I want a hardhitting , very light gun, and it will be a Tikka T3 SS. Which of these calibers for brown bear would be your choice. I handload, so the cartridgecost doesn´t matter. (I already own a Remington .375HH and know that this is a good one, but now I want to keep the weight down.)
Since this is for Brown bear and you hand load I would pick the 9.3X62.
I would rather have the larger bullet diameter of .366 inches vs the smaller bullet diameter of .338 inches when going after brown bears.
Being that you hand load you can get some good velocity with heavier bullets. I think a 250 grain Swift A-frame or Barnes TSX at about 2500 - 2600 fps would make one heck of a bear stomper.
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I agree with Bigbulls. If you are going after brownies, the 9.3X62 is the best option. My only concern would be a limited selection of slugs, but you should have no trouble finding what you want on the net. Good luck.
I've hunted brown bears with both the .338 mag., and 9.3x74R. The 74R can be handloaded up a bit inmodern gun as it's underloaded at the factory, and that puts it in the same light as the 62.
Both are fine calibers, but i'd take the .338 because of much better bullet choises. With proper bullets, both are bigger than you need for bears. My bullet choise would be 250 NP's as i've used them, and also seen how they work on big bears.
BTW, I use to mfg. and sell .366 bonded bullets, but i still always liked the Nosler partition 338's better.
I wouldn't recomend the tikka t3 for any of the hard kickers. You might be ok if you went with the synthetic stock. The t3 has a very weak recoil lug setup. i had one with the laminated stock and it cracked the stock after less than 100 rounds. I have heard of at least three other stocks cracking from this in the heavy calibers, one of wich was a blued/walnut 9.3x62.
I would probably opt for the 9.3x62 over the 338. I have a 9.3x62 scout rifle that I use with 286gr partitions at 2400fps. It works very well at moderate distances. I shot a moose this year at 270 yards with it. THe barnes 286gr TSX can be loaded to nearly 2500fps out of the 9.3 and would make a dynomite BB gun. THe 9.3x62 tends to kick a little less than the 338 also.
I´d go with the 9,3x62 since it is a less recoiling choice, makes a bigger hole but still penetrates. There are enough good bullets!
Maybe they are harder to come by on your side of the pond[8D]
9,3x62 or 338 Win Mag
