8x56mn
.300 member
Reged: 26/02/04
Posts: 149
Loc: Wine Country, Finger Lakes Wa...
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OK, I have ordered 2 box's of shells for my 9.3x74 from Cabelaw, they are 287 SP. My question is I want to shoot Buffs and plains game next Sept. and feel I should get solids for the DG. The logical thing would buy bullets and load them, but I am concerned that the point of impact would change, because I don't know what the Norma loads are for powder or speed and because I will have limited time to develop a load, what should I do. My rifle is a Merkle O/U.
Thanks
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mickey
.416 member
Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
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8x56
I don't know of any of the shelf solids for the 9.3. You could go to the custom loaders like kSuperior and have them load some but you would not know how they shot compared to your others either.
The best alternative is to chronograph your softs and load, or have loaded, solids to just below that velocity. Shoot them and see how they work compared to the softs and then go up or down as needed. You have 6 months and that should be plenty of time.
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Lovu Zdar
Mick
A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.
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DUGABOY1
.400 member
Reged: 02/02/03
Posts: 1340
Loc: TEXAS USA
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8X56, my reccomendation to you is load both soft, and solids! Work up the load for the softs first. When you get a load with the softs that shoots to the regulation of your rifle, then drop the load by about 3 grs, and substitute the solid of the same weight! A good choice is Woodliegh 286 gr softs, and solids, they are designed to be used together! They are available from HDS!
The reason you need to drop 3 grs for the solids is, they build more chamber pressure than the same weight soft point. When useing a double rifle for Buffalo hunting, I load a soft in the right barrel, (bottom barrels on your O/U), and a solid in the left barrel, (top barrel in the O/U). The first shot on Buffalo, as a rule, is with the bull relaxed, so a soft placed in the heart/lung area is the ticket, followed by a solid in the shoulder. Reload the rifle with all solids there after! As you know, the 9.3X74R is light for Buffalo, and in some countries illegal. Haveing said that, I would not hesitate to take on Cape Buffalo, with my S/S double chambered for the little 9.3X74R, but bullet placement is something that one must consider! NITRO 450 No2 who posts on this site, and AR was well, can give you some real nice loads for that little jewel! 
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..........Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY1, and MacD37 founding member of DRSS www.doublerifleshooterssociety.com
"If I die today, I have had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"
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zimhunter
.333 member
Reged: 05/02/04
Posts: 388
Loc: Southern Arizona
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I have used RWS factory solids in several 9.3 x 74 both O/U and S/S. Had no problems with them but really prefer Woodleigh solids. Reloads are really no problem just use the loads in the manual and they have always regulated well for me.
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8x56mn
.300 member
Reged: 26/02/04
Posts: 149
Loc: Wine Country, Finger Lakes Wa...
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Could you tell me to locate the RWS bullets you refer to.
Thanks
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luv2safari
.400 member
Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 1412
Loc: United States
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8x56,
Dugaboy has set you straight. I shoot 9,3x74r a lot in four different guns, and shoot a pre war Merkel o/u as one of them. I had trouble taming the Merkel a bit. I was using IMR 4064 in it...worked great in my Valmets and Tikka...but not for sour owl droppings in the Merkel. I use mostly Woodleigh 286 softs and solids...I've had my best luck with them, but the Nosler 286 shoots right with the Woodleighs.
I went to IMR 4350 in the Merkel and have a brand new gun in that Merkel. It was just a matter of finding the right ingredients.
For the record...AND I DON'T ADVOCATE USING ANY DATA QUOTED...I got it to shoot with 64.5 gr with Woodleigh softs and 62 gr with solids. I worked up to these loads SLOWLY...checking velocity and signs of pressure. The somewhat hotter loads were the ones that shot together. I wish it had worked out to be the somewhat milder loads.
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Hunt with Class and Classics
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zimhunter
.333 member
Reged: 05/02/04
Posts: 388
Loc: Southern Arizona
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They were not bullets but loaded ammo. I think I bought 4 boxes of them several years ago in Denver. I mostly loaded Woodleigh solids and Nosler partitions. No particular problems with the loads but Norma cases seem to not stand up to multiple uses. I never used case over 2 times. Cases were relatively inexpensive from Midway. IMR4064 is a good powder and the loads in the Speer #13 manual worked for me in a Valmet and a Chapius.
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8x56mn
.300 member
Reged: 26/02/04
Posts: 149
Loc: Wine Country, Finger Lakes Wa...
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I have a Merkel 220E 9.3x74R, do you anything about this model as far when it might have been made and overall quality of the model.
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luv2safari
.400 member
Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 1412
Loc: United States
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Yours should be a box lock, case hardened receiver with scroll engraving. It should be a double trigger gun...does yours have an articulated front trigger like the sidelock?
They are an excellent gun. I believe the importation of this gun into the US was discontinued in the mid or late 1990's. Merkel has made them, or a variation for many years. Your box lock would most probably take more hard shooting than my sidelock.
I like sidelocks for the simple reason that they have more room to scratch up the receiver with some nice engraving,  but would tend to trust your model more, over the long haul... 
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Hunt with Class and Classics
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8x56mn
.300 member
Reged: 26/02/04
Posts: 149
Loc: Wine Country, Finger Lakes Wa...
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It's a boxlock, but doesn't have the articulating front trigger. The gun has been restored and is really quite nice. My problem with re-loads is I am presently working in Asia and only get home for 2 week leaves every 60 days, this really doesn't give me much time to play around working up loads. I will be home in April and June and then to Africa in September, you get the picture. I was hoping to be able to buy off the shelf ammo, solids and SP to practice with and take over, but I cannot find any readily manufactured ammo in the solids. I really appreciate all the comments that I have recieved. I will keep looking, but perhaps will just have to find the time between honey do lists to work up a load when I'm home.
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NE450No2
.375 member
Reged: 10/01/03
Posts: 942
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8x56mm
Contact www.superiorammo.com Get some 286Woodleigh Softs and Solids, and some 286 Nosler Partitions. See how they shoot in your rifle. They load excellent ammo. In my 9,3x74R Chapuis these three loads all hit to the same point of impact at 100 yards.
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atkinson6
.375 member
Reged: 26/01/04
Posts: 678
Loc: Idaho
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8x56,
If you don't have time to work up these loads then you best bet by far is to zero your gun with solids and forget the softs..
I believe the smaller the caliber the more you need solids for Buffalo...in fact when I hunt Buff with 9.3s or the 375 I only use solids...With 416 and up I may have a soft or two around. I have never seen a solid fail, I have seen many softs fail to one degree or another.
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