Lee these are the notes that go with the couple of 9.3x62 rounds in my collection, hope they are of interest.
ATB
Chris
"There isn't really a great deal to say about it. Everybody found it so generally satisfactory that there wasn't anything to start a discussion." This is how 'Pondoro' Taylor sums up the 9.3x62 in his classic book, African Rifles & Cartridges. From the moment of its introduction in 1905 until ammunition supply problems in the late 1960's, the 9.3x62 Mauser reigned supreme the "all rounded calibre" and probably most popular non-military in Africa.
When cartridges loaded with smokeless powder and jacketed bullets were first introduced, a truly remarkable "small-bore" revolution began amongst hunters and farmers across the continent. The military rifles that introduced this revolution were chambered for the 7x57, .303, 6.5x54 Manlicher, 8mm Lebel or 7.92 Mauser. Their flat trajectory and almost unbelievable penetration changed the way people thought about rifles. The Martini-Henrys, Sniders and 11.2mm Mausers that they replaced packed a most impressive clout on small and medium game but, they were no slouches in the recoil department, had a rainbow like trajectory and the military bullets were too soft to give the desired penetration on big- game.
Almost overnight the old black powder rounds became obsolete, and only those who couldn't afford a new rifle were left with the older ones. In Zimbabwe, the Martini-Henry was THE universal rifle up until 1894. By March 1896 when the first outbreaks of rebellion occurred, the Martini was obsolete with those remaining in Government stocks being in disrepair whilst many civilians and all of the militia had .303’s. By the end of the war everybody had acquired a .303 and it was much the same throughout Africa.
What cut the small bore revolution short was the Rinderpest epidemic, which from 1894 to '97 ravaged South and Central Africa. The antelope died in their millions becoming locally extinct in many areas. This huge drop in animal numbers meant a change in hunting ethics. Prior to this it was "normal" that, any animal shot at, that did not show signs of being badly hit, was usually left and "assumed" to be a miss and another individual engaged. Suddenly game was scarce and it might take a couple of days of hard hunting to get a second shot, so the first one needed to count, and bring the animal down quickly. Marksmanship on game improved, as did follow-up effort to recover wounded animals and it didn't take long for people to realise that game had to be hit "just so" with the full metal jacketed, military bullets to bring them down quickly. Soft point ammunition improved the situation, but even these lacked the terminal clout of the old black powder rounds and were in very short supply to boot.
By 1900 many hunters had either gone back to their Martini's or had invested in one of the new medium bores being brought onto the market by the British and German gun trades. The British were also quick to introduce heavy calibre rifles for use on dangerous game, but these were specialty weapons designed more for the gentleman hunter than the working professional or farmer. What the working man required was a cheap, reliable rifle chambered for a cartridge that would comfortably sort out a crop raiding elephant or hippo, and at the same time secure good knockdown times on plains game for the pot, and do this with full metal jacket bullets, whilst at the same time having mild enough recoil to allow for sustained fire in case the owner needed it for self defence. The British were quick to meet this demand with the 400/350 (Rigby) Express, the 400/360 (Purdy & Westley Richards) and the .375 Flanged Express (BSA), whilst the Germans produced the 9x57 and 10,75x57 rounds. The British rifles though fell into two categories, very expensive high quality arms chambered for the proprietary cartridges, or very cheap and nasty ones chambered for the .375 express.
Only the .350 Rigby achieved any measure of success, but it could only be had in expensive Rigby rifles (even the Rigby single shots cost more than double that of a "B" class Mauser), and the proprietary ammunition was expensive and sometimes difficult to obtain. In addition, the Boers, French, German and to some extent the Portuguese colonists were not exactly pro-British and were unlikely to buy another nation's rifle unless it was the only choice, or offered clear advantages over any home produced product. The German cartridges, based on the military 7.92 round necked up, were great on soft skinned game, but had insufficient penetration to kill elephant with frontal shots, and were marginal for raking shots on game such as buffalo or hippo. The 9.3x62 was developed around 1905 by Berlin gunmaker Otto Bock, who designed it to fit into the Model 1898 Mauser bolt-action rifle. It was into this searching market that Paul Mauser launched his 9.3x62.
The standard model '98 Mauser rifle cost only £5 (sterling) in 1905 and were renowned for their reliability. The rifles came with acceptable sights, were superbly accurate and the earlier 7.92 (8mm Mauser) and 9x57 cartridges were easily the best of the early smokeless, small bores and, although they lacked the knockdown power needed for the largest game, had a good reputation. The 9.3x62 corrected the power problem whilst not having excessive recoil. In short, it was a well-balanced cartridge, loaded with excellent soft point bullets or acceptable solids, and came in a reasonably priced, high quality rifle. It was an instant success, and not only in the German colonies.
To cater to the British market, Mauser introduced the. "A" class rifle, with express sights and/or a peep sight, rhino or buffalo horn fore-ends and grip caps and an English style stock. Even with the "extras" the A class Mauser was still half the price of contemporary British rifles of similar quality, and so sold like the proverbial hot cakes to the colonists. Here at last was an all round cartridge; its 286 grain bullets at 2350fps had enough energy and penetration for amateur hunters and farmers to safely kill even elephant in all but the worst circumstances, whilst its moderate recoil made using it on small game such as warthog or impala a reasonable thing to do. The velocity was tolerably high for the period (higher than the contemporary British cartridges) and this gave a flat enough trajectory for all hunting out to 200 meters or so without having to change the sight settings. This was just what the workingman ordered. As its popularity spread, so conditions developed that further enhanced its popularity, viz the ready supply of ammunition.
Anywhere from Cape to Cairo where there was a general dealer or store, 9.3x62 ammunition could be 'obtained'. This was of vital importance to the farmer or hunter who was often cut off from the towns for months on end by the rainy season, not to mention war or rinderpest. In fact, the 9.3x62 came to have a truly international flavour by NOT being a country's military cartridge and this further enhanced its general appeal. The .303 ammunition was not available anywhere in Africa outside of the British colonies, whilst 8mm Lebel ammunition was confined to French Africa, but wherever you went in all six of the colonial power's spheres of influence 9.3x62 ammunition was available.
The only area that Taylor considered the 9.3x62 unsuitable for was following up wounded elephant in thick cover and most hunters would agree. The penetration is there aplenty, enabling the bullet to reach the vitals from any angle, but the sheer bullet energy needed to turn a close quarters charge just simply isn't there (nor is it in the .375 H&H for that matter). Nevertheless the 9.3x62 found immediate acceptance amongst even the large-bore fans in the professional elephant hunting fraternity, for use in open country where shots over 20 meters were the norm. In thick bush, or when following up a wounded elephant, the professional would then take his heavy rifle (a .500, .505 or larger). In truth, many of the small-bore fans kept at least a .450 double in reserve for wounded jumbo in the thick stuff. Wounded elephant aside, the 9.3x62 adequately fitted the bill for everything else.
George Rushby favoured his 9.3 double for both elephant control work and for shooting lion. Ten of the man-eaters of Njombe fell to George's 9,3, and he records with sorrow how he was forced to sell the 9,3 for financial reasons and purchase a .400 which, although just as effective on elephant lacked the "shocking power" on the big cats. This of course was simply a matter of velocity as the 9.3' s velocity is above the critical velocity at which explosive wounds occur in flesh (2200-2250fps), and so the bullets tend to produce a much more extensive wound and "shock" to the central nervous system than the larger, slower bullets.
World War II marked the beginning of the end for the 9.3x62, Mauser stopped producing rifles, and supplies of good quality Kynoch of DWM ammunition became unreliable in the early '60's. The Norma and S&B (Czech) ammunition that remained available was generally designed for medium sized game (up to eland/elk) and the solids were too poor a quality to take against elephant. The European rifles that remained in production were no longer cheap, and the new breed of hunter coming to Africa were Americans, who wanted cartridges chambered for imperial cartridges that they could understand, had a belt on them to "show" that they were a Magnum, and chambered in a cheap home grown American rifle. It didn't matter that the.375H&H solids broke up far more readily than the 9.3's or that the .375 produced greater meat damage with no improvement in effectiveness, and did so with a significant increase in recoil. Ammunition was available, it was cheap, and a new Winchester or Remington, was half the price of a Steyr- Manlicher or Husqvarna. By the 1970's the 9,3x62 was all but dead in Africa, although it remained very popular in Europe.
In recent years the 9.3x62 has seen something of a revival. Good quality Bruno (CZ) rifle arrived on the market which are substantially cheaper than any quality .375, supplies of high quality (and damned expensive) RWS a ammunition began to arrive and custom bullet makers from Ken Stewart to Woodleigh began to produce first class bullets in 9.3. Contrary to popular belief that .375 H&H is the minimum calibre for Class A game in Zimbabwe (Elephant, Buffalo and Hippo) a the 9.3x62 is perfectly legal without having to over-load it, and the current RWS 293 grain TUG load safely meets the minimum energy requirements.
More and more people are re-discovering that the 9.3x62 is a great "all round" rifle. For the man who occasionally gets to shoot a buffalo or elephant, and spends most of his time hunting kudu, eland etc, the 9,3x62 makes an awful lot of sense. The recoil is not excessive, nor the meat damage so severe as to make it an unreasonable choice for game as small as impala, so its owner might as well use it on everything. This makes a great deal more sense than doing most of your hunting with a small or medium bore rifle, and then having change to a different rifle, often with a longer bolt throw, for that once every two or three year buffalo hunt. Beware of the hunter who only uses one rifle he usually knows it intimately, where it shoots at longer ranges and generally is not the originator of cock-ups and wounded game. Loaded with good bullets the 9,3x62 will give the same terminal performance a .375, and do it without the sharper recoil/longer action/greater weight of its modern replacement.
In summary then, the 9.3x62 is a bit of overkill on dassies, and a bit short on horsepower for a Tyrannosaurus, but on everything in-between it is as perfectly adequate today as it was in 1905.