Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anatomy of a Wacko Rifle Purchase - 9.3x74R

The dead of winter - like right now - is a bad time for me. Always has been. I get antsy, suffering from what the old timers called cabin fever. I hike, ramble and varmint hunt when I can, but I also typically succumb to too much time indoors. I read a lot. I watch favorite hunting videos for the umpteenth time. I try to frequent the gym. And I study gun catalogs. The gun catalogs, if the truth be told, are my wintertime nemesis.

Late last winter, I got the itch to buy a new rifle. That�s nothing new, as I�m afflicted by that malady nearly year round. But it is always particularly vicious in late winter. After lots of studying, soul searching and repeated inventories of existing gear that I might sell to finance said new rifle, I became convinced that I needed a Winchester Model 1886 Deluxe Take Down rifle in 45-70.



Since I buy rifles to hunt, I saw myself striding over the Wyoming prairie in search of antelope with that big lever gun. I also had clear visions of that ten-pound behemoth resting atop a very dead Colorado dark-timber elk.

I even found that exact rifle resting peacefully in the gun rack of a local gun shop. It was beautiful. It felt great. Over one two week period, I looked at it no less than five times.

Then, inexplicably, I changed my mind. That�s another affliction of mine.

What was I thinking? A ten-pound lever-action rifle? Iron sights? A cartridge that Custer�s troops carried at Little Bighorn? Was I nuts?

I shelved the 1886 idea, and went searching for another possibility.

What I really wanted, I decided, was something handy, compact, interesting and chambered in a cartridge that I�d never hunted with before.

That�s when the notion of a Ruger No. 1 reared its elegant head. I�d never owned a No. 1 and had shot only a few. The single-shot nature intrigued me, as did the stout, compact nature of the rifle. It could be easily scoped, and it was available in a dazzling array of chamberings and styles. The two models that interested me most were the Ruger No. 1 Light Sporter and the No. 1 Tropical. Both featured an abbreviated Alexander Henry forend, a trim stock and a banded front sight. I�d likely not use the iron sights, but they sure looked cool on those rifles.



The Light Sporter was available in chamberings like 270, 7x57 and 30-06. Been there, done that. Boring.

The Tropical, on the other hand, could be had in a mesmerizing spread of thumper cartridges, like 375 H&H, 405 Winchester, 416 Rigby, 458 Winchester Magnum and .458 Lott. Wow! I�d never shot anything with a 458 Lott. Things were looking up.

Then, while ripping through the pages of the Ruger catalog on one particularly blustery winter day, I discovered a fairly new Ruger offering � a Ruger No.1 Medium Sporter in 9.3x74R. The new Ruger No. 1 Medium Sporter split the difference between the 7.25-pound Light Sporter and the 9-pound Tropical. On top of that, the 9.3x74R chambering seemed the perfect cartridge for the new rifle.

What�s a 9.3x74R, you ask. Never heard of it, you say. Well, let me tell you about the 9.3x74R.

The 9.3x74R (the �R� stands for rimmed) is one of the all-time favorite hunting cartridges in Europe, and has also enjoyed much popularity in Africa. It was originally developed in Germany around 1900 and quickly caught on as a superb sporting cartridge for medium-to-large big game. Because it�s a rimmed cartridge, it works particularly well in double and single shot rifles. The typical 9.3x74R loading fires a 286-grain bullet at around 2350 feet per second. By today�s standards those are not flashy ballistics, but the big 9.3x74R proved perfect in Europe for red stag and driven boar, and it has been used for all manner of game in African right up through eland, lion and the occasional Cape buffalo. For loose comparison purposes, let�s place the 9.3x74R somewhere between the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .375 H&H. It�s a hard-hitting effective cartridge, useful for medium-to-large game at fairly close range, say under 200 yards.

In appearance, 9.3x74R is a long, tapered cartridge that can best be described a classically cool. To give you another frame of reference, it�s about as long as a pronghorn antelope�s ear.



The ear on an adult American antelope typically measure about 6 inches in length. The big old 9.3x74R, as currently loaded by Hornady with 286-grain soft point bullets, measures nearly 4 inches from rim to nose. Next to a standard .30-06 round, a 9.3x74R round looks like an intercontinental missile.

But, horror or horrors, when I stopped by my local gun shop - the same one that had the Winchester 1886 Deluxe TD in stock - and asked about a new Ruger No. 1 Medium Sporter in 9.3x74R, you�d think I had asked for something obscene. In fact, my 9.3 query was met with a hard stare and a quick rebuke.

�I�d never sell it, if I were ever wacko enough to order one in,� was all the shop owner would say about the 9.3x74R. �Can I show you that big Winchester 1886 again?�

To give him hope, I looked at the big Winchester one more time, then left, went home and jumped on the Internet. I hit all the major guns-for-sale sites, searching for 9.3x74R. My mind and heart were stubbornly set.

On Gunbroker.com one beauty jumped out at me. A gun shop in Illinois had a Ruger No. 1 Medium Sporter in 9.3x74R. �Rare,� said the listing. �Hard to find. Good wood. Desirable caliber.� For a change, it didn�t say a thing about it being wacko. I stared at it for ten minutes, decided to take the plunge and clicked the �Buy It Now� button. It was mine.

I liked the new rifle the minute I unpacked it at my FFL dealer, where it had been shipped. It was reasonable light (7 pounds 5 ounces), wonderfully compact (just a fraction over 38 inches from end to end), thin through the receiver for easy carry (like a slab-sided level action) and deadly looking. Very cool!

The first setup task was to scope it. I toyed with two different scopes before I was satisfied. I first tried a Leupold VX-III 1.5-5, mainly because that compact scope just seemed right for this rifle. It certainly was the traditional pick - a short, stocky rifle mated with a short, stocky scope. I put one in place, played with it for a few days and then rejected it for two reasons. First, that straight barreled scope just isn�t as bright as I wanted it to be in dim light hunting conditions. Second, as I age I am forced to admit that more scope magnification, within reason, is a good thing in hunting scopes. A top end of 5-power just doesn�t cut it for me anymore. If all my hunting shots were 50 to 75 yards, such a scope would be peachy. But they�re not. One shot may be 60 yards, but the very next might see me shooting out to 200 yards or more. And yes, I know that Jack O�Connor said that a good rifleman could do everything with a 4-power scope, and that lots of guys still spout that stuff. But I also know for a fact that I feel better, have more confidence and definitely shoot better when I can see the target better. For that reason, I now mostly hunt the West with my scopes set on at least 6-power, and I enjoy the capability of going up a bit from there for sight-in, practice and longer shots in the field.

With all that in mind, I switched to a Leupold VX-III 1.75-6 scope. That scope is still relatively light and trim, as befitting the rifle. For those situations where shots may be close, I can instantly twist the power ring down and be just fine. But for most hunting, I planned to simply crank it up to 6-power and leave it there.

Scope-mounting rings were next. The Ruger No. 1 Medium Sporter comes complete with Ruger high rings, and those rings tighten directly to the rifle�s receiver. It�s a good solid scope-mounting system, and the fact that Ruger includes them with each rifle is an unexpected bonus. But, those high rings proved just a bit too high for me. And, because of the nature of the Ruger No. 1s receiver, they also didn�t allow me to slide my chosen scope as far back as I wanted.

The solution was to simply pick up the phone and order a set of medium-height, extended rings from Ruger. The new rings arrived in about a week. The medium height proved perfect for me and the extended design allowed me to move my scope back so that a full sight picture was achieved. I was set.



With scope and rings taken care of, it was time to turn to ammunition. Factory 9.3x74R ammunition is available from both Norma and Hornady. I ordered sample boxes from Midway and headed to the range.

First up were two different loads from Norma. One of those featured 285-grain Alaskan soft point bullets and the other sported slightly tougher 285-grain Oryx bullets. Both shot well in my Medium Sporter from the bench, delivering 1.5- to 2-inch groups at 100 yards when I did my part. I was pleased. Then I tried the Hornady fodder. Hornady just recently began offering 9.3x74R in its Dangerous Game Series of ammunition. My particular Ruger No 1 Medium Sporter took an instant liking to the new Hornady offering with its 286-grain soft points. The Hornady groups hovered nicely around the one-inch mark at 100 yards.

Recoil, by the way, proved to be what I would call medium/heavy. The rifle weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces when scoped and ready to go. That weight helped tame recoil, but this is a powerful cartridge shooting a big bullet. My 9-pound (all-up) Dakota M76 Safari in .375 H&H recoils at about 40 foot-pounds. My 8-pound (all-up) Winchester M70 in .280 Remington recoils at around 20 foot-pounds. The new Ruger No. 1 in 9.3x74R felt like it punched with a force about half way between those two. The actual recoil numbers say 33 foot-pounds. It�s stout from the bench, but I doubted that I�d feel it when hunting.

What to hunt? Driven boar are a bit scarce in my corner of Colorado, as are eland. Elk in the dark timber would be the obvious choice, but I couldn�t wait for elk season. A Wyoming pronghorn antelope tag was burning a hole in my pocket. Antelope it would be.

Now, some might question the choice of a 9.3x74R single-shot rifle with 286-grain bullets for antelope hunting. But why not? Pronghorn antelope are the North American equivalent of African impala, and plenty of impala have been waylaid by this classic cartridge. At least that�s how my wacky 9.3x74R logic flowed.

I sighted the 9.3 Ruger in to be dead on at 100 yards, which put it about 3 inches low at 150 yards and about 6 inches low at 200 yards. At 250 yards, the big bullet�s arching trajectory was beginning to kick in and it impacted about 14 inches low. I decided I needed to get within 200 yards.

I am quite addicted to hunting antelope on my own, on public ground, in Wyoming. I camp near where I hunt, walk lots of miles and thoroughly enjoy this classic spot-and-stalk rifle hunt.

For two days, I worked the sage, rocks and sand, almost closing the distance on several nice bucks. But something always went wrong. The wind swirled. The does spotted me. Or the bucks, for whatever reason, simply guided their harems up and over the next ridge and far out of range.



As evening fell on my second day afield, I was following a tall, rocky spine back toward my camp. Halfway there, a slight movement on the crest of the next rise, 400 yards away, caught my attention. I stopped and glassed the spot. A single coyote was staring at me from a small opening in the blue-green sagebrush.

He watched me for at least a minute, but then turned and walked over the crest seemingly unconcerned.

I sat down and waited ten minutes. Then I fished out the varmint call I always carry in the left front cargo pocket of my camo pants, slipped its lanyard around my neck and moved forward.

The real secret to successful coyote calling it to call where the coyotes are. Calling blindly into an area is always tough. Calling into an area where you�ve just seen an unalarmed coyote is frequently a lead-pipe cinch.

As I neared the crest where the coyote had disappeared, I dropped to my belly and slowly inched my way to the top. The crest fell away alarmingly at my left elbow, but it seemed the best spot. I settle in, pushed my G1 SpikeCamp pack ahead on me and rested the Ruger on top of the pack. Then I arranged myself for a prone calling sequence and possible shot.

I like to call coyotes with a series of 5- to10-second long calling sequences. I call for 5 to 10 seconds, wait quietly for 30 seconds or more, and then call again. I�d barely finished the first sequence when the coyote I�d seen came racing up the ridge. He was 200 yards out, angling across my front from right to left and closing fast. Like called coyotes so often do, he was headed for a spot downwind of my position where he could catch my scent. In anticipation, I had already positioned the 9.3x74R so that it was aimed roughly at that spot.

When he did finally bounce to a sudden, broadside halt downwind and just 85 yards away, I nudged the crosshairs to his chest, tugged the trigger and airmailed a 286-grain surprise his way. The big slug hit him with a resounding whap, knocking him sideways into the sage.

As I eased up on my elbows to mark his position, another flash of movement caught my eye. A second coyote was racing in from the right.

A single-shot rifle is a very romantic way to hunt, but it�s far from ideal for nailing charging second coyotes. It�s also very difficult to reload from the prone position because the rifle�s bottom-mounted lever must be fully opened to eject the spent cartridge before a new cartridge can be inserted and the lever closed.

In a flash of steely-eyed hunting brilliance, I decide to roll to my left to clear enough room for the lever�s action� and I damn near fell of the steeply sloping ridgetop. In fact, I made a complete revolution in the prone position down that steep slope (like a rolling pencil) before I stopped, still clutching the rifle and still trying to stuff a second shell into the chambered. Not surprisingly, that second coyote was long gone before the dust settled. Should a video camera been present, it might have been the funniest hunting sequence every filmed. I looked around carefully to be sure that no one had been watching.

The first coyote was right were I�d shot him, well and truly hammered by the 9.3x74R. The new rifle was a virgin no more.



By mid-morning the next day, I was a long way from my camp and had been watching one particularly band of antelope for over two hours. The band had been moving through a relatively open sagebrush flat a half mile away, but seemed headed toward broken country where I just might have a chance. Twelve does and three bucks were in the group. The biggest of the bucks was a heavy 14-incher, which is close to as good as it gets on the public land where I hunt.

In the next 60 minutes, the antelope worked their way up and out of the flat and into a series of rocky ridges. When they disappeared over the last of those ridges, I slipped forward, halving the distance to about 400 yards.

The herd had moved left down the backside of the last ridge. I followed, out of sight on my side of the ridge. From time to time, I�d crawl up on hands and knees and peek over the ridge top, being careful to avoid the plentiful cactus scattered about and relying on stout kneepads to protect my knees from the sharp rocks. My rangefinder/binoculars now told me that the distance was down to 350 yards.

Below me and to my left, the ridge petered out a quarter mile away. I backed off the ridgetop and slipped down my side of the spine toward a tiny rock outcropping on the far end of the ridge. With luck, the herd would eventually feed right past me, hopefully within 200 yards.

Slowly, the antelope band moved my way, and I carefully arranged myself into a prone shooting position, with the 9.3x74R resting on my pack. First the does appeared. Then the bucks. But the distance was still at least 300 yards. Too far.

How many boys (human and animal) have been done in by a girl is hard to tell. But the biggest buck in the band was about to be added to the number.

A single doe suddenly peeled out of the feeding band and headed my way.

�Come on girl,� I whispered.

As she neared a particularly heavy patch of sagebrush, a patch my Leica binoculars with built-in rangefinder had already told me was just a bit over 200 yards away, the dominant buck took notice and headed out to round her up.

�Come on boy.�

She held her ground, stubborn to the last, as he neared. My crosshairs tracked him the whole way. She headed back. He turned broadside and looked out over the valley. I checked the distance one last time - 235 yards and downhill just enough so that I�d need to hold for 200 yards. Perfect. Six-inch drop.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/Wyoming2008034.jpg[/img]

The average buck antelope�s chest is typically 14 to 15 inch from top to bottom. I held just under is his backline above his chest and increased pressure on the trigger until the shot broke. Boom! Whap! He�s down!

Or was he? The bullet had knocked him to his knees, but his head was still up. Carefully (very carefully!) I rolled to my left, ejected the spent round, grabbed a second cartridge from the elastic ammo band on my wrist (which is definitely the best way I�ve found to quickly reload a single shot handgun or rifle), shoved it home, closed the lever and rolled back into my prone shooting position.

His head was still up. Had I hit him that well? I stared at him through my scope, ready for a quick second shot should it be needed.

After several minutes, I slowly and quietly slipped my pack on my back and headed down the ridge. He looked deader than a rock, but his head was still up. What the heck?

As I neared, I could see what had happened. He�d died so quickly that his head was caught in the sagebrush and held upright. Look closely and you can see exactly where the bullet hit him, in the center of his chest just behind the shoulder.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/Wyoming2008044.jpg[/img]

He really was a grand buck, with a striking hide and good height and mass to his horns. He also had ivory tips, which many feel is the sure sign of a fully mature buck.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/Wyoming2008153.jpg[/img]

With a little work and some rocks, I was able to pose him to show off his best features and present him in as dignified manner as I know how.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/Wyoming2008071.jpg[/img]

I suppose that a lot of hunters might question the sanity of anyone purposely selecting a compact single-shot rifle chambered in 9.3x74R to hunt coyotes and pronghorn antelope. But I�m here to tell you that wacko can be fascinating, wacko can be fun and wacko can be surprisingly effective in the field.


ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT NOTES (for those who may be interested)

I mentioned a number of special equipment items in the above narrative, beyond my Ruger No 1 Medium Sporter in 9.3x74R.

The wrist ammo band I use is one offered by Uncle Mikes. Its elastic, securely attaches to my wrist with Velcro and holds 6 rounds. I usually load it with three rounds spare rounds. It is the fastest way to reload a single shot rifle or handgun that I�ve tried, although it works poorly if the shooter is rolling down a hill.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/Wyoming2008117.jpg[/img]

Because the vegetation in good antelope country is often low, you�ll likely do a fair amount of crawling on your hands and knees, if not your belly, to close to within easy rifle range. Leather gloves and good kneepads make that much easier. Old basketball pads do work. But the best hunting kneepads I�ve used thus far are those offered by a company called Trophyline.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/Wyoming2008107.jpg[/img]

I�ll offer a few last comments on the 9.3x74R cartridge and the elegant Ruger No. 1.

The 9.3x74R can pretty much handle any North American game, from sly coyotes to big bears. I�d also have to say that Ruger�s No. 1 Medium Sporter is an ideal platform for this classic rimmed cartridge. In a very real sense, the combination is essentially a poor-man�s double, lacking but one extra round.

Great pictures, but I'll wait for the Cliff notes version......grin

Timberline --

You should be writing for some of the magazines instead of some of the dudes who are selling them what appears to pass for articles. Very nice writeup, and a grand rifle.

No reason not to hunt any game with whatever rifle appeals to you; there is certainly no reason not to hunt antelope with a 9.3 or a #1...let alone a rifle that is both .

Good job...

Dennis

Excellent post sir...

What an elegant rifle and the Ruger #1 certainly is. Great story.

Doc

Great story and excellent photos, thank you. Especially enjoyed it as I fell victim to the same "wacko" disease and bought a #1 in the same caliber and also equiped it with a Leupold 1.75x6. Only problem is I haven't had a chance to shoot mine yet.

great story, and a very cool rifle. congratulations on both, and a fine antelope as well.

Great story and great pics....... thanks.

That is a fantastic write-up.

Andrea wants to know if you ever wrote something similar on the pre-64 model 70 she bought me?

That was good, great hunt, excellent pics.


I love that type of country.

Very very cool.

Thanx for the report.

BMT

Great story I like the 9.3's too too bad I'm light in the wallet right now. You got one classy rifle there.

Holy smokes.

Excellent all the way around!


Mike

Great information. I've been intrigued by 9.3's since teenagehood (a very long time ago). Last year I finally got my 9.3: a CZ 9.3X62. The main reason I read your post was the fact you used Hornady ammunition. My CZ shoots the Hornady 286's in my handloads very well, and I plan to use them for Oklahoma whitetail and possibly Wyoming antelope. Yours is the first account I've seen of anyone hunting with the Hornady 9.3 bullet. Its not exactly most people's idea of a deer and antelope rifle, but I shoot it well and it needs to go hunting. Thanks for the post.

Great posting...welcome to the 9.3 club!!

thank you for your post. You tell a good story, your writing really is very good.

Great story and pics...interesting caliber...watch out JB!! we might have an author here.....

...GREAT story...you should be writing professionally as this was better than a lot of what I have read lately in the GunRags...

A friend has a double rifle in 9.3x74R...when he was in Africa two seasons ago he took his second cow elephant of the trip with it...at 7 yards...

Bob

Great post - very well written indeed!