9.3x57
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
I reloaded for the 9.3x57 back in the 80's. Succesfully hunted deer and bear with it too. But after four decades of reloading everything from .22 Hornet to .375 H&H, a few years ago I gave up reloading and sold my equipment. No time for it anymore. Too many other interests. So I am only using factory ammo these days.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I am with MiG25 inso far as the reloading part. I think what I ended up with was a TradeEx thing - is Husqvarna 9.3x57 barrel - now fitted to a different Husqvarna receiver. Have never seen 9.3x57 ammo for sale at any price here in Manitoba - so re-forming them from 8x57 PPU brass - seems to work. Could not find head space gauges. If I recall, Norma and CIP data give different dimensions - maybe original stuff was lost in time. But I did get Hornady "Custom Grade" dies for it - seated that barrel and re-formed brass in those dies - made them to fit to each other - might not be to any exact standard, but I call it a 9.3x57, even though the Husqvarna barrel is marked "9.3 mm", and the brass that I formed for it is head stamped "PPU 8 mm Mauser".
Is at least one other CGN'r from Manitoba is (or was) doing the same thing - but I do not know what he used for parent brass. Another CGN'r from Yukon provided terrific advice and leads to other advice for how to do that case forming. I can now fire that one - and am still keeping an eye out for factory ammo.
Is at least one other CGN'r from Manitoba is (or was) doing the same thing - but I do not know what he used for parent brass. Another CGN'r from Yukon provided terrific advice and leads to other advice for how to do that case forming. I can now fire that one - and am still keeping an eye out for factory ammo.
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- Location
- Western Manitoba
JJ-65 - I have had a very hard time to find reputable loading data for 9.3x57 - I think it is a very anemic loading - perhaps Norma has it correct? What I found is CIP used both crusher and peiziometric systems to set their standards - I could not find any SAAMI standards for 9.3x57 - CIP sets 38,000 psi for Crusher method and 44,000 psi for Peizio method - using CIP procedures - as their Maximum pressures - I presume Maximum Average pressure, but do not know that - perhaps they mean Maximum Peak pressure? I have a copy of VihtaVuori Oy Reloading Guide 4th Edition - it lists 9.3x57 with 255 grain bullets - 2,260 fps - at 37,710 psi - apparently VV uses the CIP standards - so led me to think that a 9.3x57 was an anemic loading, by design. Can you direct me to other data?
You could always re-barrel it to a 9.3x62
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/2299156-Husqvarna-146-9-3x62-Project?highlight=9.3x62
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/2299156-Husqvarna-146-9-3x62-Project?highlight=9.3x62
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i think the why not? is the one resident from yukon that may have helped you. he did the same for my wife 9.3x57.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Yes, that was he - glad to hear the advice also worked well for another person!! I had actually made my own "punch" to go into a Lee Universal Case Expanding Die - to take the 8x57 brass from 9.3 mm to nearly straight wall, before I acquired actual 41 Mag dies for that step - then incrementally brought back that 9.3x57 shoulder until my bolt just so closes on the brass in this chamber - I know there is NO excessive headspace prior to fire-forming - I do not have actual headspace gauges to verify that chamber with, anyways.
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- Location
- Western Manitoba
howard2 Good information! Unfortunately for me I do not have any VV or Norma powder to try any of those loads. Any idea what sort of bullet weights or velocities that they were publishing??
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Yes - but as was mentioned in that thread - can re-chamber a 9.3x57 to 9.3x62 - but many Swede rifles on M96 receivers will not have magazines long enough for factory 9.3x62 cartridges. Does not seem to be an issue for M98 receivers though - Husqvarna and others in Sweden used both sizes for their rifles. Is more than extending the magazine - also likely have to remove material behind the lower locking lug recess and re-do the feed ramp - but, can be done - I have a STIGA rifle built on a M96 receiver - those mods were done to make it accept 30-06 cartridges, but was then proof tested in Denmark, by the maker.
Well then you probably should have gotten rid of your reloader-only cartridges when you got out of reloading.
9.3x57 ammo exists, but by the time you buy 3 or 4 boxes you'd be better off selling that rifle and buying a 9.3x62, where factory ammo is much easier to find and far more affordable.
P-miner. Good luck finding useful loading data for the 57. Now that you have the headspace on virgins figured out, just go with 52grs of R-15 and a 250gr Nosler AB in Norma brass. This load is fine in any Scandihovian Mauser, primer pockets stay tighter than a hawks a$$ in a power dive and the energy level is up where the 9.3x62 was when it was first introduced.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
JJ-65 - that is colourful description that you give - but that loading is within one grain what Nosler gives for a maximum for a 35 Whelen with 250 grain bullets. Where did you get that one from?? SAAMI sets max pressure for 35 Whelen at 62,000 psi - your load must be close to that?? Is a long way from CIP 38,000 psi for 9.3x57 ???
I have no need to "push" a cartridge into something it is not meant to be - I do have a 9.3x62, which I do load with 250 Accubond and healthy loading of Varget - the loading that I use was apparently pressure tested at Western Powder labs in Montana (not by me), to not exceed SAAMI 30-06 level - which does exceed 9.3x62 levels. By 2,000 psi using CIP piezo test procedures - 57 kpsi versus 59 kpsi - so, technically, I guess that I am "pushing" my 9.3x62.
I also worked up to what I consider a "good" loading with 286 grain Partitions and 285 PPU - and Big Game powder, and have some 320 grain Woodleigh Weldcore yet to be attended to - I did receive information from a Woodleigh manual for them though - looks like Varget is a recommended powder - for velocity, anyways. The 250 grain Accubond and 286 Partition loads that I worked up to, are on page 391 of "The Big Book of Gun Gack: The Hunter's Guide to Handloading Smokeless Rifle Cartridges" - by John Barsness, published in 2015. He is the guy who had some of his loadings to be pressure tested by/at the Western Powder lab. Same page, he used Big Game powder with those 320 grain Woodleigh - so is two powders for me to try ...
I have no need to "push" a cartridge into something it is not meant to be - I do have a 9.3x62, which I do load with 250 Accubond and healthy loading of Varget - the loading that I use was apparently pressure tested at Western Powder labs in Montana (not by me), to not exceed SAAMI 30-06 level - which does exceed 9.3x62 levels. By 2,000 psi using CIP piezo test procedures - 57 kpsi versus 59 kpsi - so, technically, I guess that I am "pushing" my 9.3x62.
I also worked up to what I consider a "good" loading with 286 grain Partitions and 285 PPU - and Big Game powder, and have some 320 grain Woodleigh Weldcore yet to be attended to - I did receive information from a Woodleigh manual for them though - looks like Varget is a recommended powder - for velocity, anyways. The 250 grain Accubond and 286 Partition loads that I worked up to, are on page 391 of "The Big Book of Gun Gack: The Hunter's Guide to Handloading Smokeless Rifle Cartridges" - by John Barsness, published in 2015. He is the guy who had some of his loadings to be pressure tested by/at the Western Powder lab. Same page, he used Big Game powder with those 320 grain Woodleigh - so is two powders for me to try ...
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P Miner. I worked up to the 52 gr load. Same as I do with any wildcat cartridge. The brass will last damn near forever at that pressure level. You are seemingly determined to pole vault over a mouse turd, but that seems to be your thing ???
