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

Right now, the 450-gr TSX is the killingest soft we have for the .458 WM, no doubt.
We'll get back to the 400-grainers later.

Mike Brady stopped at 450 grains and 2300 fps with his testing of the 450-gr North Fork soft in the SAAMI .458 WM,
for more reasons than just benchrest recoil.
He thought .305 SD was enough for anything, and the .306 SD of the .458/ 450-gr was close enough for Goldielocks AND all three bears.
0.305 is the SD of a .375/ 300-gr bullet.
North Forks having solid copper bases with drive bands and bonded lead nose cores are a bit longer than the usual cup&core bullets of same weight and caliber.
Likewise the 450-gr TSX monometal copper is long enough.
The 500-gr TSX won't be as stable after impact and eats up too much case capacity for powder.

Three bullets in the sweet spot for North Fork softs are
Papa Bear: .458/ 450-gr SD = .306
Mama Bear: .423/ 380-gr SD = .303
Baby Bear: .416/370-gr SD = .305

Mike Brady tested the Woodleigh WeldCore soft in .423/ 400-gr variety against the North Fork .423/ 380-grainer.
The Woodleigh soft's penetration decreased as velocity increased.
The North Fork soft's penetration increased as velocity increased.







Obviously, the .458/ 450-gr TSX that has controlled expansion which stops at the solid base portion
will penetrate more like a North Fork than a Woodleigh.
That is like comparing porridge to pancakes for breakfast.