Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Thin Skinned Game Loads for .458 Win Mag?

I am looking for any favorite loads that you may have that would give my rifle some practicality in New England. I built this rifle because I could and would really like to be able to use it as more than a conversation piece.
<br>Any good loads that would work on Black Bear, Moose, even deer loads would be appreciated. Thanks, Sean

Look in the Rifles forum under the "350 grn RN" thread. Partsman & others were very helpful in supplying some load data for me. badger.

Sir
<br>You may give some thought to making a lead bullet for your rifle. A 458 works well with cast or swaged bullets. Opens a lot of doors as you can "roll your own" from 250 grains to "just how big of a man are ye". Not only that, swaged bullets are basically match grade if done properly. You may want to read John Haviland's work as he is always shooting something with cast bullets. I sent him a 223 I built out of here yesterday for some testing with cast. Will be interesting to see the results.
<br>Small groups
<br>Charlie Sisk

Use the 350 gr bullets. I shot a box each of the 350 speers and 350 Hornady rn through my lott, loaded to win mag speeds, 2400 and 2525 respectively. The recoil is drastically reduced over 500 gr loads, on par with a 375 H&H. I know a few folks who used the 350's on moose, and they say the performance is outstanding. I think Win really messed up by not loading the 458 win mag for NA.

Mr. Sisk,
<br>Thanks for your reply. I have some cast 300 gr .458's that I have been using in my Guide Gun and have thought about trying some of those, though I don't know how well those particular bullets will handle the speed. May have to get around and try some from BearTooth or similar.
<br>
<br>.458 Lott, which bullet would you think would be best? I know that the Hornady is an Interlock design which should prove useful. Any thoughts? Thanks again all. Sean

Hornady interlocks will work fine. Give them a try.
<br>Charlie Sisk

My favorite load is the Speer 350 gr. FP with 82.0 gr. of AA2230. The velocity (book) should be ~2500 fps. In my 1917, converted, it is a tack driver. I need to chronograph the load but we got dumped on with snow last week, 28.5" in 24 hours, so I'll wait until it thaws a bit. I've used that load for several years but never remembered to check the velocity because it was just too much fun, while shooting, to be practical. Now that I carry my chronograph in my range bag I might remember. The moose I shot with that load didn't go very far so even if it doesn't make 2500 fps, it is still a good load. Recoil isn't too bad, either.
<br>batch

Batch,
<br>Thanks I'll, give those a try as well. Just curious how long is the barrel on your rifle? I had mine cut to 23". Sean