Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only bought a 458 win mag

I love this rifle a Winchester model 70 in 458 and I want to use it for Wyoming antelope and Utah mule deer. just going to use the open sights, any good load ideas.

Ha! Well, I think you've got "enough gun" for sure.

Nope, never handloaded the 458 Win Mag.

Regards, Guy

thanks partner yep she is about rank but i lover

That would make a reliable and fun shooting rifle.IMO it is best suited for up close hunting especially with the open sights.It is very accurate at 100yds when the bore is brand new.It will even shoot out to 200yds with a decent group size again when new.If you play with and put over 100 rds or 200rds through it groups will open up at 100yds and consistant and very good accuracy will be limited to 50yds.

mooshoo,

Congratulations. You have arrived.

swiftshot is not to be believed regarding accuracy life and yardage.
That may apply to him alone.
Not you.

For varmints, deer and antelope, you have your choice of 250-grainer at +3000 fps to 400-grainer at +2500 fps in a SAAMI .458 WinMag.
Flat enough for easy shooting within 300 yards, but wind drift will be tricky with the 250-grain Hornady GMX monometal-ballistic tip (poor BC).
Heavier and slower bullets can be used too.
What is your style ?
I personally have so many good loads for the .458 WinMag
that you will have to name a bullet type, weight and velocity range of interest to you to give us a starting point for suggestions to you.
The .458 WinMag is King of Versatility.

Well, here is my starting point, for suggestions to me:

My favorite deer load is a 400-grainer with either 80 grains of AA-2230 or 76 grains of H322 for about 2500 fps in a 24" barreled .458 WinMag.
Hornady brass case and F215 primer.
COL can be adjusted from 3.340" to 3.395" depending on accuracy and velocity tuning, and the particular 400-gr bullet you choose.
That COL range works in my factory M70 which has an inside-box length of about 3.42".
As usual, start low and work up to my favorite load if you choose, like a responsible handloader.
Your mileage may vary.
A 400-grain, .458-caliber bullet at 2500 fps MV will kill anything on the planet with proper bullet-type selection.
Or a 450-grainer at 2300 fps MV.
Or a 500-grainer at 2100 fps MV.
A hardcast 480-gr FN at 1300 fps MV will Bagwell also, if you are a good enough shot and can handle the trajectory.

H4895 cannot cause over-pressure problems in the .458 WinMag with 400-grain bullets unless you work at it with a drop tube fill of case to top
before trying to seat a bullet into the case.
But, a usual 100% LR/net fill with H4895 for a maximum load with any given bullet
may be reduced to 60% of the maximum load for a reduced load, with or without filler.
Even I could get by with H4895 alone if I had to use only one powder for loading the .458 WM.
I have used H4895 to get the 400-gr Woodleigh PPSN to over 2600 fps MV from a 25" barrel, with 3.425" COL,
and likely higher than SAAMI MAP.
One could also do a 400-grainer at 1800 fps for rainbow trajectory varmint, deer, and antelope loads.
That is a 100-yard elk load too, according to Elmer Keith.

Met a fellow with a 458 Win Mag years ago. He bought his Model 70, took it to Africa and killed lots of things, including Cape Buffalo with it.

As we were shooting it at the range he told me that he'd planned to sell it upon his return to the USA, but he liked the rifle so much that he couldn't part with it. Instead he took up handloading and used it on black bear & whitetail deer. As I recall, he used the 400 grain Speer, but... That was a long time ago and I'm not sure of that.

Regards, Guy

You might have been better off with a 416 or 375 for the longer range stuff-also more accurate and a little less recoil and straighter trajectory.Another good thing about the 458 is that you don't have to use mono metals-you could use quality jacketed bullets that the rifling can grip better and shoot accurately for longer.With a 375 you need to shoot tough monometals because you are using lighter bullets that withstand less impact energy.Unlike the 458 Lott,you could have some seating and powder compression issues with the 458WM and jacketed bullets but stick with AA2230 and you will be OK..

Glad to see you made it over here where the data and experience is. Sir RifleCrank has written and documented a vast amount of 458 knowledge around the Square Table as he calls it.
I have a Whitworth 458 that I bought in about 1982 or so, shot 500 or so full patch 500 Grain Hornady Solids through it for a "learning about the .458WM" phase in the first year, and then have been shooting it since with a few more full patch Solids, several hundred jacketed 405 Remington's, a hundred or so 400 Barnes original SSP and lot's of Cast Gas Check bullets. Like RifleCrank mentioned, it is nonsense that the .458 won't hold accuracy over many rounds, well proven not true. The big bores are not prone to Throat erosion and the rifling's don't wear out from bullets passing over them...so that is the science of it. I like Cast Loads for hunting but you might like a Barnes 300 TSX at 2500+ FPS. You can find the data for both here in RifleCranks writings.

In which alternate universe that 458s lose accuracy with so few rounds fired.
This is the biggest nonsense posted ever about a 458

You people have low level of experience with the 458.

You are full of BS

No,you are.

Still full of it I see! LOL

OP,
You can check out Sir Bob's Blog as well for a Long history of shooting the .458WM across a wide range of loads.
www.bigbores.ca

You just told everyone how much you don't know.
Time to quit before you get eaten alive...............troll

Hes Canadian, makes more sense now haha

OK idiot.

George is not a troll. I don't know him but, He is an experienced shooter, lot's of bullets downrange, and hunter, killed some game in various places, but like many folks who remained convinced beyond reason, he is just flat wrong on this matter from an incorrect analysis of his own personal experience. No harm. Other folks can figure this one out for their self I think.

You bought a 458 Win Mag?… Well then, you done good. I bought a 458 when a Ruger 77 showed up on a used rack in a LGS, along with a box of ammo that came with it - full house 500 gr FMJ’s with 13 unfired loads and 7 fired cases (we hand loaders just love that when it happens).
There’s no better reason to buy a 458 other than you want to see fit YOURSELF what it’s all about.
I sold that Ruger 77 after taking a few deer and having a ball of fun playing with it. That was a mistake. The Ruger No.1S 458 I have now helped fill the void it left.
Congratulations on your new 458 rifle. You will have a ton of fun with it no matter where you live and hunt, and no matter what others say it can or can’t do!

You are 💯% the idiot here and you keep doubling down on Stupid