9.3x57mm Husky

[Carsyn.22]

I had thread on the old forum about this gun so some of you may remember this gun and maybe some details from that thread, however for the benefit of newcomers I will try to give a recap of this project.

I picked up this rifle on auction from a local gun shop, I had wanted one ever since I heard about the cartridge and I thought this was my chance.

First thing I did was install a hidden steel block behind the recoil lug, bedded that in with JB weld, a previous owner had repaired a tiny crack at the tang and installed a steel tube for the tang bolt, so all I did there was relieve some wood and bed the tang with JB’s.

At first I couldn’t find dies for it as Hornady was working on mainstream stuff and Lee had their custom shop closed at that point so I turned to making my own. I have a little taig micro lathe and not much skills with it but managed to make some chunks of steel that turn R-P 30-06 brass into 9.3x57mm with a fireform step to blow out the neck. Made me up a nice batch of 50 some pieces and they looked great , big mouth tiny shoulders they just look cool
@joe16 pointed me to a .358 win FCD which works a treat when combined with a custom made thick washer that I hand filed to the correct thickness so that the crimp landed right on the case mouth.
I tried shooting some 300 gr DGS to help iron out the cases after fire forming which worked well. Ran them over imr3031 for 1600 fps, mild load. Saw some funny marks on the case neck though, and hard to open bolt(more on this later). Went to check the target and found a nice 2-3moa group of oblong holes! Shot from sitting off of cross sticks. Sold the remaining bullets.
Checked my twist rate and found it to be 1-14.25” which after searching the web a little seems to be normal for all Husqvarna 9.3’s whether 57mm or 62mm. Running those 300 grainers through a stability calculator (can’t remember which one I think it was Berger cause theirs was the first one that came up in the search) revealed totally unstable, not even marginally stable.

The funny marks on the case I think are the result of a chip on the reamer when the chamber was cut. It was causing some sticky extraction and Joe16 gave me some ideas on how to polish it out. Which I did a little between each range trip and thought I had got it smooth but Oh NO!

Okay on to hammer bullets!
I am in Canada and shipping bullets straight from Montana is EXPENSIVE, so I went with the 258 gr SH that was in stock at George’s, the only Canadian distributor at the time. Put them in my lathe and shortened some to the bottom pdr groove, they now weigh 214 gr and they will now stabilize in my twist, wouldn’t have before.
Loaded one over 35 gr of imr3031 for 1757 fps hoping to test the low impact velocity, didn’t catch the bullet .
Had some more loads along!
These were loaded over H4895
46.5gr 2215 fps
47.5gr 2275 fps
These were shot into stumps and through the chrono all at close range found one with a petal still attached and the other is still sailing, I think it may have lost all its petals and therefore didn’t get slowed down as much.
48.5gr no velocity because we put it through a water jug about 12” before the stump and didn’t want to douse the chronograph. It kept all its petals. It looks like a Barnes. Not sure why. This case got stuck in the chamber and today, over half a year later due to life and a move, I finally got it knocked out of the chamber.

I will attach a couple of photos of the bullets I caught and the case I removed from the chamber so you can see the funny marks I’m talking about.
I have some ideas on how to proceed but it’s getting late and I need to work tomorrow so I’ll sleep on it and continue this thread tomorrow.

 

[Carsyn.22]

Pictures are worth a thousand words so I went through my photos and found some pictures of the bedding work I did, some of the dies and forming steps, one of the complete rifle, and a picture of the bullets. The small bullet is a .243 70gr HH the other two are the 9.3 258 as shipped and the other after I shortened it.

 

[Carsyn.22]

Continuing with the chamber neck defect… last couple days I have done some more polishing of the gouges in the chamber neck area, discovered that if I wipe it out and look at the chamber just the right angle with the muzzle by a light bulb I can actually see parts of the defect (no bore scope) and it actually appears to be kinda deep, the spiral down the neck gets shallower and that part is polished out I’m pretty sure, just the deep ring towards the very front of the chamber neck.

Question that arose in my mind… what if I would just trim my brass down to 54.5-55mm so as to miss the deep gouge and the brass won’t get stuck in it? I wouldn’t really be surprised if hammers would ride through that chamber/lead/rifling transition just fine, the 270gr Speer that I have may or may not, and I suspect cast bullets would probably not appreciate such a bumpy ride.
I would have to adjust my crimping washer so the crimp lands on the case mouth again. Is there something I am missing? Any reason why this is a bad idea to at least try?

I also did a little measuring and I think if a gunsmith could ream it for the 62mm case as well as set the barrel back about 3-4mm, that rough patch would get reamed out nicely. Can’t set the barrel back too far though as you can see from the picture.

 

[mevertsen]

Interesting read about this gun.

 

[Muddyboots]

No doubt a "labor of love"!

 

[Carsyn.22]

No doubt a "labor of love"!

That it is! The bore it self is pristine and I feel like it wants to shoot and well at that, just not sure if this chamber issue will allow it. Previous owners have quite obviously broken off the bolt handle hammering it open and then rewelded the handle not very clean at that. I’m going to try my H4895 ladder again with some short necked brass and see how that goes…
In the back of my mind is rebarreling but then I have to decide between 9.3x57 or try to fit the 450 marlin in it.

 

[Carsyn.22]

I loaded up a couple rounds with short necked brass, trimmed ‘em back to 55mm, lost a few grains of capacity so these had 44.5gr and 45.5gr H4895 no chrono data but I figured they’re doing 2150-2200 the main goal was to check for extraction, and that part worked beautifully feeding and extraction was A++
Fired into a canola oil jug filled with water, the plastic is the consistency of milk jug but has 16” length, put a 5 gallon bucket laid down on its side also filled with water behind for another 16” and I caught the first shank in 5 gallon bucket with petals scattered on the grass, didn’t look like they quite made it out of the first jug but made marks on the back side so they tried to exit but then got washed out onto the grass. The second shot fired into the 5 gallon bucket which was now half empty, exited but left some petals in the bucket. The bullets weigh 214gr modified, the shank weighs 136 gr and all the recovered copper weighs 191.5gr
Found a pile of old brass where I set the buckets, one lost a bite of the rim from the shank the exited, that was kinda cool, someone else has shot by this stump.
The bad news…not sure if I lapped too much or what but either that or the tiny shoulders or something is giving me excessive headspace so I got to re do my sizing process and get that sorted. Other problem is that the firing pin protrudes too far and is piercing primers on the warmer loads… neither of these problems are okay.
Guess I have more work to do…..

 

[joe16]

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!

Don't give up you're gonna whoop that puppy.

If you happen to have Win large pistol standard or Magnum primers they will gain you .005 more firing pin clearance. I use those exclusively in my model 98 and model 96, the model 96 uses h4350 so I'm pretty sure you're 4895 will ignite. If you decide to remove some from the firing pin (small increments).I would do so after you figure out the head spacing issue. Load one at a slightly reduced load on a jam chamber, .005 - .010 using a cup and core bullet. That should fire form your brass to your new chamber size and if it pops a primer then you're firing pin is possibly too long, I doubt but possibly. Now you should be able to partial size that piece of brass and get good neck tension.

And by all means disregard if you've already done that or we're going to do that, just trying to help.

I love a puzzle

Joe

 

[Carsyn.22]

I took a quick picture of the primers this morning before I left for work, easy to see which was the lighter charge, the higher one is a bit flat and the pin punched right through the primer cup, wasn’t high enough pressure to have gas leaking from the looks of it but still… not a good deal.

 

[Carsyn.22]

Thanks for the advice Joe, I might try that, I have to look but I think some of my brass hasn’t had the shoulder shoved all the way down yet so I might be able to use that to get a crush fit as well. Family situation came up today, I might be needed elsewhere for a few days.

 

[joe16]

Well I hope all is well. Take care of family first we'll play with that rifle when you get back.

Joe

 

[HARPERC]

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!

I hope all is well @Carsysn.22

 

[Carsyn.22]

I think all is well, grandparents had a situation, grandsons were the closest, my mom will arrive today so I can go home.

 

[Carsyn.22]

Well I tried @joe16 ‘s suggestion of seating in the lands to form the brass to the chamber, couldn’t reach the lands with any bullets I have on hand. Also checked my brass and it’s all too loose so I’d have to get more brass to even try the short neck idea. I wasn’t sure at which point to just rebarrel. Ultimately deciding to just move it on down the road, going to need to do some house repairs next year and money doesn’t stretch as far as it used to…
Sorry to disappoint all those who were watching to see this thing perform