If you really want a 458WM in a lever, why not just get a magnum BLR and send it to a good smith for rebarreling?
I bought the 1895CB a couple years ago when I was interviewing with Conoco Phillips in AK thinking I was moving up there. Well the job offer fell through, but I fell in love with the gun. I love that it had the 26" octagon barrel and could hold 10 rounds.
I soon realized the limitations of the .45-70 factory loads and the price of buffalo bore ammo. I then purchased a full handloading play set. Ever since I have been trying to squeeze more range out of these tube magazine safe, barn-door shaped, .458 rounds.
Well the .458 uses a 500 gr. bullet and yours is a 300. REALLY big difference unless you are shooting at little things that don't turn around and try to eat/stomp you.
Build a proper .458 like .458 Win did to do it right.
I guess I was really comparing it to a .458 win mag with a 300 grain bullet. Clearly the strength of the .458 win is that its max COL is 3.34" so you can have the big 500 grainers sticking way out of the case. For those of us with repeating firearms the bolt/carrier travel is limited so we don't have the luxury of huge COL's.
I don't hunt for the stompy crushy animals. So far I have only hunted deer with this rifle and it has actually proven to work great for that. I first started seeking more power just to extend the range for deer hunting. I had originally posted this thread not to knock the .458 win, but just because I was proud that my marlin is now in the same neigborhood of power.
Now that being said, at 4,700 ft-lbs of force and 9 quick follow up rounds I think it could hold its own against stompy crushy animals. There will always be a bigger gun no matter what you have (example: .600 NE vs .458 win).
Quick story. Two years ago I shot a doe in the ass with a 2.6 COL .45-70 with a 300 sierra HP(~3,700 ft-lb). It was by far the worst shot I had ever made, but sure as hell that doe dropped right there in its tracks. I can only imagine that the ft-lbs energy combined with a fast expanding 300 hp caused cardiac arrest in the doe. Ever since then when buddies say its overkill for deer I'll tell them that story and say I couldn't think of a more humane way to kill a deer.
