Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Combination Guns and Drillings jp sauer drilling caliber

i didnt want to highjack my fathers drilling thread but it prompted me to dig out a sauer drilling ive had put way for years it came as set of sauer hammer drilling and hammer double rifle both manf. in 1893 the drilling is marked 108/49 which I thought was 9.3x72R but this cart. will not fit the chamber although the chamber measures 72mm also the 72r rim base is to wide and the 72mm will only chamber about 2/3 in. i should mention that the double rifle was a .43 Spanish neck down to .429. I hunt with this double rifle. any suggestions on this drillings cartridge? im beginning to think that maybe both guns were special chambered at the time?? I will at some point chamber cast the drilling but would like some input.

Did you slug the bore? What is the bore diameter?

You might also check with John Barsness. Eileen has a sweet BBF with a rifle chamber that's close to a 9,3X72R, but it's 9mm.

the bore measures .364 but I will slug it.

I can't think of any 9.3 cartridge that has a smaller body diameter than the 9.3x72R are you sure you didn't try and chamber a 9.3x72 Sauer(rare) or a 9.3x74R? Both of those have larger bodies than the 9.3x72R. You might measure the rim diameter on the face of the breech an match it to existing data it will be slightly larger than listed data.

after making some measurements I think it is close to a 9x57 mauser. I will take a chamber cast as soon as I order some cerrosafe.

There was a 9x58R Sauer. I think there was a 9.5x58 also but I'm not sure. I know there was a 9.3x72 Sauer as well as a bunch of other 9.3 variations before the 9.3x72 was "normalized".The bore dimensions vary all over the place with these early guns. I have a 6.5x58 Sauer that is exactly 257.

I have a exposed hammer guild gun 16x16 short chambers. It came with several 9.3x72mm RWS shells, which would camber but would not fall out of the chambers when unloading. The barrel slugged.358". Under close examination I found a faint 8.8 stamp on the rifle barrel which agrees with .358 bore finding.

I made cases from .38-55 Win brass. The cases are short, but it shoots well with mild .35 Rem load data.

I saw a drilling very similar to mine at a gun show that had a single case marked .360 that appeared to be the round my drilling was chambered for.

Michael

The MM designations on a German gun can be very confusing. There were a plethora of cartridges that would fit in the category. 9.3/8.8/8.7 could cover a multitude of bore and groove combinations. My 9.3x72 has a .344 bore and .364 groove dimentions and I've heard of them going as low as .356 in the groves and still be a 9.3.

Mule Deer's wife had a drilling with a .358 groove diameter.

Here is a discussion on a 9.3x72 that sounds like yours.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-75108.html

Actually you are kind of lucky as the .358 groove diameter opens a whole world of bullet options to you that aren't available for .364 grooved barrels.

Keeping your loads in the mild range you might never need mor than a .35 Rem die set to do your loading and a 9.3x 72R FL sizer to size the body on occasion if you start with new bras.

If you can load a couple of new brass with 38 special or 35 Rem dies you can send the fired brass of to C&H and they will make a set of dies that will work perfect very reasonably.

C&H has a lot of experience with the odd sized 9.3's

If you think 9.3's are strange 6.5's in Euro arms run from .250 to .268

The 360 marked case you saw was for the British .360 Nitro Express 2.25", brass for it can be make from shortened 9.3x72R brass.

I have a Sauer Cape Gun 12ga X 9X57R, it sounds like yours may also be a 9X57R. If so you are in luck as .358 bullets (250gr) are readily available and the brass is easily formed from factory 444 Marlin brass or you can expand the neck on 8x57R which is also in abundance.