The Best .366x62

what is a poor man's Magnum is there such a thing and if so should you have [Music] one welcome to Ron sper Outdoors folks this morning we're going to talk about a couple of really cool cartridges that Through the Ages have kind of challenged the supremacy of the 375 H&H which of course is known as that classic allaround cartridge that you can hunt anything in the world with from Little robu in uh Europe to Elephant in Africa and of course it's awesome for anything from white tail deer to Coastal brown bear in North America so what are these two cartridges well it's the 9.3 by 62 which was designed by a man named Auto Bach in 1905 that's right it actually predates the 375 H&H the other one is the 35 whan it was um engineered by a combined um effort really uh Townson whan of course the famous colonel whan was one of the driving forces but depending on the sources you read in the research you do you'll find that there were some other people involved and in fact may have done the most of the work and just asked Colonel whan if they could put his name on the cartridges kind of to honor him right at any rate I think we can conclude um that he was a proponent of the cartridge he liked the cartridge and it took off and has done very well particularly among American Sportsmen that like something a little different so what are these cartridges well I've got a few of them here in front of me and um compared to the 375 H&H they're a significant amount smaller you'll uh recall that the 375 H&H has a belted cartridge case head and it's a full Magnum length cartridge so it's going to be in the neighborhood of 3.6 to 3.7 in maximum overall length both the 35 whalan and the 9.3 by 62 are based on cartridge cases that are more like the 30 out6 in size in fact the 35 whan is um a I guess you could call it a descendant of the 30 out6 it's just 30 out6 brass necked up to 35 caliber 358 diameter bullets the 9.3 by 62 isn't quite as simple folks because it as you may have noted predates the 30 out6 by one year not the 303 predecessor of the 30 out6 but the 306 itself it has a a cartridge case head in the realm of the 8mm Mouser the 7x 57 and those other great cartridges that were designed by uh the mousers over in Germany uh sometimes it can vary a little bit but that doesn't matter for the sake of our discussion we're really just um talking about performance and um particularly performance compared to size so just imagine for the sake of clarity that uh the 9.3 by 62 uses a 30 out6 type of case bullet diameter of course is 9.3 mm in decimal point system it's 3.66 yeah the mathematicians among you will have noted that that is uh only 8,000 of an inch smaller than the 375 so the 9.3 became uh the preferred tool for settlers especially Germanic and Dutch settlers going to uh to Africa because it was available in relatively inexpensive magazine rifles that's of course the Continental term for a bolt action rifle and um it was adequate for anything up to an including Kate Buffalo they've killed a lot of rhinos and elephants with them back in the day too but it's it's marginal for that it'll get the job done and it's really good for all the big analou species so you can look at the 9.3 by 62 as kind of the well the Dutch and Germanic Nations version of the Great British 375h andh that served on the English side of the boore war actually the bore War predates either cartridge but uh we'll say in the descendants of that conflict's hands the 9.3 by 62 now is kind of a cult cartridge much like the 35 whan and proponents of it argue that it will produce near 375 H&H type performance on dangerous game on big game such as moose brown bear and so forth without the recoil and it holds more cartridges in the magazine does the 35 whan fit in that same category well almost folks but it generally shoots a lighter weight class of bullets and has less frontal diameter does typically offer a little more muzzle velocity so there's always a balance there right Americans love the 35 whan because it's just ideal for big elk moose bison MUSC grizzly bear and Coastal brown bears I personally would hesitate I'd think twice about using it on Cape buffalo even if it was legal in many countries the 375 H&H or shall we say the 375 diameter cartridge is uh legal minimum and um interestingly there's an exception in most of those countries for the 9.3 by 62 because they recognize it's got a long and storied history of success on the African continent for use UND dangerous game now all that said it's worth noting that almost none of those countries enforce that legal minimum uh in many cases it's really just a guideline you won't actually find written rules designating the 375 as a minimum but it's a sensible practical minimum for uh for us hunters that Sally Forth to the Dark Continent on occasion to uh try our hand against Black Death so let's talk a few numbers here the 375 H&H of course typically shoots a 300 grain bullet of various types of solid a soft whatever at if my uh my memory serves an standard average velocity of about 2560 ft per second if you drop down to a lighter bullet in a 270 or even 260 grain white range you can get a nozzer partition or accubond or a Hornady interlock such things Barnes lrx 270 grain bullet is a terrific Choice those will go a little bit faster you might be pushing closer to uh 2700 ft per second so there you're getting into 30 out6 levels of velocity when fired with 180 g bullet just for reference then you can push that performance envelope even faster with a 375 by going to something such as a 250 grain Hornady CX this box is GMX bullets but it's actually outdated uh the new ammo is loaded with the the updated CX version of Horn's monometal 250 gra bullet driven by super performance powder and this is rated to go 2890 ft per second out of a 24in barrel very impressive and it's going to generate uh some fairly significant muzzle energy because of that so the 375s classic level of energy with the 300 grain bullets so much favored for everything from brown bear to k Buffalo is right around 4,400 ft-lbs of kinetic energy now this load with the super fast 250 grain bullet may actually increase that a little bit because the K kinetic energy formula is biased toward velocity that's one of its flaws folks you can manipulate kinetic energy in a way that doesn't represent actual terminal performance by cranking up your velocity a bunch but let's just say that for the purposes of this this this discussion we're comparing our 9.3 and our 35 caliber bullets to about 2550 to 2700 ft per second average velocity out of the 375 H&H and about 4400 foot-pound of energy now the 9.3 by 62 has uh typically a 286 grain heavy for caliber bullet that's the one that you'd choose for Kate Buffalo and so forth because it has a sectional density north of 300 it's very important to African Dangerous Game hunters in evaluating penetration potential that's another discussion all of these loads are going to have adequate sectional density if you choose their heaviest typical bullets so 286 grain that's a conversion from grams folks which is why it's kind of a funny number and muzzle velocity is generally about 2300 60 ft per second so yeah about 200 feet per second slower than the 300 h& with a 300 grain bullet has a lot less recoil you're looking at probably um 20 to 30% less recoil and only about 15% less performance in terms of velocity and then kinetic energy average so what is that kinetic energy with a 286 grain bullet going 2360 ft per second it's right at 35 5 to 3600 ft per second again uh you know the mathematicians among you will note that's about 800 feet per uh foot pounds of energy less than the 375 significant yes enough to be detrimental I'll argue no and I've got a story to support that here shortly folks now what about the lighter weight bullets in a 93 you can get everything down to 185 grain thin jacketed cup and core bullet that Norm Factory loads for or is it laoa might be laoa the factory loads for Target use and light thin skinn game but the classic bullets run 250 grains and uh there abouts either 250 or 286 are the classic uh weights just to look at some examples right here on the left my left where I'm pointing right here there's a 250 grain Barn tip triple shock and I hand loaded those for a recent trip to Africa shot a bunch of Planes game so did my son and we um did really well on animals uptune including big zebra stallions a giant blue wilderbeast and so forth in fact this um this bullet right here in in front of the 9.3 by 62 hand load was recovered from uh my wer beast in the middle is a federal Lo mod topped with 286 grain Barnes triple shock bullets you can see the unfired one here and next to it is a fired bullet that we recovered from a big Kate Buffalo bull I had the opportunity to take a bull for uh the local anti- poaching team for me wasn't able to keep any of it but he was a good siiz old bull gigantic body and after tracking for hours in legitimate 160 degree temperatures deep sand scorching sunlight we came up with an old group of bulls in a Thicket and I'm I managed to get a shot threaded the needle at about 70 yards and put that bullet right at the base of his throat he was on to us he was staring at us as Robert roor would have said as if we owed him money and uh that bullet was later recovered by The Trackers clear back in the abdomen it had taken off the top of the heart the inside of both lungs and that bull he made a short dash of about 70 or 80 yards and died inside of 30 seconds gave his death Bellow and that was that worked wonderfully on the right side here is a a 93X 62 bullet with a solid uh in it now of course these don't expand at all so they penetrate really well that's for your backup shots on dangerous game uh don't have a recovered one because I didn't need to shoot any backup shots but this is a 286 grain main Nosler banded solid I think it's maybe just a solid Nosler solid and shoots very accurately in that little Mouser doomin rifle so again you're looking at uh you know around 35 3600 foot pounds of energy a velocity range from about 2300 to about 2600 feet per second depending on your bullet weight with a 93 by 62 how about that 35 whan well it doesn't typically shoot bullets as heavy as the 93 makes sense it's smaller right you'll shoot a 250 grain bullet typically is the heavy version 225s are really versatile and well balanced and you can get bullets as light as 2885 uh grains the heaviest bullet I'm aware of for the 35 whing if you're really looking for something to to push your luck and go try on dangerous game is a 28 grain Swift dayframe I think it would be terrific on our Mountain Grizzlies and Coastal brown bears and uh probably would serve quite well on Kate Buffalo if you wanted to go try it in an area where it's legal and your pH is okay with that I think it work just as well as the 93X 62 does velocity range is from about um 2,300 ft per second with that 280 grain bullet which is uncommon uh up so you're going to get closer to 2500 maybe even 2600 with a 250 grain bullet sound familiar that's just what the 93X 62 does and as a result it generates about the same sort of energy we're looking at about 3,500 foot- pounds of kinetic energy this bullet next to the the 225 grain expanded one is kind of a special bullet it's a 200 grain Barnes tipped triple shock from a handload that I worked up using 8208 XBR gunpowder and loading it to 30 out6 levels of pressure we'll talk more about that here in just a minute I was able to get 2910 ft per second out of the 22-in barrel of my rifle and a good friend of mine borrowed this rifle I went with him and he shot a 55 in kudu Bull from 460 three yards with this specific bullet just clobbered it dropped it in its tracks most folks will tell you that the 35 whan is kind of a close-range cartridge you know it's good to about 300 yards maximum I kind of challenged that I wanted to be able to shoot further with accuracy and authority and with that bullet it works really well now back to that pressure issue when the 35 wellon was brought out or or shortly thereafter Remington introduced it in the slide action rifle a pump action right which does not have a super strong action and so ever since Factory ammunition manufacturers have been pretty respectful about pressures in the 35 well and in fact the same can be said for the 93X 62 both cartridges traditionally are loaded to lower pressures than the 30 out of6 however if you're using a good bolt action rifle and uh I mean all the brass is capable there's no reason you shouldn't handload to get the most potential performance out of that cartridge so with all that covered how about available rifles in 93X 62 and 35 whan and available Factory ammunition well rifles for the 9.3 by 62 are fairly available you can get a sour rifle out of Europe for less than a th000 bucks they're pretty widely available you can find a lot of used rifles chambered for the cartridge lots of cz550 models that's a fantastic controlled feed rifle harks back to the old Bruno type uh Mouser type rifles uh they're going up in price because they're no longer made anymore but they tend to shoot well and they're very good rifle uh Ruger occasionally builds some they did a a run of number ones a while back they did a run a limited edition run of their Model 77 Hawkeye African which is a beautiful rifle those have gotten quite expensive because they're hard to find I think only 250 of them were made for Lipsy Distributors which brings us to my favorite rifle for the 35 whan that's this beautiful bolt action right here again it's a M77 Hawkeye African by Ruger these just came out of the 2024 Shot Show and they're chambered in 35 whan and uh again is a limited run built for Lipsy Distributors I don't know if this one's limited to 250 or not but if you can find one pick it up these are a terrific rifle beautiful high polished blue on the barrel on action nice piece of Walnut proper Express type sights on it a barrel band H front sling swivel stud an ebony 4and cap steel uh grip cap just a wonderful wonderful iteration of a 35 wh and rifle you can also find quite a few used rifles you can find 1903 Springfields and whatnot on the market that have been sporterized and and chambered rebarreled and chambered to 35 whon there's a a single shot company and and which one Escapes Me currently I'm not sure if it's Rossy or one of the others I think it's one of the others that's building rifles in 35 whing if you want to get in into a mild big boore that's a great way to go and brings us back to that discussion of this being the poor man's Magnum right we'll talk more about that here in just a second but first how about Factory ammo neither of them candidly are ever going to match the 375h andh for the broad spectrum of available loads and international availability however they come kind of closer than you'd think the 93 is really popular in Europe for everything from hunting Red Stag to driven wild boar and so most of the big makers over there offer a really good Factory loaded 93X 62 ammo as you can see here I've got ammo by federal I believe Hornady makes ammo Nosler makes ammo wouldn't be surprised if Barnes makes ammo there's a lot of different really good loads being made here in the US as well the 35 whan is more of an American sweetheart you're probably not going to find the big European makers producing Factory ammunition for it however you can find it from most of the American guys including uh Remington Winchester Hornady Federal Barnes Nosler and so forth there's a lot of good ammo for that too you'll have to shop for a little bit but it can be found and in some very good loads as well so wrapping this up the poor man's Magnums 9.3 by 62 35 five whan and I guess you know why did it originally earn that designation I think it's because when both these cartridges came out they were being built in sporterized military firearms that didn't cost a lot the 35 whan was initially chambered in 1903 Springfields that had been rebarreled right and uh that was a classic way to get into a lowcost highquality hunting rifle back uh after World War II the 93X 62 would have been built in both sporting mousers and in repurposed military Mouser actions in Continental Europe so much the same sort of story The 375h andh on the other hand was kind of a a British highbrow cartridge when it came out it was introduced in Holland and Holland rifles and it was adopted by rig and others and uh all of those are quite expensive rifles they're beautiful works of art but uh back then it was usually the wealthy that was buying them and taking them to India or Africa to hunt dangerous game with them so these days I don't know that there's a a financial advantage to shooting the 93 by 62 or the 35 oil and maybe a little bit you can certainly get nice rifles at reasonable costs and it's always worth noting the Practical costs are less in terms of wear and tear on your body uh as mentioned before both of these cartridges recoil 30 to 40% less than the 375 H&H but the performance only drops about 15% so you're you're gaining a lot of comfort for uh just a slight loss in performance what about a really ringing endorsement for the each cartridge Phil shoe maker legendary brownberry guide in Alaska used a 35 whan his stopping rifle for quite a few years and from what I recall him telling me he liked it a lot I think he actually used that 280 grain Swift A-frame funny enough he told me when he traded in his 35 whan he went to a 93 by 62 and uh really really likes the cartridge endorsement for the 93X 62 would come from well anybody that's used it folks but uh probably the no most notable individual that's been a big proponent of it is Dr Kevin Robertson he's a a legendary African veterinarian that's done a bunch of uh work charting African Anatomy uh big game and Dangerous Game anatomies and talking about shot placement he wrote the books the perfect shot and the perfect shot to absolutely by the perfect shot too it's wonderful book and in there he mentions an old Mouser 93X 62 I think it was a Bruno that he had that shot dozens and dozens maybe hundreds of Kate Buffalo in the hands of his clients he was also a licensed pH and he found that it killed just as cleanly or even more so than the 375 H&H generally because the guys shooting it were a little recoil shy with a 375 H&H they'd come and borrow a rifle didn't own a big board of their own hadn't the chance to work on their Rifleman ship skills with a heavy recoiling rifle when he put the 93X 62 in their hands Buffalo died without fuss or mus and so that's a a really cool endorsement there as well and with that folks I would highly encourage you to get into the beautiful world of medium Big Board rifles they offer a lot of clout for very low price in Recoil they're relatively available and you can get Factory ammo or have a lot of fun making the most out of the cartridges with your hand loads thanks for tuning in folks as Ron sper would say an honest and shoot straight I'm Joseph Fon benedict with the backcountry hunting podcast and I'll see you in the back country [Music]

Channel: Ron Spomer Outdoors

Views: 37,663

Keywords: outdoors, ron spomer outdoors, ron spomer, hunting, firearms, guns, shooting sports, rifles, big game hunting, hunting gear, hunting gear review, rifle review, gun review

Id: 9Nj8NJLkyG0

Length: 25min 29sec (1529 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2024