Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 9.3x62 Favored Load?

New to the 9.3x62. Without going through all the information that I'm sure is available I'd like to get some feedback from users of this caliber. I'd like to have one load that I can use from Black bears/elk to a return trip up north for moose/brown bear. Just looking to save some research and hear real results from those with experience. Thanks !

Look down this page slightly and you will find a 30 page thread on Mule Deer's data for the 9.3.

250 gr TSX and Varget.

Hello LeonHitchcox

How do I find the 30 pages of load data for the 9.3 x 62 from John Barsness. I am not very good on the computer?

roanmtn

Actually it’s 9 pages, but still ...
9.3 x 62

And this More 9.3

Varget and a good 250-grain spitzer is indeed a great all-around load. I use enough Varget to get 2600+ from the 23..6 inch (60cm) barrel on my CZ 550, exactly how much depending on the bullet. Both the 250 TSX and Nosler AccuBond work very well.

With 286's I generally use around 65 grains of Ramshot Big Game, for around 2450-2500, again depending on the bullet.

I use Varget and Big Game both because of accuracy, but because both are very temperature-stable in these applications. Plus, in my rifle, both the 250 and 286 loads shoot to the same POI at 100 yards.

But as somebody once observed, the 9,3x62 is sort of like a bigger .308 Winchester: Just about anything shoots well.

tag

Rl15 and 286gr partition is your huckleberry

BSA,

It would be among my favorites for me too--if R15 was nearly as temperature-resistant as Big Game. Unfortunately, it is not.

RL15 has served me well. Paired with either a 2150 Accubond or 286 Partition. Big Game works nicely as does RL17. But I always have RL15 on hand so I use it more frequently.

Sadly enough, I never tried big game powder in the 9.3x62mm. It's odd that big game is more temp stable, as it is a spherical powder. New technology I guess. I know some of you tire of my 10 shot group pic with my 9.3x62mm and its favored 286gr bullet, but here it is in all its glory. That rifle was really a varmint rifle in a different life...:



Load development pretty much stopped at this load^^^

BSA,

9.3x62's tend to shoot like that--in fact my CZ550 does. It doesn't quite that well with Big Game, though it will still put 5 shots into less than an inch.

But I don't plan to use the rifle for prairie dog shooting--and have had enough adventures with loads using temp-sensitive powders changing POI that I'll gladly give up a little accuracy in a BIG game rifle in order for it to shoot as accurately AND hit the same place consistently from below zero to 90.

Once worked up a load with RL-15 in a different medium-bore rifle that would put 3 into 1/2" consistently, and close to the same POI at both zero and 70 degrees. I assumed that it would shoot consistently in Africa, where temperatures tend to vary less widely that in Montana, so took the rifle on a safari. Unfortunately, the load did not shoot to the same place in temperatures up to 90 degrees, with vertical impact varying up to 3". I should have checked this beforehand, but was younger and and less experienced in the mysterious ways of temperature-sensitive powders.

Fortunately, I'd brought two handloads for the rifle. (Often do bring two or more loads on hunts involving multiple animals, in order to get as much field-testing in as possible, though these days I make sure they all provide consistent performance at different temperatures.) After the RL-15 load proved erratic, I switched entirely to the other load, which used a Hodgdon Extreme powder, and shot to the same place regardless of temperature.

My experience with RL-15 is similar to John's. It worked great in accuracy in cool temps but changed dramatically in hotter climes. A friend put me on to RL-17 in 2013 and I've never looked back. It has proved to be consistent regardless of when it was used. In accuracy, I get MOA or better under the 286 Nosler, and .44" from the 250 AccuBond using the same load for each.

I can seat the bullets out a bit in my Tikka T3, and that powder allows significant compression without a problem. I use a magnum primer in Hornady brass. One bear each has been taken with the two Noslers. Three in total counting one using the Hornady 286 and RL-15 prior to changing to RL-17.

The 9.3 x 62 is my all-time favorite "medium", and I've used .338 Win Mags, a .340 Wby, .35 Whelens and .350 Rem Mags, as well as .375 H&H's.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Different strokes they say. I much prefer my 338wm over the 9.3 and the 30-06 loaded with 200gr partitions does every bit as good on elk. I ended up sending mine down the road because of that. Theres not as much magic in the 9.3 as some want you to believe.

Always interesting what shows up on Campfire posts: Essentially you're bragging about a group from a rifle you no longer own?

I have used my 9.3x62 far more than my .338 (and .,375 H&H) since purchasing it in 2002, because it does basically the same things with 250's as the .338, with 286's the same things as 300's in the .375. Have used 200 Partitions from the .30-06 on a bunch of big game since 1977--and continue to do so.

How much big game did you take with your 9.3x62?

Quote(Once worked up a load with RL-15 in a different medium-bore rifle that would put 3 into 1/2" consistently, and close to the same POI at both zero and 70 degrees. I assumed that it would shoot consistently in Africa, where temperatures tend to vary less widely that in Montana, so took the rifle on a safari. Unfortunately, the load did not shoot to the same place in temperatures up to 90 degrees, with vertical impact varying up to 3". I should have checked this beforehand, but was younger and less experienced in the mysterious ways of temperature-sensitive powders.)

Wonder if that had something to do with my 9.3 X 62 shooting loads to different POI. With my old wood stock it shot 250 GR to 2.5" Hi and 286 GR to about 1" hi at 100 yards. With RL 15.

When I went to Mcmillion Stock it was about 5" hi with 250 GR when 286 GR were 2.5 " Hi?

Have settled on 250 gr bullets around 2650 with RL 15 and 286 GR around 2500 FPS with RS BG.

My buddy poleaxed a nice Brn Bear this year with a 9.3x62 using a 286 Barnes tsx. I think he’s using biggame for powder. I need to find a stainless model 70 in a 06 send it to JES for a rebore.

This has been a good one, JB's load for the 250 NAB.

DF

That's a very good idea.

My favorite rifle is a 1909 Mauser in 9.3 x 62. Terminal ballistics far exceed the felt recoil, which I really don't notice. Everything from impala to Cape buffalo have gone down to a load of H414 and 250 TSX. I'd gladly use that combo exclusively if forced to have only one.