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

It is long past time for James Watts to be Knighted and Canonized.
Not cannonized by shooting his ashes out of a howitzer, but recognized as a Saint,
Saint Sir James Watts of the Knights of the .458 Winchester Magnum Brotherhood.
His .450 Watts Short was released to Winchester after years of their dawdling post WW2.
That became the SAAMI .458 Winchester Magnum in 1956.
To add insult to injury, Jack Lott's first ".458 Lott" in 1971 was merely a .450 Watts Magnum of 2.850" brass length
reamed by hand into a SAAMI .458 Winchester Magnum chamber with no barrel setback.

It is long past time for Saint Sir James Watts to have the last laugh:
The .450 Watts Magnum Number 2, aka the ".450 WM2."
It is a .458/.375 H&H with 2.810" chamber length (max brass 2.790", trim to 2.785" to be precise)
and with COL 3.800", so you only have to trim it shorter if you want it to fit in a shorter box with a long bullet.
Crowding in a 3.600" COL happens routinely with the SAAMI .458 Lott.
Not so with the .450 Watts Magnum No. 2.
In fact, any SAAMI .458 Lott can be converted into a .450 WM2 by running a SAAMI .458 WinMag reamer into it, up to the belt.
In fact, the .450 WM2 is just as powerful as the SAAMI .458 Winchester Magnum loaded long-COL,
and more powerful than the SAAMI .458 Lott,
when all are loaded to the same pressure.