33 Nosler -- your experience or thoughts.??

[curt672]

Looking at this cartridge but have no experience with it-- any help??

 

[Gomer]

Brass is $2.50+ a piece. Rifle availability, unless you go custom, is pretty limited. A 30-06 length magazine will be tight. I’d want a full size action which means Remington 700, a weatherby offering, or a 375 length action. It’s rebated like a RUM…so I might consider a 338 Edge with marginally cheaper and more available brass.

 

[mms45]

I have both a 33 nosler and 338 edge. What do you want to know? I personally really like the 33 nosler with 225 accubonds. It think the. 338 edge is getting to be to much of a good with with a hunting rifle. But I’m not much of a ELR shooter. I keep things 500 and in for hunting an I think the nosler excels at that and can fit in a come compact package

 

[M70375!]

Brass is $2.50+ a piece. Rifle availability, unless you go custom, is pretty limited. A 30-06 length magazine will be tight. I’d want a full size action which means Remington 700, a weatherby offering, or a 375 length action. It’s rebated like a RUM…so I might consider a 338 Edge with marginally cheaper and more available brass.

absolutely, I have a 338 Edge +P , I think it is a much better option. @85 gr TSX at 2850

 

[M70375!]

absolutely, I have a 338 Edge +P , I think it is a much better option. @85 gr TSX at 2850

285 gr TSX

 

[Wyit76]

Noslers own load data puts it right between the 338wm and 338rum both of which are easier to get rifles and components in. Nosler is also, to my knowledge, the only company producing factory ammunition for any of their cartridges, except the 28 nosler. If you want more thump than a 338wm you're probably better off with a 338 rum/edge or 340 weatherby, if you want something just to be different than the 338wm maybe look at a 338rpm.

 

[curt672]

Nosler makes a rifle for the cartridge and I like the ballistics for both lite and heavy bullets and it does it with less powder than the rum or 340 --- I have 2 338s love them -- I am the kind that just always wants more -- lol Thanks

 

[M70375!]

Noslers own load data puts it right between the 338wm and 338rum both of which are easier to get rifles and components in. Nosler is also, to my knowledge, the only company producing factory ammunition for any of their cartridges, except the 28 nosler. If you want more thump than a 338wm you're probably better off with a 338 rum/edge or 340 weatherby, if you want something just to be different than the 338wm maybe look at a 338rpm.

Don't overlook the 338 Lapua , it's an awesome cartridge

 

[Gomer]

Nosler makes a rifle for the cartridge and I like the ballistics for both lite and heavy bullets and it does it with less powder than the rum or 340 --- I have 2 338s love them -- I am the kind that just always wants more -- lol Thanks

If you like the rifle and can feed it, it has great ballistics. There is another option: 338-300 PRC.

 

[Luederitz]

Great cartridge, easy to reload and for many hunting situations a better choice than the 338 Lapua.
I own a custom Mauser 66 in 33 Nosler, will be used next year in Kasachstan hunting Maral.
With 225 gr bullets like Accubond or Degol precise to shoot.

 

[Wyfox]

Its basically a 330 Dakota, case design is nearly identical

 

[Wyit76]

If you like the rifle and can feed it, it has great ballistics. There is another option: 338-300 PRC.

Have you played with the 338-300 PRC much? I had the thought to build one a couple years back but info on it was limited. The majority of wildcatters I know turn their noses up at any of the newer prc cases. I've heard it called the 338 campfire, I believe that is the name, which was a 375 Ruger necked down to 338. The 300 PRC brass is just so much easier to source and cheaper it seems like a solid option.

 

[Andrew NOLA]

10 minutes ago, I bought an action to build a 338 RUM with.

sooooo.......

 

[Doug3006]

If I saw a rifle chambered in it, and fell in love, I might go there. But to start with the cartridge and find or build a rifle chambered for it? No way. It’s undoubtedly a capable cartridge, but as uncommon as can be. Hard and/or expensive to get ammo and components. No appreciable benefit over a common 338 Win Mag.

There are lots of similarly rare cartridges out there. Anything with Dakota or Lazzeroni in the cartridge name. The 400 H&H. The 425 Westley Richards. Anything with ARC or PRC as a suffix. All great cartridges I’m sure. But why take on the problem of finding ammo for no real benefits over more common alternatives?

 

[Bullthrower338]

I have been shooting a 33 Nosler quite a bit lately and it is impressing me even with factory ammo. I lucked into a deal on nosler brass that was placed on a clearance table at around .50 each and I bought all of it. Then the same store had factory Nosler ammo with ABLR and partitions priced at $60/box so I bought all of it as well which if you do proper gun math savings on components - cost of gun, I essentially got the rifle for free!
Have had some good luck with the ELD but am still playing with them.
Much cheaper to feed than my 338 Lapua AI and no fire forming step. I think the round has a lot of potential for hunting, more so than the Lapua in the configurations that I have both in Lapua and ackley versions.
I still have a deep love for the Win Mag and RUM 338’s but there is always room for another 338 at my house.

 

[Muskox]

I have always loved the 340 Weatherby. Owned a few never killed anything with it. Owned both a 338 Lapua, 338 Blaser Mag and couple of 338 Winchester. Same deal.

It kicks.

It will turn a coyote inside out a 200 yards with match bullets. A friend of mine killed one with his 340 Weatherby when I was with him.

What else do you want to know.

 

[Wyit76]

If I saw a rifle chambered in it, and fell in love, I might go there. But to start with the cartridge and find or build a rifle chambered for it? No way. It’s undoubtedly a capable cartridge, but as uncommon as can be. Hard and/or expensive to get ammo and components. No appreciable benefit over a common 338 Win Mag.

There are lots of similarly rare cartridges out there. Anything with Dakota or Lazzeroni in the cartridge name. The 400 H&H. The 425 Westley Richards. Anything with ARC or PRC as a suffix. All great cartridges I’m sure. But why take on the problem of finding ammo for no real benefits over more common alternatives?

Since when is an ARC or PRC cartridge hard to find? I don't remember the last time I went into a store that carries ammo and didn't see all 3 of the PRC offerings and at least the 6mm ARC. How fast they have become common place is seriously half the reason guys hate on Hornady!

 

[Doug3006]

Admittedly, I’ve never seen any but I haven’t looked hard either! I may be wrong, but I predict that these will go the way of most of the redundant cartridge offerings of the last 20 years. Hornady is the leading culprit. There hasn’t been a new cartridge developed in the last quarter-century that offers anything substantially better than the cartridges that preceded them.

 

[Gomer]

Have you played with the 338-300 PRC much? I had the thought to build one a couple years back but info on it was limited. The majority of wildcatters I know turn their noses up at any of the newer prc cases. I've heard it called the 338 campfire, I believe that is the name, which was a 375 Ruger necked down to 338. The 300 PRC brass is just so much easier to source and cheaper it seems like a solid option.

I was thinking about it because of the 300 PRC brass availability. I wouldn’t go the 375 Ruger route because it’s harder to find. It seems easier to send 300 brass through a 338 mandrel than squeeze a neck down. I’m kind of ass-backward where I don’t really care about high BC, I like tougher bullets and case capacity. But if high BC was the goal, it would be cramped in a standard long action.

 

[Wyit76]

Admittedly, I’ve never seen any but I haven’t looked hard either! I may be wrong, but I predict that these will go the way of most of the redundant cartridge offerings of the last 20 years. Hornady is the leading culprit. There hasn’t been a new cartridge developed in the last quarter-century that offers anything substantially better than the cartridges that preceded them.

You may be right with the 300 PRC, I absolutely can see it coming up short just as the 300 RUM and 30 Nosler did. Where you are wrong will likely be the 6.5 and 7mm PRC. The 6.5 PRC has found a solid niche with the sheep hunters, it is the modern rendition of a 270 with just a better bullet. The 7 PRC will absolutely be the down fall of the 7mm rem mag and this is coming from a die hard rem mag fan. Sure a custom rem mag with custom hand loads can do what a 7 PRC does but with 10 times more cost and effort. I will go so far as to wager that the 7 PRC starts to take a share away from the 300 WM even.

You are correct, these rifles really do not do anything more than their older counterparts. They do the same things but more efficiently. The days of 26" barrels are coming to an end and the older magnums drop performance rapidly when put in suppressor friendly 18-22" barrels. They also are not capable of shooting the longer more modern bullets without significant work.