I've used the 458 Win. Mag. before in Tanzania on buffalo, hippo, and zebra with 500 gr. Trophy Bonded solids @ 2100 fps. MV, and I've also used the 416 Rem. Mag. with 400 gr. Swift A-Frames @ 2400 fps. MV as well as 370 gr. North Fork solids & softs @ 2470 fps. MV. Both cartridges and all of these loads have been absolutely devastating, and to say that one worked well while the others didn't would be rather ridiculous.
Even so, no matter how much us 416 fans love our rifles, a properly-loaded 458 Win. Mag. is still more rifle, and those big 500 gr. bullets clobber the biggest stuff harder and have the weight (and thus, momentum) to penetrate deeper, on average.
I still think that good 500 gr. bullets loaded to 2100 fps. or better get the most performance that the 458 Win. Mag. has to offer, and with today's powders, that's not all that tough to achieve. In many ways, the 458 Win. Mag. is today a better cartridge than it's ever been before, especially with much more suitable, modern powders and contemporary bullets, and especially with modern, high-performance factory loads (like Winchester's new 500 gr. Nosler Part. & solid ammo promises to be), the 458 Win. Mag. ain't no slouch, and many of the old objections to it are somewhat obsolete.
Do I think that the bigger 458s like the Lott, Dakota, and Weatherby are still fundamentally better?
Yes I do, but all of them still burn more powder and kick harder than the 458 Winchester does, plus the man who can find a good buy on an older, high-quality factory 458 Win. like a Browning Safari or Model 70 can certainly tune-up, adjust, load for, and make hum to the point of having a totally sufficient dangerous game rifle that'll get any job done, from hunting lions to elephants.
A few years ago, I sold my old Model 70 Classic 458 Win. Mag. to a good friend and hunting partner, and a short time later one of our mutual friends bought a Ruger Magnum 458 Lott. It terms of handiness, balance, and light carrying weight, that old Model 70 with its 22" bbl. is a far more user-friendly and practical rifle to carry than that Ruger Lott is, and if I had the choice of either one of them to select for an elephant hunt (long hikes day-in and day-out), I'd grab that Model 70 in a heartbeat.
Another good reason to go with the 458 Win. Mag........
AD
