Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 9.3x62 with 250 gr accubond seating depth?

Hey guys, thiscevening I'll start reloading for my newest 9.3x62. My old one only gets 286 gr bullets with big game powder. This gun will be my first time trying the 250 nosler accubond. I was just curious as to the amount of bullet jump most of you have had success with this bullet. After I measure the lands I was gonna start 40-50 thousandths off the lands, since I've always heard that bullet usually likes some jump. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And thanks In advance.

Does the new rifle have a "special" 9.3x62 chamber? The reason I ask is the typical chamber has a very long, tapering throat, so long it's just about impossible to seat spitzer bullets anywhere near the rifling. This is also true of the SAAMI chamber, not just European chambers.

The 9.3x62 was originally designed to to fit in the standard K98 Mauser magazine, which is approximately 3.30 inches long. My CZ 550's magazine is a little longer, around 3.4+, but even when seated out to the longest possible length for use in the magazine, any spitzer is a LONG way from the rifling. Yet it shoots extremely well with the 250 AccuBond and just about any appropriate powder. This is also typical of other 9.3x62s I've heard about from various handloaders.

All but one of my 9.3x62s have been single shots--the one that wasn't was a rebarreled pre-64 Model 70. I loaded 250 ABs for it just short enough to feed reliably from the magazine, and it shot very well. However, I never measured the amount of free-bore that might have been in the custom barrel, although I assume that the chamber was not too far off SAAMI specs.

As Mule Deer said, the leades on the 9,3x62's tend to be very long. Thus, I simply load any bullet as long as my magazine will allow and go shooting. Despite the long leade, the 9,3x62 tends to be very accurate so seating depth hasn't really been an issue. I've owned about a dozen or so 9,3x62's and still have half a dozen, this practice has worked well on all of them.

Yep, and I suspect that's partly because the very long leade (a little over 1.1 inches according to the SAAMI chamber drawing) is only slightly above bullet diameter in front the case, and tapers very gradually to the rifling. Thus bullets have to remain in pretty good alignment as they start out of the case.

This type of chamber was common in early smokeless cartridges designed for long, heavy round-nosed bullets--and the 9.3x62's original loads all used 286 roundnoses. But iit also works well with today's long spitzers.

Hey guys thanks I just finished measuring to the lands, and it's just like my other 9.3x62 very long lol. My magazine will feed a cartridge about 3.380", and that's still about .110 to .120" off the lands. Gonna start out with them loaded deep enough to the base of the neck atleast to begin with for my velocity ladder this weekend. Double check to make sure they will feed through the magazine. Could not find any varget anywhere local, but found some quickload data with RL17. Guess I'm gonna give it a shot and see what kinda speeds it's looking like. Also keeping an eye out for some varget also. Rifle is a sauer 100 XT, and I hunted this year with the 225 gr norma ecostrike. Have to say had great performance out of that factory ammo. Clocked 2623 fps out of my 22" barrel and single digit sd's. Also only shot three groups with them all were below 3/4". Best group was .334". I'll update this weekend after I shoot the velocity ladder. I bought this one to shoot lighter weight Spitzers and my old mauser will keep shooting the 286 RN bullets.

Cleveland48,

On a bit of a side note here. I emailed Norma this year to ask if they were going expand their selection of Ecostrike, Bondstrike, and Tipstrike bullets for reloading components. The person that replied said that they did not have plans to offer the Ecostrike as a component bullet unfortunately . But did intend to expand their offerings of Tipstrike and Bondstrike bullets as reloading components. Possibly more options in the future for the 9.3mm! Good luck with the 9.3x62mm. I do like that cartridge.

Regards,
sixfive

My riifle is a Blaser with a 20.5" bbl.

Been shooting it a lot lately as I am going to BC for a bear hunt in May.

It has a really long throat. Seated some 250 AB out to 3.6" and didn't touch the rifleing. Ditto for the 286 bullets as well. Settled on 3.450" for this bullet.

The good news is the seating depth seems to make no difference at all. Everything and anything shoots sub MOA.

Velocity with 60.5 gr of VGT is 2525

I set my dial up to max of 550 yards. I can ring the gong at 550 all day...or at least till I get tired of the recoil.

The rifle weighs just shy of eight lbs with a 3.5X10 Leupie and combined with the Blaser stock which has a bit of drop it lets you know when it goes off..

Neat rifle/cartridge looking forward to turning it loose on Yogi


Lefty C

That is exactly the same as my 7x64. The throat is extremely long, but is only one or two thou over bullet diameter and tapered. It is the most accurate rifle I own though.

I'm loading the 232gn Oryx and Vulcan in my 9.3 for fallow, pigs and the odd fox. It is a Ruger No.1 so I can seat the bullets out. I have only seated them a bit less than half a calibre into the necks but because of their dumpy shape they are still a long way off the lands. Yet it usually shoots very well.

Yep. Those Germans really knew what they were doing with the long, gently tapering leade design.Both my 7x64 and 9.3x62 are very accurate and seating-depth agnostic. I’m thinking that design might work very well for other cartridges with long, high b.c. bullets - like the 30-06. Assuming decent mag length of course.

I would like to try that tipstrike on deer!

Tested some loads today, but didnt quite get to 2600 fps. I could not find my long drop tube, and ran out of case capacity at 66.4 grains of RL17. Velocity was 2566 fps with absolutely no sign of excess pressure. Will come back to try this later after I get another long drop tube. Then i tried big game and worked up to 65.5 grains and 2531 fps, also no pressure signs at all. I feel like i stopped quite a bit too early with big game, but now i got somewhere to start next. Long drop tube might allow a little more capacity. still no varget, so I did go ahead and pick up RL15 for now. Will try to have more worked up by next weekend. Also playing with my new Annie induction annealer with the water cooled coils. I think I'm in love with this, and no more burnt fingers! Lol

Tested some loads today, but didnt quite get to 2600 fps. I could not find my long drop tube, and ran out of case capacity at 66.4 grains of RL17. Velocity was 2566 fps with absolutely no sign of excess pressure. Will come back to try this later after I get another long drop tube. Then i tried big game and worked up to 65.5 grains and 2531 fps, also no pressure signs at all. I feel like i stopped quite a bit too early with big game, but now i got somewhere to start next. Long drop tube might allow a little more capacity. still no varget, so I did go ahead and pick up RL15 for now. Will try to have more worked up by next weekend. Also playing with my new Annie induction annealer with the water cooled coils. I think I'm in love with this, and no more burnt fingers! Lol

Nosler 250 AB's, burning N540 63.5 grains for 2,725 mv average, shoot accurate.

I think a local store has some of that powder I'll have to check into that for sure!

N540 is a very good powder--especially these days. While Vihatvuori powders have always been accurate and pretty temperature resistant, but more recently they've all been temp-resistant, and include decoppering agents.

I like that!

Has the max of 62 grains of RL 15 been safe in y'alls guns. I was thinking of loading a velocity ladder from 60 to 62 grains in .5 grains increments to check speeds and pressures. My last loads I started too low and was finished well before hitting my max, and I dont wanna keep wasting these accubonds. Also I'm gonna look for some N540 this week too!

All published 9,3x62 loading data is based on old, low-pressure standards. I have NEVER run into any sort of "pressure sign" by starting with published maximums and working up to around 2450-2500 fps with 286s and 2650-2700 fps with 250s, of whatever brand. That's with three different 9.3x62s hat had 21-24 inch barrels.

No doubt it could be pushed even harder, but have generally found 250s and 286s at those velocities kill big game VERY well.

Thanks MD I've used your load of 65 grains of big game with 286 gr bullet. Get right at 2500 fps with that load with no issues. I'm shooting for the 250's to be in the 2600-2650 fps range and I'll be plenty happy with that.

Pretty conservative but accurate load (obviously all the usual disclaimers apply - work up, look for signs of pressure etc.)
Bullet: Accubond 250gr
Powder - Norma 203-B (very, very similar to RL-15)
OAL - 3.325" (84.4mm)
Brass - Norma
Primer - Fed GM210M large rifle
Barrel length - 23.4" (595mm)
Muzzle Velocity (Magnetospeed) - 2560fps

I'm sure there's plenty more velocity available but this puts me on an accuracy node so I don't see any point in pushing any further.

Well today I tried 62 grains of RL15 with the 250 accubond. It clocked 2,575 fps with an SD of 7 fps. Groups were decent for hunting rifle coming in at 1.07" and 1.31" and these were three shot groups. Also shot one five shot group with the Norma PH 230 ecostrike. this load clocked 2,623 fps and put five rounds into .390" . Gonna have my work cut out for me beating that factory load lol. Have my name on the list for varget and N540 since none are local, hopefully both will come in soon.

For those who may not have seen it.

DF

With my custom Pre 64 M70 Redneck built for me, loading an OAL of 3.255" put me .01" off the lands. FYI. With Varget in Lapua cases the 250 Accubond was exceptionally accurate; sometimes sub .2 moa for 3 shots.

Alan

My CZ is most accurate using MD's load data for Varget and 250 gr AB's. I finally settled on an OAL of 3.290. I don't have a chronograph so I'll defer to his 2,600+ fps number.

Biggs,

It might or might not reach that number in your rifle, though not necessarily because of the rifle, but the lot of powder. Have since used batches of Varget that got under 2600 with the same powder charge--but also easily reached 2650-2700 with around 62 grains, again without the slightest sign of excessive pressure.

Which is within the 2-3% variation normally found in different manufacturing lots of canister (handloading) powder.

MD, thanks! I stopped at 60.5 grains of Varget. I'm on my 2nd lb of Varget (different lots) and both have provided consistent accuracy and virtually the same POI. For me, I'm more than willing to give up a 50 to 75 fps for the consistent accuracy I'm getting. I'm also using your older load data for my 358 Win using TAC and 225 gr Sierra GK's and it too, ended up being my most accurate load, and I've tried several with different powders. Thanks for doing the grunt work for us on these particular loads.

Biggs,

You're welcome! Glad the loads worked out in your rifles.

I can’t get my accubonds over 2550 with big game or varget.
I also hate how varget measures compared to big game

I've never found Big Game to be among the best powders for 250-grain bullets in the 9.3x62, because it's pretty slow burning.

Am guessing that TAC would work better, due to it being my powder of choice for both 250s and 286s in the wildcat 9.3 Barsness-Sisk, the .350 Remington magnum necked up, which has a very similar case capacity to the 9.3x62. Charlie Sisk, the co-inventor and gunsmith for the 9.3 B-S, uses Ramshot X-Terminator, another spherical powder that's a little faster burning than TAC.

Thanks mule deer. I have 2lbs of tac I can try.
Do you know max load? I like to start mid way and not waste powder and bullets.
I’m waiting on some 286 partitions or 250 E tips to come up on SPS to try with big game, but no luck last 6 months.
I’ll try Tac. I Also have hunter on hand.
Thanks

Hunter would be way too slow.

I use 58.0 grains of TAC in the 9.3 B-S, which has a little less powder capacity than the 9.3x62. This gets right around 2625-2650 with either the 250 AccuBond or Barnes TSX from the 23" barrel. I would suggest starting a little lower, say around 55 grains. Possibly accuracy won't be all that great, which is common with TAC when using starting loads, but tends to get better with more powder.

Ramshot doesn't have any actual pressure-tested load data for the 9.3x62, but has some calculated data, probably using QuickLoad. That lists 56.0 grains of TAC as maximum with the 250 AccuBond, for a little over 2500 fps, but I am sure that's calculated at the antique low pressures used by SAAMI for the 9.3x62. I have loaded the round up to 60,000 PSI, as tested by strain gauge, which is the SAAMI maximum average pressure for the .30-06, with zero indications of high pressure even when hunting around 100 degrees F. in Africa.

Sometimes TAC and Big Game work better with magnum primers, but I have always used CCI 200s in both the 9.3x62 and 9.3 B-S with excellent results. I would look for at least 2600 fps when working up, and am pretty sure your rifle will get there, and probably 2650, with no problems.

Thank for the detailed info, Much appreciated!
I have a sauer with 24” tube and also using CCI 200 primers.
If I don’t find any partitions soon, I’ll get more AB to test out.
You should see if Nosler would make some 286 accubonds .

Found this
http://blog.westernpowders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/9.3x62-Data.pdf

Try RL-15 with the 250 grain Accubonds, MuleDeer has some great published loads.

Works quite well with the 250 TTSX as well.

I use 70 grains RL-17 under the 250 AccuBond (load density approximately 109%) at +2700 fps. Very consistent three shots into .44." Shot a nice bear with that load at 85 yards from a tree stand. Shot angling downward through lungs, taking out the heart and made exit with a blood trail a blind man could see, ending at 20 yards with a very dead bear. A great bullet. Though I've also used the 286 Partition on bear with great success, also employing RL-17 and WLRM primers, nothing more is needed, in my view, than the 250 AB. COL from my rifle is always 3.37" due to the clip of my TIKKA T3 with a 22.44" barrel.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Hey guys, sorry have not been able to post lately. I've bumped up RL15 to 62.5 grains and groups opened up considerably. Also did a velocity ladder with CFE 223 stopping at 65.5 grains with no pressure signs still. Have not grouped any of the CFE 223 loads yet. I may drop back down to the 62 gr load of RL 15 and try some different seating depths, but my sauer 100 has a pretty short magazine. My work is off for two weeks due to the corona virus, so i should get to do some further testing. Also neither of these two powders have broke 2580 fps. Also varget is a no show so far locally, maybe i can get my hands on some eventually.

Hi Cleveland. In my 9.3 Ruger African I'm using 61.0 RL 15 which I think is .5 gr less than muledeers load with Fed 210m primers and either Norma or Nosler brass which weigh so close to each other that I think one brand or the other makes both.

That load gives me an average of 2639 fps and great accuracy. The bonus is poi is dead on from 100-400 yards on the aiming dots on the Leupy 6x36 with the LRD reticle.

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I have five different seating depths loaded to try this weekend. I went back to 62 gr of RL 15 mainly due to low ES and single digit SD's. And with muzzle velocity of around 2575 it's more than adequate for any deer I'll ever face in Mississippi lol.

I have five different seating depths loaded to try this weekend. I went back to 62 gr of RL 15 mainly due to low ES and single digit SD's. And with muzzle velocity of around 2575 it's more than adequate for any deer I'll ever face in Mississippi lol.

Cleveland,

Are you by any chance a rifle loony?

Yes according to my brothers I am anyways lol.

Well today's groups are showing some promise. All were loaded with 62 gr RL15, but different seating depths. Managed groups of 1.3", 1.2", and .968".its slowly tightening up and I seat the bullets deeper. Will try some more tm.

Thanks Cleveland - be sure to tell us what distance off the lands correlates to your accuracy levels, as that's our most important number, I suppose, versus OAL.
Really glad to hear of your success with this outfit!
Cheers,
Rex

I'll list the measurements after the next range trip, and I get my scattered notes all together.