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 Bob and Sir Dennis.
I just got back from a road trip to the National SAR commemoration of the Battle of Blue Licks,
last battle of the Revolutionary War in Kentucky, August 19, 1782.
The superior British force of Canadians and Indians massacred the Kentuckians.
Daniel Boone's son Israel got an arrow through the neck and died there on the banks of the Licking River.
Yes, we took a licking there. Daniel Boone escaped and returned a few days later to bury the dead, including his son.
Daniel Boone called his rifle "Tick Licker" 'cause it could lick a tick off a hound at 100 yards.
Daniel Boone took a lot of lickings and kept on ticking.
Just like has happened to the reputation of the .458 Winchester Magnum.
There now, we are back on topic.

Rather than post some more notecard scribblings, here is the skinny on a comparison of
W-W Super "White Box" ammo to the latest Hornady factory ammo by Lab Radar with the 24" Ruger No.1,
80 degrees F, same day and same rifle as used for the 83.0-gr AA-2460 handloads above.

510-gr RNSP Winchester W-W Super .458 WM, COL = 3.330", advertised MV = 2040 fps
Lab Radar:
MV = 2035.3 fps
100 yards = 1804.7 fps
Factory claimed G1 BC =0.284
Calculated G1 BC = 0.316

500-gr DGS Hornady Superformance .458 WM, COL = 3.275", advertised MV = 2140 fps
Lab Radar:
MV = 2140.3 fps
100 yards = 1866.7
Factory claimed G1 BC = 0.295
Calculated G1 BC = 0.267

The W-W ammo was over 20 years old, and the Hornady just a few years old,
both having recently come off a local emporium shelf.
They both seemed to keep pretty good.
Nowhere near as bad as the Lottites would have us believe.

Funny how Winchester caved to the lies and downloaded the ammo.
The original 1956 ammo was about equal to the Hornady load for MV with the W-W 500-gr RN FMJ.
Bullets are better nowadays.
Powders are better.
Many great choices for handloads,
and several good factory loads have been produced in the recent past, in this century and last.

The Hornady DGX-Bonded 500-gr .458 WM factory ammo also does an honest 2140 fps.
I bet it works as well as Sir Jerry's 480-gr DGX-Bonded handload at 2150 fps from his 500/450 NE H&H Royal.
Recovered from thick-skinned DG weighing in the tons:







Water trap recovery of same bullet, same handload recipe, by Sir Jerry:



You really do not have to load this 480-gr bullet to +2400 fps in the .458 WM+,
but you can if you want to.

Those factory loads showing 2035 fps and 2140 fps for the W-W and Hornady ammo
do add credibility to the +2400 fps for the .458 WM+ handloads from same rifle, same day.
Seems like Lab Radar is pretty trustworthy.

AA-2460 is a great powder for loading in longer COLs.
AA-2230 is a great powder for loading in shorter COLs,
AA-2230 is like pre-squashed AA-2460, easier to pack in a smaller case capacity.
So many other good ball powders and stick powders too are super performers in the .458 WM+/-.