Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only My new Winchester .458

Hi guys,

Here is my latest (and last) rifle purchase... and it's a ripper!
It's a Winchester M70 'Safari Express' in .458WM and even though I bought it secondhand it's in great condition.
Even though I bought it secondhand, I have followed this particular rifle's history quite closely on a couple of shooting forums. When first bought, this particular rifle was... well... a lemon! It was advertised as in excellent condition and the first owner eagerly snapped it up. However all was not what it seemed! The bedding job that was done on the rifle was done completely wrong and after 7 shots the stock cracked behind the tang. Also the rifle wouldn't feed the second round from the magazine which essentially meant it was a single shot. And finally, the barrel band that held the sling swivel was loose and slid freely up and down the barrel.
The owner contemplated what to do and considered returning the rifle, however the gunshop came to the party and offered to help get the rifle fixed so off to the gunsmith it went.
When it came back the bedding was done correctly and the chips behind the tang were repaired. It fed all rounds flawlessly and the barrel band was repaired. The owner was so happy with the end result he went to the N.T. with it and shot some buffalo!
Eventually he sold it to it's new owner and that's who I bought it off.
I got it for a very reasonable price - especially considering all the gunsmithing that went into it and it really is a very nice rifle.
The first thing I did was fit the Talley bases to the rifle and fit some steel Talley rings to them. My tried and tested Pentax 2.5x scope was fitted to the rings and the whole package came up nice.
Now, what to feed it?
I had some reloads left over from my last .458 which was built on a magnum length action. The projectiles on these reloads were seated out long to suit the action and thus they were to long to fit in the Winchester's magazine. So what I did was slowly seat the projectiles in deeper until they just fitted in the magazine. These loads consist of the 500gn Woodleigh PP and a hot load of 77.5gn of AR2206H which proved mild in the last rifle, but with the bullets seated deeper I was worried that they may prove too hot for the Winchester..?

So today saw me doing a session over the chronograph, where I chrono'd 3 loads;

Reload. 300gn HP over a mild load of 2207 = 2661fps
Winchester factory load. 510gn SP = 1980fps
Reload. 500gn Woodleigh PP 77.5gr 2206H = 2220fps

That last load did prove to be safe in my rifle, with the cases falling out of the chamber and the primer and miked case were fine. Despite that, I'm only after 2150fps so I think a little tweaking may be in order. I'm going to drop it back a grain which will prove easier on the case, rifle and the shooter!

Speaking of the shooter the chrono session was punishing. The rifle isn't particularly heavy for a .458 - and indeed, of the 3 .458's I've owned, this is the lightest. I fired off 14 rounds of the 500gn reloads off the bench and the recoil was brutal. I even copped a scope to the head but luckily I was wearing safety glasses and judging by the chunk that was taken out of them I'm glad I was...
By using a ballistic calculator I worked out that recoil is around 72ft/lbs which is getting up there in anyone's language..
So there you have it, my new rifle.
This is my third .458 and I think it may be my favourite so far.
It's just such a complete rifle and there's nothing that I would change.
As far as I'm concerned it's the perfect rifle..

500gn Woodleigh PP


Winchester Factory load 510gn SP


Sierra 300gn HP

That's a pretty .458 mag.

If it were me,I'd use the 500 gr Woodleigh as is.

Yeah, I'm actually thinking I might.. that's good velocity for a 500gn..

Yes,it is.

Melvin,
Try some Woodleigh 550 grainers.
They thump.
John

Get a standing bench. Only way to go with a big thumper.

DF

That's a great looking rig! Good purchase... hope it's not really your last.

That's what Dirty Harry used!

Thanks for the compliments guys, I'm very happy with it.
I did a little bit more testing of the 500gn reloads today. As it was very hot today I went to my range and sat the rifle in the rifle-rest and left it in the sun to get hot. I also sat a reload on the dashboard of the car and left it there until it was almost too hot to touch. I then fired the hot reload in the hot rifle to see if there was any pressure spike... and there was. Upon opening the bolt there was sticky extraction so I'll be backing this load off a grain and a half. The above might seem a bit extreme but as this rifle will be used for sambar in the Victorian alps, as well as being used in the N.T and hopefully Africa, I want the rifle to be totally dependable in any temperature.
I'm getting over 2200fps now - but I was ever only after 2150fps so I reckon backing off a grain and a half will hopefully get me spot on!

If you can't get one, a chair sideways on top of a solid sitting bench will do the trick. It's what I use to bench anything 404J - modern loads 400 gn bullets @ 2400 FPS - and above.