Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska How popular is the 9.3x62 in Alaska.?

Been looking at the Tikka T3 Battue in 9.3x62.
If for some strange reason my reloading equilment wasn't available, are there 9.3x62 ammo on dealers shelves.???

Maybe in Anchorage you MIGHT find some... but your choices will be limited. Stick to VERY ordinary to save grief if you are not in a very stable situation with a ton of gear...

My advice is guaranteed to be worth everything you paid for it.

Hey Art..!

You still over here fishing.?

That Battue is available in 06 and 300 WM also. I like cutting big holes, t'was why I was thinking 9.3. But I think you make a very valid point. An 06 running 200gr class bullets would stomp....as well, give me one more in the magazine over the 300...nuttin wrong with that.

You'll love the 9.3.

I don't recall seeing the 9.3 very often, but in good shops they will have the ammo.

There is something to be said of standard caliber to start with. I"ve seen 06,300 win mag, even 375 in bush stores. Have also seen a lot of 223 and 7.62x39 FWIW.

I'd get a 9.3 in a heartbeat, but I also reload and if going in the bush I'd have the stuff to load with, 500 brass, primers, 8 pounds or so of powder, 500 bullets and so on..

There's a half dozen 9.3s used in this tiny town.

I didn't look but I bet Cody has a selection of ammo too.

Sure, but they're probably all yours!

Another 9.3 fan here. Both the x74R and x62. Definitely a reloading situation. It'd be sketchy relying on retailers having it in stock.

Jeff

I don't know if it's a "local phenomenon" or not, but the 9.3X62 has taken off here in Wyoming like no new "fad" I have ever seen.

5 years ago most Wyoming hunters had never heard of it. But in the last 2 years I have re-barrels or made 17 rifles to that caliber.

I have never in my 50 years of gunsmithing had that many hunters come to me requesting the same caliber in only 2 years. My records show that the most popular custom rifle caliber r the last 35 years is the 270 Winchester, and the most 270s custom rifles I ever made was 6 in one year. for years a close 2nd was the 22-250. The most 22-250s I ever made in one years was 5.

Now not all 17 of these 9.3s were custom rifles, but all were by request. No suggestion from me. Many started out as 25-06s 270s and 30-06s and are re-barrel jobs. ------Well that not true now that I think about it. -----One was by my suggestion for a left handed man that was a bit tight on money and wanted a classic "African Express rifle" in 375H&H and when I showed him the 9.3 and he saw a LH 30-06 could be use to make it and not need a magnum action it was a go right there on the spot. But he was the only one that didn't come into the shop with his mind already set on the 9.3.

If this is just local it's not going to effect Alaska at all. But if this is a trend that is national or at least regional, I think the 9.3X62 may become a mainstay there.

However one thing that I need to temper this post with is this:
All 17 of my customers load their own ammo. That could be a huge factor. There are, and always have been cartridges that were popular with "rifle-loonies" that took years, or even decades, to catch on with the average hunter.
22-250 and 25-06 at two examples.

So 17 requests in Wyoming alone may mean nothing as far as ammo availability in Alaska.

Cody [Granite View Sports} has a pile of ammo but I doubt if he has 9.3.....if you're in the
area and need some, I'm sure I can scrape up a bit.

LOVE my 21" iron sighted synthetic stock Mauser M12 - don't overlook it. 5-shot detachable, reloadable while in battery mag is super slick.

I left right in the middle of the really big rains...

There is nothing wrong with the cartridge, just not enough loonies to make it popular...

Which would likely kill most of the draw...

Never used one but I have no doubt it's a great round.

If you're looking for medium bore round that you have a hope of feeding it factory fodder 30-06, 300 win mag, 338 win mag and 375 H&H are the ones to consider.

I used to be a loony having gone the 35 whelen AI, 350 Rigby and now 350 rem mag route. If I were to do it over I'd just go with the 375 H&H.

Thanks for all the responses

I’ll be shocked if Great Northern doesn’t have some in stock all the time. I’m coming home from the slope today and will stop in if my flight is not delayed. I’ll check for you.

That would surprise me greatly knowing Cody. But you are permanent, I'm only passing through now and then for the next 1300 or so days we hope. LOL.

I think the main point, if you are in the bush and not reloading and either buy when in town or order etc.. components, then Fairbanks and Anchorage probably do, others YMMV.

Me, I tend to love the oddballs and stock up on brass, and bullets at the least when I buy them... and tend to keep on hand a handful of 8 pounders of versatile powders in case I buy something I was not expecting....

A friend came here elk hunting....he bought his .35 Whelen and assumed he could buy ammo between here and New Mexico.....we go through Denver.....as it turned out I took a spare gun in 9.3 X 62 and I had ammo for it.....we never found any .35 Whelen ammo all the way between here and Santa Fe....not saying there ain't any....saying we couldn't find any.....so I'd be very reluctant to say that 9.3 X 62 ammo could be found anywhere.....as a matter of fact, I've never seen any stocked anywhere.....I have to order it through Midway and if I wasn't a hand loader, I'd not own a 9.3 X 62.....nor a .35 Whelen nor a .338-06.....maybe look to the .338 Win Mag if you need more than a .30-06.

The 9.3 X 62 is a seriously powerful round and many rifles hold five rounds.....it and the .35 Whelen are no where near as popular as they should be.

When I venture out to the Anchorage town a couple of times each year I stop at Great Northern Guns and they seem to always have a CZ 9.3x62. I like them, but not as much as my .338 Winny. Every so often some gun writer will tout the virtues of some cartridge they like and the shooting/hunting public reads the article and has to have one.

A friend of mine had an old 80's "Stainless Classic" mod. 70 turned into a 9.3x64 and wowser! That cartridge impressed me when I saw how many box's of wet news paper he was shooting them through with the 286 grain Barnes X bullets. I think it held 4 or 5 rounds in the magazine and I thought it would be a very good moose and bear set up and would prefer it for Alaska and would probably drop to the 250 grain weight. But, the 9.3x62 has plenty of power for any thing in Alaska.

You're right...kinda....Cody sold out but had some 9.3x74 in stock....ordering 62s soon.

Specialty gunshops might carry 9.3X62 and might carry 35 whelen in Anchorage and Fairbanks and perhaps a few other locals. I know for a fact in the 20+ years I've been up here the availability of brass, component bullets and loaded ammo has varied tremendously and the less popular rounds are spotty for availability even in the biggest cities when ammo supplies are good.

If you want to maximize your chances of finding factory ammo, brass and component bullets, the 338 win mag and 375 H&H are far better choices than any and all 8 mm, 35 caliber and 9.3mm's.

I get wanting to be different, but from a practical standpoint you lump the medium bores together and they all have more or less the same trajectory and terminal performance. What is starkly different is how likely you'll be able to keep them fed should it be bumming a few rounds off a partner, hitting a hardware store or a specialty gun shop.