Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Europe PPU 285 Gr 9.3MM Bullets?

Hello all.

I am putting this request on several forums.

I am looking for details about the PPU brand 9.3MM 285 grain bullets. Specifically, how they hold together and what amount of weight they are retaining from kills in the field. Any cartridge 9.3MM gun, at any game, at any range, at any angle, I would like to hear detailed reports by anyone who has killed game with this specific bullet.

Thanks

Wish I could help but I haven't connected with them yet. I have maybe 500 at this point. I figured I could plink with them . I bought them as they went on sale in years past. Do you have photos of the gun you will use them in?. I have a Valmet system with a barrel set and Mike Dettorre's double, Saggitaire. Then some other bolt trash 9.3s. Be Well. Rusty

shot through 3 hogs with 1 ppc. worked ok for that. had to line them up just right.

Rustyzipper, my pictures are on [bleep], and they seem to have changed a bunch of things making it impossible for me to use them anymore without "signing up" for things with yahoo, and I am not wanting to sign up for anything more. The computer world is largely unknown to me, and I have learned that signing up for things results in a lot of unwanted things coming to my computer. So [bleep] has lost me as a user. Before them I used photobucket and they tried to force us all to jump through their hoops too, so I booted them from my use first. Now [bleep] is trying to force me to jump through hoops, so I will not use them either.


Anyway. I have 4 9.3s and the one I have killed a lot of game with is a Ruger #1 in 9.3X74R. I have killed a lot of game with this rifle most of which were shot with the 270 grain Speer bullets and that is how I can say I am a bit dissatisfied with them. I also have used a few Hornady 286 grain bullets and I have had good results with them, but I hear complaints from otehr shooters about them. I use 3 RWS 225 grain bullets on antelope and deer and found them to be a bit too "explosive" for my liking also. The gold standard has been the Nosler 286 grain Partition. That bullet is excellent and will exit a bull elk after hitting bone, but it still expands fine through the ribs of a doe antelope and shoots under MOA. It's only down side is it's cost, being far too expensive to practice with.

From my other 9.3s I have shot a lot less game.
My most resent one is my Mauser in 9.3X62 I made for myself and I have killed nothing with this rifle yet.
Next is a 9.3X57 Husky M46 I restocked, and I have killed only 2 animals with it.
Last is a Mauser M98 I made a while back which also has only 3 kills behind it.

The bullets I have used myself to kill game with are:
270 grain Speer.
286 Grain Hornady.
286 grain Nosler partition.
250 grain Nosler accu-bond.
225 grain RWS

In addition to those in the list above while hunting with other men and one woman who use 9.3s I have seen kills with;
Barnes TXS,
Norma Oryx and Vulcan, both in the 232 grain weight,
and the 286 grain Lapua,
but myself, I have not used any in this 2nd list.

The bullet in question, the PPU 285 grain, is one I have fired from three of the four 9.3mm caliber rifles I own, but so far I have not fired one at any game. They shoot well from all my rifles so I thought I'd try them on game, but I believe in learning from the mistakes of others if I can, which is why I posted the question.

So far, most answers I am getting are encouraging.

I killed a medium sized mule deer with a 9.3X62 using their ammo about 6-7 years ago, and I've killed two deer with my hand-crafted ammo and Speer 270 gr bullets in 9,3X74R. This is very limited experience. The PPU performed like usual cup n core bullets. The deer was 100 yards across a small canyon and facing somewhat downhill to my right. My shot hit a bit high at the top front of the shoulder and raked the ribs, and it stayed under the hide. I'd guess it had 55-60% weight retention.

That being said, the 270 Speers performed similarly if that gives you some frame of reference. The velocities were in the 2,350-2,370 FPS range for all ammo.

I shot two deer with them last season. The first was rear portion of lungs broadside. Pass through. Deer ran 75 yards in a half circle and crashed. Bullet sized entry, dollar sized exit. Range about 60 yards. Second one about 75-80 yards. Bullet entered left foreleg, went through chest wrecking all it encountered, and existed and then passed through the right foreleg. Both legs had quarter sized holes. Knocked it down and it took off after a moment with just its hind legs. Caught up to it 100 yards later as it crashed into a brook and put a finisher into it. Rather strange given the awesome damage and ruined internals. They seem fine but I generally hunt with 286 NPs at approx. 2500 fps. That combo does not disappoint.

Partitions are designed to be softer in the front. I have a huge stockpile of the PPU 286 gr RN. I figure they are a bit harder than a good whitetail bullet. AS you saw they can do well though. A better bullet for the 9.3 on hogs may not exist though. Perhaps they are designed to stop Euro boar. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

Agreed, Rusty. In fact, someone a few years back over on nitroexpress.com did some research on bullet jacket thickness and the PPU jacket was right up there I think. In addition, the factory stuff is not loaded to the potential of the round. I would love to shoot hogs with that bullet. Maybe even black bear and moose.

I started with the old roundnose version then when they ran out went to their never sptizer/pointed version. Both have been extremely accurate and have performed nicely on the numerous hogs I've shot with them.

Has anyone have pics of both the old PPU roundnose and current spitzer please?

A Spitzer?
I didn't even know they made them in spitzer form. All mine are 285 grain RN.
I got the last bunch from Graf and Sons.
Is that where you guys get them too?

I thought they were all RN until I read the following quote. I have some bullets and current factory ammo here. Both RN.

I think the round nose has more initial smack down on delivery. All mine are round nose. But I have bought in bulk several times. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

I've shot two bull caribou with the ppu bullet. One at 350 yds and the other at 25 yds. Both pass through.

If you cut one in half, you'll notice the jackets are much thicker than hotcors or interlocks. The thick jacket and two deeply swaged cannalures make for a bullet that holds together well at 2300 fps.

My standard load: ppu brass, 58 grains of RL 15 or 60 grains of Mr-2000. These are mixed together by the hundreds. Both so close in velocity and point of impact that I don't bother to segregate:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13539716/6

I found this picture years ago. Might be on interest to some

I own and use four 9.3 MM rifles and I have used a few different bullets. 4 in the picture above and 2 others also.

The most game harvested with any of the 4 is with my Ruger #1 in 9.3X74R.
I have killed 2 deer and 2 antelope with a light RWS bullet sent to me by a friend. They are 225 grains as I recall. (14.6 gram) Very violent expansion and break-ups and I had only 100 of them, so I did load work, and a bit of practice with them and they shot well, but if they were available here in the USA I doubt I'd buy more. Huge diameter wounds but not very deep.

I also killed 2 deer and 1 elk with the Hornady 285 Inner-lock without the plastic tip. Good performance with that one so far, breaking bone and still exiting but I have read several reports about that bullet breaking up and failing to penetrate well. At only 3 kills I have not made my mind up on this one yet.

I have killed 1 antelope and 3 elk with the Nosler Partition 286 grain from this rifle. Performance is perfect with broken bone and straight line penetrations every time and large exits.

Lastly and for the most kills so far I have used the Speer 270 grain semi-spitzer. The bullet is a love/hate relationship with me. So far in this rifle and in 2 of the 3 others too it's been the most accurate 9.3MM bullet I have ever shot. The down side is it also preforms the worst on game. Every one has broken up badly and with a few failing to exit small deer and even doe antelope. I have killed 13 deer and antelope with this bullet (must be a slow learner) from my Ruger #1

From my Husky 9.3X57 M46 I have used the above bullet for fun shooting and it is as accurate any any I have tried, but this rifle only had the issue iron sight so I can't say exactly how accurate it is. I am now 64 years old and I can't see as well as I did when I was younger but I can say with this bullet and a load of BLC-2 any object I can actually see at about 100 yards I can hit from a good rest. I can see things down to about 2" now at that range. The load and rifle may be more accurate, but there is no way I can prove it.

This M96 Husky has been used to kill game, but so far it's been use only on 1 antelope and 2 deer, all killed with PPU 285 grain RN bullets. My load drives that bullet at 2205 FPS. All 3 kills were perfect leaving exits about 2" to 2-1/2" around, but a 36 caliber 285 grain bullet exiting game of around 120 to 145 pounds is not going to surprise anyone. What is good about the PPU bullets is their consistent accuracy of around 1 MOA and the fact that (so far) I have not seen a failure to expand at the lower velocity of the 9.3X57 and from what I read, I don't expect a lack of penetration on elk or buffalo either.

My M98 full stock 9.3X57 is loaded with the Nosler Accubond 250 grain. This load shoots about 1 MOA also and I have killed only one large Buck Whitetail with it. Perfect broadside hit through the ribs at only 40 yards that left an exit that was the size and shape of a goose egg. in the middle of the chest on the other side. Oddly that deer went over 200 yards after the hit, but I can't blame the bullet judging from the wound. Just one of those odd things I guess.

The 4th rifle is my Mauser M98 classic in 9.3X62. I have it zeroed with the Hornady 286 grain and have found the Nosler Partition 286 grain bullet lands right on top of the Hornady bullet so I can swap those 2 bullet back and forth with no re-zeroing at all. Same brass, primer and powder charge with 2 bullet of the same weight that go to the exact same place. I love that. The Hornady is far lest costly so I can afford to shoot some for fun and save the partitions for hunting (in theory) but so far all kills with this rifle have been made with the Hornady bullets, not the Noslers. 286 grain over the Chronograph at 2413 FPS and the same bullets from my Ruger #1 chronograph at 2389 so in effect they are the same thing in the field. As I said in my first comments I have no issues with the Hornady bullet (yet) and until I do I think I'll give them a chance. The Partitions are the God Standard and I don't deny that, but you can't afford to pay with them much. Gold standard is seen my me in 2 ways. The best performance and the "cost of gold"
So the Hornady is appealing for those that like to shoot for fun.
In my post above I peeked interest when I saw someone say that the PPUs were being made in spitzer form now. My reason is that the PPU bullet may also shoot to the same point of impact as the Noslers and if they do at various ranges I would e very interested in buying a lot of them knowing that they do hold up well on large game from my experience so far. (That would be dependent of the RN and the Spitzer both having the thick shank section of their jackets of course)

Thought I’d resurrect this old post on PPU 9.3 bullets. I’ve read on other sites that comparing 9.3 Speer, Hornady and PPU bullets, the edge was for Hornady and I would agree. As I was looking at the sawn bullets above, I decided to saw my own, extract the lead and measure jacket thickness.

I measured 1/3 down from the tip, half-way (just below the Hornady cannalure and between the PPU cannalures) and 1/3 from the bottom using a vernier caliper. Recording top, middle and bottom in inches (three times each at no more than 0.005 variance), respectively:

Speer 0.018, 0.025, 0.026; Hornady 0.020, 0.029, 0.029; and PPU 0.032, 0.039, 0.039.

PPU visually appeared to have the thickest jacket and it measured so. Speer was thinnest. I’m no engineer and results might differ a little with a machinist doing the work. My field experience with these bullets is that Hornady Interlock spire point bullet groups well and has killed game of deer and wildebeest size. Speer 9.3 bullets do not group in my rifle so I haven’t hunted with them. I have only used factory PPU 9.3x62 ammo with unimpressive groups of with 3 inches at 100, but sufficiently lethal on bear, sable, and crocodile.

I have used most of the premium lead bullets. The PPU external form resembles the excellent Lapua Mega and Nosler partition round point. The Hornady IL more resembles the spire point Norma Oryx and Swift A-Frame. The 9.3x62 has been effective for everything I have hunted and I’m happy at 250 yd distance. Opinions and experience varies. I wanted to share these measurements for those who fancy the 9.3s and use nonpremium bullets.

I like this bullet from PPU so well that I ordered 500. I use them in both the 9.3x57mm and 9.3x62mm Mauser. Excellent bullet that expands well at modest velocity. For an Iowa deer I probably don't need much else.

I swear they look like Lapua Megas to me and preformed very well when I tested them years ago in a 9.3x62 I had. Typical big mushrooms and in excess of 70 percent weight retention....

Yeah, it's beyond "looks like" with the Lapua 285 Mega and the PPU 285. They're bloody clones. At least to external appearance and measurements. Keep 'em separated or you'll never get 'em sorted back out.
I have a bunch of each but haven't sectioned them to compare the insides nor killed anything with either - just use them to work up loads for the Partition, which I only have a precious few of.
It'd be nice to hear from anyone who has done further comparisons of the PPU and the Mega.
My rifle is a nice 1932 vintage '03 Springfield sporter rebored by JES. I've only taken it on one hunt and killed a cow elk with the 250 AB, which I also have a lot of from SPS back when they were going cheap. The new 250 E-Tip that were unloaded as seconds before SPS merged back with Nosler shoot great in my rifle too and ought to be very fine game bullets.

Cheers,
Rex

Have shot quite a bit of the PPU/RN, but that has been factory ammo to harvest the brass.

Even at the factory pedestrian velocity, it seems pretty soft.

The Speer Hot-cor 270 gr. for bulk reloads is very precise, and should handle anything that doesn't necessarily require a 9.3x62mm Mauser to begin w/.


Not impressed w/ the Hornady 286 gr. used for that wt.'s load development, and have yet to test the A-frames and Norma Oryx, but expect typically good performance.




GR

Well played!

I’ve shot a few deer with them. I’d like to use them on a bear, a hog, or a moose. That rn is a hammer.

Please tell me which "Nosler partition round point" you used. To my knowledge Nosler has never made a round-nosed 9.3mm Partition.

The PPU does fit tight in my shell holder but so does Lapua. I just thought it was a RCBS metric issue. When something costs less it never works out for me.

Explain please. They are no tighter a fit in mine than my NPs.

I have killed several deer and a couple of hogs with PPU 285 grains 9.3 bullets. Can’t tell you retained weight as I have not recovered any. Complete pass throughs and all one shot kills. The best part is minimal meat damage.

Tight in the Shell holder has to mean the PPU brass. IF the writer said what he means. Sometimes it is hard to say it in words when something goes wonky. RZ.

This is a timely resurrection, as I have just gotten a custom 9.3X62 Mauser 98.
PPU 9.3 brass and some 35 Whelen Remington brass for re-forming. PPU-285s and Nosler bullets initially.
Reloading and testing to follow. The 9.3 X 62 has much to recommend it. Almost a 375 H&H in performance-
that can be made in a somewhat lighter custom rifle. Popular in Africa and John Taylor thought well of it.

CZ used to make a 550 American in this caliber. Some of them are still out there.

I inherited my late FIL CZ 550 9.3x62. I need to get a new safety for it.

The PPU 285s just recently from Grafs are RN versions. They will be tested soon
in my custom 98 Mauser. They should function well at the ranges I hunt large game.

There is a long running thread on an Aussie forum that covers the performance of various 9.3 bullets on live game. The author is a down to earth guy that manages a large cattle station in North Queensland.The live game he shoots includes scrub bulls (wild cattle), pigs, wild horses and the odd wild dog. The bullets are retrieved and shown on the thread. The thread has been running since 2013 and covers most 9.3 bullets.

If you want to read it you need to become members (it’s free). Look up ‘Australian Hunting Net’ and follow the instructions to join the forum. It’s currently 480 pages long. The rifle has had an issue with PPU ammunition and is currently out of action for review/repair. There is a separate thread on the incident.

Below is a link to the thread:

https://www.australianhunting.net/index.php?topic=148146.msg2082567#msg2082567

Hodgdon's CFE 223 has produced some higher reliable 35 Whelen safe velocities with 225-250 gr bullets. There is a reference to these results in the July, 2023 issue of the American Rifleman. My 35 Whelen is chambered
in a pre-64 Model 70 Winchester. There is also an excellent 9.3X62 reloading article in the Aug-Sep 2002 issue of Handloader Magazine.

I will be only using handloaded 9.3 X62 ammunition using a variety of Speer, Nosler, and 285 gr PPU bullets for my custom Mauser 98. Next possible bullets to test in this rifle are the Swift A-frame versions.

As to PPU ammunition, powder-load amount and bullet diameter along with case dimensions would be the areas for concern.

The Australian thread cited covers faulty PPU (Serbian) ammunition in a Tikka rifle.

In my reloading of the 9.3X62, I use a variety of bullets by Nosler, PPU, and Hornady or Speer. No Swift bullets-yet.
But the reloaded cartridges I utilize feature quality Remington brass.

450 you didn't read the whole thing. It mainly covers Mozzie's bullets performance on ferals, dogs, and cats. That means range bulls and feral hogs in the mix. He has data on every bullet he could find to load. He changes the title each time he is using a different bullet so the title changes repeatedly. If you have the book on the 9.3X62 by Van Der Schyff it also includes data by Mozzie, Dayne Horrigan. If you are truly interested a lot of data and actual after photos are included. RZ.

Someone else wrote a good book on the x62. Green hardcover?

The 9.3 X 62 Mauser Journal. Third Edition is what I was referring to. By Hendrik Van Der Schyff. From 2021. Dayne Horrigan's data was used in the book with permission. The photos in the book are good but Dayne's photos and text in the 9.3 thread on the Australian Hunter's Forum are unbelievable. You must join the forum to read the thread. It does take a while to read 499 pages. But he talks about and shows photos of shooting varmints and game. It has run ten years or more. It takes perseverence to read all that but he shows the successes and failures as they happen. YMMV but I read and learned a lot. AS an American it took a while to get used to the Aussie speak.
Their varmints are range bulls, feral pigs, wild horses, and dingoes plus the occasional feral cat. So the bullets are tested in a wide range of critters and shot angles. RZ.

I'm sorry, it is on Australian Hunting.net. RZ.