Ruger African 9.3x62 accuracy reports?

[sestoppelman]

Beginning to wonder if anyone ever actually bought one of these. Still no shooting reports?!

 

[MPD61]

WAB,
Beautiful rifle, but my wife would kill me. Two years ago there were plenty of CZ 550's in 9.3x62. Now they've all dried up.

 

[sierraone]

I bought the Rigby Highland Stalker in 9.3x62. It shoots sub 1/2” at 100. Great trigger, butter smooth action. Beautiful rifle if it is an option for you.

@WAB With all due respect I don't believe we can make an apple to apple comparison of a $9000 Rigby Highland Stalker and a $1200 Ruger African.

But as my previous post above ends, I continue. I finally was able to get the 232 gr Norma ok (maybe 2-2.5 inch) for the range I will shoot, came home to order some more and that Norma round has been discontinued. When I can get back to the range, I will make major scope adjustments and concentrate on the Norma 286 gr. If after a box, if I am still dissatisfied, I have Hornady 286 gr ordered to try. If I still am dissatisfied, I will go back to my M70 .375 to practice with and carry on my next trip in September.

@sestoppelman, I have never had this much trouble zeroing a rifle before.

 

[sierraone]

Beginning to wonder if anyone ever actually bought one of these. Still no shooting reports?!

If I recall from last February, at least 7-9 of us that post on this forum bought this rifle. We all had to immediately send it back to the factory for an adjustment.

 

[sestoppelman]

That was something in the trigger I think. Accuracy seems to be spotty. I had one of the very early runs of this rifle and was not satisfied with it, mostly due to misfire issues. Sent it back to Ruger, returned to me and still did it.

 

[sierraone]

That was something in the trigger I think. Accuracy seems to be spotty. I had one of the very early runs of this rifle and was not satisfied with it, mostly due to misfire issues. Sent it back to Ruger, returned to me and still did it.

I have not had trouble with anything related to the operation, just can't so far get a tight group.

 

[bruce moulds]

back in the early days of the ruger 77 tang safety model, there was a time when their 7mm barrels were a lotto.
they seem to have sorted that.
a light barrel might make a heavier barrel 1/2" rifle into a 3/4" rifle.

bruce.

 

[WAB]

@WAB With all due respect I don't believe we can make an apple to apple comparison of a $9000 Rigby Highland Stalker and a $1200 Ruger African.

But as my previous post above ends, I continue. I finally was able to get the 232 gr Norma ok (maybe 2-2.5 inch) for the range I will shoot, came home to order some more and that Norma round has been discontinued. When I can get back to the range, I will make major scope adjustments and concentrate on the Norma 286 gr. If after a box, if I am still dissatisfied, I have Hornady 286 gr ordered to try. If I still am dissatisfied, I will go back to my M70 .375 to practice with and carry on my next trip in September.

@sestoppelman, I have never had this much trouble zeroing a rifle before.

Totally agree, I was just throwing out an alternative, albeit a more costly one! I am seriously impressed with the 9.3x62 as a cartridge. I wish I had owned one when I was running a boat out of Valdez chasing bear. It seems to be the perfect Alaskan caliber.

 

[Trogon]

Beginning to wonder if anyone ever actually bought one of these. Still no shooting reports?!

I bought one of these rifles late last summer. I'm going to try to make it to my sportsmen's club later this week and will post results on this thread, shooting off a bench at 100 yard targets. I have five factory loads to try (PRVI 286 grain SP, Norma 286 grain SP, and three GECO loads, all of these are 255 grain loads). Should be a fun, recoil filled afternoon. I also want to check my Marlin 1895 with the HSM 435 gr hard cast "Bear Load" for a bison hunt with @gizmo next month. Plus try out a new-to-me Remington 591M in 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum.

 

[sierraone]

Totally agree, I was just throwing out an alternative, albeit a more costly one! I am seriously impressed with the 9.3x62 as a cartridge. I wish I had owned one when I was running a boat out of Valdez chasing bear. It seems to be the perfect Alaskan caliber.

I would love to have a couple of Rigbys in the safe, but that is probably not going to happen........but on a brighter note, maybe you could write us a hunt report of the times when you were chasing the big bears in Alaska from a boat, if you haven't already! I know that you have mentioned it at sometime in the past on another thread, but I don't recall the details.

 

[Red Leg]

I have no opinion on the Ruger in 9.3, but the cartridge itself is terrific. My Sako "Arctos" in that chambering is sub-MOA and as @WAB suggests, it is an awesome bear option.

 

[Cleveland48]

My african in 275 rigby is finally starting to tighten up. It's been around a 1" to a 1 1/8" shooter here lately. I do have around 275 rounds down the barrel now, maybe it was just a rough barrel. I was very upset with it at first though shooting 2" groups maybe a best of 1.5 - 1.75" when new.

 

[MPD61]

At this point I just might buy a Zastava M70 in 30-06 used at the LGS, and send it to JES Rebore in Oregon for 9.3x62. I'd only have $650 into the thing after all done.

 

[Cleveland48]

I have a 98 mauser rebored by JES to a 9.3x62 also. Shoots great.

 

[sestoppelman]

I have had 2 JES rebores done, both .35 Whelen, good shooters. Have also owned 2 CZ 550's in 9.3x62. Both were very accurate and not at all fussy shooters, unlike some Ruger's of late.

 

[MPD61]

Alrighty then,
I don't need any more arm twisting. I'm going back for the Zastava tomorrow. After all, it's my birthday then!

Thanks!

 

[Trogon]

I was able to spend some time this afternoon at my club's range with my Ruger African 9.3x62mm, I tried 5 different factory loads. In order of accuracy, Norma 286 grain Oryx was best at just over an inch for my second group (3 rounds fired), first group of three shots was 1.5".
PRVI 285 grain soft point, 2 groups of 5 rounds each were both similar at (between) 1.5" to nearly 2". Had 2 rounds out of ten with light primer strikes, both fired on second attempt. Hard primers?
Three different GECO loads, all 255 grain (Tielmantel, Ballistic Tip (Express), Bonded (Plus), fired a single 3 round group of each, not great. 2" to 3" groups. Would not buy more of this ammo, was previously on sale at Safari Ammo for $20 US a box.
I have a Leupold VX-3i 1.5-5X 20 mm scope mounted on this rifle. All groups were fired over sandbags (front of rifle, no rear bag) on a bench, targets at 100 yards. I may have been able to pull off better groups but had to contend with a shooter in the next lane firing a AR pistol . I'm considering a little more magnification scope-wise also. I had planned on taking a photo of the targets but got tired of waiting for a range cease-fire.

 

[Standard Velocity]

I was able to spend some time this afternoon at my club's range with my Ruger African 9.3x62mm, I tried 5 different factory loads. In order of accuracy, Norma 286 grain Oryx was best at just over an inch for my second group (3 rounds fired), first group of three shots was 1.5".
PRVI 285 grain soft point, 2 groups of 5 rounds each were both similar at (between) 1.5" to nearly 2". Had 2 rounds out of ten with light primer strikes, both fired on second attempt. Hard primers?
Three different GECO loads, all 255 grain (Tielmantel, Ballistic Tip (Express), Bonded (Plus), fired a single 3 round group of each, not great. 2" to 3" groups. Would not buy more of this ammo, was previously on sale at Safari Ammo for $20 US a box.
I have a Leupold VX-3i 1.5-5X 20 mm scope mounted on this rifle. All groups were fired over sandbags (front of rifle, no rear bag) on a bench, targets at 100 yards. I may have been able to pull off better groups but had to contend with a shooter in the next lane firing a AR pistol . I'm considering a little more magnification scope-wise also. I had planned on taking a photo of the targets but got tired of waiting for a range cease-fire.

My eyes aren’t good enough to get sub 2” groups at 100 yards with low magnification. I have a Leupold 2.5-7 on my 375 H&H in quick release rings. You could probably take advantage of the 9.3’s trajectory with a bit more magnification.

 

[Trogon]

My eyes aren’t good enough to get sub 2” groups at 100 yards with low magnification. I have a Leupold 2.5-7 on my 375 H&H in quick release rings. You could probably take advantage of the 9.3’s trajectory with a bit more magnification.

Yes, I'm thinking 3x9 power. I have 2-7x 32 on my Marlin levers (.30-30, .35 Remington, .45-70), excellent for those cartridges. I like this Ruger, but I do wish the barrel was a bit fatter. 25 rounds of this today plus a few HSM Bear Loads thru my .45-70 were enough for me. Was a pleasure to shoot a rimfire at the end of the session.

 

[sestoppelman]

The light strike thing bothers me. I had one of the earlier first runs of this rifle and it had the same issue. I suspect some good handloads would tighten up your groups though.