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

Woodleigh also makes a 550gn RN and Solid. I have tried the 550gn in 3 .458's and the .460 and like it so much I don't bother with 500 grainers any more. Have a few TSX's in that weight and about 1200 TSX in 350gn and 450gn weigh on the shelf plus some 405gn Remington's but the one I miss most is the 400gn weight as I got over 5 feet penetration from the .460 using that bullet and it was an extremely accurate bullet. Also have a few loaded up in .458 cases waiting for a "special moment".
Once sent a group to Barnes with 5 into .6 at 100yds from the .460. Shooting 3 under a half inch was relatively easy. Damn good bullet.

John,

Years after you bought it I had remorse over that 460. As you know not only was the accuracy unreal but to duplicate that wood today would be a special custom shop order. And of course what makes it completely unreplaceable is Roy not being with us anymore.

I recall the magazine article you did about 20 years ago John on the 460 with 550grains on Bison I beleieve. A good read. What exact year was that anyway?

Mike any idea who got the first 460's in Australia, what company or individual got one in? Also were you corresponding with Roy yourself back in the day?

Karl

The agent was Michaelis Bayley and I think Mick Smith brought in some Weatherbys himself but not direct from Wby.. When I enquired it all seemed too hard for a 460 so I made my first international phone call and spoke to Roy. He was quite keen to talk to someone outside America. Anyway I ordered a pair and 120 cases for each and they had the 2.5X Wby Imperial scope in Redfield Swing Over mounts. The order still had to go through Michaelis Bayley but they were happy for me do the things. Roy was also big on it going through Michaelis Bayley and till this day that attitude makes Wby one of the most desired agencies for an importer to have as they will not send a rifle to anyone but their appointed agent.

Roy sent me a letter confirming the order. The Weatherby letterhead was unreal.

When the rifles arrived a shooter I knew took one look at the wood and decided to phone Roy and order a 224 and 7mm Wby. The 7mm Wby came and again top wood but the 224 had gone astray. After some investigation Roy apologised and not only sent another 224 (which was probably covered by insurance payment) but also sent to make up for the f uc k up one of the Mark XXII rimfires as gift.

In years gone by I had a lot to do with the Wby custom shop and I would have to rate them as about the best company I have dealt with and I don't just mean guns. However, if you do anything with them that is not available via the website it costs a lot.

I am fairly sure other 460s had come in. A bloke I knew had bought a German 460 and from memory it was a 1968 gun. But there are plenty of 460s and 378s in Australia now but very few 416s. I suspect the 416 lacks the big velocity of the 378 and the 460 power and also bullets for just mucking about is far better with 375 and 458.

The 460 John got off me I had kept in storage since 1971 and got it out about 1990. The other 450 was shot from day and had the [bleep] shot out of it.

early 80s, got my first Roy , .270 with exceptional
wood , seller also had .300 and .340 with exceptional
wood and 224 varmintmaster i picked up few yrs later ,
not so fancy...but boy did it shoot with factory!

When I purchased another Roy after that , the store
owner allowed me out the back to the storeroom to
open every box and I only found one MkV with great
wood.

AGW,

I too use the 550gn Woodleigh in my .458 thanks to an article I read written by you in, I believe, The Australian Shooters Journal.
The article was a review of the CZ550 in.458 and also because of that article, I bought my first .458 - a CZ 550 with the Hogsback stock.
This was the start of my .458 journey and I've since owned 4 more and it has become my favourite cartridge.

So thank you twice!

The 550gn Woodleighs in the 24" barrel of my Zastava M70 reach 2080fps and cloverleaf 3 shots at 50m. I will be using this load to hunt Water Buffalo in the Northern Territory next year and I'm sure it will work great.

Russ

Bloody awesome story Mike, you got to deal with Roy himself. If you had stored the gun in 71 you would have been dealing with him back in the 60's I take it? My 460 was my first bolt action, I was a semi-auto guy before that. I got a 1993 Petersens hunting annual with the ballistics section in the back, was blown away by the kinetic energy figures and ordered one that week. It was a second hand lazermark with the pendleton dekicker, I believe the least efficient muzzlebreak ever made . Beautfiul looking gun, the african rifle crowd prefer English looking stuff of course, but I recall any time I showed regular people or even non gunowners a lazermark their jaw dropped and they wanted to touch it. Roy new how to package his weatherbys. Oops sorry to hijack riflecranks thread, weatherby memories can be very powerful things

Karl,

First spoke to Roy in November 1970 as I had just got married in September 1970 and the rifles arrived a few months later.

You are right about the appearance of the Mark Vs and especially with non shooters. I had 4 rifles on RTM Alloy stocks and they were painted blue. Non shooters thought they were fantastic and from Star Trek. If you have not seen the old RTM Alloy stocks the shape and dimensions were based on the Remington 40 X stock and the butt and forend were a skeleton. Three had long Rem 700 actions with Jewell triggers and one had the Rem 700 magnum action with Jewell trigger.

I think it was 1996. I lost a lot of copies I kept from a basement flood, so don't have complete records any more. Glad you liked the article.
John

Russ,
I got cloverleaf groups at 50 yards with open sights in a model 70 Winchester so it is a very good bullet though will not offer the penetration of a Barnes as I found out on game. What it did offer was that "thump" I mentioned previously as the animal is going nowhere but down. The buff was bled out in the field and still weighed over 2300 pounds on the scales before butchering. I would always have loved to take more large animals but the costs are prohibitive and writing income barely covered components if that.
John

CTF,
I've been out of pocket for two days on a mini-vacation, traveling to far western KY to get the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, thanks to President Trump's Operation Warp Speed.
I sure don't thank any Democrats for that.
Strangely a friendly couple in my old stomping grounds notified me of vaccine availability sooner there than in my home town.
He is a pulmonologist taking care of Covid-19 patient rehab, for the few that have a hard time with it.
She, his wife, a registered nurse educator, is the daughter of Farmer Joe who was my buddy.
Joe accompanied me on a local game farm bison hunt, learned to trap beavers on his property with me,
so as to drain his flooded bottoms field,
and allowed me to hunt deer and coyote on his property.
Joe passed in his 90's, a few years ago. R.I.P. Joe.
His daughter inherited the farm and says I can hunt there whenever I like.
I have a Texas Tripod stand there still, which Joe chained with a huge coal mine chain to the oak tree it stands beside, 15 feet off the ground swivel seat.
Here is how I appreciate Joe's daughter, with all due respect to her and her husband, who is my good friend the pulmonologist whom I would never anger:



Regarding pics of Alderella: Buy a donkey, CTF, for being the perfect straight man for my schtick.
Here she is:



















Alderella's range card is partially reproduced above.

The 400-gr GSC HV is an excellent deer bullet in the .458 WM or .458 WM+.
Both Finn Aagaard and Phil Shoemaker found the old Barnes-X 400-grainer at about 2300 fps to be better than any other expanding .458 bullet of any weight in the .458 WM.
Best penetration in artificial media and quickest killer of big brown bears.

Alrighty then, THE MISSION is henceforth to be known as THE CRUSADE.
Sir Jerry (member gunner500) and Sir Bob (member CZ550) are the first to achieve Knighthood in the service of King Four Five Eight Winchester Magnum.
I serve only as Hand of the King.
Knighthood is earned by service to King 458 WM.

I can say no more regarding Knighthood of THE CRUSADE at this time,
except to say that "Knights of the 458 WM" are Crusaders for THE TRUTH,
and the first step toward Knighthood is a pledge of loyalty to the .458 Winchester Magnum cartridge.
The Kingdom is the realm of big bore and express hunting rifles.
King 458 WM has run circles around any pretenders to the throne,
and he alone has been able to pull the figurative Excalibur from the stone.

Touche', Fury01.
I was joking of course, and you did me one better.
We must also not forget the severity of meat contamination with mind-altering drugs that will be found in any Democrat carcass,
along with the prions of Mad Cow Disease, CWD, Scrapie, and Kreutzfeld-Jacob.
My pulmonologist buddy with the wife who owns the farm is also a right thinking man.
Decades ago he began calling a Democrat a "DALD."
Dumb Ass Lying Democrat.
I am adopting that acronym, straight away.
Also adding "DALL."
Dumb Ass Lying Lottite.

The 460 WBY nostalgia is nice, buy a donkey to all you crusaders for that.
I have a few fond memories of the 460 WBY also.
Eventually, realization of the true potential of the .458 WM has helped put the 460 WBY behind me.

Me and my .460 Wby.

Where is the blood on that jackrabbit ?
Was it scared to death by the mere sight of the 460 WBY ?

"who is my good friend the pulmonologist whom I would never anger:"

Medically speaking, are you aware of Ivermectin? Although of rather basic background for the last 40 years worming horses and de lousing humans, it turns out to be an effective anti-virus.
All the usual sources are having trouble keeping it in stock for horses when the word got out that it can both kill/cure and prevent the corona virus in humans.
Here is a link to a short report on some studies done in 2019-2020:
https://www.healio.com/news/primary...ective-for-covid19-prophylaxis-treatment

If you want to learn how it has succeeded in Brazil, India, Peru , etc, I can post you a link to a longer slide presentation. Enjoy!

Oh, yes- my family does take it , as do several friends.

This is the entrance...


This is the exit...


I used a 480 grain Woodleigh Weldcore at 2060 fps. I am using 65.0 grains of 5744 lit by a Fed 210 Match primer.