Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The great 458 Winchester. Everyone should own one at least once

CTF,

Tim Sundles is the proprietor of Buffalo Bore ammo, exclusive receiver of Barnes 400-gr TSX production lately.
He claims that his 18" Marquart-barreled custom M70 .458 WM is faster by a few feet per second than his factory-barreled 22" M70 .458 WM.
18" MV = 2250 fps
22" MV = 2247 fps
Both rifles get his 400-grainer loads up to around 2250 fps.
2250 fps is the advertised velocity with the ammo he sells for 6 dollars per pop, $120 per box of 20, barrel length not actually specified on box.
We usually assume advertised velocities for the .458 WM nowadays are for 24" barrels.
Surely Buffalo Bore easily does that.

(That was before the current DALD-induced ammo-buying frenzy, Buffalo Bore's website is currently closed so they can catch up on the backlog of orders.
I will correct any specifics later if I get any of this wrong, off the top of my head.)

Mr. Sundles claims his faster and shorter barrel does it by somehow being smoother finished and slicker inside.
I suspect other things too, like tighter bore/groove and/or shorter-than-SAAMI throat in the custom rifle, either of which would jack up the pressures,
and limit the maximum MV obtainable within 60,000 psi MAP.
Maybe that is why he claims no more than 2250 fps for his ammo ? Higher velocity might blow a gasket in his 18" custom rifle.
Maybe he has an unusually slow factory 22" rifle ?
The standard SAAMI .458 WM is capable of 2400 fps with a 400-grainer from a 24" barrel.
By going down to 18" barrel and handloading any 400-grainer you like in your SAAMI .458 WM, 2250 fps is realistic.
From 24" to 20" shortening you will lose about 20 fps per inch, and greater loss per inch below 20" barrel length.
You gain only about 10 fps per inch of barrel above 24" length.
Personally, I like a .458WM barrel of 23" to 25", or 24" average.
23" velocity gets a +15 fps correction.
25" velocity gets a -15 fps correction.
24" is a better number nowadays for universal comparison of velocities amongst Crusaders.
(I am making up rules of THUMB as HAND of the King.)
The King of this realm is TRUTH about the .458 WM.

CTF,
Remember you can shoot .458 WM+ ammo at 3.395" COL in your Ruger .458 WM M77 Mark II, like Alderella. Add 100 fps to SAAMI-velocity ammo.
.458 WM+ ammo in the Spruce King might be capable of 2350 to 2400 fps.
What is the fastest you have done ? 19" barrel ?

If you persist in this short-barrel stuff, you will earn the title of Sir Shorty, Crusader Knight of the realm.
Not a bad thing, 400-grainer at 2250 to 2300 fps.
With the old X-bullet at that velocity,
Aagaard and Shoemaker said that was a better penetrator and big game killer than any other bullet they knew of,
and they knew of many.
Read the .458 Winchester introduction, page 715, in BARNES RELOADING MANUAL NUMBER 3, dated 2001, by honest Phil Shoemaker,
who prefers a 21" barrel on his .458 WM Mauser.



(Phil's standard handload with the old Hornady RNSP in 21" barreled .458 WM was 70 grains of IMR-3031 for 2040 fps,
don't know if that was corrected to MV, might have been over 2050 fps MV for 21" barrel, not a maximal load,
even by SAAMI rules.)

That must have been written in the 2000-2001 period before the Commercial Cabal started up the propaganda program
of .458 Winchester Magnum Denial, in preparation for the .458 Lott hitting the gunshops in 2002.
Big bore sales were stagnant since so many .458 WM owners knew they needed nothing more.
Time for some brainwashing !

There are so many parallels of the past with the current day Cold War of truth versus lies.
Heard today that the DALDs want to have a new government "Reality Czar" like the "Ministry of Truth" in George Orwell's 1984.
Only government-approved lies will be allowed to be called "truth."
That is like saying the .458 Lott is a better cartridge than the .458 Winchester Magnum.