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

Good .458 WM lowball loads from fortunecookie45LC,
this time for comparison to a Bubba's highball load,
as previously mentioned, now some further observations.
All are </= 3.340" COL:





The factory rifle used for the above probably has a 0.459" groove diameter and standard 1:14" twist.
Regardless of any accuracy node due to barrel vibration,
regardless of alloy hardness or type of lube or coating,
a .459" diameter and 500-grain bullet would be expected to do better
than a .458" diameter 340-grainer.

IMHO, any .459"-diameter 400-ish grainer makes a nice plinker in a SAAMI .458 WM as long as velocity stays below 1400 fps.
That can be done with 26.0 to 30.0 grains of AA-5744 and the store-bought Berry's of Utah 405-gr/.459", blue-lubed, hardcast, plain-based, FN.
Actual weight of that bullet average 409 grains in the batch I bought. I reckon they are the commercial "hardball" alloy.

409-gr/.459" at 3.080" COL, 24" barrel:
26.0 gr AA-5744 (no filler) >>> 1182 fps, 5-shot Sd = 10 fps, 1.2-MOA 3-shot
30.0 gr AA-5744 (no filler) >>> 1376 fps, 5-shot Sd = 3 fps, 1.4-MOA 3-shot
At 1578 fps the same bullet was keyholing.

For high velocity cast bullet loads in the .458 WM: Hardcast, gas check, PC paint, and 0.461" sized.
Those can be sub-1.0-MOA accurate at 2200 fps from 400-ish-grainer to 540-ish-grainer.
Use COL in the 3.0" to 3.6" range, tuned to bullet length and shape.