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

Asante sana-sana, Sir Dennis, for the flowers.
(We are switching the Elvis lingo to Swahili, as a nod to the "African" history of the King of Cartridges.
No more Afrikaans donkey crap, and French just ain't cricket.)

The Old Virginian,
You have earned a seat at the Square Table. Pick your Knight handle please. Sir Virginian ?
That would be quite the honorable sobriquet, IMHO.
My Father's folk started out from Jamestown in 1607.
Kentucky was a county of Virginia until 1792, etc., etc.

The Berry's Bullets that I tried in the .458 WinMag were their old version of 405-grainers FN grease-grooved.
With the blue lube, they weighed 409 grains, had a diameter of .459" and BHN 20.
Great bullets for the .45-70 Gov't.

Maybe you have the copper plated 350-grainers ?
Probably also best in .45-70 Gov't.

SAAMI .45-70 spec is for a groove diameter minimum of .456".
Many factory .45-70 rifles will be .457" to .458", in groove diameter,
with twists of 1:18" to 1:21" usually, and almost no throat.
Your Berry's 350-grainers at 1950 fps would be ideal in such a rifle.

My experience with the Berry's 405-gr greasers in the .458 WinMag was that they would shoot acceptably well
if velocity was kept down to no more than 1400 fps, and 1200 fps was even better for accuracy.
26 grains to 30 grains of AA-5744 is all you need for that.
That ballistics killed off herds of bison in the 1870s.
It will sure do the same for deer in the woods now.

I would recommend trying the 350-gr Berry's Bullets by starting with 26.0 grains of AA-5744 in the .458 WinMag.
Work up from there. Should be a fun load.

Jacketed or monometal copper/brass 350-grainers would be needed for best results in the .458 WinMag at higher velocities.
Higher MV, faster twist, long throat, and bigger groove diameter were not kind to my .459" Berry's Bullets.
I save those for .45-70 Gov't. use.
Harder alloy, PC paint, gas check, and sizing to .460" to .461" for .458" to .459" grooves works better in the .458 WinMag.