medicman and MoccasinJoe,
Since I am the partner MoccasinJoe is discussing,and since we don't quite remember this the same way,I'll put my two cents in here.
1) my notes show I put 238 rounds through that rifle before leaving for Africa,plus another 3 to sight in at camp.
2) first shot at buff at right around 100 yds,2nd at 20-25 yds.,so 243 rounds before the malfuntion.
3)I remember the loaded round (Barnes 450 triple x)going catywampus and jamming, the tip angled left as the problem,not a failure to eject.
4)My cousin and I put another 70 rounds through that rifle after I got back home with no problems ,plus the PH fired three in the air to move some lions out of our way to the airstrip to come home.So counting my last two to finish the buff,that's 75 after the jam with no problems.
Granted,the jam came at a most innoportune time,but it was the only one I experienced.
That action and the magazine are long enough to feed .458 Lott.The fact that the round was jammed diagonally,case head right rear,bullet point left front,would indicate that the case head was not picked up solidly under the extractor.I hate to admit it,but the likelihood is that I may have short stroked it just a hair.Joe was johnny on the spot with the leatherman,and did help me clear the action quickly,but I remember the problem as having been the loaded round,not the previous fired case.
Besides all the rounds that I actually fired,every one,plus the sixty some odd rounds I still have was function tested through that action.By my count that's about 700 loaded .458 Winchester rounds that functioned through that rifle with the one failure to feed.Counting the feeding but not firing.close to 570 rounds through the action before the failure.
Before I ever attempt to use it on dangerous game again,I will have a good gunsmith slick it up for function.
Hope that gives everyone a clearer picture.
