Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 9.3X62 Barsness-Sisk

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> Kindly forgive my ignorance...Mule Deer...what is a 9.3X62 Barsness-Sisk?...I probably shouldn't ask, no doubt now I'll need one, I'm sure...anyway thanks

An excellent question!

The 9.3 BS (as it is usually called) is the .350 Remington Magnum case necked up to 9.3mm. We developed it to duplicate the ballistics of the 9.3x62 (and 9.3x74R) in a short bolt action. Case capacity is very similar to the 9.3x62, and the 9.3 BS easily achieves 2400 fps with 286-grain bullets or 2600+ with 250's.

We didn't use one of the short-fat beltless magnum cases because a lot of people want Charlie to build them SAUMs or WSM's on short Remington 700 or Winchester 70 or Ruger 77 (or whatever) bolt actions for standard rounds. He has a heck of time doing that and getting them to feed right, but found that the .350 case will feed extremely well.

Also, the .350 case feeds great in short actions designed for the SAUMs and WSM's, sometimes better than the short-fat beltless rounds. My own 9.3 BS is built on a 700 action orginally barreled for the 7mm SAUM, and feeds great.

It just also turned out to be a very accurate round, something like a fat, belted .308. Of course Charlie putting the rifles together did not hurt, and neither did the Lilja barrels (the first 9.3's Dan ever made). Redding made the dies.

It is also one of easiest wildcats to load. In fact, with boattailed bullets you can just seat them in a .350 case without expanding the neck.

Kills stuff, too. Just like a 9.3x62.

MD

I'm sure I need one. Sounds like a hog smasher. What barrel length did you use?

I couldn't decide between a 22 and a 24, so had Charlie make it a 23. This resulted in a rifler weighing around 7.5 pounds with scope, exactly what I wanted. (I have owned a number of 23-inch barreled rifles over the years, as well as a few 21's and 25's.) Charlie gave his own rifle a 21-inch barrel, but made the rifle itself about a pound heavier than mine. He is somewhat more recoil sensitive than me, mostly because he has to test-fire quite a few .416's and .458 Lotts for his clients.

The 9.3 BS really does the job on hogs, which isn't surprising since the 9.3x62 and 9.3x74R are favorites for driven wild boar shooting in Europe.

In fact, the very first animal the 9.3 BS took was a 350-pound boar that Charlie shot in Texas. He was using a 286-grain Nosler Partition, and shot the hog in the butt as it was going away at about 80 yards. It collapsed on the spot, with an exit hole in the side of its nose. Charlie claims he had just invented a new bullet placement: "You just whack every vital organ in the body--spine, lungs, heart and brain--all with one shot."

MD

Thanks Mule Deer, I suspected one of the short magnums. I have a little .350 built on a Rem 600 action, douglas 20.5 in barrel, upgrade trigger and a AAA bastogne manlicher stock. I hunt elk on public land [read that black timber] and it works well with .225 gr noslers.
You may recall my asking you for some load data for 9.3X62 that I'm building on one of my husqvarna imperial actions....[thanks to you and a number of others, I now have a bunch of data] given these two rifles, maybe, just maybe, I can keep from building a 9.3 BS...then again, sure sounds neat! Thanks

John I have seen Charlies 9.3BS,looks like you guys have the perfect gopher gun.(grin)For the larger than average gopher. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I have one of those 350's on a 700 action and with a 280 Swift it is close to JB's 9.3 BS.
The 9.3 has a better selection of big bullets then the 35. I was wondering if dies are avaiable yet. What twist do you recommend JB for the 9.3 ??
-Doc-

I haven't measured the twist in my barrel, but suspect it is the 1-14 that the 9.362 usually uses.

Like most wildcats, the 9.3 BS is of very marginal use in today's world of wildcats. It really doesn't beat the .350 in most ways. You can get just a little more velocity--safely--with 250's, 2600-2650 depending on barrel length. And it has a bunch of great heavyweight bullets available, especially the 286 Barnes X, Nosler Partition and Norma Oryx. I am also going to have to try some 320 Woodleighs someday.

On the other hand, you can't shoot .357 handgun bullets for a gopher load! Though maybe paper-patched...? (Wouldn't that be fun, paper-patching several hundred .357 hollow-points.)

MD

And speaking of 357 handgun bullets ( i presume in a whelen or 350 rem) for gophers or whatever, do you have any loads you'd care to share? i find such data hard to locate.
thanks,
metricman

Its unfortunate that Remington chooses to use 1/16 twist in there 350 Magnums. Otherwise, it would be a cheap trick for someone like me to have a 350 rebored to 9.3X62.
I have had trouble with 250 grain bullets in the 350 past 100 yards, so I would like a a faster twist if I was going to invest money in said caliber.

Royce

Yes, that is truly a major screw up on Remington's part. Even after the �reintroduction� they continue to build guns and sell ammo as if the 350's useful spectrum ends at the 200 gr Spitzer. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I really enjoyed your article on the 9.3 BS. Because I am a rifle looney with limited "flat rifles" I thought I might make my next rifle a Savage short action and buy barrels in the calibers I want and a youth stock for the kids to hunt with it. My idea is that by switching stocks and calibers I can meet various shooting and hunting situations. I orginally wanted to do the .308 family of cartriges, am I right that the 9.3 would be too fat to feed? If it is I guess I will have to make my next rifle after that something that will feed fatter rounds. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Thanks for your great advice and help!

metricman--

I have never owned a .350 Remington Magnum, and only one .35 Whelen, which I did not have for long. But there's data for 158-grain bullets for both rounds in the Speer #13 manual.

MD

MD,

The .350 Reming case is a good one. The fault Remington made with it is that they crammed the bullet base too far below the neck of the brass, and reduced the case capacity. It never performed up to its potential.

I necked the .350 down to 8mm and made the OAL conform to the 220 grn Remington (now discontinued, darn!) seated to the base of the neck. It functions flawlessly through a standard lengh Mauser action.

I'd like to see a 9.3 based on the .338 case. That should be a killer!

Yours sounds very good. You should have 3-5 grains of added powder capacity over the standard case, and an additional 150-200fps over the 9.3 X 62 by my guess. That's my kind of wildcat!

Hatari
I'm sort of a 9.3 nut.....I'm sure no one would have guessed that... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> I have the following reamers, just in case.
9.3 x358 Win
9.2x62
9.3 BS
9.3 Sisk...8mmRem mag necked up
9.3x 300 Wby
9.3 x300 Win
9.3x338 Win
9.3 Ultra
9.3x378 Wby
9.3 x 375 Wby
9.3x57
9.3x7mm Wby
9.3 x 325 Wsm
The 338 Win necked up to 9.3 might be the most useful of all.
Charlie

9.3x.338 ? You might be on to something!
T

9.3 Taylor perhaps?

Hatari--

Your guess that an extra 3-5 grains of powder capacity would get 150-200 fps extra is way off. An increase in 5 grains will get you about 50 fps in a case of about that size. This is because any increase in case capacity only results in 1/4 that increase in velocity. Five grains would increase usable case capacity about 8%, hence a gain in velocity of about 2%.

Plus, the entire purpose of the cartridge was to duplicate (not exceed) the ballistics of the 9.3x62 in a short action. The 9.3x62 has been knocking the snot out of big animals for a century, so why increase the velocity? If we want to do that, there are already plenty of longer-action cartridges around that will do the job, such as the 9.3x64 and the .375 H&H.

Actually, with bullets seated to work in a short (2.8") action magazine, the case capacity comes out within about a grain of the 9.3x62. We knew that (by weighing cases filled with water) going into the project, one reason we chose the .350 case. We also wanted a short case that would feed better than the WSM's in various actions, including actions not designed for the WSM case.

The .338 necked up to 9.3 would be just about exactly like a belted 9.3x64. In essence it would re-invent a wheel that's been around for almost a century now.

MD

That's never stopped us (loonies) yet. Plus it would have the belt that everyone loves which automatically means it's more powerful and just all-around better. :-)
T

Live and learn.

The crucial info is that it is intended to work out of short action.

There are some cartridges that will give you an additional 150 fps with 5 more grains of powder, but I suppose that this is not one of them.

The .338/9.3 probably is the equal of the 9.3 X 64 but 338 brass is handy, and it's different, and isn't that what wildcatting is all about?

Slap a new barrel on my Ruger 77 LA, and away we go.

Thanks for the info!