The 9.3mm hunting cartridges are capable of downing all North American big game; as rare as the cartridges may be on this side of the Atlantic, it’s still likely that they already have.

Rifles and cartridges of 9.3mm have never been greatly appreciated by the majority of American hunters, but they have been popular in Europe and Africa for a long time. With a nominal bullet diameter of .366 inch, they are to Europeans what .35-caliber cartridges with their .358-inch bullets are to those of us on this side of the Atlantic. The difference in bullet diameter is equal to the thickness of four pages in the magazine you now hold in your hands. This along with similar bullet weights and velocities adds up to similar performance as long as powder capacities and the chamber pressures to which they are loaded are about the same.

The 9.3x57mm Mauser, which is based on the 8x57mm Mauser case, is rated at about 2350 fps with a 232-grain bullet, putting it in the same league as the .358 Winchester. The 9.3x62mm Mauser and the 9.3x74R are capable of pushing a 286-grain bullet along at 2400 fps, which brings the performance of the .35 Whelen to mind. Most powerful of the bunch is the 9.3x64mm Brenneke, and its 286-grain bullet at 2700 fps enables it to do anything the .358 Norma Magnum is capable of doing. Other 9.3mm cartridges have come and gone, but when all is said and done, two have enjoyed the most popularity, so I will devote the remainder of my space to them.

9.3x62mm Mauser
The 9.3x62mm cartridge was developed by master gunsmith Otto Bock of Berlin, whose rifles became quite popular among German immigrants who colonized a sizeable chunk of the African continent at the turn of the 20th century. The plain-Jane 9.3mm sporter rifle went on to become to thousands of African farmers what the Winchester 94 in .30-30 became to the American cattle rancher.

Introduced in 1905, the 9.3x62 has a bullet diameter of .366 inch, and while it was originally loaded to a rather mild chamber pressure of less than 37,000 psi, it was eventually souped up a bit by various ammunition manufacturers.

Current factory ammo loaded in Germany by RWS is offered there with 258-, 285-, and 293-grain bullets at respective velocity ratings of 2560, 2430, and 2280 fps. For the Scandinavian market, the Norma catalog lists two loads: a 286-grain softnose at 2360 fps and a 231-grain PPC (Protected Power Cavity) at 2600 fps. Lapua ammunition used to be loaded with three bullet options, but now there are only two—270-grain Naturalis (lead-free) at 2395 fps and 285-grain Mega at 2265 fps. Nosler has one load in its Custom Ammunition lineup, the 286-grain Partition at 2430 fps. I have yet to try the Nosler ammo on game, but I have taken moose with both Lapua loads and with the Norma 286-grain load, and their performance left nothing to be desired.

Of the few people I know who own rifles in 9.3x62mm, all but one sticks with handloads. There was a time when bullets were difficult to come by, but this no longer holds true. Swift offers its excellent A-Frame in 250- and 300-grain weights, and Nosler offers two options as well: 250-grain Ballistic Tip and 286-grain Partition. From Barnes, we have a couple of X-Bullets weighing 250 and 286 grains, and the Speer 270-grain semispitzer has been around for quite a long time. Hornady also offers a 286-grain bullet.