.375 H&H Vs .338win VS. 9.3 X62?

I used to use head/neck shots then about 15 years ago I had a deer facing me @ 120 yards I was aiming for the neck just below the head/jaw just as I squeezed off the perfectly rested shot the deer lowered its head slightly right into the bullets flight path...

Resulted in blowing the lower left side of its jaw off if there wasn't snow on the ground I would have never found that deer took me about 45 minutes to find it once I started tracking it.

It was bedded down as I approached it when I got close it clumsily staggered to its feet...

I shot it in the neck from about 3 feet.

That was one of the worst hunting experiences of my life and I will never put myself or an animal in that kind of situation again and I will never forget that experience almost quit hunting over it.

I have only shot one big game animal in the neck/head since then and I also have numerous kills many more than most and I shoot far more than most...

:(
 
I use head and neck shots for harvesting big game animals. Save your lectures and long winded opus magnums for another. I'll have no part of it.

Nothing special about it. It's just the way it is. I put in LOTS of time.

Here is a buck that was shot high in the neck.

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"Whenever a shot is made on game, we must accept the possibility that we might wound the animal, and while we do everything possible to negate that outcome, the possibility remains all the same. But the successful headshot requires such a fine degree of precision, which it is all but impossible to execute on demand."

I challenge you to sit in a ground blind or better yet, a tree stand and wait for animals to enter an area within 25 yards of your well rested shooting position. I have been using this hunting style for over 25 years. Many times I have fallen asleep and missed the opportunity.
 
From what I can see on paper, the 9.3x64 is the most powerful of the three. And from what everyone on this thread who has shot one says, it has the least amount of recoil and is the most compact of all three guns. I think the choice is a no brainer.
 
1899 said:
I believe Bevan King makes a 9.3 barrel, and Bits of Pieces in Vancouvers sells Heym barrels in 9.3mm.

One other option is to build a .358 Norma - it offers good performance and ther are many options for bullets. From light pistol bullets for plinking all the way to 310gr heavyweights. Brass is easy to make from cheap, readily available .338 Win Mag. stuff.


And for the original question, I like all of the choices. The 9.3 has a tremendous amount of performance while burning relatively small amounts of powder. You can easily fit 5 rounds in a magazine and the relatively mild recoil means a lightweight rifle is still manageable.



BTW, I tried to find some .375 Ruger brass recently (and dies) and it wasn't an easy task. GH - only your father had some in stock. I should have called him first, but I tried to get it locally first. I called every local shop and got the same answer- no dies, no brass, I can get the dies, I don't know when I can get the brass. The only good thing that came out of the search was that I started doing business with your father.
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200 brass available , 2 dies set and at least 20 pack of hornady loaded ammo in 270 and 300 grains ... at least in Whitehorse.
 
"If you have indeed been fortunate enough to kill an animal or two with a headshot, consider yourself lucky, the odds are stacked against you; so choose a target with a greater margin of error."

What if one has killed many, many dozens of animals with head or high neck shots? Do you still consider it luck?
 
What if one has killed many, many dozens of animals with head or high neck shots? Do you still consider it luck?
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Possibly but I look at it this way you have been fortunate enough not to be unlucky...

I to have killed many, many dozens of animals with neck shots then as I stated earlier my luck ran out...

CC
 
I make the best assessment of the shot that presents and make my decision accordingly. If the shot is not right for me I let it be. Luck plays no part.
 
Toomanyguns said:
"If you have indeed been fortunate enough to kill an animal or two with a headshot, consider yourself lucky, the odds are stacked against you; so choose a target with a greater margin of error."

What if one has killed many, many dozens of animals with head or high neck shots? Do you still consider it luck?
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It was certainly lucky for those animals that were killed rather than wounded. If you count small game and varmints as your dozens and dozens that's one thing, but for every dozen big game animals killed with head shots, how many are wounded, never to be found?

But if you insist that this is the proper way of doing things, why don't you explain in detail what your particular technique is, and how you employed it in your most memorable hunt? What part of the country do you hunt, and for what game? What range do you shoot from? What rifle and sight combination do you use? How do you practice?

I know only one hunter who can make the claim of successful multiple head shot kills, but those are on African dangerous game and that particular shot is used only to stop charges of dangerous game at blood on the shoes ranges, never under normal hunting circumstances, not even elephant. I've hunted with him, and he is very good at what he does. But somehow I don't think you are talking about Mbogo in the tall grass, or hippo hunting in a Karunga.
 
I have no interest in hunting Africa.

I do not have a "most" memorable hunt. They are all great to me.

I hunt elk, moose, up to 3 deer per season, up to 3 bear per season, 4 types of mountain sheep, mountain goat. Many creatures are harvested on my own property or within 1 hour drive.

I use scoped rifles and open sights. I have also been known to use a tactical rifle every now and then.:)

Meat animals are taken in head or neck.
(obviously if I plan to harvest an animal for mount purposes the head shot is out)

It is the way I do things. I do not insist that it is the proper way. Quit trying to twist my words.
 
Toomanyguns, why you have not told us how many animals have run away with injury since you employed your head $ neck shot only method?

We will assume you have injured more game in one season than most hunters will do in their whole life if we don't get answer of it
 
Tmg I understand what you are saying I used to think the same way but I learnt that schit happens no matter how good I am at hunting/shooting and there are still times when I encounter a game animal that a neck shot is appropriate (I never shoot them in the head anymore) but the majority of my shots now are in the chest = lungs/heart...

As the ole timers used to say "aim for the big spot"...

CC
 
I can't make a firm judgement on the neck shot / head shot issue really. I just know that for me that shot is beyond marginal, I've taken one neck shot, and it worked just swell, but that was at 20 yards or less on a one ton animal that was standing its ground on the edge of the herd. I got a neck shot when his head moved to present it through thick brush, and took it as it had taken 4 days on foot to get to that point. If I passed there, that was likely it, and if I screwed it up, could have been it for me as it was dangerous game. The range made it doable, but there are so many variables on those shots I see them as an occasional tool, a one in twenty type deal, not a standard shot to select. But, to each their own. If toomany claims never to have wounded or lost an animal, then I'd solidify an opinion, as that means one of two things; it's not true or it just hasn't happened to him yet. As they say in sailing, there are two types of sailors, those who've hit rocks, and those who are going to hit rocks. I've hit a rock so to speak, and as such go for the most solid shot I can get, vitals, there are exceptions as mentioned above for me.
 
That is a much better question to ask of a bow hunter. Answer to your question: NONE



elker said:
Toomanyguns, why you have not told us how many animals have run away with injury since you employed your head $ neck shot only method?

We will assume you have injured more game in one season than most hunters will do in their whole life if we don't get answer of it
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I think there are far far far more animals wounded by poor marksmanship in general than those few taking head shots. If you have the skill, patience, and discipline to take the right shot I see no problem with it.

Like Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations".
 
I have used neck shots quite a few times. There is a time and place for it.

Also like Ardent suggests some times you have to take what shots you are offered in the time and situation you are given. Dats Hunt'n....
 
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