Imagine what an improved 9.3X74R with little body taper and an abrupt shoulder would be capable of...... It would certainly be a powerhouse not needed in N. America.

This cartridge started out to be a 9.3x74R IMP but because of a lack of an affordable 9.3 barrel and slim bullet selection at the time I opted to neck it down to 35 cal. I have chambered it in T/C Encore barrels and a Ruger #1. In the # 1 it will put 225 gr bullets at 2800fps nominally and 250 at 2600fps +. It has taken elk, bear, caribou, whitetails and hogs. T/C I load back a bit to favor the break action. I have pushed the loads beyond the above in the Ruger #1 but all it does is shorten case life. RWS brass and Hornady seem to be nearly identical. I had the original reamer made based on the RWS brass I had from the 2 double rifles I have in 93.x74R. Norma and S&B are dimentionally much smaller and for a variety of reasons will not last long. It will do any thing the 350 Rem Mag will do and more. 350 Rigby will provide starting loads. Load data and dimentional data is on another website. Round is called the 35 DeVries. The attached pic shows the 9.3 case necked in a 358 Norma Mag die to form a false shoulder to make a "crush" fit then fireformed. With 225 Nos Accubond it will shoot MOA groups all day long. Northfork 225's will come very close to this accuracy as will Nos partitions. It needs a 26" bbl to really get top performance. I have loaded it down to 35 Rem performance and find it shoots pistol bullets very well. Have even shot trail boss through it with pistol bullets (so my 10 y/o nephew could shoot it without getting beat up)
I suspect that a 9.3x74R Imp might be like a lot of improved cartridges, they don't quite justify the expense of the improvement. This was a fun project I started it in 2003. I hunt most of the time with this round. You can PM me for more details.

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Back when the 9.3x74R was still one hard case to get, Elmer Keith did a blown out .338 cal. wildcat for single shot rifles. Obviously, at his pressure levels, it shore weren't something to feed any Remmie Rolling Blocks with. I'm curious, though, about the 9.3x74R Sellier and Bellot ammo being so short lived. Is it just undersized, or is it loaded too hot for springy brass? I think Elmer Keith used the .33 bore instead of the .35, because those bullets on the shelves, tended to favor 35 Rem. reloaders. That wildcat came before the Remington std. 35 Whelan. And there were a lot more 35 Remingtons, than 358 Winchester Magnums, being reloaded for, in his neck of the woods. Now the pendulum is shifting the other way, with the new short .338 cartridges. If I remember correctly, he blew out this wildcat so he could jack up the pressures, not for the inconsequential increase in volume. And I have no idea which brand of brass he was using back then. Mr. Keith wrote something about the neck grasp of this wildcat, but I just can't recall it.

There have been several wildcats on the 74R case. Meacham makes a 30 and 7mm. the 338x74 R Keith was written up by Ken Waters. the 33 Keith duplicated the 338Win mag. the issues that Keith had with brass using Norma and RWS was the same problem I encountered with these two brands. Keith also used the Ruger#1 for this rifle. the Norma was very soft brass not just the necks but well down the case. and the base diameter was .0035" smaller than RWS. resulting in a very noticaable swelling base forward of the web.

I have 2 9.3x74R's and this was a problem with them also. cases stretched and life was short. Even when properly fireformed. When I had the reamer ground I based the chamber dimensions on the RWS case. these are like the "everlasting" cases of early American single shots. I have lost count of how many times some of them have been shot. They are dimensionally larger and the wall thickness is greater. I use RWS cases in several other rounds and the same is true with them. RWS cases weigh 20 grains heavier than Norma and 12 grains more than Hornady. Hornady is virtually the same as RWS dimensions. this is good brass I have loaded it as many times as the RWS.

S&B was undersized also and very brittle brass. some of the 9.3 cases split on their first firing in the 9.3x74R! not the neck but the body of the case. I tried using the "good" ones and tried annealing the necks but the body would split. That was if I could get a decapping pin to enter the flash hole. Broke several decapping pins and stuck several others. If you use 9.3x74R S&B, don't count on reloading it. At first I thought I had Berdan primed ammo.

Pressures I have recorded with my T/C barrel and RSI pressure trace system have not exceeded 51.5K psi. It will certainly handle more but haven't had the time to push it further. The soft Norma brass will have a limiting effect on its pressure limit. I have not put a strain gage on the #1 barrel I plan on do so this spring. I am curious as to what the pressure differences between the RWS and Hornady and Norma are with the same loading. there is a fair volume difference.