A follow up on an early post regarding a 1904 Winchester 1886 in 33 WCF that I acquired earlier this year. I thought it was more relevant here than in the reloading forum. I purchased a MVA rear tang sight and combo front sight (.045), cleaned the barrel well (it is pitted) and purchased dies, bullets and cases (Quality Brass). Bullets were the Hornady 200 gr FTX and the Hawke 200 FP. I put together dummy cases with old brass and with the new brass and quickly determined that the new brass would not feed from the magazine into the chamber, but the old brass would, and the Quality brass would chamber just fine - just not from the magazine. I tPMed several members (Gunner 500 and 450Fuller) and they were very helpful with suggestions.
I started out with 36 grains of IMR 3031 in the Quality brass with both the Hawke (1779 fps) and the Hornady (1785 fps) bullet. Then I went to an old Remington brass with the FTX and the same powder charge and it gave 1865 fps. I did test an 80 year old Remington 200 gr SP and it clocked at 1883 fps. The Quality brass weighed 196 gr. and the Remington brass weighed 180 gr.
My Quality brass issues was solved by fireforming them. They had a noticeably different shoulder angle and location before firing but that was resolved by firing.
I introduced H4895 into the shooting mix and ended up choosing that powder. At the end of the process I stopped at 44 grains of H4895 with both bullets. The Hornady bullets averaged 2275 fps and the Hawke bullets average 2130 fps). The Hornady bullets impacted about 7" higher than the Hawkes. I could manage 4" groups at 100yds, but will probably limit my shot selection for game to 50 yd. Part of that is due to my cataracts that aren't bad enough to have fixed, but do distort the sight picture through the rear aperture.
Last edited by logger; 10/12/20.
