33 Nosler - what am I missing?

[scottw2119]

A 338 demon just finished . Lilja barrel grayboe stock trued rem 700. And my personal one.



 

[Deleted member 46119]

any el cheappo deluxe in.338wm will get the job done and free up your hard earned money in a better project

Yuck. "el cheappo"?

look at the 338 demon (338-375 ruger)

Sure, ballistically about exactly equal. It is a wildcat so no factory ammo. No factory brass. However a fine option.

On the "el cheappo" route. If it were me, I would get an appropriate quality 338WM and have a 33 Nosler run in to 26/28 Nosler depth with 26-Nosler go/no go gauges. This will give a little boost. It also makes sure brass is available as I don't think the 28 Nosler is going away ever. I know it works both ways as I have done it. My 338/26-Nosler is a Weatherby Mark V 338 WM rechambered. 24" barrel. I need to get some of those Hornady ELD-X .338 230 to try but I know the 33-Nosler and the 338/26-Nosler will make your velocity goals.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Not sure about you guys but 50 cases is a life time for my hunting rifles. The 33 nosler would be my pick if I was to build a 338 repeater. Perfect for 250 bergers. The RUM has them seated pretty deep even worse in the edge. Not necessarily a problem if you know how to deal with doughnuts but if I can avoid seating them deep I will. And Bergers have pressure rings, so you will be expanding your neck when seating and if you go deep you'll lose neck tension. I love the edge and lapua, but for me those are single shot options. But if your building a 338 I would assume long range in which case a single shot would be my preference anyhow. I wont personally own a belted case again, I typically run pressures high enough that the sizing issues with belted cases rear their head. The Nosler cases will handle almost 75k psi.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

@Alex Wheeler speaks truth.

Except I will keep my Weatherby chamberings because well, they are Weatherby rifles with Weatherby chamberings. A collector thing. The non-Weatherby Chambered Mark Vs will be made into something else. Example, the 7mm Mag will get rechambered to 28 Nosler, as soon as I make it to that part of the list. ha ha.

 

[surgeon260]

What's your aversion to a belt? The Bee will do 3,000 with 250 Partitions with normal pressure.

I am not a belt hater, in fact I own and shoot plenty of 7RM and 300WM. The only downside I have seen with belted cases is the expansion above the belt with high pressure loads. Yes this can be addressed with a Larry Willis die, but since I am designing this 338 rifle from the ground up, I would prefer to have a streamlined reloading process with the minimal number of steps and equipment.

 

[surgeon260]

keep in mind that the 250EH has a very short bearing surface and will require a very different throat than any of the other bullets you mentioned.

Thanks for the great comment. I wasn't thinking about bearing surface length differences. I now realize that it will be pretty much impossible to find a throat length that is optimal with, say, both the Swift and the Berger.

 

[surgeon260]

With the Nosler brass costing as much as Lapua, for me it is no question that I would build off a Lapua for a 338. Don't get me wrong, I own multiple 28 noslers but believe that once you get beyond the .284 there are better cases.

I agree that the cost of Nosler brass is off-putting when compared to Lapua, but this will be a dedicated hunting rifle so 100 cases should last me a lifetime. One time cost, as painful as it is.

When you say there are better cases than the Nosler, can you be more specific? Are you just talking about higher capacity?

 

[surgeon260]

If you are looking to have a custom rifle built look at the 338 demon (338-375 ruger) easy to form brass, easy to find brass, nosler is getting ready to start production I have built a few of them with 7828ssc im getting 2855 fps with the 250 berger I havent tried rl33 or other slower powders but it is a absolute hammer.

It seems like the 338-375 Ruger and 33 Nosler are incredibly similar. Both based off 404 Jeffery. Very similar capacities. I love a good wildcat, but why choose a wildcat in this case when the Nosler has readily available dies and brass? What is the advantage of the Demon?

 

[surgeon260]

Based on what game you would want to use it on, is there a need fo rprecicsion when the kill zone is the size of a beach ball, not needed in the world of ultra big game HUNTING.. any el cheappo deluxe in.338wm will get the job done and free up your hard earned money in a better project. After all to be honest unless your subsistasnce living how many shots des anyone reallyfire at biggame...seems like a lot of hard earned money for 3 shots per year, your not going to like either off a bench for long..

The only definition of "better" that matters is the one in the eye of the beholder. Maybe a custom .338 project doesn't make sense for you, but for me it makes sense for long range hunting. The 338 bore has heavy, high-BC bullets in spades.

Why does anyone buy a Z06 Corvette or a Porsche or a Ferrari? It certainly isn't because they are necessary =). Precision rifles are my definition of fun, and they allow me to easily observe the limitations of my skill. Shooting Minute-of-Beachball does not generate the same level of excitement for me. Also, I will take every advantage in the world at 1000 yards, especially with a live animal in my sights.

Based on your comment I expect that you take issue with many of the rifles carried by members of this forum. For long range hunting, I would argue that a 33 Nosler is a fairly practical chambering compared to the RUMs, Lapuas, Cheytacs, and all of the associated wildcats that burn 100+ grains of powder per shot.

 

[cjuve]

I agree that the cost of Nosler brass is off-putting when compared to Lapua, but this will be a dedicated hunting rifle so 100 cases should last me a lifetime. One time cost, as painful as it is.

When you say there are better cases than the Nosler, can you be more specific? Are you just talking about higher capacity?

The Nosler may well be the best case for your specific application and goals since you don't plan on shooting heavy for caliber bullets. For myself if I am going to build a full blown custom in a 338 caliber it is going to be for long range hunting with heavy bullets. I want a case that has the best blend of performance, strength, and availability. I do not think the Nosler case is that for me. My experience with Nosler brass is that it is not as stout as others claim, with primer pockets loosening up with even mild loads, at nearly 3$ each there are other cases out there that will not that cost less. In searching for brass for my 28's it is rare to find it in stock locally, you can usually find it online somewhere but with other cases the brass is much more available. In terms of performance there is a reason that Nosler chose to compare the 33 Nosler the 338LM using lighter bullets and not the heavies.

 

[scottw2119]

The demon has a little larger case capacity and the cost of brass is a lot lower

 

[cjuve]

The demon has a little larger case capacity and the cost of brass is a lot lower

375 Chey Tac brass is less expensive than the nosler

 

[Axl]

If you watch for sales you can find the Nosler brass at $2 ea. I have 10 reloads on my first box (25) of 28 Nosler brass the primer pockets are still good.

 

[gregsjt]

It seems like the 338-375 Ruger and 33 Nosler are incredibly similar. Both based off 404 Jeffery. Very similar capacities. I love a good wildcat, but why choose a wildcat in this case when the Nosler has readily available dies and brass? What is the advantage of the Demon?

The .338-375 Ruger and the 33 Nosler are not based on the same 404 Jeffery case, the Ruger case is based off of their "own" design, while that design is very close to the old Newton cases from the early 1900's, it is still proprietary to Ruger. The Ruger case has the same rim diameter (.532) as a .300 WM or the 33 Nosler, but the case head is also .532, which means that it doesn't have a rebated rim like the 33. The 33 has a case head of .544 or so. The two are probably really close in terms of volume. Some say that the Ruger case would feed better than a case with a rebated rim like the Nosler. However, that whole argument may be academic, I'm not sure there is a lot of empirical data out their that proves that a rebated rim has more feeding problems than a rimless. But, in a hunting rifle that may encounter bears or other dangerous game, feeding should be considered.