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

Sir Jerry's words about his reunion with the SAAMI .458 WinMag,
sounds like he had more fun than happens at any 50th Anniversary High School Class Reunion:



All true Sir Ron and lead me to do exactly what i just finished this morning, i went to ""The Alter of the SAAMI spec'd 458 WM"" to see just how much i could do at 3.340" and 500grs of Partition bullet fueled by AA-2460 powder, pics on the way, it was/is indeed eye opening LOL, so all the saami spec'd 458 men out there, be not dismayed, if you have a drop tube, some Accurate 2460 powder and 500grs of copper and lead you too can drive 2298 fps if you see the need.



IIRC Hodgdons site calls the 74gr charge of Accurate 2460 under 500 grainers at 53,000 psi, not 55, not 58, not 60, not 65K like the little 308 and 270 Winchester, and not a primer pocket swelling 75K, a lowly 53K, the 458 WM is truly a remarkable chambering, i have no pressure testing eq, but do remember the primers from the 450gr TSX and 500gr TBSS looked great at 2418 fps and 2350 fps respectively and the pockets are still tight, those loads happily eat 83gr 2460 with col's in the 3.560-3.580 inch neighborhood.



I would have never thought of even trying for near 2300 fps with any 500gr bullet in my old FN saami length Browning, i had already loaded a literal chit-ton of 500gr partitions at 2166 with H-335 long before hearing about 2460 powder or having the pleasure of meeting Sir Ron, but as you'll see on the target box, those old loads are accurate hammers, the 50 yard bullseye was hit with a 500gr TBSS at 2200 fps with 2460 powder and the factory barrel sights, i gave it a bit more speed to run with the 500gr pointer partitions to land within the group at 100 with the scope, which it handily does, i shot it first, then screwed the scope back on with QD rings for the 100 yard group with the 500gr partitions, also, how's that for a return to zero setup? ; ]



If one wanted to shoot the 500gr partitions or 500gr PP Woodleighs when they resume production at 2300 fps, or the 450gr TSX's at 2400+ fps you'd easily have ALL game load to 300-350+ yards, the 404 Hammers at 2500 would give you 400 yards if you know your drops, that's pretty damn versatile.



Great work by Sir Jerry.

100-yard 3-shot with scope:



50-yard bughole group with iron sights:



That Browning Safari FN M98 .458 WinMag might be the most lethal elephant rifle on the planet.
Ron "Mahohbo" Thomson used one like it to take over 6000 elephant ...
But who's counting among friends anyway? ... as he might ask.