9,3x62 with Barnes TSX 285 grs for buffalo

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi,

I have an incoming wild water bufalo hunt in a remote region in South America next year.
I have decided to use my 9,3x62. My first bullet selection is the TSX 285 grs at 2450 f/s or so.
Have any of you used this combination? I would like to know your experiences with them.

Thank you!

CF

 

[Ruraldoc]

I have a good friend in the Atlanta area who has killed more than a dozen cape buffalo bulls with his 9.3x62 using 250 grain TSX bullets.

He has had no issues with them.

The only time he had an issue was when his father shot a bull with a solid from a 9.3x62. That bull attempted a charge and had to finished but he was barely able to get up and move.

But the TSX bullets were quick killers.

 

[One Day...]

This is what my wife shoots (286 gr to be specific, in Barnes factory ammo).

It does not penetrate quite as deep as the .375 H&H on Cape Buffalo, but does the job perfectly.

For nearly a century the 9.3x62 was the main stay in "German Africa" (Tanganyika, Namibia, etc.) as well as "British Africa" in the hands of farmers, traders, missionaries, civil servants, etc. thanks to inexpensive but incredibly reliable Mauser rifles. Only the visiting gentry used the .375 H&H.

Water Buff will react to it the way millions of Cape Buffalo reacted to it: crumple and die.

The 9.3x62 is a killer, but do not confuse is with a stopper. Those who did did not like the outcome much...

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Thank you all to tell your experiences! I have 9,3 250 grs TSX and TTSX. I will try some loads with the 285 TSX.

Best Regards

CF

 

[Ruraldoc]

The gentleman who relayed the story of all the buffloes with the 9.3 is a retired Dentist in the Atlanta area and a well know hunter.

His picture with a dead Buffalo is in one of the older Barnes reloading manual.


He said all the buffalo killed with his handloads with the 250 grain TSX were quickly incapacitated and down without incident.

He was always hunting with a PH.

The only buffalo that required a follow up shot from the PH was a Cameroon forrest buffalo shot with a solid that his father insisted on using.

The buffalo made it to his feet and was stumbling in their direction. He was quickly dispatched by the PH and the hunter.

He felt that a good expanding bullet like the TSX would have done better.

 

[SStomcat]

Thank you all to tell your experiences! I have 9,3 250 grs TSX and TTSX. I will try some loads with the 285 TSX.

Best Regards

CF

Please share your loads if you dont mind, I'm also planning to use 250 gr TTSX and 286 gr TSX

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

By the way, the biggest game I have hunted for were big and truly agresive wild cattle. The only way to "stop" them is to hit the brain or the upper part of the spinal cord.
At least to me, is easier to shoot accurately a 9,3 or 375. Wich I have both.
I will try my 9,3x62 on those water bufaloes...

Thank you again!

CF

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi SS,

All my 250 grs loads with various bullets are with: NORMA cases, magnum primers and Alliant R15. With 62 to 64 grs I got 2600 - 2650 f/s in my 60 cm barrel lenght BRNO ZKK 600 without ANY pressure problems.
I haven't tried yet the 285 TSX, but with same weight Hornady Interlocks I use 67 grs W760 for 2450 f/s.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

That's one dead water buffalo you're looking at.

 

[IvW]

Water buffalo and Cape buffalo are not the same thing when it comes to killing them.

The 9.3x62mm has a superb reputation for killing dg in Africa. It achieved that reputation using 286gr bullet at a very sensible velocity.

If it was me I would use the same formula and a premium controlled expansion bonded bullet. I would not use a barnes expanding bullet in the 9.3x62mm....

 

[nomspc]

I’ve had excellent results on bison with the 286 gr Nosler Partition.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Thank you all!!

CF

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi lvW,

I think a 285 grs Barnes TSX loaded at 2400/2500 f/s MV, should works great at less than 100 meters.
I know a 250 grs Barnes TSX/TTSX or a Hornady GMX at 2600 f/s MV would do!

Best!

CF

 

[sgt_zim]

Hi,

I have an incoming wild water bufalo hunt in a remote region in South America next year.
I have decided to use my 9,3x62. My first bullet selection is the TSX 285 grs at 2450 f/s or so.
Have any of you used this combination? I would like to know your experiences with them.

Thank you!

CF

I think even given the long leade/freebore in most 9.3x62 and the correspondingly longer COAL you';ll be able to get, you're going to struggle to reach 2450 with a TSX because you're giving up so much case capacity. Perhaps you can get there safely, some folks probably have.

I haven't shot a TSX out of my 9.3, but I have the 258 gr Hammer Bullets "Stone Hammer." Even at that weight, it's still quite a bit longer than every other 286 gr bullet I have - Swift, Norma, and Hornady.

You certainly need to know the dimensions of your chamber, but if your 9.3 is like the 2 I have - a Zastava and a Sauer - you can probably go with a COAL of around 3.35" and still be 2 or 3 hundredeths off the lands.

With a COAL of 3.325" and 286 gr A Frames, I'm at a chronied 2475 fps. That load worked like a champ on a cape buffalo cow this past August. 1 shot and she was done for, ran off 30 or 40 or 50 yards, crashed, and gave her death bellow.

If you can get an accurate load at 2350 fps with a TSX, I'd call it a day. Barnes' own data doesn't show even 2300 fps for their fastest load.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi sgt_zim,

Thank you for your advice! My ZKK 600 has a magazine lenght of almost 88,5 mm, aprox. 3,5". The chamber dimention is not the limiting factor. I like to load all my bullets with an OAL 87,5 mm, to have 1 mm of clearing, just in case.
I cannot find any 285 grs Swift, so I will try the TSX 285 grs with the W760 to see whant happens. If I can reach 2400/2450 f/s MV I am done.
Anyway, I am tempted to use the 250 grs GMX-TSX-TTSX...will see!

Best!

CF

 

[sgt_zim]

Shame you can't get your hands on some Hammer bullets. I was over 2500 fps with their 258 gr with a COAL of 84.3 mm, and I'm reasonably certain I could have gotten to 2600 fps.