Starline makes great brass for cartridges other companies won’t consider. While everyone else was playing catch-up they were exploring new product lines (and playing catch-up) Some of these product lines are still new to them so they may very well wait until they have substantial back orders before making a run. I think their minimum run is less than RP, WW and probably Hornady  so they can be more responsive. I hope someday Starline will make a run of 33 brass but I’m not holding my breath. They’ve been very good to us old gun lovers but apparently the perceived demand isn’t there yet.

Mike

mrcvs said
I just replied to the Contact Us part of the Starline webpage about manufacturing .33 Winchester brass.  Can the rest of you do that as well within the next 24 hours?  Let’s barrage them!

  

I emailed them a few mins. ago

mrcvs said

Bill Yadlosky said

IMHO; You would think that with roughly 118.500+ 1886’s in 33 wcf it would be a little easier to find brass & that Hornady would start making their 200-grain bullet again.  

  

It’s 18,500+, not 118,500+.  But still, with those and some chambered in .33 Winchester in the Marlin Model 1895, you would think that brass and bullets would be much easier to come by.  Email messages to Starline and Hornady are either ignored or are negative in nature.  I’m not sure what the problem is?

  

But let’s not forget the Marlin .33’s.  Here are two examples here:

Zebulon said
I’ll do the same in a few minutes.  It wouldn’t hurt to mention we are all WACA members and, likely, already customers of long standing, so they won’t be concerned they are being hacked or spoofed. My experience on the phone with Starline has been really good, so I think I’ll do that, maybe even ask them what quantity it takes to do a run. 

I just remembered something, though. Last night I walked past a stack of materials to store away and there were two bags of .44 WCF brass I’d ordered from Midway or Graf and they were in Starline’s pre-packaged clear polymer retail bags with bright logos.  Point-of-sale dress.  My bulk order for .358 WCF brass had come directly from Starline and was in a single unmarked bag . 

I wonder if our real competition for Starline’s production machine time and material isn’t the retail shooting supply business?

In other manufacturing businesses, whenever customer demand gets high enough, the supply chain tends to lengthen because retail stores are willing to place big orders of popular items for a small discount. They can mark up and resell in small quantities profitably for about what the manufacturer could sell the same quantities for directly to the individual customer. The manufacturer makes more profit on big orders, even after giving the discount, because of reduced handling costs and much higher sale volumes per period. I guess that’s Marketing 101 but i had to learn it by observation. 

I’m reminded that is what’s happened in the cases of Shiloh Sharps and Randall Knives. It’s a phenomenon that helps assure the manufacturer stays in business but it squeezes out small direct orders for low demand items.  

In our case, ganging up to show Starline they wouldn’t be left with an unsaleable inventory of .33 brass could be the best thing to do.  Of course, if what lights their fire is a 10 million case order we’re [adjective deleted]  but I don’t think it’s that bad. 

I’ll call them and report anything useful they tell me.   

I called them today and spoke with an individual I believe is named Matt.

I said I’d buy a thousand in .33 Winchester, hoping to get his attention, after explaining that there were over 18,500 Winchester 1886s in .33 Winchester manufactured plus some Marlin 1895s as well.  I said there’s an interest.

Matt was very pleasant, and he said never say never, but…

Just like going from .45-70 to .40-65 then to .38-56 and to .33 Winchester, they do about the same.  Each of that takes TIME, this time could be devoted to manufacturing something less time consuming.

Plus, .45-70 and .30-30, despite their popularity, are difficult to manufacture.

And, a lot of what they produce is based on a customer’s demand, what we buy is basically “left over” from larger customers who manufacture ammunition.  Sales of .45-70 rounds measure in the MILLIONS monthly, we really are small potatoes.  Very small ones.  I pointed out they manufacture on occasion .40-65 brass, and, surely, there’s much less demand for that than .33 Winchester, but he said that there’s occasionally demand for a large order of .40-65, especially overseas.

Matt said he has no idea where these MILLIONS of .45-70 rounds purchased per month are going, as you don’t see that many firearms fired these days that chamber .45-70, but the sales figures prove otherwise.

From what I can gather, if a major retailer had a need for a large volume of .33 Winchester cases, it then might be produced.

I’d put in an order but then I’d need another rifle. I’ve used worse excuses for buying a Winchester but I already have a couple of very entertaining projects cluttering up my loading bench and feeble mind. I remember when Starline would only manufacture straight wall cases so I won’t rule out the 33 WCF, maybe I need to keep an eye out for a nice clean one!

Mike

Bert H. said
Just to give you fellows a bit more perspective on the production statistics for the Model 1886 33 WCF rifles, the table below is the current breakdown of the Variation totals contained in the survey.

  

Bert – for your survey – bottom gun in this late 70’s photo – not a extra light weight – the caliber is 33 WCF – gun is engraved – has round barrel, full magazine, pistol grip and shotgun butt – serial number is 146077.

Bert H. said

Burt Humphrey said

Bert H. said

Just to give you fellows a bit more perspective on the production statistics for the Model 1886 33 WCF rifles, the table below is the current breakdown of the Variation totals contained in the survey.

  

Bert – for your survey – bottom gun in this late 70’s photo – not a extra light weight – the caliber is 33 WCF – gun is engraved – has round barrel, full magazine, pistol grip and shotgun butt – serial number is 146077.

  

Burt,

It appears to be a Take Down as well.  Do you know where the rifle is today?

Thanks,

Bert

  

I do not know where the gun is today. You could run the serial number and verify if it has a take-down frame. Last I knew a guy in Texas had it.

Zebulon said
Hey, Bill.  Understood and I agree, although I don’t have anything that would accept (to its detriment) anything that looks like a .33 WCF so I think it would be safe enough, in my case.  

I’m not sure about the extent of the demand, or perhaps better said, the confidence in the appearance of demand.  A year or so ago I placed a back order with Starline for some 41 Long Colt brass, knowing it was going to take awhile.  I got an email from them almost a year later asking if I wanted to keep the backorder in place or cancel it. I kept it in place.  Months went by and then I got a heads up in the form of a hit to my card, followed by a delivery of the 41 brass.  

That made me wonder whether Starline accumulates back orders for low-demand calibers until they accumulate enough to re-tool a line for it. Perhaps what we should be doing is placing firm backorders and leaving them in place. 

As you know, Starline are running constantly and have had difficulty catching up on even popular sporting calibers.  I don’t know whether it is a lack of material, lack of skilled labor, or – and I suspect this — bulk subcontracts from ammo makers who have military contracts and don’t have their own brass mills. 

I know there are other brass makers but I really like Starline for their consistent quality.

Because I don’t currently own a .33 WCF rifle and it likely will be a good while before I get one, it hadn’t occurred to me to put in an order. Maybe I should!

  

I just purchased some .41 Colt from Starline a few weeks ago. Neat old caliber.