Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Anyone love the 458win mag

I have also done that. It's a good cartridge.

I used to shoot through 20" pine trees using the old 400gn Barnes X loaded to 2400fps.

I have taken my .458 to Africa with good results. The opinion that you can't get decent velocities without excessive powder compression is simply an old wife's tale. It's no trick to get 2200 fps with a 500 grain bullet and a 22" barrel. The Lott only gets 70 fps more at the same pressures.

As for versatility, you can load 350 grain Barnes bullets to 2700 fps with no pressure signs at all. That's like a 30-06 on steroids. According to the computer, it hits with 3000 foot pounds at 300 yards. I'd like to take an elk or a bear with that load.

Unfortunately, the 500 and 350 grain loads will not group to the same elevation at 100 yards unless you lower the 350 grain muzzle velocity to about 2350 fps, which means you don't want to take both on the same hunt.

Yep - 458 Winchester Mag for me, too! (w/ good iron sights):




I prefer the 450 grain bullets:



Got both shooting to the same POA at 50 yards. With that front hood and rear sight adjustments - ITS RIGHT ON.

Try some Barnes X ,45/70 bullets in your .458 and watch some bloody big holes take the wind out of everything you shoot. The pointy version for the .458 is very good too, and has a point blank range of 248 yards even with mid loads.

Cool thread.

Although the 458 was branded with a bad reputation due to a number of intentionally misleading articles written by high profile dilettante/writer/journalists, It retains a solid reputation in Africa and Alaska by those who actually give it a fair trial.

After one noted writer wrote a scathing piece about it, while glowing about the virtues of the old African rounds, I decided to do a comparison.
Using alternating stacks of wet and dry magazines I fired a 404 Jeffery with a 400 grain Swift bullet at over 2200fps into the stack and then a Hornady factory 458 with 500 gr Interlock bullets from my 20" bbl rifle.

As you can see from the photo of both recovered bullets resting by their respective holes. This is the last magazine (18 inches of penetration) where the 404 came to rest and the hole on the right shows the additional damage where the 458 continued on for another 6 inches. 25% more.

Phil,,I showed this picture to my wife and she ordered me to take my mountains of magazines outside and shoot them!

Maybe the fishing one's 1st though.

tell her they either make a lot of confetti in the yard if they are dry or else they turn into paper mache and become almost impossible to burn when wet.
Otherwise you can make some interesting test material with them.

I recently worked a little with my .458 #1, which I inherited from Dad. I had not shot it in many moons, so ordered up a NECG aperture rear sight, and a 3/32" red fiber optic front from them as well. The rolled some loads with 500gr Hornady soft points and fistfulls (well, okay 70 grains, actually) of Varget.

I guesstimated the height on the new front sight, and all the settings. At 50 yards offhand I put 4 into a six inch circle, no problem. I thanked my lucky stars, and stuck it back in the case

Kind of makes you think a lott or not.grin

My second "real" rifle was a 458 M70 pusher. I was boy at the time in Alaska and shot a ton of animals with it. I loved that rifle and shot my longest shot on a black bear that was 3/4 upright on a a fallen tree. I also crumpled a black bear that immediately charged me after messing up a shot and raking him through the guts. I really favor 500 grain bullets, which can be used on anything out to 200 or so yards. You would really only be limited by trajectory. Most 500 grain bullets have a very obtuse RN and make decent wounds at low velo. When you could get them to reload, I liked the old win 510 soft points.
I find the debate with the 458 win and 458 Lott funny. Both are great cartridges but also nearly identical not only ballisticlly but certainly categorically. People were ecstatic when the Lott came out but lately it has been suggested that it was never needed. As shooters we should never rationalize the existence of a cartridge, only our unreasonable purchases .

I think there would be a great many more 458 win rifles sold is there were more people with experience handloading the 458 win with the lighter bullet weights at moderate velocities.
I purchased a remington custom shop 458 win mag rifle for about 2/3rds of what the original; owner paid and got a box of factory winchester ammo with 500 grain bullets and an empty 20 cases, which I was assured was the full extent of its previous use as the original owner decided its recoil was FAR higher than he could tolerate!


loaded with a 360 grain cast bullet over 60 grains of RL7 its a totally different gun. and will still kill anything in north America that you hit correctly, and that 360 grain bullets most likely going at only about 2200fps

What's your favorite "lite kick" load?

300gn Barnes X bullets made for the .45/70 are terrific candidates if you like light loads.

Found this.....

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/nvJXWqqwIpc

My 458 probably gets used as much as most of my other rifles thanks to to the fact that I have a bunch of boolit moulds for the 45-70s.
Its an older BSA, wears a 3X Leupold in rings supplied by non other than our own 458 Win.. Thanks Phil !
So far it has accounted for a couple Moose, a nice Mulie Buck and a small boar Grizz.
The Grizzly Bear was taken with a 600 gr. Barnes Original @ 60 yds., dropping him instantly and fracturing my collar bone simultaneously.
It has that integral muzzle brake as made by BSA, but there are times when I just have to question its effectiveness.
All in all, its a fine little rifle to carry at 8 lbs. scoped.

Are you saying the recoil broke your colarbone?

No, The bear and I surprised each other and I didn't have the rifle shouldered properly.
He was moving pretty fast directly toward me and I really didn't want him to get much closer..

I have one built on a Custom '98 and it is amazing . I shoot Groundhogs and Whitetails with 350gr Hornady RN !