Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Swift A-Frame or Nosler Partition for my 9.3x62?

I've initiated contact with my PH for an upcoming safari to RSA. He seems to favor the SAF and I am loyal toward the local favorite Nosler Partition (Oregonian). I think going with the PH's recommendation is a good thing, but so is what you're comfortable and confident shooting.

For those of you with experience with PG and DG with the 9.3, which of the two would you load up for Africa? I'm planning on using the 286gn in each.

Can you sight some examples to narrow it down for me?
Penetration, performance, tissue damage?

I could go either way, but what's worked best for you?
I have a CZ 550 American with a Burris Signature 1.5x6x40 Illumidot.

Thanks...

Jetblueman

Your choice is made then by virtue of the fact that Swift doesn't make a 286 grain A-Frame. It's either 250 or 300 in this caliber.

Swift does indeed make .366 286gr. A-Frames. Just currently not listed on their web site.

Federal also loads this bullet for the 9.3x62mm

Both the loaded ammunition and bullets are readily available through several retailers.

Swift makes a great bullet but the problem with the 300 gr 9.3 is that it is the .375 bullet bumped down in size and so the ogive is so that if you crimp on the canalure a lot of rifles will not handle it. I have three 9.3x62's and none will chamber them.

I have had great luck with the 286 Partitions and you can't go wrong with either bullet

You're right. But Swift finally came out with a 286gr. .366 cal A-Frame specifically for the 9.3.

No more swagged down .375 bullets!


A link to a discussion earlier this summer that may be of interest. Discussion concerning both bullets in question.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...h/true/Swift_A_Frame_Bullets#Post4266151

Interesting. I guess I should have said it is difficult to find a retailer who carries the 286 bullet. Midway seems to be a good source for most product and I haven't seen it listed ever; in fact, I just checked again. No 286 Swift in .366.

Graf & Sons and Cabelas have the bullets in stock, just to name a couple retailers.

All great bullets. My choice is to pick the one your rifle shoots best and gives you the best ballistics. All things being equal, Swifts all the way but you can't go wrong with either. jorge

What jorgeI said.........but I'm partial to nosler, if it's a dead heat in all other aspects.


maddog

Of the two bullets you mentioned, I'd go Swift. I'm partial to the fact that they took the bonded route, in addition to some other design features that I like.

As others have noted, Swift does have a 286-gr. A-Frame now and Federal is using this bullet in a 9.3 x 62 factory load.

I'd also recommend the 9.3 North Fork in 286. Those would be my very first choice.

My choice would be Swift. A good bullet that keeps together and swamps perfectly.

The 286 9.3 Partition is one of the models with the partition moved forward, for more weight retention. The abosolute minimum percentage of weight they'll retain is 83% (that's if they lose the front core entirely) and more often they retain 85-90%. I believe the rear jacket is beefed up as well. They penetrate VERY well.

One thing many people don't realize about the A-Frame is that only the front end is bonded. The rear core is not, the reason the rear end of the bullet often expands almost as much as the front end.

In my personal experience with both Nosler Partition and Swift A-Frame bullets, the Partition has consistently shown deeper penetration on game.

Mule Deer,
Would it be a stretch to say that the Nosler Partition also kills better, perhaps with more 1-shot kills, due to the explosive and frangible nature of the front of the bullet (grenade effect) along with apparently deeper penetration?

No, I couldn't say that. The A-Frame usually kills very well, due to it's wide expansion. Though so far none of the animals I've shot with the 286 Partition have gone very far....

+1 on the Partition and what JB stated!!! The Partition is what all similar bullets are judged by.

after playing with a 9.3 all summer i have to say that mine like the TSX flat base considerably better than the A-frame. At least in the 250 gr. load. It will keep them to 1 1/4" if i do my part and for me thats awfully good from a 20" barrel.

Also had similar results with the TSX when coming up with a 7x57 160gr load for a little ruger #1a. 1st two shots will touch but the 3rd will be a bit of a flyer unless you wait 5 minutes which i just don't have the patience for.

Interesting thread.
Though I haven't killed anything huge with my 9.3X62, it shoots the 286gr partition extremely well. I am talking clover-leafs, and routinely, at that.
My rifle is a CZ-550, load is using Lapua brass, Fed 210M primers, and RL15. I cannot remember the charge weight off the top of my head, but I see about 2400fps over an Oehler 22 chronograph.

That's how the 286 Partition has shot in several rifles that I've tested.

One oddity about bullets: It's easier to build an accurate larger-diameter bullet than an accurate smaller-diameter bullet, because any variation in jacket thickness is less critical in the larger bullet.

Jet,

I've no experience with the A-Frame, but was very pleased with the Nosler on my first PG hunt(using a 9.3x74R). Ten critters, and only recovered two bullets. They were pealed back to the partition, and retained around eighty percent, as JB described. Only two critters were not one shot kills. I fired a courtesy round into the kudu(it dropped instantly to a double shoulder hit) as the lights were still on, when I walked up to him. The other was a zebra, that I just plain flubbed shot number one. I'd use them again.

Jeff

Jeff, ain't them zebra fun, when ya flub a shot [been ther done that]?


maddog