New From Nosler: The 33 Nosler Cartridge

1. Sounds like pretty much the same as a .338 LM. What’s the point?

   • The difference is it works with a standard length action, so the rifles should be a bit less expensive.

     • AH! Seems like that could have been included! Thank you.

       • The 33 Nosler® is capable of propelling a 225gr AccuBond® at 3025 fps and the brand new 265gr AccuBond® Long Range at 2775 fps. That’s 275 fps faster and 20% more energy than the 338 Winchester Magnum using the same length action and 25fps faster than the 338 Lapua Magnum at the muzzle while burning 18% less powder.

         It is implied, but you’re right in that it should have been emphasized to their advantage.

     • And it uses 18% less powder which with how much powder the .338 Lapua Mag uses sounds pretty significant.

2. History repeats itself.
   Another “new” cartridge promising never-before-seen performance…
   And upon closer examination it will prove to be no better than three other cartridges developed three or more decades ago…

   • Three decades?

     Try 100+ years. There was a .333 Jeffery introduced in 1908, which was also based on a necked-down .404 Jeffery case.

     Interesting tidbit: If you read “Sniping in France 1914-18,” by Maj. Hestketh-Prichard, he described using the .333 Jeffery, which allowed an effective “magnum’ rifle to be built on a standard-length Mauser 98 action, to take out snipers and machine gunners hiding behind their plates of steel that would repel .303 Enfield rounds. The .333 Jeffery would zip right through the steel plates of the Germans, with nearly absolute impunity.

     So we have come full circle. Now we have a round that not only gets you most of the way to a .338 Lapua, but we have a round imitating the exact cartridge used as the .338 Lapua is now used: anti-personnel and light anti-material sniping, and created for exact same reason: fitting this sort of power into a standard-length action.

     One day, y’all will start to believe me that so many of these new cartridges are just marketing. The problem they’re supposedly solving has already been solved quite well before. In this case, it’s just so much more absurdly blatant marketing re-spin of a previously existing cartridge than usual for the firearms industry.

     • That’s exactly the point: listen carefully everyone-
       We have long past reached the pinnacle of what integral metallic cartridges and projectiles are capable of doing insofar as small arms are concerned. The last really unique cartridge development to hit the market that made us all say “hey, why didn’t we think of this before?” was the .17 HMR. Anything else that comes along from
       here on out is just a solution in search of a problem.
       So what is the next step? Different materials, of course. We’re already dabbling with polymer cases and composite projectiles, once those are adopted by the mainstream the next idea will be to revive the caseless cartridge idea.
       Thoughts?

       • I agree that the .17 HMR was a revolutionary cartridge. It is fast enough to cause the V-Max 17 grain pill to be absurdly deadly, and the 17gr pill blew up so easily it removed lots of ricochet dangers.

         On ground squirrels, prairie dogs – the .17 HMR is a huge improvement over any other rimfire round in .22LR or .22WMR.

     • Dude, seriously write a book. If it’s formatted to the 9-second attention span of millennials, with tid bits like this (and the dozens of other posts you’ve wrote), I’ll buy 2 copies.

       • Writing small comments on a blog is easy.

         Writing larger postings well is damn hard work.

         Organizing a the huge volume of information to be presented … and then writing well within that organization… I get weary just thinking about it.

     • Everything old is new again.

       Said this about a gazillion wonder widgets over the last 40 years.

       Snore…

   • You seem like so many “ballistic guru’s on line. Read and absorb the details. This new cartridge addresses all the shortcomings of the other .33 cal cartridges, and IS what the others should have been.

3. Because we were sorely needing that 25fps…

4. If you really want a big .338 buy an ultra mag or a .338-378. Anybody wanna bet that this one flops hard?

   • The “-378’s” are almost all superb barrel burners.

     The downside of the .378 as a parent cartridge is how few sources of their special radiused-shoulder brass there are.

     • Which is valid if you’re planning to shoot it every weekend, but i use mine exclusively for elk hunting and it takes a long time to burn up a barrel 1-2 rounds at a time, the brass issue is problematic but I figure the 100 cases I have should last me pretty near the rest of my life

5. When the SJWs succeed in the elimination of big game hunting in Africa, this cartridge will become, at most, a niche cartridge for the long range rifle crowd. No hunter of North American game has any need for a cartridge like this, and no reason to invest in new barrels and ammunition just to buy it when there are plenty of less expensive alternatives.

   • I’m sure you’re correct, you’re describing something I have very little knowledge of, I don’t hunt. However, if it were 40 years ago, I would be trying to find some rifle to punch holes accurately a hundred yards farther out! Because it is fun!

6. The world has been waiting for another obscure cartridge so that G&A will have something to write about.

   • G&A is still a thing?

     • Still killing trees?

7. So… it’s just like the .338 RUM? Or the .338 Edge?

   • The 33Nosler, as with the other new Noslers(26,28,30,etc)is basically a shortened version of the Remington Ultra Mag. The 338 RUM has about a 1.5% advantage over the Lapua. The 33 Nosler is not even close to either. Given equal barrel lengths, loaded to the same pressures the 33 Nosler will not match either the RUM or Lapua, much less exceed them. Expect the nosler to be about 100fps slower all factors being equal. Still a good cartridge that exceeds the 338 Win Mag and will fit some long actions the RUM will not. The 33Nosler will not live up to Noslers marketing hype(aint gonna match or beat a Lapua). Factory rifles other than Nosler are another consideration.

8. Quoth Clarkson: Wooooooow

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDZQ_5Y8aIQ

   Another cartridge I will never, ever, ever shoot! I’m still working on getting a 7.62×39 rifle, before I even graduate to “full power” rifle cartridges!

   • I’ve got my eye on this one at my LGS!
     Beretta Tikka stainless fluted 30-06
     http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/images/beretta/2015/JRTA7.jpg

9. It does something very similar (and desirable) to other cartridges already out there. Is it slightly better? It may very well be. Do I need it? No. Will I still probably buy it? Yeah…yeah I probably will.

10. It won’t kill anything deader than my .338 WM will. Think I’ll save my money for a tack driver in 6.5 Creedmoor.

    • I am kinda hoping that the expiration of WSSM patent will give us more .243 WSSM AR options.

11. It makes more sense to just load a .338 Win Mag a little hotter or go with more power in the .338 Lapua. Sure, the .338 burns a lot of powder, but it’s not exactly a plinking round in any configuration Everyone outside the military or specialized competition will drop down to the .308 or 5.56 class for high volume shooting.

    I bought my .338 as a long range Buffalo hunting rifle, and it’s been punching holes in paper, steel, and water jugs ever since. Someday I may use it for the alleged purpose I bought it for, but it doesn’t really matter as long as I’m having fun and enjoy owning it.

    It also bugs me when marketers tell me bad ballistics. For instance, this new .338 Whizbang isn’t more powerful than the
    .338 Lapua with 225 or 300 grain bullets. The .338 LM can push 300 grain bullets over 2800 FPS.

    • The real benefit of the ..338 LM is its ability to launch a 300 grain super-high Bc pill at 2800+ fps.

      To accomplish this, you’re burning a somewhat amusing amount of powder – which requires a wholly unamusing barrel length of probably 28″, perhaps with a brake or can on the end.

      The whole history of the .338 LM is actually quite embarrassing for the American military and arms industry. How it came to be that the Marines wanted a longer-range sniper rifle, and the American gun industry could not deliver on such a simple task, should be a source of national embarrassment.

12. You’ll find more room for innovation at the lower end. The .17 caliber being one example. New rim fire rounds that have a purpose and excel.

13. 33 nosler with 300 grain pill at 2550 is not faster than the 338 lapua.
    You purchase nosler own ammo in 338 lapua with 300 grain pill at 2650
    Buy Carbon ammo 338 lapua or Black Hills or Double tap which all push 300 grain pill 2800 FPS. Should fun to see how it does. Interesting they are using COAL of 3.340 with 300 grain pill

    • I want to Chrono the Double Tap loads. I want to say that they top out at 2850 or 2860 with 300 grain Nosler Accubonds. I think that’s from a 26″ or 27″ barrel. Of course what’s on the box and what the chrono screens indicate are different animals.

      I’ve seen recipes with 102-104 grains of Retumbo under 300 Berger hybrids that allegedly don’t have pressure signs. That’s a pretty heroic powder charge.

      I can’t reload .338 LM because I’m still looking for the mythical shell plate #11 for my Hornady LNL progressive press. I’ll eventually get a single stage for .308, .300 WM, and .338 LM match ammo.

      • “heroic powder charge”

        You, sir, have a gift of being able to coin a phrase. I’m going to remember that.

14. Yes you are right double tap does push it over 2800 fps. I have chrono out of a sako trg42, 27 inch barrel between 2835 to 2869 at 5350 feet altitude. That is a big difference from the 33 nosler with their 300 grain HPBT at 2550

15. I think noslers best caliber so far is the 28 nosler . I have a CA carbon fiber barrel and shoot the 195 Berger at 3100fps with a coal of 3.540. Shots .79 at 300 yards. I a very pleased.

16. Completely false statement. NO WAY the 33 Nosler beats the 338 win mag by 275 fps. I’m running 225s from my 26″ barreled 338 WM at 2925. The 33 Nosler at 3025 with the same bullet isn’t 275 fps with my math. My 338 Lapua magnum runs the 265s at 2900 fps. Again. Your math is wrong. Let’s face it it, let’s print it as it is. The 33 Nosler fits between the 338 WM and 338 LM. Period.

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