Hi qwerty,
I've just converted a Sako L691 .270 into a 9,3x62 having spent a while in Germany and experiencing the wonders of this round. I've only put a few rounds through it so far in order to break in the new Border Barrel on it but I will be experimenting with using 250grain bullets as apose to the traditional 286's. I reckon this will lesson the recoil ever so slightly but more importantly give a slightly flatter trajectory whilst still delivering a mighty punch. so hopefully when i get more familiar with the round, i should be able to push it out to 250 yards. The bullets i have to experiment with are the Nosler Accubonds and some Woodleigh Round Nose Weldcores. The Accubonds with their Spitzer profile and boat tail should shoot slightly flatter than the lesser dynamic flat bottomed and blunt Woodleighs, but the Woodleighs will be some what tougher and and hit harder on impact ( i intend to use it on running boar aswell as a woodland stalking round). The only issue is that i particularly chose bullets that have a cannelure to allow me to crimp because of the moderate to heavy recoil of the 9.3 and i did'nt want them shifting in the mag. With the cannelure being very high on the Nosler bullets, meaning they have to be seated quite deeply which means i have less room for the charge in the case and with the Varget i'm using, i can't even get minimum into the case without heavily compressing it. However with the Woodleigh crimped at the cannelure i can get loads more powder in, as much as i like in fact (up to the max, with min being 56g and max being 60g) although i havent gone there yet and probably won't. So the point i'm making is that i can get more powder in the case with the Woodleigh bullet, hence outwaying the advantage of have the more aerodynamic Nosler bullet which will only take a max of 55grains. Although adding more powder will invariably up the recoil; by how much i don't yet know, perhaps it will be negligable??
So that is all i have to offer at this point, the rifle is away being blued and having cross bolts fitted as i speak so i can't go further till its done. Then i can begin to see any differences in results on the paper at 100m. TBH, i will go with the one that shoots the more accurately in my rifle; as simple as that.
So what have you experienced through loading for you Mannlicher, any joy? what have you been putting through it?
Cheers, James