For all-around use, my favorite is the 250-grain A-Frame. With a sectional density about the same as that of a 180-grain bullet of .30 caliber and with the ability to retain a very large percentage of its weight during expansion, it is capable of handling any big-game animal in North America as well as most of what Africa has to offer. Recoil is also a bit less than with full-power loads using the more traditional 286-grain bullet.

I can think of several dozen cartridges that are more suitable for smaller game such as deer, but if I had to, I could get by on whitetails with the 9.3x62 loaded to 2500 fps with the Nosler 250-grain Ballistic Tip. Zero that bullet 3 inches high at 100 yards, and it will land about dead on the money at 200 yards and about half a body depth low on a big buck at 300 long paces.

In the past, it was common for those of us who owned rifles in 9.3x62mm to come up with a supply of cases by necking up .30-06 brass, trimming to an overall length of 2.430 inches, and moving the shoulder forward by fireforming. While I never heard of anyone getting into trouble when doing so, I have discontinued the practice simply because of the difference in base diameters of the two cartridges.

Most factory 9.3x62mm cases measure around .472 inch just forward of the extractor groove compared to somewhere in the neighborhood of .464 inch for the .30-06 case. The 9.3x62mm chamber is about .006 inch larger than the .30-06 chamber in that area, and when a case made from .30-06 brass is fired in a rifle chambered to 9.3x62mm Mauser, it is not supported by the chamber until it has bulged to a larger diameter than it was designed to withstand.

The 9.3mm cartridges are excellent candidates for handloading. Plenty of load data, reloading equipment, and .366-inch component bullets are readily available.

Firing a minimum-dimension case formed from the .30-06 in a maximum-dimension 9.3x62mm chamber could result in a ruptured case. This is why anyone who handloads this cartridge is wise to round up a supply of factory cases. Lapua cases are of excellent quality and are available from various sources; they can also be purchased online directly from Lapua. Nosler offers cases made by Norma, and they too are top-drawer in quality.

With the coming and going of each hunting season, more and more American hunters are discovering the 9.3x62mm. It shows by the fact that plenty of load data is now available in reloading manuals published by Hodgdon, Speer, Hornady, Swift, Nosler, Norma, and VihtaVuori. I find the same powders that work so well in the .35 Whelen with those bullet weights to work equally well in the 9.3x62mm. Standard primers have plenty of spark for igniting most powders in this cartridge, but anytime spherical powders, such as W760 and H414, will be used at temperatures below freezing, velocity can be more uniform when a magnum primer is used.

You won’t find rifles in 9.3x62mm in every gunshop, but they are available. If I were shopping for one, I would look long and hard at the extremely affordable CZ 550 LUX. The Blaser R93 and the Model 24 from Ultra Light Arms are available in this caliber. Any rifle chambered for one of the .30-06 family of cartridges can be converted with no modification other than the installation of a custom aftermarket barrel.