Safari Express rifle pic thread

[Oldsarge]

Oh Hell yes, it would. If they'd done that I'd be tempted to buy one. I'm still contemplating getting a Kodiak in 9.3 x 74. It would make a great medium to take back to Africa. I'd use it mainly for pot hunting but the caliber is big enough that you do it all if you shot with care.

 

[416rigby]

Posted this rifle here before but the spirits were with me and while going thru old papers I found the missing "letter". Sent from the PH to his broker and forwarded on to me shortly after I purchased the rifle some 25 years ago.

 

[BlueTrain]

Given how much I've read about how inadequate the 9mm is, not to mention all the other inferior calibers are for defense against people, I've often wondered how it is possible to kill an elephant with a weapon weighing less than 15 or 20 pounds.

 

[Oldsarge]

Bullet placement is everything. Additionally, the 9mm Parabellum is a rather sad excuse for a pistol cartridge whereas the .375 H&H has a century long record of being enough for everything on the planet. In fact, as I have often said, "One planet, one rifle . . . for one hundred years!" Do not doubt the effectiveness of the .375. Is it the ideal stopping rifle in a charge? No. But if you put it in the right place the first shot, there will not be a charge, and that is the preferred way to hunt.

 

[Stearmen]

Given how much I've read about how inadequate the 9mm is, not to mention all the other inferior calibers are for defense against people, I've often wondered how it is possible to kill an elephant with a weapon weighing less than 15 or 20 pounds.

It's not so much what's out front, but rather what is propelling the 9mm bullet. Here is a 9.3X74R next to a 9mm Luger. The 9.3 is a little smaller all around then the .375 H&H, but has taken everything right up to elephants, just like the H&H!

 

[Oldsarge]

It's not so much what's out front, but rather what is propelling the 9mm bullet. Here is a 9.3X74R next to a 9mm Luger. The 9.3 is a little smaller all around then the .375 H&H, but has taken everything right up to elephants, just like the H&H!

And it comes in the most affordable double rifles around. If you want to do Africa 'right' and carry a double without taking out a second mortgage on your house, the 9.3x74R is the winning ticket. Admittedly, I haven't got one of my own . . . yet.

 

[416rigby]

This is my '20s Springer 9.3X74r

 

[BlueTrain]

Now, if you were especially Eurocentric, not to mention well-off, you'd had a drilling in that caliber, Herr 416Rigby.

At one time, there were several extra-long cartridges like that, because they were mostly for single-shot rifles as well as doubles. When bolt-action repeaters became the thing to have, shorter cartridges were developed. Personally, I'd love to have a Mauser in 9.3x62, not that I have much use for and even less need for one. But I'd just like to be the first one on the block to have one. However, I discovered in a casual conversation at a PTA meeting that it's harder to do that than you might think. Someone else had a Colt S.A.A. in .45. After that, only a .38-40 would have satisfied my whims. Anyway, the 9.3x62 actually has a shorter case than a .30-06 but only by less than two millimeters. There was also a special machine gun cartridge in 8mm, I think, that was a higher pressure loading just for machine guns when the standard rifle was a 6.5 mm that was also chambered in rifles for use by machine gun squads but I don't remember the exact cartridge.

By the way, are you related to 450Rigby?

 

[Doublegun]

Posted this rifle here before but the spirits were with me and while going thru old papers I found the missing "letter". Sent from the PH to his broker and forwarded on to me shortly after I purchased the rifle some 25 years ago.

That's a spectacular old Browning and the letter is priceless. Don't think I would ever have it re-blued, although it's tempting. Thank you for sharing.

JDG

 

[Oldsarge]

I have recently acquired a drilling albeit in 7x56R and double 16 ga. I think it will come in handy this fall in woods where blacktail deer, elk and grouse share the same range and the same season. Living alone I don't have much for an entire elk carcass but do believe I could finish off a blacktail in a year's time. Must photograph it and post.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I have recently acquired a drilling albeit in 7x56R and double 16 ga. I think it will come in handy this fall in woods where blacktail deer, elk and grouse share the same range and the same season. Living alone I don't have much for an entire elk carcass but do believe I could finish off a blacktail in a year's time. Must photograph it and post.

While you may not have need for an entire elk, elk meat makes a wonderful gift for special friends.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Reminds me that, one summer, while driving from the left coast to the right coast, we stopped off in Sheridan Wyoming to visit my wife's cousin. He had a whole freezer full of elk meat in the garage and said to me "one day you need to come back in the fall. We'll take some pack horses up into the Big Horns and go elk hunting" or words to that effect. I remember few words spoken by my wife's relatives, but those stuck in my mind almost word for word. Sadly, beyond exchanging Christmas cards, we are not particularly close to that branch of the family and have never had the excuse to go back to Wyoming. Beautiful state. I would have loved to have taken him up on that idea.

 

[Renault]

I've taken a few critters with a 9.3 x 62. Elk,
Nilgai, deer, hogs. Wears new glass now too. Put on a nice Leupold 1.5 x 5 this past summer. But it shoots pretty good with open sights!

I have to say that when serious shooting is the order of the day, this rifle is generally the one I will grab.

I've posted pics of it before in this thread. Its the one I threw together at work one afternoon!

 

[BlueTrain]

The rifle won't shoot any better with a fancy scope but you might.

 

[Renault]

I wouldnt go as far as to say that new glass is fancy. Its no Schmidt & Bender. But it certainly makes things a bit more compact. And the optics are not near as funky as the 40+y o Redfield I took off of it. Even tho I did manage a 350+ Class bull with that old scope in 2010. In the driving snow.

 

[jkingrph]

When bolt-action repeaters became the thing to have, shorter cartridges were developed. Personally, I'd love to have a Mauser in 9.3x62, not that I have much use for and even less need for one. But I'd just like to be the first one on the block to have one

I don't have one of those, but do have a 9.3x57. Probably the only one in town, possibly the county. Rare enough to have never seen ammo in a store. It's nowhere approaching the .375 H&H level, but much more pleasant to shoot. My gun is a 1929 vintage Husqvarna 43.

 

[BlueTrain]

You know, we might be surprised at what other people on the block might have. Sometimes I'm even surprised at what we have at home.

Someone a couple of blocks up the street, a Toyota in the driveway, overgrown flower beds and the like, has a Porsche 911 tucked away in their garage. If he ever drives it, he doesn't drive past our house.

 

[Renault]

Jkingrph,

Great to see you again ! 9.3 x 57 is a great round! Kinda like a .358 Win. in some respects.
I have one too. Husqvarna 146, so its on the 98 action. I load a Speer 270 grain hotcor bullet as they are good as well as inexpensive. Fit my needs. Was backing with H4895. Cant remember how much. Like 48 grains I think, dont quote me on that! Ill have to look to be sure. But I will say I have shot both deer and big hogs with it, and they stay dead.

My x62 was also a Husquvarna 146. I rechambered it from x57 while I was still working at the shop.

Both are handy rifles in either the pines of the Colorado ranch or down in the thick oak motts in deep South Texas.

 

[BlueTrain]

It is curious how so many different cartridges, mostly for rifles, come to be. And there has always been such a huge variety every since metallic cartridges became common. Usually the older ones disappear because there's something about them that makes them less useful in newer guns. But the differences between them can't be that great.

I think one reason for this, and this applies to handgun cartridges, is that, usually, when first introduced, a cartridge tended to be proprietary. That is, they were just chambered by one manufacturer. Weatherby was known for doing that. Also, old catalogs used to have a separate section that just listed British cartridges, although some were just different names for American or European cartridges.

 

[jkingrph]

Jkingrph,

Great to see you again ! 9.3 x 57 is a great round! Kinda like a .358 Win. in some respects.
I have one too. Husqvarna 146, so its on the 98 action. I load a Speer 270 grain hotcor bullet as they are good as well as inexpensive. Fit my needs. Was backing with H4895. Cant remember how much. Like 48 grains I think, dont quote me on that! Ill have to look to be sure. But I will say I have shot both deer and big hogs with it, and they stay dead.

My x62 was also a Husquvarna 146. I rechambered it from x57 while I was still working at the shop.

Both are handy rifles in either the pines of the Colorado ranch or down in the thick oak motts in deep South Texas.

Made a mistake mine is a M46, don't think there is any such thing as a M 43.

When and if I hunt it's in the Piney woods of E Texas, most likely over in NE Louisiana, or W central Miss along the river , occasionally in central or S Georgia with the wife's folks, but as we are all getting older that's becoming more infrequent.

My old rifle is totally stock, fixed iron sights and the places I hunt it's more than adequate as 150 yards would be a very long shot, most would be well under 50 due to thickness of brush and undergrowth.

It's been a while since I reloaded so cannot remember any specific loads, but I do have some of those Speer 270 bullets, as well as some Privi Partisan that run something like 280 or 290 gr, both shoot well. I did find a couple of boxes of loaded Norma Oryx 232 gr but have not shot any, I just wanted to have some factory ammo. I did buy a couple of hundred Norma brass when it was available and have not used it all, but it's there, guess my son will inherit it all some day.

Those big bullets may not be traveling fast, the factory Norma 232 gr are only about 2300 fps, but they all hit hard.