 320 or a Swift 300 at about 2400 FPS and would definatly follow them with flat nose solids.

fortunatly most buffalo take a hit, run off and die. but if you are hunting in an area where the buff are hunted all night by lions and all day by man, they can become bloody aggressive because they are stressed continually. A buff has a schedule, eat, water, chew his cud, and sleep, when you interupt that cycle he can be aggressive as hell. If he is wounded, been caught in a snare, cut up by a Lion or whatever, and you stumble upon him it can get exciting in a hurry.

Thats the way I see it. the good and the bad..

Well it sounds like I was wrong on the 180 gr. vs. the 220 gr.

As for the rest of your post, wow, thanks for taking the time to share it. There's no way I would know that info without someone of your experience explaining it to me. And in the days prior to the internet that would have been quite unlikely to have happened. All I had access to back then were gun magazines and as I remember it from those days they usually consisted mostly of articles comparing one stripe of .300 magnum to another...not that there's anything wrong with that...

But again, thanks for the post.

RAC: That is one mean-assed looking buff,knarly and all....nice work and congrats on him...very very cool and nicely done!

i get advertized velocity with VV-550 in the 9.3x66 Sako, Varget and RL-15 were 100fps +/- off. VV-550 may work in a '62 as well.

From one of my 9.3x62s I get a MV of around 2200fps from Woodleigh 320grn FMJs which provide plenty of penetration on Buffalo if not too much.
I prefer the effect that the 286grn FMJs have on Buffalo over the 320s.
However, I would like to try one on an Ele though.

Aushunter,

Nice photo. What kind of rifle is that in the photo?

ChipM,

I think he answers it at the end of this thread:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3639186/4/Husqvarna_146_9_3x57

Nice Husky aushunter!

The CZ let's me seat bullets out to magazine length. Very nice.