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

My first buffalo was a water buffalo, a killer cow:



Bubalis bubalis mad cow that was killing sheep on a Western Kentucky farm. She had to be culled.
When farmer sold the dominant bull, the old cow went mad.
Farmer called me and I went out to the farm with a Mk V Deluxe .460 Wby and 500-gr RNSN at supposed 2700 fps, a factory load.
My gunbearer carried the featherweight Pre-'64 M70 .375 H&H that was required for the second shot with a 300-grain Swift A-Frame bullet at about 2500 fps.

A shot to middle of chest at 50 yards on the running cow just made her come to a standstill, stood there bleeding from the nose.
A shot to the neck with the .375 H&H dropped her.
The .375 H&H through neck exited.
The .460 Wby in the chest did not.
As my gunbearer and I hurriedly skinned the mad cow, we could not find anything of the 500-gr RNSN in the mess inside the mad cow's chest.
She did not kill anymore livestock at the farm.

I can now imagine how a properly loaded .458 Winchester Magnum might be a better buffalo rifle than a .460 Wby for several reasons.
It would also be perfect for plains game, like this blue wildebeest taken at 150 yards with the same .375 H&H.
The handloaded 300-gr Barnes X-Bullet at 2530 fps MV was a one-shot killer on my first African game, the poor man's buffalo:



A 400-gr to 450-gr TSX from a .458 WM would be perfect for that too.
Velocities of 2400 fps to 2600 fps would do fine out to 300 yards, whatever the BC.
If not for Lottite lies in my days of gullibility I could have used a .458 Winchester Magnum.