I can only wish to have all the accumulated experience that is compiled in the 9.3×62 Journal, but I don’t. Thus I cannot take credit for all of the contributions in this book.

SINCE 2005, the Journal is a product of an accumulative contributory effort by various authors and helpers from very diverse backgrounds. Despite of that or is it, because of that, what a fine product materialized as the 9.3×62 Journal.

Some of the authors have hunting related attributes longer than my arm and they may be quite known on both an international and national level in relevant hunting media.

In this regard, you will learn from well-established authors like once Zimbabwean based veterinarian and hunting outfitter, Dr. Kevin Robertson, who authored a few hunting related, books like, The Perfect Shot, It Shouldn’t Happen, and Africa’s Most Dangerous. He brought along a wealth of information from his practical experience.

Or Pierre van der Walt, a rifle and cartridge-reloading nut who just cannot get enough of anything rifle related. Pierre has been the founding editor of The Big Bore Journal and has published books such as, Big Bore Load Data Collection and African Dangerous Game Cartridges. Pierre speaks his opinion freely and presented us with the most comprehensive reloading data for the 9.3×62 anywhere to be found, … anywhere.

Then there is the late “gun-and-cartridge encyclopaedia”, Dr Mauritz  Coetsee. He has published far and wide in hunting related media and was the founding editor of The African Outfitter Magazine  He published a manual on cartridge reloading, The Sum of all Parts and in the 9.3×62 Journal he introduces us to hunters like Joe Lubbe and Mario Serradino who hunts with a 9.3×74.

You will meet an old Zambian hunter, Don Forrester, who has published various articles in Magnum, the Shooters Magazine. Lucky for us he also contributed to the 9.3×62 Journal although he is a stern supporter of the .375 Holland&Holland cartridge.

The hunting adventures of once South African Senator-Dr Steenkamp and Harry Flederman will sweep you away to an era that will never come our way again. They used their 9.3×62 rifles to the fullest.

I’m not going to hide the fact that a tenth (1/10th ) of the Journal is written by Afrikaans hunter-authors who’s life’s gyrates around hunting and rifles. Of all the 9.3×62 users in Africa past and present, Afrikaans speaking hunters made up quite a big portion and we can sit by their knee and learn from them. The photographs speak a thousand words… Uncle Adie grew up in “wild country” in Tanganyika in East Africa (now Tanzania) with a rifle in his hands. The 9.3×62 was one of them and he hunted the toughest of them all. You will understand the pictures when you see them, because they will put in your heart a longing for those golden years.

The late Dr. Lucas Potgieter just had to leave a trail as he was the only publishing firearm-guru, cum hunting writer during the 1970’s in South Africa. He had his own gun shop, The Powder Keg, which is still running in the South West of Johannesburg. Dr. Lucas Potgieter published in a local South African weekly column and published in the European hunting magazine, Hatari Times. From his pen no less than four Afrikaans    hunting related books materialized during a life filled with hunting and rifles and such.

We are honoured to have hunters like Hendrik Diedericks, who was with the Journal right from the beginning. He has made time in his busy  schedules to capture in writing his journey, ideas and experiences around the 9.3×62 Mauser.  

Hendrik Diedericks had tested a wide range of modern bullets in the hunting laboratory on tough African animals and captured his findings in word and picture. This valuable information benefits us greatly.

Australian farmer, Dayne Horrigan tested more bullets than anyone else. It is well documented in the 9.3×62 Journal. We chase boars with Luis  Ortega from Spain and stalk the African plains with Luigi Sylvestre from Italy. Carl Mitchell from Idaho in the US takes us with him to Namibia. With outfitter-PH Ryan Phelan from South Africa we hunt with hunting clients and discover with him the capabilities of the 9.3×62. With Henk Coetsee, we do Problem Animal Control and we dig deep into the more than 115 years track record with the star of the show, the 9.3×62 Mauser. Norman Angle from the US introduces us to a movie star. He was kind enough to compile an article about Osa Johnson. It’s a  well-worth read. I also want to mention Adelino Serras Pires, co-author of his book of African adventure, Winds of Havoc. Then there are the faceless many who contributed in the form of quotes, ideas, opinion and photographs. African Hunter Magazine, Jannie Nel, Marius Taljart, Klasie Niewenhuisen, Roy Guthrie and many more contributed in some way or the other like Larry  Schuknecht who introduces us to Otto Bock. Without all these valuable contributions the 9.3×62 Journal would have been less complete.

I, on the contrary, am a bambi and tree hugger with a really big interest in Creation Science, weather conditions, sunsets and sunrises.  Whether I hunt, fish, tour, walk or just camp in the outdoors, to me it means that I can study, observe and capture nature in photograph and soul. Therefore, I believe it would be only fair to also give due credit to the real stars of the show… all the animals that features proudly in this book. It is them who makes this book complete.

A hunter I am. A sportsman I am not. I grew up in the bush literally cutting my teeth on a piece of biltong or later a rifle butt. That rifle butt was my father’s ‘nine-three’ Mauser, amongst others. My father and my family before him were pioneers and hunting was their lifestyle born out of necessity. This is the milieu I grew up in.

Having published as widely as I did in national outdoor and hunting related literature, it did not come automatically as it did to academics. As an academic under-achiever, it was a huge challenge for me to put academical pen to academical paper. On the other hand I am not an unqualified intellectual under performer. I can and do practice “man-craft” in many forms with hunting as only one of them. It’s my lifestyle.