Winchester 1886 in .33 Win. chambering
Q: I read an article about an old bear and mountain lion hunter in America who ran a pack of hounds and used a Winchester 1886 chambered for the .33 Winchester, a cartridge I’ve never heard of before. Can you tell me what it is and the ballistics?
Ned Williams
A: The .33 Winchester was introduced in 1902 for the Winchester Model 1886 lever-action and discontinued along with the rifle in 1936. It was replaced by an updated version of the 1886, the Model 71. It was also chambered in the Marlin Model 95 lever-action and Winchester 1885 single-shot. The cartridge was dropped from production in 1940. The case was based on necked-down .45-70 brass. The cartridge was no powerhouse and the factory loading had a 200gn bullet at 2200fps with a muzzle energy of 2150fps. That famous old bear and lion hunter you mention was Ben Lily who left his wife to chase a hawk that was killing his chickens. He was gone for years, hunting grizzlies and mountain lions in Arizona and New Mexico. His excuse when he returned home was : “that durned hawk just kept on flying.” He turned up in the TV Miniseries Lonesome
Dove.
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