I picked up one yesterday at the Peace River Fish and Game gun show. Bullseye Reloading in Fairview can get brass and dies, the brass is resized 45/70. As far as bullett a round nose or flat nose for jacketed or cast. i will probably shoot cast as this will be a plinking rifle. You also could try Elwood Epps's re;oading company I think its called Grampa reloading or some thing like that
.33 Winchester
- Thread starter Slooshark1
- Start date
Bullet Barn is in Canada and sells good quality hard cast bullets that would be perfect in your gun. If you slug the bore they will even make them in custom sizes fpr a very small extra charge. They don't actually list a 338 or 333 bullets but I have often found that if I phone them they can make me what I am looking for, though there may be a small extra charge if they need to buy a mould. Great people to deal with.
http://www.thebulletbarn.com/pricelist.html
http://www.thebulletbarn.com/pricelist.html
Do us a favour, slug the barrel and let us know what if measures. I have never had a 33 WCF but give its age and what I know of the period and the other rounds common in its time, my bet is it is more likely .333 than .338.
That said, with soft lead cast bullets. .005 will make no difference whatever, except it will fill the barrel very well and probably shoot accurate as hell. Even in jacketed, as long as a guy isn't near max, the differnece won't matter much. I shoot .379 hard cast lead in my .375 magnum and they shoot well under an inch at 100 yards and under 1.8 at 200. At .004 over nominal they don't seem to be hurting the accurracy any, as that is equal to the best jacketed bullet I have tried.
Slugging the bore will end the speculation, but all I've seen is that it should be 0.338".
Here's a good tutorial: http://www.surplusrifle.com/reloading/slug/index.asp
I use fishing weights. "Egg Sinkers" are egg-shaped and have a small hole in the centre. The 1/4 oz Egg Sinkers are about 0.360" at their largest diameter, are soft lead and the taper makes starting them easy. That size is good for 30 to 338 cal. "Danielson" makes them, and Canadian Tire sells them.
Here's a good tutorial: http://www.surplusrifle.com/reloading/slug/index.asp
I use fishing weights. "Egg Sinkers" are egg-shaped and have a small hole in the centre. The 1/4 oz Egg Sinkers are about 0.360" at their largest diameter, are soft lead and the taper makes starting them easy. That size is good for 30 to 338 cal. "Danielson" makes them, and Canadian Tire sells them.
My old NRA gunsmithing book lists the 33 Win as using a .335 bullet originally. Slug the bore and get the info you need from your barrel, particularly if you are going to order a mould or cast bullets. Usually a cast bullet performs best if a thou. or two oversize.
That will have to wait till tomorrow, I couldn't find anything the right size for a 33 bore. Lots of stuff for 40, 45, 50 etc, but no 33
John Spartan
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Just a little more to the right...
On reloading for the .33 WCF, brass is not much of an issue. As previously noted one can use Bertram brass available from a number of sources. It is pricey, there have been some reports that it lasts a few reloads before becoming unusable. One can get case reforming dies which use stock .45-70 brass for conversion to .33 WCF - RCBS makes these -I like the results I have had.
Bullets: If one can get the discontinued Hornady .338 cal 200 grain flat point interlock bullets, you're good to go. RCBS had a nice 200 grain gas checked cast bullet mould which they changed to a plain base bullet a few years ago. Haven't tried the Hornady soft plastic tipped bullets.
Handloads recipes: Loaddata has the most comprehensive collection of .33 WCF recipes available from all sources, but you need to subscribe to it. Hornady reloading manual has some data. Mike Venturino's "Shooting Leverguns of the Old West" has some more recipes available. Do an Internet search as well.
Bullets: If one can get the discontinued Hornady .338 cal 200 grain flat point interlock bullets, you're good to go. RCBS had a nice 200 grain gas checked cast bullet mould which they changed to a plain base bullet a few years ago. Haven't tried the Hornady soft plastic tipped bullets.
Handloads recipes: Loaddata has the most comprehensive collection of .33 WCF recipes available from all sources, but you need to subscribe to it. Hornady reloading manual has some data. Mike Venturino's "Shooting Leverguns of the Old West" has some more recipes available. Do an Internet search as well.
I use stadard Lee .33wcf FL die, just lube up the 45-70 & run her thru the die.
Trim to length & your good to go.
-->Occasionally you get brass flowing much heavier on one side of the neck, watch for it. If you have the equipment, it's a good idea to turn the neck to proper thickness, but it's not absolutly nessessary.
I just measured the bore on my pristine .33wcf Rifle.
It's exactly .338.
Thanks for doing that. Not having a 33WCF I could not check for my self and the references I could find were about 50/50, through 9 publushed sources, between saying .332 or .333 versus .338. It is amazing how much wrong iinformation gets published, and not just on the internet. Nothing like measuring the real thing to know for sure.
- Location
- New Brunswick
I bought a .33 Winchester a few years back and tried to locate dies and bullet molds without any luck. Finally I sold it. A few day later a friend met me in the mall and said "I've been meaning to call you. I got your phone message a few weeks ago about the .33 Winchester. I have the dies & bullet mold you are looking for." Now I wish I had it. It was in better condition than any I've seen since, with 90% blueing. The only drawback was the completely carved stock, although it was an excellent carving job. I have had 2 other rifles since with the same carving by the same gunsmith.
