smp: here is the official copy-paste read out to your question, but my PH wouldn't let me hunt my buffalo and sable with my own 9.3x62. I had to use my brother's .375H&H. It depends on the PH's comfort level with the client.
Zimbabwe categorizes hunting into three different classes and when planning your game hunting safari, you will need to take note of the following info:
- Class A Game: This includes thick-skinned animals, namely elephants, buffalo, and hippos. Hunters must use a weapon with a rifled barrel propelling a projectile not less than 9.2mm (.362 inches) in diameter with a minimum velocity of 3909ft per second.
- Class B Game: This includes thin-skinned animals, namely eland, lion, and giraffe. Hunters must use a weapon with a rifled barrel propelling a projectile not less than 7mm (.275 inches) at a velocity of not less than 3172ft per second
- Class C Game: This classification includes general plains game and members of the Dangerous 7, namely, the leopard, kudu, nyala, sable, waterbuck, zebra, and wildebeest.
- Hunters Black Powder Rifles may be used if they are a minimum caliber of .4 inches.
SHOULD YOU use 9.3x62 for elephant, hippo, buffalo in Zimbabwe. Is it technically ILLEGAL?
The first response to the OP is NOT the "official" regulation.
This appears to have been copied/pasted from a commercial website selected by Google AI Overview, and they screwed the pooch...
https://gamehuntingsafaris.com/hunting-in-zimbabwe-laws-and-licenses/#:~:text=The minimum required calibers for rifle hunting in Zimbabwe&text=Hunters must use a weapon,velocity of 3909ft per second.
As already noted in several responses, the official regulation by The Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority, requires the following:
>>> Minimum rifle energy requirement for big dangerous game (elephant, hippo, buffalo): 5,300 Joule. Equivalent 3,909 ft/lbs. A minimum requirement of 9.2 mm is required.
>>> Minimum rifle energy requirement for very large plains game (giraffe, eland) and lion: 4,300 Joule. Equivalent 3,171 ft/lbs.
>>> Minimum rifle energy requirement for large plains game (kudu, wildebeest etc) and leopard: 3,000 Joule. Equivalent 2,212 ft/lbs
>>> Minimum rifle energy requirement for medium and small plains game: 850 Joule. Equivalent 627 ft/lbs.
This mistake being corrected, what does it practically mean?
To take a few examples, the Swift High Grade Dangerous Game Hunting 9.3x62mm Mauser Ammo loaded with 286 Grain Swift A-Frame Bonded Round Nose produces 3,645 Foot Pounds at the muzzle. And a good load it is, but
it is actually illegal for elephant, hippo, buffalo in Zimbabwe......
The same story goes for the Hornady Custom 9.3x62mm Mauser Ammo 286 Grain Hornady Interlock Jacketed Soft Point (3,537 ft/lbs); the Nosler Safari 9.3x62mm Mauser Ammo 286 Grain Nosler Partition Jacketed Soft Point (3,506 ft/lbs); the Federal Premium Safari 9.3x62mm Mauser Ammo Grain Jacketed Soft Point (3,537 ft/lbs); etc.
I have no doubt that one can reach and exceed 3,900 ft/lbs with responsible loads or reloads, (just crank up the speed a tad)
but the question becomes: how do you demonstrate in the field that your reload meets the requirement, to a ZPWMA Game Scout who may have been instructed that 9.3x62 does not !?!?!?!?!?
Regardless of actual killing performance (as emphasized by Kevin “Doctari” Robertson, whom I speculate is
doctari505 on this forum, and whom I deeply admire and respect), the
classic 9.3x62
commercial loads are
technically NOT legal for elephant, hippo, buffalo in Zimbabwe.
Right, wrong, or indifferent (definitely not right, definitely wrong, and far from being indifferent), hunting elephant, hippo, buffalo in Zimbabwe with a 9.3x62 exposes you to the potential furor of the law and
there are enough law enforcement types with a chip on their shoulder, that it would be foolish to court safari disaster and endless legal trouble.
This is likely, I am speculating, why
coreydb's PH, and some other (most?) PHs (I know at least one) decline the use of the 9.3x62 on elephant, hippo, buffalo in Zimbabwe.
To each our own, but in my opinion there are already enough opportunities for regulatory problems in flying with firearms to Africa, to not add a layer of potential trouble. My own experience with law enforcement in Zimbabwe ended up almost in jail when my PH was briefly arrested because the LED light bar at the front of his Hilux was 1 inch too high or some foolishness like that. There may (?) be a specific tolerance with ZPWMA regarding the 9.3x62, but do not count on me to volunteer for the test case
A potential answer could be to use commercial ammo like the Buffalo Bore 9.3x62mm Mauser Ammo 250 Grain Barnes TSX Hollow Point load that indicate on the box a Muzzle Energy of 3976 Foot Pounds
