Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 9.3x62mm w/270gr Speer,what max velocity?

Getting ready to work up a load. So,for safety sake and in case of no pressure signs,what velocity would I not want to exceed out of a 98 Mauser w/20" 1-12 bbl using RL15 and the 270gr Speer? Right now I'm figuring 2400fps.

EZ,

I know Mule Deer has a buddy who likes this bullet but drives it slow. Maybe he will chime in. Seems like it was down around 2300 fps or so, could be wrong though.

You would have an exceptional rifle to get 2400 from a 20" barrel in 9.3x62 with anywhere near safe pressures. I'd be expecting 2300 as well but only at top pressures and not necessarily best accuracy.

The 9.3x62 is not a death ray. It is a 'thumper' that works very, very well with conventional projectiles at sane velocities.

THANKS guys. I'm not to concerned with bullet integrity or a high velocity load as much as wanting a velocity figure to use as a pressure indicator before I notice any signs from the casing or rifle. With other rifles and loads I use Nosler's max velocity as a stopping point even if no pressure indicators show up before reaching it. But with this bbl length/cartridge combo there's just no data I've found to date to permit that. If 2300fps is tops that's fine. I do plan on chronographing some Prvi Partizan factory ammo to see how those velocities will compare with velocities I've made note of from other sources.

Having worked with a number of 9.3x62's with barrels from 20" on up, I'd expect that at 2400 fps you won't see any excessive pressure signs. And I wouldn't be surprised to get 2450, depending on the throat/magazine length.

i would use the Speer velocity as an indicator instead and then subtract 25fps per inch of barrel from what they list as the barrel length.....however, IIRC MuleDeer has mentioned that he had a short tube 9.3x62 that would produce higher velocities than his long tube one with certain loads.

advntrjnky


ETA: looks like I'm too slow with my post :o)

Your suggestion is a good one. Even though Speer doesn't include RL-15 in their list of powder, the 25 fps rule-of-thumb is a good one, and would result in a muzzle velocity of between 2400 and 2450 with their top-velocity loads.

Fine bullet. Have you tried 250 TSXs or Accubonds ?
A bit flatter and faster.
Barnes quotes 2546 w/26" bbl.

I have absolutly no use for the .270 gr. Speers in my gun. Guess I drive them too fast in my 26 inch tube, long magazine and long throat..They are really very soft so I suggest 2300 to 2400 max and they might be fine..They will come apart like a bomb at 2600 Plus FPS.

I like the 286 gr. Nosler at 2553 FPS. Also the 230 gr. GS Customs HP at 2700 plus a tad FPS, now that is a real killer of deer, elk and plainsgame and shoots flat enough to suit me. I always get two holes with both bullets. The Speers are very accurate in my rifle btw...

BossLady,

I have shot quite a bit of game with 250 9.3 AccuBonds, started between 2600-2650, at ranges out to 300 yards. It always expands, and so far has always penetrated very deeply, even on rear-angling shots on game weighing 500+ pounds. Put a finisher into a big-bodied South African kudu at less than 100 yards, breaking the rear leg, and the bullet exited the opposite ribs. A friend shot a big Colorado 6-point elk with a similar shot at about 100 yards (1st and only shot) and the bulet ended up in the opposite shoulder.

In fact, the only 250 AB I have recovered was from a 7-1/2 foot grizzly. The bullet went in behind the right shoulder at 50-60 yards as the bear angled away and was found halfway up the neck under the hide on the far side, retaining 81% of its weight.

As far as X-Bullets, I have used both the "pre-TSX" and TSX 250-grain, and they have done a good job but don't seem to kill quite as quickly as the AccuBond. Haven't recovered one, but also haven't shot any game over around 400 pounds with them. For game over 1000 pounds they would no doubt be great.

I've used the 270 Speer a lot. It was the only game in town for a long time here in the USA for the 9,3mm.

I shot it extensively in 9,3X74R and a goodly amount in several 9,3X62s. I drove it at around 2,300 FPS in the various 9,3X74R guns and at 2,400-2,450 in several 9,3X62s. In the 9,3X74R I took a kudu, ghemsbuck, and impala. With the X62 I took one deer with the 270 Speer at 120 yards.

At these velocities the bullet did just fine, and accuracy was excellent. I used 4064 and R-15 and used the same powder drop for both rounds with each respective powder.

THANKS for all the input,guys. I got the info I was needing and can now get to work. As far as the 270gr Speer goes I got two boxes for next to nothing so I'll start with them and RL15. Along with accuracy all I ask of them is minimal meat damage when placed in the right spot. I've got enough high velocity round chambered rifles but no hvy bullet/moderate velocity/moderate range ones. Thanks to JB and Finn I feel like I've been missing out on something so that's why I went with the 9.3x62.

Max velocity is whatever your rifle and your nerves can stand and is NOT a good criteria to go by.

I've been working on loads for my 375H&H and 9.3x62 the past week and here are my data.

9.3x62 rifle is a converted military 9mm VZ-24 Mauser with 23.7" Lothar Walther prefit barrel and a 0.190" longer throat at 3.26" COAL. COAL is limited to the mag length but I use 3.26" - 3.28" mostly.

286 gr Horn...RL-15 and Varget...top or slightly over top loads 2530fs plus/minus...Varget is ~100fs faster with same powdere amount...R-P brass Fed215 primers...Beta Chrony. Accuracy is the same for both powders...3/4" or slightly less for 3 rounds at 100 yds.

270 Speer...RL-15 and Varget...mostly over top loads...~2640fs +/-...same as above for the rest of the data.

This is fairly close the the 375 data(21" bbl) so I think the Beta is not reading fast...and I doubt any animal could tell the difference in the -.009" bullet diameter, 15 gr difference in bullet weight or the 150fs in velocity...but my pocket book can tell the difference in the 25% more powder in the 375!!!!

This rifle showed a marked preference for the top loads...a difference in 2 gr less powder for BOTH the powders would open the group to a vertical 2 - 2.5" string and didn't go into a nice triangle until above the listed maxinums. My long throated 338-06 showed the same inclination. THIS IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION TO GO OVER SAAMI SPECS...you have to work the loads up starting midrange...SLOWLY...

None of these loads showed any pressure signs other than slightly flattened primers...bolt opening was the same as on an unfired case, extraction was without ANY hitches and cases could be reloaded a minimum of 10 times without showing ANY signs of impending head separation.

I think the Beta Chrony is fairly close as the data for this rifle AND my 375H&H is very close to what the several manuals and magazine articles list.

I ordered a muzzle break to install not for the recoil reduction but to keep the muzzle down...this particular rifle likes to jump around...1.5 to 2 ft of muzzle rise on the bench and a good foot offhand. I have MB's on my other big boomers for the same reason. The 375 hardly moves any direction except backwards off the bench with 300 gr bullets and is much more pleasant to shoot than the 9.3. Go figure.

Luck

I've been playing with the 9.3 since 1999 and I have never gotten an accurate load with a 286gr bullet out of my rifle at over 2355fps. The same load will shoot 2450 out of a friends identical CZ. I've never worried about it because everything I ever shot was graveyard dead with one shot. Nosler partitions and Barnes TSX are both very accurate and are my "Go to" bullets. I use only the 286gr in the rifle because it is my "big game rifle" for the USA.
You don't need smoking velocities to wreak havoc with this cartridge.

When I purchased my first 9.3x62 several years ago (CZ550), the owner passed along 20 rounds of 270gr Speer reloads using BLC2 with his recipe. I chronied them at 2500+ fps. I had no problems with them (primers, extraction), and used them hunting, but because of the maximum velocities with this caliber using other powders, I can't believe it is a safe loading and never loaded any personally.

Again THANKS for the input,all. Honest,I'm not looking to hot rod this rifle/cartridge combo. The 9.3x62 max velocity I was asking for is one that doesn't exist. Basically one that's published by a major component manufacturer who used,in a universal receiver,a SAAMI minimum spec bbl of 20" 1-12 in 9.3x62 shooting a 270gr Speer bullet w/R15 powder at SAAMI max or below pressure to develop it. These type max velocities,the velocities that I get from my chrono as I progress up from the starting loads toward them,and pressure indications from rifles and casings are what I've used to develop loads for almost 30yrs. So I wanted a velocity ceiling to use as a safety measure just as I've always had before. The main indicator of when I feel the development of a load has reached its optimum velocity is how the value of the velocities progress as I increase the load. But the more sources of pressure indications I have the safer I feel.

As a complete aside, I couldn't get 286 TSXs to go over 2000 FPS in my rifle. I stuffed so much powder in the case that the bullet stuck in the stem of my seating die (I ended up using the RN stem out of my 416 Rigby dies set). Still couldn't get over 2000. I switched to a 286 Norma RN (old stuff - wish I could find more) and RL15 (I believe 61 or 62 gr which is over what Ken Waters wrote in Handloader from January 1992) and managed to get them to 2350. My theory is that the 286 TSX is too long for thee 9.3x62 case and possibly too tough, though I didn't ever get to use it on game. Time to try those Normas out on a moose though.

Ended up at 2415fps using 59gr of RL15.