Conclusions based on a small sample size.

[TStone]

Lately I have been using the 9.3x62 quite a bit, alternating between that and my 6.5 Creedmoor for most of my hunting. The 9.3 Mauser is a new cartridge to me, I've only had mine for a short time and it is not a cartridge that I have seen used a lot.

Having spent a bit of time around campfires on game farms, I have heard a lot of opinions on the merits of various calibers. Often these conclusions are based on a very limited sample size. As an example, an Eastern Cape hunter once told me, around a fire on a game farm not far from Jansenville, that the .375 H&H is by far the best rifle for kudu. During a rather long and convoluted discussion, while taking great care not to succumb to dehydration, he elaborated on the devastating effect that this cartridge have on kudu bulls. Turns out that he had recently sold his .308 win because he lost several kudu wounded with the .308 win.

Now, I'm a fan of the .375 H&H but I have seen several truck loads of large antelope killed very effectively with Winchester's little .308. And, anyway, kudu are not very tenacious in my experience. So I inquired about the number of kudu shot with the two cartridges. Turned out that he had used the .308 on around half a dozen kudu of which around half was wounded and lost, while he shot, and instantly killed, exactly one sub adult kudu bull with the .375 H&H. Speaking to his guide, I learned that the latter kudu was hit in the neck with a 300gr PMP soft nose which severed the spinal column.

I was reminded of this conversation due to the 9,3x62's performance on blue wildebeest. The first two wildebeest shot with the 9,3 was a pair of blue wildebeest cows. They were shot within minutes of each other using 230gr Peregrine bullets, both at ±250m, both dropping in their tracks. The next blue wildebeest was a bull, shot at ±200m using a 250gr GMX. He too dropped as if struck by lightning. This morning Otto Bock's old cartridge disappointed, a blue wildebeest bull ran almost a hundred meters after stopping a 250gr GMX launched from 300 meters away. An hour later the 9,3 again lived up to its reputation, dropping an old wildebeest cow in her tracks.

Wildebeest are known for their tenacity, so judging from the above the 9,3x62 can be relied on to drop large antelope in their tracks 80% of the time with shots through the chest cavity. And, considering that the GMX that hit the uncooperative bull probably did not expand much, it only didn't do the bang flop thing due to the longer range. Right? Err..., well.... No.

Problem is, during the same time period, using the same two bullets and also Hornady's 286gr Interlock, I killed a waterbuck bull, 8 eland and 2 gemsbok with the 9,3, they all stubbornly refused to drop in their tracks. One of the gemsbok bulls in particular ran more than 200 meters with a shoulder shot (from ±200m away) that went through both shoulders, making a mess of both lungs on the way. Even a few warthog managed to run surprising distances despite receiving good shots. This included a sub adult warthog (shot from 60m) which ran 50m despite massive damage to its lungs and heart.

So, be careful when drawing conclusions. Cartridges don't kill. It is the damage caused to the vitals by a bullet that kill. And, even then, no two animals react the same.

[Brenneke]

They ALL react the same when shot in the head
Of course not an easy task to perform reliably -- Always

I think the reaction of the animals is perhaps a function of how much adrenaline they have already built up / have in their system

An animal that is quietly grazing with no indication of danger not aware of the hunter that is then shot with a good clean kill shot
Will react differently
To an animal that is already alert and wary and worked up for danger -- is charged with adrenalin.

[knipmes]

Amen to the last paragraph

[TStone]

They ALL react the same when shot in the head

No, I've seen more large antelope run off never to be found, after being shot in the head than with any other shot.

[Brenneke]

No, I've seen more large antelope run off never to be found, after being shot in the head than with any other shot.

Interesting
Sort of counter-intuitive

Were these animals that ran off shot in the jaw area or the brain cavity ?

Perhaps I need to re-phrase that first post
When shot in the BRAIN !

[264WinMag]

Interesting
Sort of counter-intuitive

Were these animals that ran off shot in the jaw area or the brain cavity ?

Perhaps I need to re-phrase that first post
When shot in the BRAIN !

I think you might have been referring a brain shot than a headshot


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Brenneke]

I think you might have been referring a brain shot than a headshot
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Absolutely

Chapter II. The Brain Shot at Elephant (extract).

I often had the opportunity of testing this extraordinary little weapon on other animals than elephant. Once, to relate one of the less bloody of its killings, I met at close range, in high grass, three bull buffalo. Having at the moment a large native following more or less on the verge of starvation, as the country was rather gameless, I had no hesitation about getting all three. One stood with head up about 10 yds. away and facing me, while the others appeared as rustles in the grass behind him. Instantly ready as I always was, carrying my own rifle, I placed a .276 solid in his chest. He fell away in a forward lurch, disclosing another immediately behind him and in a similar posture. He also received a .276, falling on his nose and knees. The third now became visible through the commotion, affording a chance at his neck as he barged across my front. A bullet between neck and shoulder laid him flat. All three died without further trouble, and the whole affair lasted perhaps four or five seconds

https://blog.bookyourhunt.com/2018/0...his-own-words/

Here you go

https://archive.org/details/wanderingsofelep1923bell

[TStone]

A shot that hit the brain will kill cleanly and quickly. However, an eland or blue wildebeest have a lot of head and very little brain. I have seen shots intended for the brain hit the nose, the jaw, horns and, in the case of one kudu, both eyes without killing the animal. This is just from animals that was later recovered. Many large animals, and more than a few small antelope, escape with shots that hit somewhere in the head but do not hit the brain, or do sufficient damage to the skull to damage the brain, to die a horrible lingering death later.

I have also seen varmint type bullets in lighter calibers that disintegrated against or deflected from the skull of the larger antelope never reaching the brain. In these cases the animal often drop to the shot, just to get up and run off.

Brain and neck shots are for professional game cullers or very experienced hunters and even they manage to screw up every now and then.

[Messor]

Problem is, during the same time period, using the same two bullets and also Hornady's 286gr Interlock, I killed a waterbuck bull, 8 eland and 2 gemsbok with the 9,3, they all stubbornly refused to drop in their tracks. One of the gemsbok bulls in particular ran more than 200 meters with a shoulder shot (from ±200m away) that went through both shoulders, making a mess of both lungs on the way. Even a few warthog managed to run surprising distances despite receiving good shots. This included a sub adult warthog (shot from 60m) which ran 50m despite massive damage to its lungs and heart.

So, be careful when drawing conclusions. Cartridges don't kill. It is the damage caused to the vitals by a bullet that kill. And, even then, no two animals react the same.

Yeah but we’ve covered this topic before in great detail.

First is bullet expansion, the bigger the cartridge and the heavier the bullet the more material there is to create bullet frontal surface, that is the easy part.

Secondly and more importantly we know for a fact there is a definite correlation between impact velocity and cavitation creation, you can loosely call it knockdown power.

If that was not the case a 308 would perform exactly the same on game as a 300 Winmag, since it’s the exact same bullet, but you know better.

I would fathom a guess the old 9.3 is too slow to create repeatable knockdowns on the plains, it will kill anything you hit but it won’t knock them down just there, too slow.

[Andrew Leigh]

Absolutely

Chapter II. The Brain Shot at Elephant (extract).

I often had the opportunity of testing this extraordinary little weapon on other animals than elephant. Once, to relate one of the less bloody of its killings, I met at close range, in high grass, three bull buffalo. Having at the moment a large native following more or less on the verge of starvation, as the country was rather gameless, I had no hesitation about getting all three. One stood with head up about 10 yds. away and facing me, while the others appeared as rustles in the grass behind him. Instantly ready as I always was, carrying my own rifle, I placed a .276 solid in his chest. He fell away in a forward lurch, disclosing another immediately behind him and in a similar posture. He also received a .276, falling on his nose and knees. The third now became visible through the commotion, affording a chance at his neck as he barged across my front. A bullet between neck and shoulder laid him flat. All three died without further trouble, and the whole affair lasted perhaps four or five seconds

https://blog.bookyourhunt.com/2018/0...his-own-words/

Here you go

https://archive.org/details/wanderingsofelep1923bell

Alas, Mr. Bell has been known to have a rather odd relationship with the truth.