Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 33 Nosler

It's been announced for Q1 2017 availability on Nosler.com

There is an article in this months G&A.

I looks like the 33 Nosler case is shorter to accomodate the realities of magazine length and the VLD ogives.
Similar to the length differences made to the RUM and RCM cartridge families.

Doesn't look like it will clean up a .338Win chamber without some setback.
This was something I liked about the .338 Campfire cat.

I've been obsessing about re-chambering an M70 EW and shortening the barrel to 23.5"

Nothing wrong with the Nosler 48s as is, Just that in that caliber, for my purposes; I want CRF.

Any thoughts from the GunWriters and forum regulars?

Try www.33Nosler.com for a more direct link.

They don't appear to have their case dimensions, or load recipes up yet.
Maybe in print with Edition #9 ?

It appears to be making some tremendous velocities with the 225AB, compared to the 338 Lapua. I'm guessing there's lots of extra pressure with the 33 Nosler, given the real case capacity differences.

Exciting times in the magnumb cartridge world ;-)

Should be heck of an Elk cartridge.

Will it kill deader that a 270WCF?

I suspect it might be one of those "Kills on Both Ends", and
"Knocks You Out From Under Your Hat" kind of monster slayers.

More Dead than a 270WCF ? Depends if Mr.Griz comes Callin'

It's funny the conundrum we have of the new boomers such as the OP with folks killing BIG game with many small old and new "puny" rounds. Appears many still read magazines.

How much better is it than the 338WM???

Did the 325 WSM really sell that well?

I guess I understand Nosler attempting to establishing a whole new line of cartridges, but IMO it's akin to the auto industry deciding to start making 17.5" truck wheels just to offer something new.

Lots of guys wont like anything new..Not that the design is new but..

I've said a few times that I feel the ultra mags should have looked like the nosler line up..IMO it is a superior design to the longer RUM or belted H&H, long or short.

Gives you a bigger boiler room with more room to work with in the magazine..Those two things are lost on most, and thats fine.

Basing these cartridges worth on how much faster they will spit a bullet than whats already out there, is like judging scopes solely on "glass clarity".

Only thing holding them back is relatively limited brass, from one manufacturer.

It was a compromise instead of shortening the 300 WSM case for a 338 magazine fit.

Lots of satisfied .338-300WSM cat shooters out there though

How well did the lengthened ( and delayed ) 7mm WSM really sell ?

Was its popularity mostly due to the greater case capacity, in spite of the shorter neck ?

Yup shoot a deer with it and will instantly already have been dead for an hour.


So much more betterer especially when you put it in a full length action. I'd rather have a 338 WM or 340

Probably "better" enough to need a brake!

338Rules,

Nosler isn't trying to compete in a big way with the .338 Winchester Magnum. Instead they're introducing cartridges that work in their rifle action, with an emphasis on ammo, handloading brass, and rifles that are a step up in quality from the basic mass-produced rifles and ammo offered by major companies.

This has always been a viable "marketing strategy." Charles Newton did it, unfortunately starting just before World War One, which ruined his chances. Roy Weatherby used it to start his company in the 1940's, though his products became more standardized in the 1950's.

But it's become more common in the past couple of decades, due to newer manufacturing techniques that make producing "proprietary" actions less expensive. There are a bunch of shooters who desire rifles and ammo a cut above average factory products, but don't want to invest the time and hassle of putting together a custom rifle, or even handloading. They're willing to pay the price for more expensive out-of-the-box rifles with many custom features, and high-performance factory ammo.

As a result, I doubt whether Nosler is concerned about some of the stuff rifle loonies will endlessly discuss, such as whether the 33 offers "new" ballistics, or whether rechambering a .338 Winchester Magnum factory rifle would be easier if the 33 case had slightly different dimensions. Instead they're offering an upscale "package" for a specific market. They want their rifles and ammo to sell well, but they're not looking to directly compete with Remington, Ruger and Winchester.

What technical feature enables them to get similar velocity (+25FPS) as the 338 Lapua with 18% less powder? Just a marketing line based on one particular set of circumstances such as a specific powder?

This will be both fun and aggravating to watch on gun boards such as this. We all seem to have a single criteria of "if it doesn't do what that one does then it should not exist". We as gun nuts should relish new developments and then choose accordingly. As I've said before, every cartridge designed has, on the continuum of all other cartridges, advantages over the one directly above it and below it on that continuum. Those same cartridges, to obtain those benefits, have shortcomings over those same cartridges above it or below it on said continuum.

We have otherwise knowledgable individuals who put forth huge intellectual arguments such as: "The deer/elk/pig/sheep/ad infinitum won't be able to tell the difference", as though these animals somehow have the ability to discern said differences and, since they do, one should base his choices accordingly. Arguments such as "this was an answer to a question that was never asked". Said argument itself presumes no improvement should ever be sought, whether or not it is found. It's a good thing most developers of any new product do not hold themselves to such absurd criteria.

Our group on this board is generally comprised of capitalists who somehow view manufacturers with disdain for providing us more options while trying to improve their businesses. We somehow believe the shooting world would be better off if only our 3-5 favorite cartridges were available and then defend those cartridges ferociously.

I, for one, hope Nosler succeeds with all of these new introductions.

Yes.

Nice post Big Sky. I agree 100% with what you said.

With an elk hunt this fall, I was pondering a large caliber rifle like the 338WM. It is not that my 30-06, 300WSM, 7-08 would not work ;-) but I figure the larger frontal diameter would have more impact/shock on a bull. I thought how neat it would be if Nosler would chamber their 30 Nosler in 338. Sure enough, two days later they announced it. Certainly, it will be a chambering I would use with a brake or suppressor.

I know the dimensions are not identical, but it seems to me that it has taken the gun industry 100 years to catch up to Charles Newtons imagination....... He listed a 33 newton which is almost the same as this 33 nosler.............

I'm not impressed with the .33 Nosler.

It shoots a bullet weighing only 25 grains more than a plain old .300 Weatherby, but 35 fps slower than the Weatherby, and with a slightly worse ballistic coefficient. Does anyone believe that a slightly slower bullet, weighing only about half as much as a .22 long rifle bullet more, would be even noticeable?

One would think that they could have made more of an improvement in the last 72 years.