33 Nosler - what am I missing?

Has anyone had more time to play with and have experience with the 33 Nosler? I am planning a long range gun for here in Alaska and am looking at this chambering in a Montana rifle Co X3.

The 33 nolser is simply a 338 win mag without a belt its a cute little sucker,, feeding problems? there aren't any.
It will not compete with any of the bigger 338's period. Its simple laws of physics you cant take a case shorten it decrease powder capacity make the neck longer so on so forth and magically have a round that is capable of out running the larger counterparts with more case capacity and so on!! it doesn't work that way

ive had plenty of experience with it and I can tell you it will shoot like crazy and the little case when set up with the right amount of free bore will allow the 250 berger to ride out of the powder column way up in the long neck! but this doesn't mean its going to be gaining 300 fps by doin this.

in 25-26" barrels the ones ive delt with will shoot mid 2800's with 250 and high 2900-3000 with 225. these speeds are from drops not a chrono and others im sure will vary but that's what ive seen in my experience.

there is no magic pixie dust or super secret sauce to make it scream ha ha its a small case ((( smallest of the nosler mags yet)) im still trying to understand why nolser cut the legs off of these cases but they did themselves a disservice by doing so.

I did a little exercise to put the case differences into perspective below. These are H20 case capacities with a loaded 225gr Accubond according to Nosler. I've spaced these apart from each other with 1 line per ~3 gr. I can see it is in the neighborhood of the Win Mag, however, it's hard to ignore the simple fact that the Nosler does more with the same footprint.


338-06 - 61




338 Win Mag - 76.4

33 Nosler - 82.0
340 Dakota - 85.7

340 Wby - 92.5


338 RUM - 101

338 Lapua - 105




338-378 Wby - 121.4

Nosler should have run the 33 out to an oal to feed from a LA rem instead of 3.4". The nosler action is limited to 3.4, where it could have had room to get to 3.8"oal. That gains a significant amount of case capacity, and puts the start of the boat tail at the base of the case neck with most of the vld/eld bullets.
On the left feeds from a rem action, on the right is 3.4" oal, with a 285eld

Akmtnrunner said:

I did a little exercise to put the case differences into perspective below. These are H20 case capacities with a loaded 225gr Accubond according to Nosler. I've spaced these apart from each other with 1 line per ~3 gr. I can see it is in the neighborhood of the Win Mag, however, it's hard to ignore the simple fact that the Nosler does more with the same footprint.
338-06 - 61
338 Win Mag - 76.4
33 Nosler - 82.0
340 Dakota - 85.7
340 Wby - 92.5
338 RUM - 101
338 Lapua - 105
338-378 Wby - 121.4

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LongBomber, wasn't it an intention (and attribute) for the 33 to fit into standard length action and standard magnum bolt face? Hunting bullets up to 250 gr shouldn't have to be set far below the neck.

Elk Hunter, I understand there's not a huge advantage over the Win Mag but I am curious of just how much there really is, apples to apples.

can not go wrong with the .338's.

It was- except a standard rem 700 or most (all?) of the custom actions are not just 3.4" mag length. The long oal from my pic feeds fine from a rem 700 with the standard mag box. The short one is 3.4" and is the mag length of the nosler rifles.

Akmtnrunner said:

LongBomber, wasn't it an intention (and attribute) for the 33 to fit into standard length action and standard magnum bolt face? Hunting bullets up to 250 gr shouldn't have to be set far below the neck.

Click to expand...

LongBomber said:

It was- except a standard rem 700 or most (all?) of the custom actions are not just 3.4" mag length. The long oal from my pic feeds fine from a rem 700 with the standard mag box. The short one is 3.4" and is the mag length of the nosler rifles.

Click to expand...

Nosler rifles actually have a 3.9" length, just tge mag and bolt stop need modified.

Broz did a head to head with the 300wm and the 30 noz. It was 6 of one and half dozen of the other. Very little difference in performance. I have experience with the 338 WM and none with the noz but doubt there is much to be gained between the two. If you want more preformance in a 338 step up to the edge or lapua.

I'm currently building a 338 as well. I went with the 338/375 ruger as my choice. Mainly due to coal that will run in my action(set up prior for 300wm) barrel should be finished up in early August, coming from McGowen

When I was looking to purchase a 338, I did a lot of research and ultimately decided on a 338 Lapua. I looked at the 33 Nosler, 340 Weatherby and 338 RUM, but the availability of brass and factory ammo choices (even though I handload, I like to have the option) for the Lapua was hands down the winner. I didn't want a cartridge where finding the components was going to be an issue, like it is with the RUM's. I load for the 340 Weatherby for 2 of my hunting buddies, and it's a wonderful cartridge and ballistically comparable to the Lapua. But, Weatherby brass and ammo is super expensive, and you have less choices
I purchased a Christensen Arms Classic in 338 Lapua. It only weighs 7.1 lbs!! Topped off with a NF scope, it's still under 10 lbs, so it's not an anchor to carry around hunting and with a brake the recoil is no big deal.
Good luck choosing

with the introduction of ADG, "Gunwerks" Bertram and norma making 338 Ultra brass its back in the game good now!! there all awesome!!! I mean they're 338's after all ha ha

highdrum said:

Nosler rifles actually have a 3.9" length, just tge mag and bolt stop need modified.

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Do you have any pictures of a nosler action with an exfended mag and a bolt stop mod?
The bolt stop on my nosler action is only .22" long in the bolt raceway, I am guessing the bolt stop would be replaced with one that pivots reversed to the factory stop?

Also is the trigger group replaced or the feed ramp milled for more clearance? The space between the magwell and trigger group on my action wouldn't allow for a .5" longer mag box.

tmmcampbell said:

Broz did a head to head with the 300wm and the 30 noz. It was 6 of one and half dozen of the other. Very little difference in performance. I have experience with the 338 WM and none with the noz but doubt there is much to be gained between the two. If you want more preformance in a 338 step up to the edge or lapua.

Click to expand...

Dont let that turn you off. I have built a lot of 30 Noslers and 30-28 noslers. In a 26" barrel a normal load is H1000 and a 215 Berger at 3080-3100 fps. I have hit 3200 with retumbo in the 30-28 nosler. Its just better than a wm in every way.