I use the 9.3X74R and I just finished my 9.3X57. I have a 9.3X62 in the works for myself too. The 9.3X62 seems to just caught on with Wyoming hunters in the last years and many of my customers love them. 4 years ago, most had never heard of the shell.
I am found of the Nosler Partitions, but I have to admit, the PPU "plane vanilla" bullet seems pretty good and it's fairly cheap. So far I have heard no complaints about the PPU bullets.
I have personally used the Hornady 286 grain with very good results, but I have read two reports of them breaking up too, so the jury is still out on them with me.
The Speer offering is the worst of the lot by far.
Super accurate, but it's a 270 grain varmint bullet. Good practice bullet for "plinking' and paper shooting.
I buy them a lot, but I won't ever fire another at game. I have had them break up 100% of the time on game as small as Antelope does, and one 110 pound White Tail buck I shot was then killed with my pistol. The Speer 270 grain bullet broke up, and the largest piece was only 5" deep. Yes that's correct. 5 inches.
Woodleigh and Norma also get very high praise, but like the above mentioned Nosler Partitions, are priced too high to practice with very much. For hunting I would have full confidence in them.
I intend to try the 150 grain Accu-bond but so far I have not been able to buy any. Nosler doesn't make a lot of them, and they don't make them very often I guess. I am thinking it may be the one I use in my 9.3X57 most of the time, but I can't shoot what I can't find. I hear very good things.
For now, I am buying Speer 235 grain .375" bullets and resizing them to .366" so I will hopefully have some reports about them soon. I made some up, but I have not loaded them yet so I can't say how accurate they are.
If they prove to be accurate I'll chronograph them and then I will do tests in my ballistic test trough. I'll shoot through cow, elk and maybe sheep bones along with water saturated news paper and see how well they do.
I have never used the Barnes, but I have clients that have, and they say they are wonderful as long as impact velocity is at 2000 FPS or more. Below that they don't open up much. Now that's only what I am told. I believe it because I have found the same with most other Barnes bullets I have used in other calibers, but if someone out there has real-life info on low velocity hits with Barnes, please share.
I know of one man that swear by Swift too. Most others, including myself, don't use them because of the price and the fact that they don't seem to open up at lower velocities as well as Noslers do,
and cost more. For hunting up close, and if the game is very large, the Swift may be one of the best, but on American game up to Moose I think they are not a good as Noslers. Not bad at all mind you, but not
as good as Noslers.
No man becomes a wizard with a rifle unless he can practice a lot, and the cost of some of the bullets today is working against the skill of marksmanship as much or more then the anti-gunners do.
A $2 or $3 bullet may be "better", but in most cases they don't shoot to the exact same point of impact as other less expensive bullets do, so you can't do honest practice with your rifle and ammo at ranges from 10 to 600 yards unless Trump barrows money from you. I am of the opinion that a man shooting a bullet that is "75% of perfect" 500 times is going to be a MUCH MUCH MUCH more successful hunter than the man that shoots the bullet that is "100% perfect" 100 times. From the prices I am seeing the "perfect" bullets cost between 3X and 6X the price of the others, so you can shoot 3X or 6X more for the same money, and you should. Shooting is what is going to make you a good shot, not spending money of "super bullets"
It's not a valid argument that the bullet is the "least expensive thing of the hunt" and you should spend the money of the super duper bullets to hunt with. I find it doubtful that the hunter using them is going to be as good a marksman as the one that spends the same money on less expensive bullets and shot the heck out of his rifle for 1-3 years before he goes hunting. The man is the most important thing to consider, not the tools.
The only exception to this rule may be some of the dangerous game of Africa, where you are required to go with a pro, and he (or she) will get you within 50 yards of the game before they allow you to fire. Honestly, 1 in 100,000 American will ever do that.
For the remaining 999,000 of us Americans I recommend buying 46 to 54 cent bullets by the 500 lot, and using them up in practice. So when you get that opportunity at a big elk, moose or even a deer or antelope, and that opportunity is at 100 to 500 yards, you can fire your rifle with confidence and kill that animal well, because you and that failure with your tools.
For now, to me, that means PPU 285 gr, and Hornady 286 grain bullets for practice and for some hunting, and Speer 270 grain for plinking only. The Nosler Partitions seem to shoot to the exact same point of impact as the Hornadys so that may be the best overall combination. Hornadys for practice and for hunting game up to maybe 350 pounds, and Nosler partitions for everything else from 400 to 2500 pounds. Over 2500 pounds the pros tell me they prefer a solid and at that point you can buy the $3 bullets because all your shots are going to be close and you need not practice with the $3 bullets at 50 yards and closer. Personally I would not spend $2 to $3 of them either because I can buy these.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/4...-300-grain-dgs-flat-nose-solid-box-of-50 Just practice with the cheap ones and then zero in perfectly before you leave with your $3 bullets (or the 86 cent bullets listed above.) One box of them will last many hunts if you are good with your rifle, which as I said, come from practice.
