Just got my CZ 550 American in 9.3 sighted in on 286 Hornady ammo. Lucky me, I am getting about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch groups with this rifle and I can tell you right now, I am very pleased with the CZ and this out of the box grouping. I do hand load and I was wondering if anyone out there has a favorite load for whitetail? This is my second CZ and I think it is one of the best values out there.

Larry

That load will work.

Try the 270 grain SP RN over enough RL-15 to give good accuracy.

Well I think you might be better of in the American Big Game section when wondering about whitetails, but anything you can launch from this rifle will blow right through the biggest whitetail alive.

WT deer are easy to kill and have minimal will to live compared to herd game. I've killed lots of them with everything from a .223 to a 30/06 and twice as many with an arrow.

I forgot to add that my exotic game neighbor across the road is stocked with African plains animals as well. lol. I might have to work a deal on a nice Kudu I have been watching.

I just picked up some 270 Speer. How many grains are you loading in RL15?

Waaay too underpowered for whitetail. I suggest at least a 40 caliber for such a dangerous animal.

You might try these bullets for hunting and practice:
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/12622

They will kill deer and hogs quite effectively and are quite cheap compared to other brands. I like 'em so much I bought around 500 for my various 9.3 rifles.

How's the recoil on that gun compared to some standard American cartridges? I am getting a hankering for a 9.3x62 myself.

I use 250 gr TSX and the Barnes max load for IMR4064. Accurate and deadly. Recoil in my rifle ( rebarreled Model 70 Classic) feels about like 180s out of a 30-06.

In case they charge?

Norma 232g Oryx, 64g RL-15, have taken my last 6 deer with this load. In a CZ550. MOA at 100 yards, try it you will like it. Very little meat damage and the deer, with a good shot drop within 10 yards.

The recoil is not excessive, but you know that you have launched a major caliber. I would say recoil wise, a little more than a 20 gauge and less than a warm 45-70. Its not a plinker.

Larry

Hey those young whitetail does can be tough. lol.

Up till now, my go to gun has been a 45-70 and I am a fan of big caliber hunting tools, big hole, lots of blood, DRT. With a 45-70 you can eat up to the hole. I want to use the 9.3 as well, but don't want to mess up too much meat. From what I understand this can also be done with the 9.3, just looking for a good load to do so.

Larry

Is it me or are the Norma Oryx bullets hard to find? It seems like everyone is out of stock.

Try Black Hills Shooters supply.

The main reason I got the 9.3 is that I am going to live in Germany for 2-3 years and wanted something suitable for European hunting (at least that was my rationalization). It doesn't take me too much to justify buying a new gun. I assume the Prvi bullets would be good for everything from big boars to stag?

It looks like you have to have FFL to buy from Black Hills.

Sounds like it will do the job on heavy African plains game without beating you up too much. I'm looking at a Ruger Hawkeye African 9.3x62. If I get it I plan on putting a Leupold VX-3 2.5-8 36mm on it. Also would plan on replacing the Ruger trigger with a Timney.

I'm hoping to go on an African plains game hunt in the next two years if not sooner. Thanks to all of you for the answers to my question.

If a whitetail deer is the approx same size as an Impala or Fallow then all you need is a Norma Vulcan of 232 grains over 63 grains of Varget. It shoots flatter than the 286's.

The Prvi Partisan and Lapua Mega are all good conventional softpoints for game up to and including Kudu (which aren't that tough).

You don't need a premium projectile for large soft skinned game at 9.3x62 impact velocities.

Why? Karnis has one and the trigger was not bad, a little work and it is damn right nice!

My M77 (tang safety) has just a reworked factory trigger.

I like the idea of a flatter shooting 232gr (if I can find them!). What kind of velocity are you getting with this load and do you have an idea what is your PBR? I shoot 220s out of a 358 Winchester which seem plenty strong for Moose/Elk so I think a nice flat shooting 232gr would do nicely.

358 Win and 9.3, two of the most under rated and obscure rounds in North America. lol, glad I hand load. One of these days I will buy a rifle that I can get bullets at Walmart, but that would be too easy.

Have you tried the set trigger on the CZ 550? I found it a little awkward at first, but I think it helps the accuracy. Plus you have the option to use it or not.

Nice read here Gents, I have so many rifles I work up one load for anything I may ever hunt with that particular rifle, that said my 9.3x62 will be using the 320 Woodleigh's,

I will file the quarter rib to be dead on @50 yds, and use a little 2.5-8 Leupold in a set of Talley QD's for hunting ranges out to 200 yds.

Its being built on an old Heym Mauser 98, and a beautiful stick of walnut that our friend Karnis has worked over

Cant wait to see the completed rifle.

Gunner

Velocity runs at 2725 for the load using Lapua cases and CCI LR primers. Normas can be hard to find, Black Hills is the US distributer for Norma.

I picked up some Norma Oryx 232 gr tips at Graf's a while back. Using RL-15 I was up around 2650 on the chrono at what appears to be easy pressures. Case necks were smoked and they about fall out of the chamber. Not sure on the PBR, never shot them that past 200 yards. Seem to recall them being about an inch low at 200 with them two inches high at 100 if that helps.

Agree that the 358 and 9.3 are under rated. Seems that most are looking for string trajectories and means 3000 fps+ and bullets under 200 grains so you are not killed by recoil.

I found that 58-59gns Varget works with just about anything in 285gns with my 9.3s. Yesterday I was shooting my new Hawkeye 9.3 with 286gn Hornadys, Lapua Mega and tried a few 286gn TSXs adn they all shoot well. The Megas and the hornadys shoot to the some POI and all group around .5 to .7" - the variation probably being me........

While the 232-grain Norma Oryx works fine on deer, if you might shoot longer ranges the 250-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip shoots noticeably flatter, even though it can't be started as fast, due to a MUCH higher ballistic coefficient. It also penetrates deeper, though it still expands easily on deer-sized game.

If ranges aren't going to be over 250 yards or so the Hornady and Privi 286's are the best financial deal.

61 grains of Varget in my 25" barrel got 2,627 fps (Chrono'd). 63 grains would be slightly more of a good thing. I zero it at 200 yards and have not had to shoot anything over that (yet). If you come across some factory RWS 258 H-Mantel ammo it is superb quality and would also make a fine small game soft skinned game load. Very expensive however.

Yes, I think the 9.3 and the .358 are under rated, yet very efficient for their respective uses. I guess they are victims of "magnum mania" since the 50s. I shoot 180s out of my .358 in a BLR, however, that gun is very light and it does buck a little even with the smaller bullets. What is the smallest bullet out there for the 9.3? Is it the Norma 232gr? Thanks for all the contributions out there.

Larry

How do you like that Hawkeye? Looks like a sweet gun.

Your custom Mauser 9.3 sounds like a really nice project. I thought about going that route until my local gun store had a formally Africa bound CZ550 with a nice Nikon scope tempt me beyond my ability to resist. The rifle was brand new, but sold as used. Apparently, the Africa trip never happened for a customer and he traded it in for used. His loss and my gain and the rifle is a real shooter (.5 to .75 inch groups).

Larry

I got amazing accuracy with the 286 Previs in both 9,3X62 and 9,3X74R. Granted, they aren't all that "slick" through the air, but they are good bullets for the two 9,3 flavors I used.

I loaded the 250 Ballistic Tips only in 9,3X74r and found them OK accuracy wise and tough enough for the relatively slow velocities of that round. I never did try them in the 9,3X62, but I can't see a downside.

JB- would an AB give any less meat loss than a BT or same?

I really like the 9.3 and my next mid bore has a 95% or better chance of being this round. Love 338s, but looking at 9.3 vs. the non belted 338/06 I prefer, the 9.3 looks really good.

This may be my German Bleifrei (leadfree) round, plus I don't think there is anything in Europe that wouldn't fall quick with this load.

The Barnes TSX 250g is accurate in my 550, about 2625fps again with RL-15 about 62g. These are loads that JB published some time ago for his CZ550. They work so well in mune that I have found no need to experiment further.

For thin skinned game like deer, I think the Speer 270 grain around 2,400 - 2,500 sounds about right. My 9.3 is shoots under an inch with this bullet with light recoil too.

Larry - As far as I know, the 232 is the lightest bullet available in 9.3. My gun weighs about 7 1/2 pounds loaded and ready to fire. I do not find the recoil objectionable, even with the 286 grain loads. No question it will be somewhat more than your 358 assuming comparable gun weights.

65BR,

You may or may not be aware that Nosler bullets of all types (except perhasp the E-Tip) are designed to perform differently, depending on the type of game the Nosler folks anticipate hunters will use them on. This even applies to Partitions: The larger, heavier models are designed to retain more weight.

So to say "a BT" doesn't mean much. Some AccuBonds will perform very similarly to the stouter Ballistic Tips, while others will act more like Partitions.

The 250-grain 9.3 AccuBond is designed to retain at least 80% of its weight, and the only one I've recovered (from pretty good-sized grizzly) retained 83%. This a lot more than even the stoutest Ballistic Tips, so it does tend to tear up less meat. I've also shot endwise through big kudu and similar game, but the front end expands readily on deer-sized game.

When loaded to 2650 or so it has a very similar trajectory to the 180-grain .30-06 load.

There is lighter bullets for 9,3 available than Norma Vulcan 232gr. Lapua new Naturalis is 220gr and Imapala (SA) offer 180gr.

Actually, I think my ultralight BLR in 358 seems to buck about the same as my heavier CZ550 9.3. Of course that is just perception.

A 180gr should really zing out of a 9.3. Any idea on velocity?

This sounds like a potential "go to" round for Germany. Thanks

I checked the price on those Naturalis bullets, youch! They are little proud of those things aren't they, over $106.00 for a box of 50! and that's just for the bullets! Barnes TSXs are starting to look like a bargain. lol.

JB, yes, aware they are engineered w/diff goals in mind and thanks for elaborating on larger bullets. Appreciate the feedback, also enjoyed your recent article on bonded bullets.

No perception of 'magic' here but they shoot very well and kill great. Most of my needs and shooting involves 6.5 and similar small bores as you likely know by my posts.

I have leaned to Accubonds, right/wrong in 6.5, 277, and 7mm in 120-140gr if anything feeling they are seemingly very accurate like the Ballistic Tip, and perhaps a little less destructive on meat, while perhaps giving more penetration if needed on angling shots or hitting more bone.

No doubt, given a 9.3's intended use, the BT jacket is surely stout and at its modest speed, meat damage is probably not so pronounced vs. a higher speed smaller cal BT w/thinner jacket.

Looks like the 250 AB is a viable bullet for all but the toughest game...say Elephant and Cape Buffalo...

Nice job on the Grizzly.

To Lorenzo: Yes Lapua Naturalis is expansive also in Europe, but I got recently from my friend in US Lapua Naturalis 270gr bullets for a 50$ for box. He told me that there was some sale out for those bullets. Today this bullet (270gr) is not on the Lapua list anymore.
About 180gr Imapale can put up reload data what I found "somewhere". Haven't try this yet therefore NO Comments. On the Imapla homepage http://impalabullets.co.za/ you can also find some very good dates.

9,3x62 and 180gr Impala LWHV bullet
Vihtavuori N133 min56gr max60gr 2805-2970f/s
Vihtavuori N135 min58gr max61gr 2805-2950f/s
Norma R902 min57gr max61,5gr 2740-2905f/s
9,3x64 and 180gr Imapala LWHV bullet
Vihtavuori N540 min70gr max75gr 2920-3115f/s
Norma R907 min70gr max76gr 2870-3115F/s

GS Custom Bullets from South Africa also make a 195gn Copper projectile similar to the TSX. They give velocity of these of about 3000ft per sec with various powders in the 9.3x62!

Should be excellent on anything up to maybe Eland...... they also do a 235 and 260.

http://www.gsgroup.co.za/hvloadslarge.html

http://www.gsgroup.co.za/02hv.html

The 235gr does interest me!

I think it would be a good all around bullet for anything but the biggest and toughest critters.