33 wcf bullets|Winchester Hunting, Shooting & Reloading|Forum|Winchester Collector

I have dies and 3031 on the way. Sure looks like a nice modern bullet to smack a whitetail with. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work if it can be seated deep enough. 

tim tomlinson said
Hey, GI!  This topic has been discussed off and on over the last few years, but its good to try again.  I use the 200 gr flex tip bullet in my .33 shooting metallic silhouettes.  Now, this is where it gets into the weeds.  Mine is a take down, and I need to unscrew the magazine tube one turn to buy just that tad more space for the FTX to “turn the corner” and feed flawlessly.  If I DON’T unscrew by one turn, the nose hangs up.  Solutions MIGHT be to seat the bullet beyond the cannelure, but that is where you normally would crimp, plus seating deeper intrudes on powder space and increases pressures.  It may also be that your rifle would be OK if unable to unscrew the tube (take down type) by the one turn.  I find the pointed profile allows better impact at 200 and 300 yards so likely retained velocity helps.  Another alternative is to single load, which is what I do at our silhouette shoots anyway.  I will not repeat my load but I use Remington 9 and 1/2 primers, IMR 3031, and now the FTX 200 gr bullet.  USED to use the 200 gr flat point Hornady until it was discontinued permanently.   Good luck with your rifle and the .33 Win caliber!  Tim
  

It sounds like you’ve done most of the heavy lifting on this question already Tim. Luckily my rifle is a Takedown, so the magazine tube trick may work out for me. I don’t have a strong reason to use the FTX if it isnt a viable option, but the thought of a modern hornady SST being available for the gun seems like it would be a positive for the accessibility of the cartridge. 

Do you by chance know approximately how far off the cannelure is when the bullet is seated at a depth that feeds without backing out the magazine tube?

Sounds like I am going down a road many have gone down before.

tim tomlinson said
Afraid I can’t answer your question on that account as I’ve not loaded any by seating deeper.  I have “eyeballed” the difference in the past, and would guess about 15 to 20 hundredths of an inch, but its been a long time and I wasn’t trying to be precise.  Tim
  

Sounds like it is a ways off then. Was wondering about trimming back the case a little bit to shorten things up, but I think that much would be more than what i’d want to try. Knowing that I’ll probably be able to make something work by turning mag tube out, that gives me enough confidence to buy some bullets. 

I’ll report back if I’m able to come up with something that crimps and feeds. 

Chuck said
“Sounds like it is a ways off then. Was wondering about trimming back the case a little bit to shorten things up, but I think that much would be more than what i’d want to try. Knowing that I’ll probably be able to make something work by turning mag tube out, that gives me enough confidence to buy some bullets.
I’ll report back if I’m able to come up with something that crimps and feeds.”
Garrett,  Do not trim the case.  The rim of the case is what sets the head space and how far the round will go into the chamber.  Making the case shorter will not help just by it’s self.  It will allow you to seat the bullet where you think you need it but now you have reduced the case volume and increased the pressure.
Just for a test take a loaded round and measure the over all length.  Then push the bullet into the case a bit at a time until you can load it.  Let us know how much you had to move it in .001″.  Here’s some of my thoughts.  If you have enough neck tension you do not need to crimp.  Modern dies allow you to set whatever neck tension you need.  Also, even if you do crimp, you can do it where ever you wish. Believe me the bullet is soft enough to allow a crimp wherever.  Yes, less case volume will raise the pressure.  So use less powder if you have to.  If you’re going to load buy a chronograph. 
  

For the most part my plan is as you say. Seat a bullet in a dummy case and bump it back until it seems to feed reliably. If that length puts the cannelure wildly off where it needs to be, then it would be a matter of crimping it right where things sit, relying on neck tension without crimp, or turning my mag tube out so that it clears at a longer cartridge length. 

If cannelure really is something like 15 hundreths off, trimming back to get it in a spot that it can be crimped on is totally out of the question. If it was a matter of a few thou, using a trim to length .040 shy of max instead of .010 wouldn’t scare me much and would be tempting to try. No intentions of doing anything sketchy.

FWIW, I own one of the little garmin chronographs, and am not a stranger to reloading nor knowing the signs of pressure. No intentions of blowing myself or my rifle up anytime soon.