Winchester 1886 in 33WCF

[Chicken Thief]

A good friend of mine has got an original Winchester 1886 in 33WCF.
And i have to feed it. I have come up short finding a .338 flat nosed j-word at all.
Can anybody help me?

[Bullshop]

I have the RCBS 200gn FNGC 338 mold. It has worked very well in several 33s we have tried it in.
I also have the form dies from RCBS if you need some brass formed.

[Eutectic]

A good friend of mine has got an original Winchester 1886 in 33WCF.
And i have to feed it. I have come up short finding a .338 flat nosed j-word at all.
Can anybody help me?

Buffalo Arms is the only source I have seen for the 200gr flat point cannelured bullet for the .33WCF. I think they are a special run of the Hornady .33 bullet that was discontinued. Expensive though...

A mold for gaschecked boolits would be my suggestion..... and maybe even talk your good friend out of the '86??

Eutectic

http://www.buffaloarms.com/330_411_diameter_jacketed_bullets_pr-4142.aspx

[Chill Wills]

New (current production) RCBS from all the normal retail outlets and the old Lyman moulds for it come up on ebay from time to time. I have both and they work well.

I have case forming dies from RCBS which really cut down on damage and time making cases.

Great caliber

[Chill Wills]

:p:p:p
Wow! Three of us hit this at the same time!

[fouronesix]

Yep, finding a supply of 200 gr FP Hornady Jbullet 338s is like finding hen's teeth! A few years ago I grabbed every one I could find. Don't know the status of Hornady making more or BACO's situation.
I'll also suggest the RCBS 200 gr FPGC cast bullet as a good alternative.

[MT Chambers]

I thought that the old girl was .333" not .338".

[9.3X62AL]

Nope, .338" in my now-departed 86 TD FWT.

[elk hunter]

Always wanted an 86 in 33 Win, but haven't found it yet. I have 22 rounds of factory ammo that a neighbor gave me today. He said someone gave it to him and he had no use for it. Now I really need to find the rifle.

[fouronesix]

Here's a picture of the box that is on the Endangered Species List- if not already extinct.

[Chicken Thief]

Hornady 3315, is dead and long gone.

But the new fangled Hornady FTX j-word seems like the bees knees.

http://www.hornady.com/assets/images/products/bullets/cutouts/bullets-FTX-cutaway.jpg

http://www.hornady.com/store/338-Cal-.338-200-gr-FTX/

[fouronesix]

The .338 Flex Tip bullet might work fine in the 86. Although I doubt it was made with the Win 86 33 WCF in mind. Obviously the various boat-tailed spitzer flex tips are made to "market" to the crowd who believe in long range shooting of the various tube mag lever guns. Not my bag and I don't like boat tails in general- just my 2 cents so no matter- it may work fine for your purpose given the extinction of the .338 FP Jbullet.

[fordwannabe]

I got some of the hawk bullets when I got my 86 in 33wcf...gun hated them sent them sideways through the paper at 25 yards. but I have some left if you want 10 or so to try!
Next I tried some of the hornady 3315 so so accuracy.
I bought a 338 mold for the group buy two yearsago...which came last year(not a complaint). it shoots pretty well not bad.
I have a worn bore so the boolit it likes is from another member here lee forstberg I don't know why his boolits work so well for me but they are sized 340 and the groups shrunk in half. THANKS LEE!!!!
I am confident enough with my rifle and these boolits , I am taking it as my main rifle for an elk hunt this fall.
KEEP EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT BOOLITS AND BULLETS YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING THAT WORKS...ALSO DON'T TRY TO HOTROD THAT CARTRIDGE I GET BEST ACCURACY WELL BELOW MAXIMUM.
As a ,what the hey..the gun arrived in the Winchester warehouse on November6 1902...I will be hunting elk in Colorado with it starting November 3 2012 if there is any justice in this world I should get one just because of that, 110 years old on that day.
Good luck and if I can be of any assistance please ask I made a bunch of errors along the way that may save you some time. Tom

[missionary5155]

Good morning
When we arrived from Peru in June there was a 33 Winchester 1886 from 1920 (157,xxx) waiting for me to load for. As always I checked the throat area to discover what diameter there is to deal with. Mine will accept .340 boolets without any fuss and shoots this diameter far better.
While still in Peru I began hunting molds and came up with a couple. So far I think if I could only have one it would be the RCBS 33 200 grain GC. Much heavier boolits are not going to move fast enough to be much use past 100 yards if you need to shoot that far. But for under 50 yards I would happily use a 250 grainer for large critters and push it as fast as I could . So again hunt up the 200 grain RCBS 200 grainer and use that one for all purpose loads.
There is no reason you should not come close to factory velocities safely with powders like 3031 and 4064. My best load to date is with 38 grains of 4064. Your rifle will differ but usable powders include Unique on the fast side (16 grains = 1700 fps) 2400 ( 25 grains = 2000) 3031 ( 35 = 1800 ) and 4064 (40 grains = 1900 ) . These all are loads that will do 4 inches and less at 100 yards in my rifle with no real adjustments with the combinatiomns. I recommend you start at -10% of these loads just in case your chamber is tighter than mine. Nothing spectacular. These were shot with 50-50 mix. WW might be much better but I wanted to start with what I would use hunting.
Each powder might do better with some tweaking with boolit seating length and hardness. Mine were loaded to just bump the rifling. Grease grooves are exposed. I was just casting about with info I have accumulated searching old articles and info people have sent me. Other suggested powders have been 4198, 4895, and 4320 which I am out of right now.
So check that throat area and play with overall cartride length and hardness. You will find a good arrangement.
Mike in ILL

[TXBRILL]

I use 5744 in my original 1886 .33WCF for either lead or the few Hornady jacketed I have. The info was given to me by Accurate Powder


Allen,
We suggest the following.
Caliber: .33 WCF – Winchester Center Fire.
Barrel: 24”
Reduced loads (Lead bullet):
Powder: Accurate -- 5744.
Bullet weight: 180 - 200 grains i.e. Lead bullets
Start load: 22.0grains (+/-1600ft/p/sec)
Maximum load: 26.0 grains (+/-1800Ft/p/sec)
Yes you can use that procedure based on jacketed bullet data.
The difference between jacketed and lead re chargemass in a caliber such as the 33WCF will be at most 2-3%.
In the case of handgun calibers it can be larger.
Regards
Johan Loubser
Ballistician
Ramshot/Accurate Powders
Tel: (406) 234 04 22 email: johan@ramshot.com

[skeettx]

Old thread, but just in case someone is looking for a 33 Win bullet mold

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351382709883?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

These 86s are fun to shoot

[High Desert Hunter]

I had an 1886 that had been rebarreled to 33 WCF, I shot the 200gr bullets from the Bullshop, and they worked like a champ! I let the old gun go in a trade during my predator hunting phase.

Sorry didn't realize how old this was.

[9.3X62AL]

The 33 WCF is a great choice for the bullet caster for the same reasons a 30-30 WCF is, chief among them being it ability to get full value velocity (2100-2200 FPS) from castings without a lot of hocus-pocus. I pondered building another 33 WCF from a Marlin 95, but as time goes on a 40-65 seems like a better idea. Of course, the 95's OEM chambering of 45-70 is no slouch itself.

[clum553946]

Matt's Bullets, mattsbullets.com, has a 210 gr gas checked lead flat point available if you don't want to cast.

[Rick B]

Tom at Accurate molds, catalogs a 34-220A. Ordered a two cavity brass mold. Sizing it .3395, with a Hornady gas check. It shoots nice groups at 100 yards. This design has a long bore riding nose. Looks really good loaded in the case, the crimp groove is in the right location. The RCBS 33 and 348 molds have short noses.
Rick

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You can make a guide to consistently file flat the nose of any pointed bullet by drilling a piece of steel. A letter T size drill or reamer is o.358in. If you drill 9mm. or 11/32in. and follow up with a T drill on which you have rounded the corners with a grinder or diamond hole, it will drill very accurately and smoothly.

The .33 is one of the best 86 cartridges for anybody who would like to use smokeless and jacketed bullets, and stay with the strong and (relatively) cheap .45-70 brass. I believe all the .33 barrels were nickel steel.