Safari Rifles Go to War: WWI and Ukraine
Overcoming the armor of an enemy is not a new problem in warfare. Even in the era of industrial war, militaries have often had to seek innovative solutions to overcome the protection of their enemies. In this article, I will describe two uses of safari rifle cartridges to overcome enemy armor used more than a century apart. In World War I and the current Russian-Ukraine war, we see the innovative use of powerful safari cartridges to deal with enemy armor.
World War I
In the early days of World War I, German snipers pushed “portable” (30 lbs.) steel shields into the middle of no man’s land. Behind these steel plates, they could safely engage in their deadly work. The steel shields were sufficient to protect the snipers from the commonly used 303 British cartridges utilized by British riflemen and machine gunners.
While the British would eventually create armor piercing 303 British cartridges, there was an immediate call for safari rifles to be brought to the front. The powerful safari cartridges, delivering well over 3,500 foot-pounds of energy needed to kill dangerous African game, were more than sufficient to blow holes right through these portable sniper shields. Needless to say, the Germans abandoned this tactic.
For more about these shields, check out Simple History’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHOiSRgCDpg
Evolution of Safari Cartridges
While this article is far too short to investigate the full evolution of safari cartridges, I will provide the history of three rifle cartridges. These cartridges largely resulted from the invention of the Mauser 1898 bolt action rifle and the advantages of smokeless powder. In 1898, the Mauser brothers of Germany release an incredibly reliable bolt action rifle. The high-level of reliability, low cost, and large internal magazine capacity created an interest among safari hunters to switch to bolt-action rifles to replace the far more expensive double-barreled rifles.
Otto Bock and the 9.3x62mm
In 1905, Otto Bock released the 9.3x62mm Mauser cartridge. This cartridge was built specifically to be compatible with a standard long-action Mauser 98 . The 9.3x62mm can fire a 286-grain bullet at over 2,362 feet per second and generate more than 3,500 foot-pounds of pressure. This cartridge is capable of killing every animal on the planet. Today this cartridge is wildly popular in Africa, Asia, and Europe for its ability to take medium to large game. While the 9.3mm (.366 caliber) bullets are not widely available in the United States, there is a growing appreciation for rifles in this caliber in America.
For more about the 9.3 caliber family, check out Iraqveteran8888’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9d5uNqURg4
.375 Holland and Holland
In 1912, Holland and Holland of London introduced the 375 Holland and Holland cartridge (aka 375 H&H). This cartridge became one of the most popular medium-bore rifles cartridges in history. There are few cartridges that could be said to be more versatile for hunting. The design of this cartridge was intended to fire bullets of equal sectional density as the 9.3x62mm Mauser but at a higher velocity. A common load would include a 350-grain bullet fired 2,300 feet per second creating more than 4,100 foot-pounds of pressure. The performance of this caliber resulted in many African countries requiring a minimum bore of .375 (9.5mm) to hunt dangerous game (although many countries provide an exemption for the 9.3x62mm Mauser).
While the 375 H&H does exceed the performance of the 9.3x62 Mauser, the cost of this performance is a longer cartridge. A cartridge so long it does not fit in a long action Mauser 98. As a result, along with the increased performance of the 375 H&H comes with a larger price tag to purchase a safari length action.
9.3x64mm Brenneke
In 1910, German gun designer Wilhelm Brenneke also set about engineering a powerful cartridge that could fit within the limited space of the standard 1898 Mauser long action. Released commercially in 1927, the 9.3x64mm Brenneke cartridge provided all the power of the 375 H&H in a much cheaper rifle action. A common 9.3x64mm Brenneke load includes a 293-grain bullet fired at 2,580 feet per second producing over 4,300 foot-pounds of pressure.
It is unfortunate for Brenneke that due to the World Wars and related avoidance of German-made weapons, his cartridge never received the worldwide attention that the 375 H&H would enjoy. However, this cartridge is not uncommon in Europe.
It is interesting to note here that the 9.3x62mm and the 9.3x64mm cartridge retain a lot of their popularity because they were never military cartridges and therefore exempt from gun confiscations in countries that feared rebellions.
The Russian Military and Defeating Armor
In the early 2000s, the Russian military realized that military technology had advanced to the point it was rendering the venerable Dragunov SVD-63 (Snayperskaya Vintovka sistemy Dragunova) Sniper Rifle Obsolete. Potential adversaries, like the United States, had assess to Level IV body armor capable of stopping even armor piercing rounds from the SVD-63. The search was on to find a replacement.
This brings us back to the problem at hand. How do you defeat enemy armor? There are two possible solutions if a military finds its current rifle cartridges not up to the task.
More Speed
The first solution would be to find a cartridge the fire a projectile faster. An example of this is the recent adaption of the 277 SIG Fury (6.8×51mm Common Cartridge) by the US Military. This cartridge was engineered to fire a small diameter bullet at greater velocity. The cost to this approach for the US Military is expensive new weapons and ammunition required to handle the extreme chamber pressures to reach this level of performance. The 277 SIG Fury fires a 135-grain bullet at 3,000 feet per second to produce almost 2,700 foot-pounds of pressure. But it operates at an increase chamber pressure of 80,000 psi (33% more than the 375 H&H and 41% more than the 9.3x62mm Mauser previously discussed). Significant investments in case design and barrel coatings are required to deal with these extreme pressures.
Send More Mass
The second solution would be to send more mass. While mass is a simpler solution to this problem, it comes with the associated cost of more weight for the soldier to carry and more recoil to endure. This was the route that the Russian military would take.
It was fortunate for the Russian military that the Izhmash firearm company had been producing SVD style rifles in variety of chamberings for the commercial market. Apparently, this included the Tigr-9 chambered in 9.3x64 Brenneke starting in 1999. Thus, the Russian military was able to secure a SVD replacement with little more than bullet development costs (that wouldn’t be much to enlarge current designs to 9.3mm). They were able to purchase an existing commercially available rifle that was already in production. Any military logistician would complement the simplicity and cost savings gained through this approach.
The adopted rifle was labelled the SVDK (The K meaning “Large Caliber”). More than 70 years after it was released for commercial sells, the 9.3x64mm Benneke was adapted for military service. The military ammunition is a 254-grain steel-core bullet traveling at 2526 feet per second creating almost 3,500 foot-pounds of energy. This is a 37% gain in power over the 7.62x54R armor piercing cartridge that is fired by the SVD-63. This is also significantly more force than what Level IV body armor is designed to stop (The 30–06 M2 Armor piercing (AP) round used to test Level IV body armor is similar in power to the 7.62x54R armor piercing cartridges).
Assuming a SVDK of approximately 15 lbs. when equipped with optics, the recoil impulse will be around 25 foot-pounds of energy. This would be approximately 20% more than the recoil of a M1 Garand. This won’t be a rifle for the recoil shy. With an accuracy of somewhere between 3–4 minutes of angle, the SVDK would hardly be considered a “sniper” rifle in the west (group sizes would be up to 12" at 300 meters). However, this will be a lethal addition to the battlefield with a maximum range around 600 meters. There is little doubt that SVDK rifles are being employed in Ukraine to defeat Western-supplied body armor.
Discussion
With the British use of safari rifles in WWI and the Russian adoption of the Tigr-9, it can be demonstrated that at least two incidences in military history armies resorted to commercial safari rifles to solve the problem of enemy armor. In both cases we see how powerful safari cartridges originally designed for dangerous game such as elephants provide the needed energy to overcome enemy armor.
It will be interesting to see if the adoption of the 9.3x64mm Brenneke into Russian military service changes the general approach to safari rifles in the hands of civilians. Will countries continue to offer protection for safari rifles that were once believed to be only useful in sporting applications now that there have been multiple examples of their utility in combat?
These occurrences bring up the larger question about the “sword and shield.” 21st century soldiers are overloaded with arms and equipment. This includes heavy armor and weapon systems. Level IV plates did offer significant protection when the enemy had few weapons to counter this armor. But does it make sense to carry these 10 lbs.+ plates if soldiers are encountering more enemies with the tools to defeat Level IV armor?
In both of these historical cases, we see the horrors of modern warfare turning to literal elephant rifles to kill the enemy. It is unknown what horrors future generations of warfighters will face on the battlefield. In the short-term, soldiers are likely to see the ever-growing burden of weight to be carried into combat to face increasingly destructive small arms.
The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Department of Defense or its components
