9.3x62 cast load info

[outdoors]

Looking for some personal experience with shooting cast in the 9.3x62 as I just acquired an older Husky '98. In particular what bullets and diameters were you using, is there a bullet source for a non caster, and recommendations for a load pushing a 270-290 grain bullet @ 1600 fps or so. I think something of that order would make for a pleasant practice round.

Also, how did you flare the case mouth?

Thanks

 

[gvanzeggelaar]

20+ grains of 2400 should be a good place to start. Bullet Barn has 280gr cast, and a Lee universal expanding die will flare the mouth.

I would consider casting yourself as it really opens up your options in the way of diameter and bullet style.

 

[stocker]

The easy way to flare the case mouth is to get a Lee universal case flaring die. Failing that take a pair of needlenose pliers that are nice and smooth on the outside of the jaws. Insert pliers into case mouth, apply pressure and rotate the pliers.

Have a look at H4895 as a powder choice; somewhere in the 36-40 grain range should get you what you want for velocity. 40 grains for the same weight bullet in a 35 Whelen gives me just over 1900. Accuracy is very good.

 

[LUTNIT]

I have very good luck with cast bullets in any calibre with Unique.
The Lee universal case mouth expanding die, as said above, is very good. I believe it works from 20-50 calibre; it has no issues flaring 45-70 cases for me.
My groups have shrunk since switching from H4895 to IMR4895. Haven't tried it in all my rifles so far but 3 for 3 have seen improvements for whatever reason. Of course the load data isn't the same (but is close) so keep that in mind.
SR-4759 gets good comments for both 9.3x62 and x57 but I haven't tried it myself in those.
For bore diameter you are best off slugging the bore and going 1-2 thousandths larger. Ideally a 9.3x62 will slug .366" so a .367" or .368" could be used but if the slug comes out larger or smaller you may need to adjust.

 

[buckbrush]

if you are poor, a good way to bell case necks is a larger caliber bullet taped into the case neck for required belling.

 

[LUTNIT]

If you are too poor to afford a $13 universal expanding die you probably shouldn't be shooting in general... just saying.
That's not so say the larger bullet thing wouldn't work but if $13 will break the bank you are most likely in the wrong hobby.

 

[nanuk]

if you are shooting cast, you should look into paperpatching also. most .358 cast bullets are around .358-.360, and it's like they are made for PPing.

 

[josquin]

The Bullet Barn here in BC (thebulletbarn.com) does a 280 gr. hardcast bullet with a double lube groove. I got some for my 9.3x57 but haven't really played around with them yet.

I have a link saved from Gunboards on cast bullets in the 9.3 x 57 which might be useful. It's actually quite an extensive thread.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...t-lead-from-9-3x57&highlight=9.3+cast+bullets

I have some recent experience shooting a 280gr gas checked bullet of my design that The Bullet Barn manufactures in British Columbia. See http://www.thebulletbarn.com. I have tried this bullet in three 9.3x57 rifles with similar results. One of my rifles is scoped and has some quite bad scoring about 3 inches back from the muzzle. Surprisingly this seems to have little effect on the results on target. The Bullet Barn casts to Brinell 25. Ballistic coefficient calculates to 0.254 using Precision Ballistic Coefficient Estimator from http://www.uslink.net/~tom1/calcbc/calcbc.htm. I haven't confirmed this BC with any velocity measurements yet. Think I would want to armor the chrony before taking a velocity at range! I haven't ramped velocity up but have tended to stay with loads that are very comfortable to shoot in a recoil sense. Here is a list of a few loads that I have tried thus far:


Powder-- PowderWt-- Velocity
AA5744-- 25gr-- 1450fps
I4895-- 38gr-- 1720fps
I4895-- 40gr-- 1820fps
Unique-- 13.5gr-- 1280fps
Unique-- 14.1gr-- 1367fps
Unique-- 14.6gr-- 1389fps


Also tried 36gr of I3031 which I didn't get around to chronographing yet. The 38gr of I4895 shot 5 into 2” at 100yds from the scoped M46A. The 36gr I3031 looks like it wants to do the same. Overall cartridge length for all loads was 2.937”. Used some Norma brass and re-necked Remington 8mm and didn't notice any consistent velocity differences between them over the low volume shooting done. I think with the Unique I will use a 14gr load as it seemed to shoot a little tighter on the paper. I think the 9.3x57 is a natural for cast bullets and have been reserving the jacketed bullets for the x62. Will have to get the lead after some game one of these days!

Stuart