9.3x57 R

[KCSO]

Also called the 360 nitro, a popular calibre in the Husquvarna single shot and combination guns. I recently acquired one in a Husky 16x9.3 cape gun. It came with dies and was acquired cheap and came with dies. The owner gave up on it as he said there was no where to get brass.

I checked with Buffalo arms and they had the 9.3x 74 brass which could have been cut down for $80 a box of 20. Gunbroker had some Bertram brass for $200 a box. All way to dear for my budget. But since this is a metric 38-55 I thought I would give it a try.

Starline brass in 38-55 is 2.130 untrimmed from the factory. The 9.3 brass is suppose to be 2.250. This is just abouot like shooting 38 special in a 357 so I thought I would give it a try. I made a sizeing die that would squeeze some undersize .374 bullet down to 369 as the bore is 368 with a fairly tight chamber. I resized the 38-55 cases in the C and H die and they came out just over .1 short for the chamber as cast with cerrosafe. I seated the 250 grain bullets over 10 grains of Trail Boss for the first load. They shot just fine with just a little swelling at the base of the case, less than you get shooting factory 303's in a military rifle. The bullets are stable in the rifling and are about 4" to the left with the sights at the factory setting. I was so happy I ordered a mould from Mountain Moulds for the rifle and wills see if a dedicated mould will do any better.

On a hunch I seated some Lee 365 bullets for the Makarov over 5 grains of trail Boss and they shoot dead on at 20 yards with the third sight flipped up. A rabbit load too,same as the original!

I will post more as I work up a hunting load. The 240 grain bullet I have coming should be good for 1700-1800 fps or about the same as a 38-55.

[Eldon]

Hornady makes 9.3x74 brass, not cheap, reasonable and lasts forever.

[KCSO]

80 dollars for a box of 20. I shot the gun tonight off hand at 50 yards and kept all shots in a 6 inch black so I have no complaints with the shorter brass. I will be doing more load work and will try and get it to the 100 yard line from the bench and see what it will really do. I expect to use either 4198 or RX7 for a real hunting load.

[Texas by God]

Is the 16 ga barrel 2-3/4"? I would love to see pics. Sounds like a prize.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[sharps4590]

It's good you didn't buy the 9.3 X 74R brass to make the cases, you would have been out the $80.00. Head diameter of the 9.3/360 is .430 while the 9.3 X 74R is .465. The rim of the X74R is .525 while the 9.3/360 is .480. 9.3 X 57R/360 is not made off the 9.3 X 74R. They are completely different cartridges in all dimensions except for bullet size....and that might vary also. It can easily be made from 9.3 X 72R brass by simply resizing if even that would be necessary as the rim and head dimensions are only .002 different....and depending no how the chamber of your rifle is cut.

I suppose a fella could do a lot of lathe work on the X74R case but I would not be comfortable taking .035 off the head, if you even could and the rim would need thinned also.

It's a cool old cartridge, the 9.3/360!!! Over its life it was loaded with a wide variety of bullet weights and your choice of 240 grs. seems about perfect to me. I have a few 9.3's and generally stay right in that neighborhood regardless of vintage and propellant. (ah...I do have one drilling in 9.3 X 75R Nimrod that I do use 200 gr. j-word bullets, and for a very good reason) The caliber is effective and usually pretty accurate. Your "rabbit load" sounds like a lot of fun, well done, and with the shotgun barrel, I assume 16 bore(?), should be a dandy for small game. Your powder choices are excellent. I know it's fallen from favor over the last few years but should either of those not give the results you want...which really seems unlikely...don't discount IMR-3031.

[KCSO]

Yes I knew he meant 9.3x72 instead of 74. With Lathe work yu can make them from 30-40 Krag also but like you I don't like to thin the heads hence the 38-55 method. We shot it this weekend and it shoots to the sights for a right hander and to the left for the lefty. The hunting load is RX7 and it has plenty of wallop fr a deer or elk I would say. The 16 Ga is 2 1/2" shells but I load thse for another gun anyway so I have them on hand. BTW Buffalo arms is out of 9.3 anything right now.

[Landy88]

Your cape gun reads like a great find - add me to the list of picture beggars.

Also, tell me more about your rabbit load with the Makarov bullets.

I shoot the rimless 9.3x57; and, while I know that unlike the other 57R cases this one isn't just an added rim, the Husqys seem to share very similar throats and bores.

I like to have small game loads for my big game rifles, but it seems wasteful of lead to throw nearly 300 grains at bunnies or targets in prep for those at bunnies.

[KCSO]

The Lee Makarov bullet unsized, mine runs 368. 5 grains of trail boss powder, and the bullet seated just into the case mouth. I lube with liquid allox and crimp in the grease groove. I will post pictures as soon as I can get my program fixed right now it won't resize any photos.

[Landy88]

Thanks.

I ordered that mold and will try similar in my own old Husqy.

Others had told me of their poor results with Mak bullets, but I think that your long seating and grease groove crimp must be the trick that they missed.

This will be a fun and useful load.