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

THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF GUNS, edited by David Miller, shows a model for a
modern revival of Creedmoor-style rifle matches,
to be called the Forty-Five-Moor Matches.
Rifle below is going to have to go on a diet to make weight after getting some new sights:







Any .45-Bore, 10-pound rifle with 3-pound trigger.
Same ranges and targets as used in 1874.
BP or smokeless, it's all good.
Any bullet type, any bullet weight, barrel twist to match bullet as needed.
Any sight type, irons or scopes.
Shooting may be done from prone or back position or sitting ... with shooting sticks allowed.
Muzzle brakes and suppressors OK too.

One possible entrant is still a work in progress, a .458 WinMag, FN Mauser, 24" barrel, 1:10" twist,
for use with smokeless and VLD match bullets:

Swiped from MuskegMan's post:



It would be fun to catalog some "accuracy node" loads for particular .458 WinMag rifles and other .45-bores.
Could be a guide for contestants preparing for the Forty-Five-Moor Matches that are sure to be the next shooting craze.
Folks are going to be tiring of the 6.5 Creedmoor craze none too soon.

Replaced the magazine in the classic Super Express.
Best guess on the shorter coal limitation, piss poor manufacturing / forming of original magazine.

The rifle fed fine, doubtful if factory ammo would have ever been an issue with coal. But, the ends on the forward most top are bent inward, one of the rear top was also, the upper top end of magazine was about.040's less length than the bottom 3.4".

The replacement should comfortably allow 3.350-3.360 coal of the 404 Hammer.

Idmay375 what magazine did you use?

Winchester Model 70 Magazine Box, CRF L/A .458 Win Mag(1030)
U353071030

It has the 1030 stamped on the side.

Edit: the original one had ML stamped on the side.

Sir Larry,
Glad to hear of replacement M70 mag box.
Yep, maybe a Monday morning or Friday afternoon parts is parts booger.

Make sure front of mag box does not get dented,
and make sure the magazine spring stays properly attached to bottom of follower.

Sir Ron,
This one definitely should have been a cull from the get-go. Although with factory loaded COAL's it was not noticeable. And if the cartridges fit, feeding was a non-issue.

Anyways, I have some space in there now.
I landed on the Hammer 404 at 3.370". I could have went longer. But, this gives me some slack inside. And, I liked the location the case mouth landed in the 2nd groove.

Preliminary loads of A2230 are 76, 78, 80 grains.
The weather is still not cooperating as to snow and temperatures for a chronograph session.

Will review data and load a few of the 380 Lehigh Flat Points and 350 North Fork E-CPS tomorrow.

Sir Larry,
That is optimum for the .458 WM+ with 404 SH,
3.370" with 2.490" brass length
or 3.380" with 2.500" brass length.

The FN Mauser with Sunny Hill mag box
was found to feed well from the right side of box
but problems on the left side of box ...
a minor delay in completion to correct this.
Gunsmith will work his magic on the Mauser feed rails.

A

B

480 grain DGS, 78 grains AA2230, Norma cases, Federal 215 primer

Got a 375 H&H and a 500 Jeffery. Not saying there aren't a lot of great calibers in between, but for me, I don't see the need.

I will be interested to see how the velocity goes.
Those solids reminded me that I need to load a few of the 380 grain Lehigh flat points with RL7.

You got that right: It takes two to accomplish what one can do - the GREAT .458 Winchester Magnum!

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

After working for the last couple of weeks on rebarrelling my Ruger Hawkeye African from my 404-375 Ruger wildcat I designed and used in Africa to 458 WM, I finally shot it today with a variety of test loads.

Although I already have a Ruger M-77 PF TS 458 WM, I have never been satisfied with the way it feeds cartridges, especially the CEB BBW#13 solids I prefer. It’s spotty. Thus, I decided to modify one of the Ruger #1 458 WM barrels I had on the bench to fit my Hawkeye action. Also modified the Rimrock stock to accommodate the heavier barrel. Finished weight for the ‘new’ Hawkeye 458 WM is 10 lbs 9 oz, with 3 in the mag and one in the chamber. Just right to make it portable and easy on the shoulder.

After today’s session I now feel that I have a true 458 WM DGR. Perfectly timed CRF feeding with the BBW #13s, quite controllable from the bench for testing and groups at 25 yds cutting holes. Not bad for a used barrel. It’ll need rebluing at some point but for now it gives the rifle character.

The longer mag box in the Hawkeye allows COAL up to 3.420”, though I settled on 3.380” with the BBW #13 450 grain solids I used in today’s initial test fire. MV ranged up to 2222 fps from the 24” barrel with very easy extraction and enough room in the case to push it further.

Final interesting finding today was the final firing. I had 2 left over cartridges from last year loaded with Barnes 500 grain solids and 74 grains AA-2230. MVs were 2295 & 2302 fps measured at 20 ft from the muzzle. COAL with these was shorter as they were originally loaded for the M-77’s PF TS shorter mag box. I’ll plan to try 1-2 grain less powder and 3.390” COAL next time with 500 grain CEB BBW #13 solids, as the MV is more than I expected and not the silky extraction of the 450 grain BBWs. I suspect this is loaded hotter than I want in a DG hunting load.

An interesting experiment so far. If the next couple of range sessions work out like this one, I’ll plan to take this rifle as the Zim backup in a few months. It’s turned out pretty good so far.

Good to read it worked out well and you are pleased with with !
Those 450's are 2200'ish fps should knock snot from things.

I have a spare Portuguese M70 in 338 WM, who can convert into 458 WM. I figure I can get a Pacnor on it but who can do the sights/rest of it?
S.

Gene Simillion in CO does very good work on turning Win M-70s into reliable DGRs. He’ll talk to you if you call him or email him. Pretty quick turn around time.

New new magazine box is going to require tuning for the 380 grain Lehigh Flat Points. It feeds the Hammers fine at longer lengths.

But, not the flat point Lehigh. The original ML magazine box has the upper forward corners angled inwards. This new one needs the same. Regardless of the numerous coal that I tried, feeding is from not happening to terrible at best.

The angled bends guide the fat flat point to center of feed ramp and feeding is smooth at the desired length, and longer or shorter. The ML box allows longer COAL than I will be using for this flat point.

I don't think adjusting the 1030 box will be too difficult. While still maintaining the longer coal to accommodate the intended Hammer COAL. We shall eventually see. A back up 1030 has been ordered. I have not been able to locate a ML box.
Meanwhile the ML box is reinstalled and flat point solids are the near future project.