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

Sir Jerry,

Hopefully nobody dying around there with power failures and cold like in Texas, pradoxical in many ways as that may be.
Good work watering the herds. Folks gotta eat eventually.

Weathered in here too, with 6 to 12 inches of snow hereabouts and temperatures in the single digits F.
This allows a time of preparation for future (and always) work on 3 fronts.
THE MISSION: Any and all information related to the .458 WM history and handloading technology.
THE CRUSADE: Full power .458 WM and .458 WM+ handload proving in the hunting fields.
THE QUEST: To Bagwell and to Selous with the .458 Winchester Magnum.

Selous was a forward looking chap who survived the muzzle-loading, huge, ball-tossing bore rifles,
gushed over the BPCR and PP .461 Gibbs No. 1 and No. 2 for their comfort and efficiency with light express bullets and the heavies,
and he even worked his way through .450 NE ballistics, the 425 WR, and even 6.5mm.
That malformed 425 WR was the first "short magnum" ancestor of the .458 WM.
It was able to accomplish what it did largely through long-leade throating, probably an influence on Winchester's engineering of the .458 WM.
Selousing with a 400-grainer at about 2150 fps is quite fitting, with a smokeless "'Light Nitro" .458 WM, scopes permitted too, with Little Blue Bullet.











That charge of AA-2495 (72.0 grains) is about 101% LR/net fill, and perfect with no drop tube needed.
It is a bulky and slow powder with very low pressure and very complete burning at low pressure.
A "benchrest" sort of powder great for cast bullet loads or moderate velocity jacketed loads with no filler.