We take a quick look at 9.3x62mm Mauser, a powerful, all-around big-game cartridge.
Developed around 1905 by Otto Bock, a well-known Berlin gunmaker, this chambering was introduced to give the farmers and hunters in the German colonies of Africa an adequate cartridge.
When many African countries were in the process of adopting restrictive laws specifying minimum chamberings for dangerous game hunting, most ruled for a minimum bore size of .40 caliber. Almost universally, the 9.3x62mm Mauser was exempted from the banned classification. It was soon used in Europe on wild boar and red deer, and Mauser sporters were sold in the United States in this chambering until 1940.
The 9.3x62mm was listed in late RWS and Norma catalogs. Browning and other rifles are available in Europe for this cartridge, and Steyr-Mannlicher rifles are currently so chambered. Previously listed under “European Sporting Cartridges” in many reference books, American appreciation of the 9.3x62mm cartridge warrants its movement to a more global appreciation.
The 9.3x62mm is a powerful big-game cartridge, with a good reputation in Africa and Asia. It’s sufficiently powerful for any North American big game and would be a good number for Alaskan bear. At one time, it was one of the most widely used, general-purpose medium bores in Africa. This was due partly to good performance, and partly to the fine, moderately priced bolt-action rifles that chambered it.
A previous editor of Gun Digest’s Cartridges of the World used the listed 232-grain Norma Oryx load (bonded-core bullet) to dispatch his first moose. Bullet performance was flawless; at the shot, the bull dropped in its tracks and never so much as wiggled. This type of performance is the basis of the superior reputation this cartridge has earned worldwide.
9.3x62mm Mauser Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
| Bullet Grains/Type | Powder | Grains | Velocity | Energy | Source |
| 250 SP | IMR4350 | 63.0 | 2,606 | 3,754 | Barnes (optimistic) |
| 270 SP | IMR4350 | 64.0 | 2,550 | 3,899 | Speer (optimistic) |
| 286 SP | H414 | 57.0 | 2,550 | 3,970 | Barnes (optimistic) |
| 232 Oryx | FL | – | 2,625 | 3,551 | Norma 20193002 |
| 250 AccuBond | FL | – | 2,550 | 3,609 | Nosler 48634 |
| 286 Oryx | FL | – | 2,362 | 3,544 | Norma 20193342 |
| 286 Woodleigh SRN | FL | – | 2,360 | 3,535 | Federal P9362WH |
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest’s Cartridge’s Of The World.
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