My 9.3x62 experience and related rifles
By Lindsay Jamieson
I have had three 9.3 and similar rifles and each one had its own place in my memories. One with regret at parting and the others with the pleasure in ownership and use. But my basis for acquisition is the book co-written by Don ‘Ganyana’ Heath and Charlie Haley entitled “Hunter’s guide to classic African cartridges”. I knew both of these guys and they were both knowledgeable and good fun to be with. In the front of this book is a list of all the appropriate cartridges and I am trying to collect a rifle chambered for each of them.
My relationship with the 9.3s I have owned, in chronological order.
9.3 x62 Mauser
This rifle came into my hands when a friend informed me that he knew of a classic Mauser for sale, and was I interested. At that time I was, and it was duly acquired. It was a genuine Mauser factory sporter from the 1930’s, with a double set trigger and a period, quick detachable Zeiss scope. And as this was 40 odd years ago and quick and easy photography was not readily available (remember the ten-day wait to pick up the prints from the local chemist?), so I have no pictures of it. But it was a beautiful rifle and it shot well. But a career change was forced on me and some of the toys had to go, so I sold it. But that’s life.
9.3 x 62 Husqvarna
The second one came to me when I was working for a company which hired out firearms for film and television use. In my lunch break I used to wander into the armoury to nose amongst some very exotic kit, and I came across this Husqvarna which was of absolutely no use as a film prop, there were no blanks to fit it and it had a damaged stock. So I made a silly offer for it which was accepted. So I threw away the old stock and got a plastic stock for it, fitted some scope mounts and bought an ex-police telescopic sight. And there we are, a nice shootable 9.3.
I took it to Zimbabwe where I left it as a ranch rifle with a friend who had a hunting ranch, but when I was there I used it to shoot several Impala and Wart Hogs. The farmer also had some cattle on the farm and was having a problem with a Leopard killing calves. He and his son sat up over a carcass one night, waiting for the Leopard to return and when it did it was lit up with a spotlight and shot. BUT they were using some ammunition that I had reloaded with a Speer 270gr soft point, and the shot hit a branch that was not visible in the dark and the bullet disintegrated. A fragment from each bullet entered each eye of the Leopard blinding it, and the follow up shot killed it outright.
When I came to live in South Africa in 1992, I went up to Zimbabwe and collected the rifle and brought it down to South Africa, licensed it and it now lives in storage ready for my occasional use which these days is target shooting only, I regret to say.
9.3x62 Mauser (no. 2)
After my return to the UK and a resumption of my target shooting activities here, I used to go to the quarterly firearms auctions here in London. And in one sale was a standard 9.3 Mauser in decent condition, but in that sale I was more interested in a different rifle so I didn’t bid on it. I didn’t get the first rifle that I wanted and when the 9.3 came up again in the next sale, I put in a bid and won it. When I got it home I found that it came with quick detachable scope mounts, and when I stripped it I found that although the action was pure DWM Mauser the barrel was made by Husqvarna.
I wanted to put a red dot sight on it for Wild Boar hunting, but was confused by the fact that a previous owner had silver soldered the scope front mount on to the receiver. A bit of engineering soon solved that problem and I now have a choice of a red dot or a scope and both return to the point of zero if I want to swap them over.
Due to the covid restrictions, I am currently only using the rifle for target shooting and here I can be seen at the Bisley ranges in a competition. The course of fire involves 4 rounds at 25mtrs against the clock, 4 rounds at 50mtrs again against the clock and at 100 mtrs, 2 rounds holder unnecessary too. sitting and another 2 rounds freestyle, no sticks or slings permitted. as you are only shooting two at a time, more than two cartridges are superfluous. The time allowed is 10 seconds. The maximum possible score is 120 points and last year’s winner scored 100. I came second with 99 !! Not bad for an 81-year-old grandfather!