The Original .338 Winchester

Loads for an 1886 .33 WCF.

- John Barsness

What might be termed the Early Experimental Era of smokeless rifle cartridges lasted from 1886 until World War I. As with any developing technology, the evolution of rifles and cartridges traveled in a bunch of directions. Some became standards widely used today, while others died out, including 1902’s .33 Winchester Center Fire, the only smokeless cartridge chambered in the 1886 Winchester lever action.

The 1886 was originally designed around the .45-70 Springfield and similar black-powder cartridges, and the .33 case was essentially a necked-down and tapered .45-70. According to Daniel Shuey’s W.R.A. Co., Headstamped Cartridges and Their Variations, in 1891 Winchester experimented briefly with a smokeless round designed for the 1886 called the .31-62 WCF, naturally based on the .45-70 case. Like the .33, the .31-62 used a 200-grain bullet but, apparently, resulted in pressures the 1886 couldn’t handle. Increasing bullet diameter no doubt reduced pressure, but the .33 WCF didn’t appear until 1902 when steel and powders had improved as well.

Why choose .33 caliber? No previous American cartridge used .33 bullets. None of the several British .33s appeared until almost a decade later, and most used bullets .330 or .333 inch in diameter; only 1923’s .33 Belted Rimless Nitro-Express used the same .338 bullet as the .33 WCF.

Winchester probably chose .33 to avoid both .32 and .35, at the time the established American caliber steps above .30. Another .32 might have been confused with 1901’s .32 Winchester Special, and the .35 WCF would soon appear in the Model 1895 lever action. So Winchester developed a new bullet diameter – something the company did occasionally, including .277 in 1925 and .348 in 1936.