After running the 28 Nosler for two years as an ELR handgun and having some good luck with it I am switching this year to the 33 Nosler. I will be running the same platform with the 33 Nosler that I used with the 28 Nosler. ARS Chassis, Savage Precision Target Action and a 16 inch 1-8 twist McGowen Precision Barrel with a Terminator brake. I will also be using an Ivey Mount filled with my Nightforce 15-55 Competition Scope. All components should be here in a couple of weeks and hopefully I will be able to start load development by the end of June. I’m looking forward to this new challenge and hoping that it will be as successful as the 28 Nosler. Input from anyone using a short barreled 33 Nosler would be greatly appreciated I’m planning on using the 265 to 300grn bullets to start with and then switching to the 300grn RDFs as soon as they become available. I will provide updates as the project progresses, any thoughts or opinions are greatly appreciated.
33 Nosler ELR Handgun
- Thread starter 7Fingers
- Start date
After running the 28 Nosler for two years as an ELR handgun and having some good luck with it I am switching this year to the 33 Nosler. I will be running the same platform with the 33 Nosler that I used with the 28 Nosler. ARS Chassis, Savage Precision Target Action and a 16 inch 1-8 twist McGowen Precision Barrel with a Terminator brake. I will also be using an Ivey Mount filled with my Nightforce 15-55 Competition Scope. All components should be here in a couple of weeks and hopefully I will be able to start load development by the end of June. I’m looking forward to this new challenge and hoping that it will be as successful as the 28 Nosler. Input from anyone using a short barreled 33 Nosler would be greatly appreciated I’m planning on using the 265 to 300grn bullets to start with and then switching to the 300grn RDFs as soon as they become available. I will provide updates as the project progresses, any thoughts or opinions are greatly appreciated.
Ledd Slinger
Silver $$ Contributor
Its unusual that you opt for a very large magnum handgun with a normal rifle scope?... I would think an EER scope would make more sense otherwise what is the point of using a handgun that you cannot stretch out to arms length? I wouldnt want my face that close to a 33 Nosler without shoulder support on the weapon when it goes off.
I have a 338-375 Ruger which is pretty much identical in size and case capacity to the 33 Nosler.
Powders in the H4350 and RL-16 seem to work best for speed and accuracy using +/- 250gr bullets. I prefer RL-16 over H4350 due to better case fill. For 300 grain, you might want to use a little bit slower powder.
I will tell you right now that the muzzle report and recoil will be significantly more than any 7mm rounds you are accustomed to. Muzzle brake or not, she will bark! Keep your mouth closed when shooting or you might chip a tooth
I have a 338-375 Ruger which is pretty much identical in size and case capacity to the 33 Nosler.
Powders in the H4350 and RL-16 seem to work best for speed and accuracy using +/- 250gr bullets. I prefer RL-16 over H4350 due to better case fill. For 300 grain, you might want to use a little bit slower powder.
I will tell you right now that the muzzle report and recoil will be significantly more than any 7mm rounds you are accustomed to. Muzzle brake or not, she will bark! Keep your mouth closed when shooting or you might chip a tooth
old leghumper
Silver $$ Contributor
Its unusual that you opt for a very large magnum handgun with a normal rifle scope?... I would think an EER scope would make more sense otherwise what is the point of using a handgun that you cannot stretch out to arms length? I wouldnt want my face that close to a 33 Nosler without shoulder support on the weapon when it goes off.
Ask Randy how much the pistol weighs. Then you will understand.
I have a 338-375 Ruger which is pretty much identical in size and case capacity to the 33 Nosler.
Powders in the H4350 and RL-16 seem to work best for speed and accuracy using +/- 250gr bullets. I prefer RL-16 over H4350 due to better case fill. For 300 grain, you might want to use a little bit slower powder.
I will tell you right now that the muzzle report and recoil will be significantly more than any 7mm rounds you are accustomed to. Muzzle brake or not, she will bark! Keep your mouth closed when shooting or you might chip a tooth
old leghumper
Silver $$ Contributor
Ask Randy how much the pistol weighs. Then you will understand.
Its unusual that you opt for a very large magnum handgun with a normal rifle scope?... I would think an EER scope would make more sense otherwise what is the point of using a handgun that you cannot stretch out to arms length? I wouldnt want my face that close to a 33 Nosler without shoulder support on the weapon when it goes off.
I have a 338-375 Ruger which is pretty much identical in size and case capacity to the 33 Nosler.
Powders in the H4350 and RL-16 seem to work best for speed and accuracy using +/- 250gr bullets. I prefer RL-16 over H4350 due to better case fill. For 300 grain, you might want to use a little bit slower powder.
I will tell you right now that the muzzle report and recoil will be significantly more than any 7mm rounds you are accustomed to. Muzzle brake or not, she will bark! Keep your mouth closed when shooting or you might chip a tooth
LOL, I will be sure to keep my mouth shut! All of my handguns are shot in competition generally against rifles and from a bench or prone with a good bipod and rear bag or mono pod. I have never had an issue with recoil in any of the handguns I have shot using a good muzzle brake. When shooting pass 2000 yards the extra magnification afforded by rifle scopes is a huge plus. I have RL-16, H4350 and Retumbo on hand and was hoping one of those powders would do a great job. The other powder I’m considering is H1000, I need to work some loads up with the quick load program to get a better feel on where to start. Thanks for your input!
Ledd Slinger
Silver $$ Contributor
I see. Yeah there aren't any EER scopes out there that would work for 2K shooting. Looks like it will be an interesting build. H1000 will work, but probably better suited for the heavier bullets as it's quite a bit slower than RL-16. I also tried Retumbo which is slower yet, and it gave good speeds with compressed loads, but I never could find any sort of decent accuracy with that powder. Never have found acceptable accuracy with Retumbo in ANY rifle actually so I dont even consider it for testing anymore unless as a last resort.
There wasnt any data for the 338-375 Ruger whatsoever when I built it years ago. So I used 340 Weatherby load data as a starting point since it also has nearly identical case capacity. I'm sure 340 WBY data would work for the 33 Nosler as well. Best of luck. Sounds like fun
I've been shooting an 18" 338/375 Ruger SP for about 9 years now, but mine's not as pretty as yours. LOL
I've focused mostly on the 250gr bullets in mine and had excellent luck with H4350 and H100v. The H100v has always given higher velocities but H4350 shoots better. My standard load was 76.5gr of H4350 with a 250gr SMK at 2650 fps. The H100v load was 2740 fps but groups were closer to .5 MOA so I usually stick with the H4350.
My reamer was designed around the 250gr bullets with an OAL of 3.600" so that it would function through a standard long action rifle if I wanted it to, so I didn't play much with the 300s because they'd be jammed so far into the case. I just recently decided to extend the throat on my barrel since I'm at 1200 rounds and it's starting to show it's age, I didn't want to mess with it when it was still holding .3 MOA! Now I can shoot the 300gr OTM with an OAL of 3.950" so I'll see how that works. I think any powder in the H4831 to H1000 range will work well. I'm sure that some of the powders like Reloader 26 or N560 would work well too but they're not consistently available locally so I stay away from those. I based all my initial load data on starting charges for the 330 Dakota, 340 Weatherby and 338 RUM with good results. Those would be good starting points since there's not a lot of 33 Nosler data out there.
I've focused mostly on the 250gr bullets in mine and had excellent luck with H4350 and H100v. The H100v has always given higher velocities but H4350 shoots better. My standard load was 76.5gr of H4350 with a 250gr SMK at 2650 fps. The H100v load was 2740 fps but groups were closer to .5 MOA so I usually stick with the H4350.
My reamer was designed around the 250gr bullets with an OAL of 3.600" so that it would function through a standard long action rifle if I wanted it to, so I didn't play much with the 300s because they'd be jammed so far into the case. I just recently decided to extend the throat on my barrel since I'm at 1200 rounds and it's starting to show it's age, I didn't want to mess with it when it was still holding .3 MOA! Now I can shoot the 300gr OTM with an OAL of 3.950" so I'll see how that works. I think any powder in the H4831 to H1000 range will work well. I'm sure that some of the powders like Reloader 26 or N560 would work well too but they're not consistently available locally so I stay away from those. I based all my initial load data on starting charges for the 330 Dakota, 340 Weatherby and 338 RUM with good results. Those would be good starting points since there's not a lot of 33 Nosler data out there.
UPDATE!!!!
Ok this 16” barreled 33 Nosler has been a royal pain in the ass. I started with Lehigh Defense 245gn brass solids with RL-16 and the very first group looked promising but SDs were awful and velocity was lower than I wanted. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get this combo to run so I moved on to Berger 250s and still had no luck. My best velocities were still in the 2550 range with lousy SDs and poor groupings so we moved on again. I have an old friend that kept telling me that I should try RL-26 to which I replied that it was too slow for such a short barrel. He continued to insist that RL-26 would work well and since I was losing the battle with this cartridge anyway I decided to humor him and bought a pound and also picked up some Badlands 255gn copper solids. Immediately SDs stabilized in the 6-9 range, and velocity was stellar. I would have never thought I would be able to see these results with a slower powder and heavier bullet. Below is the final 5 shot group I fired with the 33 using Badlands 255gn solids, RL-26 with Federal match primers. This load with a velocity of 2710, an SD of 6 and the high BC of the 255s is 4MOA flatter at 3000 yards than my 338 LM rifle is running 300gn Berger’s at 2740fps. I have lost many battles with this cartridge but I think that I have finally won the war.
Ok this 16” barreled 33 Nosler has been a royal pain in the ass. I started with Lehigh Defense 245gn brass solids with RL-16 and the very first group looked promising but SDs were awful and velocity was lower than I wanted. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get this combo to run so I moved on to Berger 250s and still had no luck. My best velocities were still in the 2550 range with lousy SDs and poor groupings so we moved on again. I have an old friend that kept telling me that I should try RL-26 to which I replied that it was too slow for such a short barrel. He continued to insist that RL-26 would work well and since I was losing the battle with this cartridge anyway I decided to humor him and bought a pound and also picked up some Badlands 255gn copper solids. Immediately SDs stabilized in the 6-9 range, and velocity was stellar. I would have never thought I would be able to see these results with a slower powder and heavier bullet. Below is the final 5 shot group I fired with the 33 using Badlands 255gn solids, RL-26 with Federal match primers. This load with a velocity of 2710, an SD of 6 and the high BC of the 255s is 4MOA flatter at 3000 yards than my 338 LM rifle is running 300gn Berger’s at 2740fps. I have lost many battles with this cartridge but I think that I have finally won the war.
Ran the #'s in Quickload and at 56,000+ PSI both RL-16 and RL-26 will burn 99%+ of the powder from a 16" barrel.
Double base powders will burn up more completely compared to single base.
When comparing something like H-4831sc and RL-26 being used for the same load (say your load with the 16" barrel), at the same 56,000 PSI the former will get only 93 % powder burned while RL-26 will get 99% burned up.
Double base powders will burn up more completely compared to single base.
When comparing something like H-4831sc and RL-26 being used for the same load (say your load with the 16" barrel), at the same 56,000 PSI the former will get only 93 % powder burned while RL-26 will get 99% burned up.
Thanks for the info zero 333, every little bit helps.
I’m surprised you had so much trouble getting it to shoot, but it looks like it was worth it. What BC are you using with the Badlands bullets?
I might have to try RL-26 in the 338/375 Ruger specialty pistol.
I might have to try RL-26 in the 338/375 Ruger specialty pistol.
I believe it has a G7 of 435
What chassis are you running? Nice setup, btw. I have a new Savage short action I've been pondering about turning into a bolt pistol & want to start acquiring parts for the build. Thx Kevin
I wish i would have told you about R26 ! I use it in my 16" 7mag with 100 grain sierra hp. Great velocity and great accuracy.
So what is the weight of the pistol?Are you filling the side plates with shot ?Why I ask I have a ARS with a xp100 built in 6mm br and shoot it at at 1050 yard at a 12" x 14" plate and have no problem hitting it, with a nosler 70 gr at 3300fps with a 20x scope recoil is nothing ,So that being said I just built a 260 ai in a ARS with a 8x32 sightron ,I"m planing on shooting hornady 147 whit rl26 'both pistols have 18" barrels the 6br 1 13 twist and the 260 ai has a 1 8 and has a muzzle brake
Yes the chassis is weighted, I believe it weighs 23lbs.
So I went to the range and fired my 260 ai with a fat bastard brake and I was surprised that the recoil was not much more than the 6mm br the brake worked great, only shot it a 100 yard to zero the scope ,and the velocity with the 147 hornadys and rl26 was 2850 fps ,
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