Speak to me of 9.3

[Glen]

I know we have some die-hard fans of the 9.3 bore here -- I am thinking of diving in with a 9.3x57. Where can I find 9.3 GCs? What twist rate was used in these rifles? What are the throats like? Enlighten me, please!

[Pilgrim]

Deputay Al and I both have Mountain Moulds and both of us use .375 GC's swaged down onto the GC shank of the boolit. Works OK as far as I can tell. Testing in a month or three will be the proof. Pilgrim

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

If I may make a suggestion: IMHO you will be much happier with the 9,3x62mm cartridge
DragonRider has one, and the velocity with 270+gr boolits was not real good.
A kinda small case for heavy boolits.

Rich

[LIMPINGJ]

The molds that Walt at NEI made used a 375gc.

[9.3X62AL]

Glen--

No experience with the 9.3 x 57, my rifle is a 9.3 x 62 (CZ-550). Kind of a 36-06, but the shoulder is set forward about 1/10" to increase boiler room space. I blew shoulders forward on 35 Whelen cases for my first brass, this done with 90% load levels and 9mm Makarov bullets. This was successful, and I whacked some jackrabbits in the process too. The true 9.3 x 62 cases have a slightly wider head than the 30-06/308 case/chamber, and the reformed cases do duty as cast boolit housings now. The serious hunting ammo with the Nosler Partitions is put up in Graf's cases, which I think are Prvi Partizan from some Balkan nation.

My CZ rifle (bought in summer 2002) has 3 turns/meter rifling twist, about 1-13.3" rate. More recent examples are supposed to run 4 turns/meter twist rate, about 1:9.8" or so. I haven't actually seen this myself, I'm just repeating info stated elsewhere by buyers of CZ rifles. The faster twist rate is supposed to do a better job with the 320 grain bullets now available in 9.3mm. The lands are quite tall--.007" in my rifle, giving a bore form dimension of .366" X .352".

I like the work done by my rifle with both jacketed and cast projecticles--Nosler 250 BalTips, 286 Partitions, and the MM 270 castings all can do 1.5 MOA at 100 yards, and often better than that. Sako, Tikka, and Steyr-Mannlicher rifles have/had the 3 turns/meter twist rate, which seems to be the standard rate in Euro rifles of 9.3mm caliber.

The throat in my CZ is .300" long before the gradual rifling leade steps up. The case neck is about .290" long, so I had the boolit shank length set at .600". This enabled full reach of the boolit's ogive to the rifling origin, and no protrusion of the boolit base into the powder space. I don't think that boolit shank in the powder space is bad thing per se, but if it can be avoided--I do so. The resulting tangent ogive/flat nose slug weighs 270 grains. The design is a very slight tweak of poster "Eirik's" design from Accuratereloading.com, per Dan at Mountain Molds.

If you are seeking one of the "surplus" Mauser 9.3 x 57 rifles being sold currently, a lot of them have seen hard use. Caveat emptor, in spades. The 9.3 x 62 has become a big part of my hunting and shooting activity, and the caliber is VERY useful and adaptable. 9mm Makarov bullets make great varmint whackers.....Hornady 90 grain XTP's at 2700-2800 FPS do BAD THINGS to jackrabbits. Lyman #358430 with paper patch shot very well, and a heavier slug given this same process might be a fine hunting boolit. The 270 grain castings at 1700 FPS are quite accurate, and these went afield this year. Last but not least--the j-words at 232 to 286 grains are no slouch as big game/dangerous game medicine. A Win 95 or BAR in 9.3 x 62 would be a fine thing in griz country.

That's my take on the caliber--the CZ-550 rifle is a stone bargain. At under 600 bucks, you can get a very nice Mannlicher-stocked example with 20" barrel and open irons or a 23"-barrelled half-stock minus sights. My example (the Lux) isn't imported any longer--it's a half stock with irons and 23" barrel. It has a single-set trigger, decent walnut stock, and four-groove Mauser-pattern rifling.

In short--the CZ in 9.3 x 62 is one of the best rifles I've ever owned. Perhaps--THE best. If I were 30 years younger, just getting my hunting battery put together to span the "mice to moose" spectrum--it could be "all CZ". A 452 in 22 LR, a 527 in 223, and 550's in 6.5 x 55 and 9.3 x 62. I apologize for yet another love story about the CZ rifle and the 9.3mm chambering, but I REALLY like the system.

[Leftoverdj]

In short--the CZ in 9.3 x 62 is one of the best rifles I've ever owned. Perhaps--THE best. If I were 30 years younger, just getting my hunting battery put together to span the "mice to moose" spectrum--it could be "all CZ". A 452 in 22 LR, a 527 in 223, and 550's in 6.5 x 55 and 9.3 x 62. I apologize for yet another love story about the CZ rifle and the 9.3mm chambering, but I REALLY like the system.

Working on it, Al. Still got the 9.3 to go. The 527 is 7.62x 39, and the first 550 is a .308, though.

[Glen]

Deputy Al -- Many thanks for your most informative response. I appreciate it. The rifle I am looking at is a 40s vintage Husqvarna, and it appears to be in pretty good shape. We'll see how things go....

[dragonrider]

Yup I got a 9.3X57 and had a mold from NEI, it cast about 270 and in my experience with it accuracy was not good. I sold that mold to Idaho Sharpshooter and am hoping he has better luck with it than I did. I am looking for a new mold about 240 grains, plain base. I am going to attempt to make a single cavity mold in the style of a Lyman 366408. It won't be an exact match of course but hopefully it will give me an idea of what might work. I might also suggest that you search for a 9.3 X62. There is one on my wishlist.