Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The great 458 Winchester. Everyone should own one at least once

Sir Ron, more good stuff indeed, ideas pop, getting a cannelure tool and LFCD'ing the 550 Woodleighs at 3.575" and driving them to 2250 fps in the 458 Win Mag+ would be another challenge, betting AA-2460 would indeed be the choice propellant.

Sir Jerry,

I have a hunch that will work.
I cheated by loading all the way to 3.600" with a 543-gr FNGC that is only 1.353" long in a SAAMI-chambered .458 WM,
whereas the SAAMI .458 Lott cannot even accept that bullet at 3.500" COL.
Nowhere near the kind of cheating the DALDs do continuously, however





..

One of the most interesting collections of posts I’ve read in a long time. Got up just to check on the dog and..... an hour + later I’ve read all 18 pages.
The only ‘fix’ is to pull my neglected Ruger No.1 458WM out of the safe and put it in my home office for admiring again as I do some bookkeeping today.
Thankfully I already have ammo, brass, bullets, etc., or I’d have to go to a LGS hoping for a ‘miracle find’.
So refreshing to find out my 458WM is still a viable cartridge after hearing “It isn’t a LOTT” everywhere.
GREAT READ!

Hi mate,

I currently load the 550gn Woodleigh in my .458

I load my OAL to 3.40 and I'm using 73gn of Benchmark 2 and I get a chronographed 2080fps out of the 24" barrel of my Zastava.

There's a guy up north of Australia who is quite well known for building big-bore rifles, who has used them on Water Buffalo out of his .458 and says they are VERY emphatic killers.
He's using AR2208 (VARGET) powder and getting 2070fps out of his push-feed Winny and he speaks highly of the 550gn Woodleighs.
He's also quite fond of the .458 and has even started a page dedicated to the .458 on Facebook.

I really like the 550 Woodleighs. They load easily, are accurate and from what I've been told (by someone who's used them on Buffalo) hit really hard. That's what I'll be using when I hunt Water Buffalo up Northern Territory next year.
They're everything I think of when I think of the .458WM.

Cheers Russ

Great information--thanks, Russ!

Ron - good to see you found a new home here and continuing the work you started.

I’m about move in to making my own PC bullets. I notice you’ve used a few different types. Is there any type/brand better than any other?

Do you have any trouble fitting a GC after applying PC?

NOE has gaz check expander
in doing so its harder to crimp them on with a lube sizer
much easier with the Lee cast bullet seizing die that fits on a regular press, they have 2 kind both of them are good but the new version will be less expansive

I had a few 458 and 478 Lotts.

I settled on the 460 Bee. Classicmark.

More good stuff Sir Ron, i've had a crazy two weeks burying friends and carrying off froze to death new calves from neighboring farms, holy damn, gotta shake my head clear, brought one frozen calf home so the guys kids wouldn't see it, [very small farm] have shot two coyotes off it so far, if there's a silver lining..................i'll get that pic to you this weekend, it'll be ode to Trump, Bill Bagwell, and the 458 Win Mag+

Looking forward to that, Sir Jerry.

I have been loading some .45 Long Colt cowboy loads for a buddy recently, he cannot find any on the shelves locally,
and I gotta butter him up so I can hunt deer on his 220 acres.

I will load some Speer shot capsule loads while I am at it, in both the .45 LC and the .458 WM.
A .45 shot capsule in a .458-cal rifle might be even better than in a .452 handgun,
adding to the versatility of the .458 WM+.
Using 7-1/2 shot, adequate for squirrel.

Alaninga,

If you want to be proclaimed a "Knight of the Crusade for Truth about the the .458 Winchester Magnum,"
just make a total of 7 posts on this thread and ask to be Knighted.
You own a .458 WM.
Don't ever let it go and you will not be sorry.

How does one find that Facebook page ?
I do not do Fakebook, but sometimes I am allowed to see some of it on my 'puter.

Yes Sir Ron, with the added bonus of 3/4 rounds of 500gr TBSS hellfire at 2360 fps held in reserve when needed, hope you draw some sugar and get keys to the gate ; ]

JFE,

Thanks for the reply to THE CRUSADE.
Baie danke.
The .458 WM is excellent with just about any cast bullet you want to shoot through it.

For low velocity, soft lead bullets, .459" and no more than 1400 fps works well with PC paint or grease-groove.
For velocity up to 2200 fps better use a gas check, powder-coat paint and size to .461".

Canuckistan's advice is good, easy to apply a Hornady or Lyman gas check with the simple Lee base-pusher bullet-sizing die
After PC paint, size and apply gas check at same time.

Powder-coat paint: Harbor Freight Red is plenty good. Eastwood Ford Light Blue might be a little better.
You won't go wrong with either of those.

I let my first 458WM a Ruger 77, go after having fun with it. Took a few deer and thought I was through with it. Wrong. Had to scratch a reoccurring itch with a nicely walnut figured No.1 on the ‘like new -used rack at a LGS. Now I feel better. The D weight barrel weighs a ton. Reached deep in the gun safe to pick it up and out and thought it was stuck to the floor. Nope, just gravity holding it.

A Ruger No.1 in 458WM, I ask “who could look through that big hole in the barrel from the breech end, and NOT think about all the cool ‘stuff’ a guy could blast through it!?” 🤔😆

Sounds like the usual young whippersnapper.
Been there, done that.
I shot a water buffalo ( Bubalis bubalis ) with a 500-gr factory load for the 460 Wby into center of chest at 50 yards.
It just stood there bleeding from its nose and looking at me like I owed it money until I shot it again in the neck, with a .375 H&H handed to me by my gunbearer, Lemuel.

Trying to come up with an average, all-around bullet weight for bullets of all types and all velocities,
it seems that the original weight of 480 grains that started the great success of Joseph Whitworth in the 1850's with 1000-yard muzzleloaders,
carried over into the 577/450 Martini Henry military service,
and .461 Gibbs Military Match loads,
and finally ended up with metal-jacketed bullets at 2150 to 2200 fps for the dawning of the Nitro Express age,
yep, 480 grainers will do.
Saint Bagwell has proven that weight with semi-hard, FN lead at 1300 fps will zip through bison, from a BPCR .45-70 Govt.
I propose to load 480-grainers from 1300 fps to 2300 fps.
Maybe even a VLD .458/ 480-grainer some day at 2400 fps via 3.8" COL from the .458 WM+, for 1125-yard gong shooting ?
Until then, 1300 fps to 2300 fps with other 480-grainers at less than 3.600" COL and way lower pressure than a .458 Lott suffers.

Ron,
Thanks for that info. I was just searching the AR thread in PDF form to try and figure out what size bullet sizing dies I needed. I'm slowly pulling together what I need to start casting with the Lyman 457406 mold. I was foiled Saturday because the mold handles I have don't open quite wide enough. Not sure why.
Jeff

Just to clarify my comment about the mold handles not fitting - the dies on the left (a single 0.358 bullet) fit in the handles I have fine; the set on the right (the 0.457"bullet) won't fit in the handles. I presume a new set of Lyman "double-cavity" mould handles should work.