Any suggestions on where to find 9.3x57 ammo or brass?

cody c

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I been on the hunt for some ammo, would prefer not to try and resize 8x57, but would be happy to purchase used. Located in Calgary.
 
I will be following this one, to see if there is such a thing available. I never saw any to buy, ever. I do re-size 8x57 PPU brass into 9.3x57 for my rifle - seems to work - is various postings on Internet, etc. how to do that, especially if your 9.3x57 is longer chamber than the 8x57 brass, but would be nice to know if such things can be bought in Canada.
 
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I will be following this one, to see if there is such a thing available. I never saw any to buy, ever. I do re-size 8x57 PPU brass into 9.3x57 for my rifle - seems to work - is various postings on Internet, etc. how to do that, especially if your 9.3x57 is longer chamber than the 8x57 brass, but would be nice to know if such things can be bought in Canada.

You resize then fire form. I will be doing that for my 9.3 x 62 using .30-06 brass. I have yet to try it, but all indications are it is not too dificult to size it up.
 
I would think that 8 x 57 would be easier.


Is a bit of a curiosity. A couple years ago when I started with one - I think I found information from Norma and information from C.I.P. that gave different dimensions for 9.3x57. SAAMI did not (or does not) list it at all. So I decided to just match my brass to my chamber - no clue if that will match to anyone else's and I do not really care - I have not seen 9.3x57 factory ammo to buy, and no one else will be firing my 9.3x57 hand loads. This barrel did not start on this receiver, so my set-up for head spacing is to match to the Hornady sizing die that I will be using. I hope Hornady knew what size this stuff was supposed to be.
 
Maybe I missed it - I saw brass for 9.3x62 and 9.3x74R - but not for 9.3x57. About any 9.3 bullet could be used though - I chose to use mine as a "punkin chucker" with 285 grain cast lead bullets.

You could be right I just ordered some stuff from there and seen they had 9.3 components but can’t exactly recall what size of brass they had
 
Intersurplus didn’t have any today when I emailed. Apparently Norma makes a 232 and 285 grain ammunition and sells those and brass in the US.

I have emails out to about 6 different places and called 3 shops on Calgary to no avail. One place in Vancouver seems to have it but won’t ship.

I’ll let you know what else I find out though
 
Intersurplus didn’t have any today when I emailed. Apparently Norma makes a 232 and 285 grain ammunition and sells those and brass in the US.

I have emails out to about 6 different places and called 3 shops on Calgary to no avail. One place in Vancouver seems to have it but won’t ship.

I’ll let you know what else I find out though

Having owned various 9.3's, including the x57, for a few decades, I can tell you from experience that the easiest way to get brass for it is to neck 30-06 cases, trim, and fireform. You end up with good brass that fits your chamber better than a lot of factory stuff. 9.3x57 is easier to find than it used to be, but it still isnt Canadian Tire common. - dan
 
I been on the hunt for some ammo, would prefer not to try and resize 8x57, but would be happy to purchase used. Located in Calgary.

Why not 8x57?
It works well. Simple process.
Making from 30-06 requires extra step of trimming. I would only use 30-06 if you just can't get 8x57 brass. Or you have a pile of it.
 
So I can say these entities have responded with none:
Intersurplus
Tenda
Proline shooters (calgary)
P&D enterprises (Edmonton)
G4C
Calgary shooting center
shooters edge
things military (calgary)
Corlanes DC or PG
Caroline supplies
Poco military
Wanstalls,
Italian sporting goods
Reliable gun (best phone humour!)
frontier firearms has none, but apparently some on order, no idea on ETA


Apparently vancouvergunshop might have one box, inquiring for shipping info now

Norma makes 232 and 285 grain 9.3x57 and sells in the US, when reaching out to Norma to find distributors who may have access near Alberta, all they do is respond with a link to their distributor map. It looks like there is some in the US, I just am not sure about shipping

Any insight in regards to shipping ammo or brass from the US to Canada from this forum would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if I'm ordering one bag of brass, and others are interested please mention and we can save on shipping possibly.
 
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Why not 8x57?
It works well. Simple process.
Making from 30-06 requires extra step of trimming. I would only use 30-06 if you just can't get 8x57 brass. Or you have a pile of it.

I find the 06 based cases fit the chamber better than the 8 Mauser cases, but that could just be the chambers I have had to work with. - dan
 
Using 8x57 brass might be easier - I know at least one guy that simply runs 8x57 cases into 9.3x57 die, loads and fires it. When I do that - run 8x57 new PPU 8x57 into Hornady 9.3x57 die, the brass measures 56.5 mm case head to case mouth - so is close enough to 57 mm for me.

Difficulty arises, as in this rifle, where the headspace dimension in the 9.3x57 chamber is longer than the headspace datum on 8x57 brass - really should have a way to move that case shoulder forward (or to find out correct headspace dimension, and some headspace gauges to set that barrel).

Moving the case's shoulder forward by resizing can be done by making essentially straight walled cases as intermediate step in sizing it. Starting with 30-06 would be much easier to do that - simply use 9.3x57 sizing die - turn that sizing die down a bit at a time until that re-formed brass just barely lets the bolt close - trimmed to length as needed - about as perfect fit as can be got, until fire formed.

I likely have much more 30-06 brass here than I will actually use as 30-06, so is likely I will use that stuff, when I eventually need more 9.3x57 brass.

Either way - 8x57 or 30-06 - end up with wrong head stamp, but likely correct dimensions. Neck wall thickness might be an issue in some chambers - I suspect that 9.3x57 neck is at least partially (or entirely) made from the wall / shoulder of the 30-06 parent brass - so maybe it gets thicker there?
 
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Intersurplus has 9.3 x 62 PPU Brass, Hornady ammo, and PPU bullets.

That might work as well to make 9.3x57 - from what I could find out so far, though - 9.3x62 rim is slightly larger diameter than 30-06 and 8x57 - those two apparently same size rim as 9.3x57?. I know 30-06 has been used to make 9.3x62 for long time - but is not the same size rim / possibly not the same size head - but it works. Likely depends on your rifle chamber if x62 converted to x57 will fit and work, or not.

And if you are looking for cheapest to convert - at least until recently, is (or was) hard to beat mil-surp 30-06 for cost and availability.
 
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Thanks @potashminer I'm looking into sourcing 8x57 brass as well. I didn't want to go that route but maybe it works fine.
Still gonna hunt for a bit for 9.3x57 ammo or brass regardless, but will try and get some 8x57 in case (theres a pun and a half)
 
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