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The 9.3X62 Mauser cartridge, is a light big-bore cartridge. With 286gr to 325gr bullets @ 2360fps and 2195fps Muzzle Velocities, it should be obvious that it was intended as a less-recoiling classic big bore cartridge. The 9.3 cartridge is not just the 30-06-case necked up! The 30-06 was designed along the lines of both the 7x57mm Mauser and 9.3X62 put together on the 9x63 Hessmer Berlin DWM case No. 491D.
Although the 62mm case of the 9.3 cartridge is frequently compared with the 30-06 case of 63mm length, the 9.3X62 was in fact independently developed as a hunting cartridge on DWM case No. 474C with its own unique dimensions and dynamics. Fairly, should one not rather compare the ’06 case with that of the 9.3 instead?
The 30-03/6’s primary and initial intention was to kill people, a rather frail and flimsy creature. The 30-03/06 has been in use since, well, 1906 as a military cartridge, but was later adopted as a sporting cartridge. The only legitimate comparison between the 9.3 and the -06 is that “it is barely possible” to use -06 brass to make-shift a workable but not ideal case for the 9.3.
One of the few arguments against the design of the 9.3X62 cartridge, indeed, is its relatively short neck. Actually, after cutting back and necking up and fire-forming the 63mm -06 case to the 9.3 cartridge dimensions, it measures only 61mm. Yet another full 1mm gets “lost in translation”. In other words, it becomes too short and thus not ideal for use in the German 9.3 chamber. I have never had to revert to such drastic measures as to pervert my 9.3 chamber with a 30-06 case yet, but those who did, testifies about a bulge above the case head, and that, noticeable to the naked eye! Which means that the case can rupture right there.
[2 x 9.3X62 cases left, next to two 30-06 cases necked up to 9.3 and a 30-06 case far right. Note the 1mm/.039" difference.]
[Courtesy Vitas Lesniauskas]
[Note the bulge in this 30-06 case. Please use proper 9.3X62 cases when reloading for the 9.3X62, preferably European cases or South African PMP cases.]
The German 8x57 cartridge is x57mm DWM Case No. 561 with a base dia. of .469” and the much later American standard cartridge, being “hybridised” between the x57mm and x62mm, would become x63mm of the Hessmer Berlin DWM Case No.491D with a base dia. of .467”. This 63mm case would later become the American 2.5” (63mm) standard with the same base diameter, .467”- 0.469”.
0.0054 of an inch, might not seem significant, but considering minute tolerances of a rifle chamber, .0054 of an inch is significant enough to NOT consider make-shifting brass for the 9.3X62 from -06 brass. Not unlike the 8mm-06, the 8.5x63 (338-06) and the 9mmx63 (35 Whelen), and a myriad of other cartridges too, share the common denominator of being “hybridised” onto the x63mm 30-06 case by necking it up (or down). Further, all these USA-born cartridges, including the 6.5-06, 270 Win and 30-06 Springfield, retain the exact same tell-tale shoulder angle of that of the 9.3X62, namely 17˚30’.
The 9.3X62 cartridge, on DWM Case No. 474 C, has its rim slightly rebated, its shoulder moved forward, and its taper largely reduced, exactly as is done with an “improved” cartridge, and that way back before 1905 already. It is obvious that the minute taper Herr Otto Bock did retain in his prodigy cartridge was done with slick and controlled feeding in combination with the proven Military 1898 Mauser action in mind, for life-threatening battle situations that might dwell in the dark jungles and plains of Africa. Taking this information into account, it’s obvious that Otto Bock was a visionary or wizard – take your pick. No one in this day and age could “improve” on his cartridge without sacrificing a whole lot of other desirables.
Considering the above-mentioned revelation, it becomes evident that the 30-06, and thus all its siblings, have their origins from the 8x57 DWM Case No. 561! The 30-03/06 is a slightly taller 8x57 on a downsized 9.3X62 case… [Not necked down, there is a difference]. If you ever had difficulty to understand the success of the 30-06, here is your answer: the 30-03 derives from these two German cartridges. The 30-03 was a German designed cartridge and royalties had to be paid on German patents!
[All three mentioned medium wildcats that get associated with the 9.3X62 retained the 7.62x63 Springfield’s body taper, borrowed from the 7x57 Mauser, as well as neck length.]
he “Ball Cartridge, caliber .30, Model of 1906” became the 30-06 Springfield that was plagiarized from the 30-’03 by shortening the neck by .007”. The real American cartridge of 1906 was a cartridge named, 405 Winchester, a straight-wall cartridge typical of American straight-walled cartridge design.
“However, both the Springfield rifle and the Springfield cartridge infringed on Mauser patents, which led to the US paying infringement royalties to Mauser.” – W Todd Woodard on the 30-06 cartridge in Shooter’s Bible Guide to Cartridges (2011).
Courtesy of 9.3 x 62 Mauser Journal that is available here https://93x62journal.co.za/
So here we go - but I must first edit a term I used earlier: by "retained momentum" I was referring to the impulse the bullet has on the substance it hits.
Impulse can be defined as the rate of change of a bullet's momentum during its time of impact. Whether a bullet slows down and stops during impact, or slows down while passing through the animal, the time of change to its momentum is close to 1/500th of a second.
Then, if this calculated impulse force is applied to the full frontal area of the bullet which experiences and determines the slowing-down drag force, then an index of the force per square millimetre can be calculated. If the retained frontal area of the bullet is known these figures can be applied to bullets of any calibre and weight and impact velocity and will show the actual relative indices for penetration ability for similar placed shots. As was mentioned earlier, results in the field closely match these relative indices. Below are some examples:
A .458 Win Mag will typically shoot a 500 gr bullet at 2 000 ft/sec. At 40 metres the impact velocity will be 1900 ft/sec and impact momentum will be 18.7 Newton.second. The impulse force will be 9 364 Newton. When this is applied to the bullet frontal area the penetration force will be 88 Newton per squate mm bullet frontal area. With Cape buffalo we know that a 500 gr monometal bullet from a .458 Win Mag may or may not break through the on-side skin and tendons AND break the shoulder bone AND brake through two overlapping 1" thick ribs, stay on course and cut the heart. The bush laboratory showed that 88 Newton per square mm allows a bullet to sometimes reach and cut a buffalo's heart via the most difficult path and sometimes not. (the reasons for this is worthy of a seperate discussion).
That was why the .458 Lott and .450 Watts and .460 Wby Magnum appeared. A 500 gr bullet from a .458 Lott at 2 300 ft/sec has an impact momentum of 21.7 Newton.second and an impulse force of 10 842 Newton. Applied to the 106 sq. mm frontal area of the bullet the penetration force is 102 Newton per square mm. Field experience has shown that a 500 gr VRG-2 Peregrine bullet from a .458 Lott each and every time will pass all the way through both shoulders of a Cape buffalo and be gone somewhere into the bush behind it.
The bush laboratory therefore advises us that 88 Newton/sq.mm is NOT a guarantee of reaching the heart every time - and 102 Newton.sq/mm is over penetration every time, which is not a bad thing. The .416 Rigby with a 400 gr VRG-2 bullet has a penetration index of 103 Newton.sq/mm and displays the very same pass through ability as a .458 Lott, so in practice there is no difference between the killing ability if these two cartridges.
The 9.3x 62 with a 286r gr VRG-2 has a penetration index of 95 Newton.sq/mm. The bush laboratory has shown that this will every time break the onside shoulder and ribs and cut the heart and break the offside ribs and either get stuck in the off-side shoulder - or if it misses the bone, will stop against the off-side skin, some times with its base first. This means that the 95 Newton.sq/mm penetration force is completely adequate 100% of the time for Cape buffalo if the proper flat nose solid bullet is used. You do not get pass-through but neither do you need a back-up rifle if you place the bullet correctly. It will cut the heart every time.
Where is the .35 Whelen in this regard? The heaviest bullets on the market in the USA for the Whelen is 250 gr. Factory ammunition launches that bullet from a 24" barrel at 2 330 ft/sec. That relates to 11 Newton.sec impact momentum and a 5 495 Newton impact impulse. The bullet frontal area is 65 square mm, so the penetration force is 85 Newton.sq/mm. We already know from the "bush laboratory" that the 88 Newton.sq/mm of a .458 Win Mag is an iffy proposition which may or may not reach the heart via the on-side shoulder bones. Anyone can take his .35 Whelen and experiment on a Cape buffalo - but no professional PH will be part of such experimenting by a client. If you are hunting all by yourself in Mozambique like I did you should be happy with a 9,3x62, but unsure of success on a buffalo's shoulder with the .35 Whelen. Alone and in the wild wilderness with a Cape buffalo bull is the ideal place to learn of the successful penetration ability - or not - of your cartridge and bullet combination.
Regarding the first missive of comparing the 9,3x62 with other cartridges for their ability to effectively kill the big, thick skinned and hard boned animals like Cape buffalo, elephant and hippo (and for that matter - a giraffe) the following analogy may be used:
For a very sharp sword which is slowly being pushed into a living body the killing action does not depend on anything else but a sustained momentum force acting onto the small, very sharpened frontal area of the cutting edge until the latter reaches the top chambers of the heart. Velocity has nothing to do with it but killing is dependent on sustained penetration until the heart top chambers are cut open so that there is a sudden and massive disruption of blood-oxygen and blood sugar to the brain motor functions. That is exactly how a bullet kills any animal, but is more evident on the large mammals.
There is a certain figure / ratio of sustained momentum onto a frontal area of a bullet that we know will break through a buffalo's shoulder bones and maintain direction and maintain a sustained momentum to cut the heart's top chambers open to suddeny interrupt the blood flow to the brain's motor function faculty. Also, once the bullet is out of the Pmax curve apex about 80 mm from the case mouth the size and geometric shape of the case it was expelled from has no more influence on its further killing ability.
For ease of known frontal area a flat nose Peregrine VRG-2 monolithic copper solid bullet is considered (and I have a fairly good data base of proof in "nature's laboratory" about this). Just to give the bottom line: a 286 gr VRG-2 from a 9,3x62 at 2 400 ft/sec has the a higher penetrating force onto its frontal area than a 500 gr same bullet from a .458 Win Mag at 2 000 ft/sec, or a 275 gr same design bullet from a .35 Whelen at 2,400 ft/sec (only the Whelen can not achieve this).
Those figures .458 Win Mag (which we shall calculate shortly) is known to possibly break a Cape buffalo's on-side scapula-humerus joint, break two overlapping ribs, cut open the heart's top chambers - or maybe do not reach the heart. Keep this in mind as the principles are expanded in our development thinking.
The retained momentum force onto the square millimetre surface area of the bullet's retained frontal area is what allows it to reach and cut open the heart and kill the animal - or does not reach it. In a follow-up post I shall explain the logic and calculation of an index for these figures for a few cartridges.
Very informative post, Martie - and very valid on safety too: I was told by a friend in Virginia, USA, about a friend who fireforms 30-06 cases in his 9,3x62.
The 30-03 was a 1.1: 1 enlargement of the 7x57 Mauser after the Cuban embarrassment, as the .50 Browning was a 1.77 :1 enlargement of the Mauser cartridge.