Mine didn't have the fancy walnut that was still rather light in color, but it had the steel bottom metal. Also, it had a diagonal steel brace in the forearm: one end attached to the barrel and the other farther back into a channel in the forearm that had a bolt through the forearm bottom that could be removed in disassembly of stock from the barreled action. Also the barrel was 22". The rifle looked very unused - not sure if some of what's been described was the work of a gunsmith, but the barrel band sight was in place without any sign of work on it or barrel was noticeable.
But it was, perhaps, the "toughest" rifle I'd ever owned. And accurate with those 500gr Hornady RNs. I used two similar loads for those 500s: 68 grns of H4895 and 69 of RL-15 for just under 2000 fps. At one time I shot six of those into a ragged hole at 100: three each from those two loads. I did shoot a young bear with a reduced load of the 350gr Speer at 2345 fps as it walked away at 70-75 yds. Hit in the liver and bullet came out near back of head removing part of the skull after removing several inches of spine.
I loved that rifle but muzzle blast caused deafness to my right ear from that hunt (I shoot from my left side). So it got traded for my first Ruger No.1 in .45-70. Still, I learned some lessons from that experience that I've talked about in some past blogs.
In any case, a well built and balanced .458 Win is always a good choice. For a handloader, it can serve a lifetime of fun and adventure.
