9.3X62, PPU and or Hornady 286gr, performance?

Bigmedcin

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Anyone have field tested into media and or recovered from game....PPU and or Hornady 286 gr .366? those two are my most readily available, wondering what others have witnessed. If so what was your FPS please.
(I have been loading mine to 2425 FPS, with Big Game powder LRMag primer)


Cheers
 
I shoot both regularly and the Hornady is a much better bullet for North American game as far as I can tell, the PPU bullets are ok for light skinned light boned animals but tends to come apart but they kill quickly. The Hornadys I’ve used have held together pretty good on everything up to bison. Nothings needed more than one of either of them. I’ve never recovered any of the hornadys. Even on wildebeast. I’d keep them right around that velocity and they’ll work great. For anything in the dangerous game category I’d move up to Swift A frames. There’s no reason to horse them faster than 2500 fps they do better right where you have them at 2450 or so.
 
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I shot this boar with 285 PPUs, reloaded to 2450fps. Shot was 120 yards. Quartering shot recovered under the skin on the far side. It shattered 1 shoulder bone. The core separated from the jacket and was recovered in pieces. It's the only one I've ever recovered, but exit wounds on other hogs showed alot of expansion. I switch to accubonds or partitions when chasing game over 300lbs.

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I shot a few white tail deer last year with the 286 gn Hornady bullets with my 9.3.x 62. No bullets were recovered but all wound channels were excellent with good knock down power. I guess the 9.3 is a little overkill for average sized white tail! I've been loading to similar velocities as you have.

I have also loaded the 232 gn Norma Oryx bullets with a little more velocity and have found these to shoot great too. I purchased some PPU factory ammo but have yet to use any hunting, the feedback I have received is that the PPU bullets tend to have core / jacket separation issues. This would not worry me on deer but if I was going to shoot heavier game or consider taking the gun to Africa I would use a better bullet. I have some Barnes TSX and Nosler Partitions to load for heavier game.
 
I've only used the PPU 285 grain SP and the Hornady 286 grain Interlock for field practice. I load them to the same MV as my hunting loads - A-Frame & NF Spitzer at ~2,360 fps. I take them out for regular field practice from sticks, off-hand, and from the knee.

I'd use the target loads on NA game up to elk size, but for Africa i'd leave 'em home.
 
I prefer Hornady, the locked core does make a difference, mostly in penetration but it leaves a lot of damage and good blood trails...but my favorite bullets are Nosler Partitions and the Accubond In reality there are so many good bullets out there today it makes little difference other than around the campfire and a toddy too many!!
 
I use Norma Oryx for hunting but have seen PPU used by friends on any plains game including Zebra and Bluewildebeest - performed good enough to have the meat in the freezer - could not recover one yet
 

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