doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com 9.3 X 72R Powder for Reduced Loads with Makorov Bu

Looking for suggested target loads for my Merkel 16b/9.3X72R combination gun.
Thanks!
Jim

Hi Jim,
I have some 9.3x72r loads I use in a pre-1912 double rifle I can share via PM if you want. Have you measured your bores? Mine were much tighter than the .366 you'd expect.
Chris

edited 7/23: Jim - I failed notice that you were looking for reduced loads. Sorry, I don't have any reduced loads to share.

Jim,
I had poor results with Makarov Bullets using squib level loads of Bullseye and plinking level loads of Unique, both with a tuft of kapok tamped over the bowder.. I believe this was caused by the bullets being so short they don't reach from the end of the case to the rifling and are not supported in this area, so are subject to tipping. If your rifle is one with .358-.358" groove diameter you may have acceptable results with 150- 160 grain 38 special bullets, available from commercial bullet casters at a pretty good price. If your rifle has .362" groove diameter, Lyman's 173 grain SWC bullet designed by Elmer Keith for his 38-44 loads may work, but you may have to cast them yourself. The rifle I had poor results with is throated for 13-gram bullets. I have a similar one throated for 12-gram bullets, it might work better with the 95 grain Makarov bullet, but I haven't tried it yet. The use of kapok or other filler is controversial and my use of it must not be accepted as a recommendation, rather, you must decide for yourself if you want to use it.
Mike

I use 10gr of Red Dot and a 95gr jacketed hollow pt Makarov bullet in reloads in 9.3x74R.
In my DR it prints to point of aim at 50m with the 200M leaf up.
No filler in the case.
Different caliber, I know, but it does show that it can work.

I'm just about out of those particular bullets and bought a couple boxes of fmj 95gr Mak bullets.
Haven't tried those yet

I know the bores are true 9.3mm, but as stated above, be sure to slug the bore(s) of the rifle you have first to be sure

The bullets I had poor results with were bulk cast bullets, I didn't try jacketed bullets.
Mike

For moderate pressure loads, I have had success with Trailboss, using slightly heavier cast bullets than you intended to use.

Instead of listing my load, I will refer you to the manufacturer’s recommended technique for determining a safe charge.

https://hodgdonpowderco.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/trail-boss-reduced-loads-2018-2.pdf

This old cartridge is one of the very few I use Trailer Boss for, and I don’t use anything near the maximum load as suggested by Hodgdon.