help with an 86 33 winchester load

[1maineguide]

A friend of mine bought a 33 Whinny and wants me to load for it. I have 40 pcs. of 45/70 brass all made into 33 brass. I also have 200 pcs of #338 237 cast boolits that are lead base not with a gas check. Cannot find much of any load data. Anyone have load data they could provide for this? Thanks in advance

[Nueces]

I have a 1904 solid frame 86 in 33 WCF, excellent condition. A short course of development led me to a load of 37.6/3031 under a Beartooth LBT 235 grain GC bullet, in formed Winchester 45-70 cases and with Winchester primers. Bullets sized 0.340 for the 0.339 bore. Crimping by a custom Lee collet crimper. No chrono results, but one 5 shot group under an inch at 100 meters.

Was safe in my rifle, no excessive pressure signs, gives you a place to start. Good luck!

[1maineguide]

In P.O.Ackleys book "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders" page 462 he lists 7 loads for the 33 with 200 gr bullets. Does not state what the bullets are. The 3031 load is 42 grs. at 2260 fps. sounds hot to me but maybe not. I just do not want to lead the barrel as I wore out 4 brushes and several hours getting the lead out of the bore. He also lists a load for 2400 at 19 grs. start to 26 grs max with velocities from 1630-2100. that just would not be my choice for powder. Also the loading says nothing about lead base, gas checked, or jacketed bullets.

[450 Fuller]

Own three 1886 rifles in 33 WCF. Two pieces of advice: Stick with the original 200 gr jacketed bullet weight and AVOID cast bullets,
if you can afford to do so. IMR or H-4198 is an excellent set of powders for the 200 gr FP bullets by Hawk or Hornady. 33 grs of 4198 gives about 2050 FPS with a Hornady FP 33 bullet.
These rifles are now 100 + years old so 2150 FPS or less is a realistic goal. I just received 3 boxes of 200 gr Hawk Bullets, and have used Hawks in the 348 M-71 and the 33 1886. They work and are kind to older barrels. (I killed a large AK moose with a 270 gr 348 bullet in 2007 )The 1886 does not need a lot of shooting to find your rifles best load combination. 4198-3031-4895 all will work. Hornady stopped production on the 33 FP
bullets some years ago. They are STILL out there. Ask around.

Cast lead bullets: be careful, keep gas checks at a distance. If the GC falls off for ANY reason
into the powder column, you WILL have a pressure excursion. Lever action rifles DO NOT handle pressure excursions well.Never mind what others claim, use fully lubed lead bullets at 1700-1800 FPS
with proper lead hardness and right 338 diameter. No GCs needed. Buy good jacketed bullets. Hawk bullets are worth the wait.

NRA-LIFE

Khe Sanh-5th Special Forces Gp-MACVSOG (1971-72)

[Rick B]

Owned two 1886 33 Winchesters First one came and went in the mid 70's. When I aquired the second one about 15 years ago. I did a little internet searching and found an article by Mike Venturino where he described having issues with powders in the 4198 - 3031 range. He tried 4350 and settled on 48.0 grains with a 200 gr Hornady FP. Shot well and no more extraction issues. This load shoots very well in my 33 Winchester.

In regards to cast boolits, I had Tom at Accurate Mold make a 34-220B double cavity mold. This is a gas checked 220 grain design, with the crimp groove in the proper location for 33 WCF OAL. Bullets are sized .3395. First load I tried in it was 10.0 grains of Unique no fillers. Shot a triangle knot with it at 75 yards. Next trip to the range was an almost identical group. I quit load development right there. Shot a lot of steel with it over the years. Even shot a NRA Levergun Silhouette Match out to 200 meters. Bullet was stable and every Ram, I hit went down. No recoil! Load chronographs at 1210 fps with a ES of 8.

As with all pistol powder, powered cast loads in large rifle cases. I weigh every assembled loaded round. Just to make sure I didn't double charge one.
Rick

[Gunlaker]

That's interesting Rick. I wondered if anyone was shooting lower velocity plain based bullets in .33 WCF. I wonder if IMR-4227 might be a decent powder for that purpose?

Chris.

[Rick B]

Some reloaders use 4227. However it can be position sensitive. Unique does not suffer from that issue.
Rick

[woody1]

The Lyman 38th lists several loads for the 338237. I believe that handbook is available from Castpics.
Not recommending any loads but Lyman 38 lists 5 grains of Unique at an estimated 1100 fps & 16.8 grains at 1885. Yes that's 16.8. 4759, if you have any, listed 12 grains for 1161 fps up to 18 grains at 1650 fps estimated.
One load for 2400 at 25.2 grains for 2100 fps. That obviously would be the old stuff which is supposed to be slower than what you get now. Just FYI.

Regards, Woody