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

That laminate stock will be perfect if you do this:



Red dot on forend above represents side view of a hidden piece of steel all-thread to back up the recoil lug on the barrel,
a good idea for walnut an laminate stocks without a full bedding block surrounding the action.

Such reinforcements would have prevented this:

That is the MOAR reticle from Nightforce.
Zero the center for 600 yards, hold on the -30 MOA tick mark for 1000 yards with 10X scope setting.

Top of reticle only goes up to 10 MOA on the vertical crosshair at 10X power.
Dialing power down to 5X will make the top hash mark into +20 MOA.
20" high at 100 yards will come in just below that top hashmark,
After checking at 100 yards,
go to 600-yards for fine tuning on 10X power.

Sir Ron What’s the barrel length? I still have a Portuguese m70 stainless 338 I want to convert to 458. Maybe 21-22” . Cerakote
Smallfry

Negligence.

Sir Smallfry,

That Ruger Mk II M77 .458 WinMag belonging to Sir Gus has a 20" barrel.
So if a 24" barrel does 2500 fps with a fair to middlin' handloaded 404-grain Shock Hammer or CEB 400-gr FN,
the 20" jungle carbine might do 2440 fps, all else being equal except barrel length.
Not too shabby.
Would a 20" barrel do 2540 fps with the 2600 fps load from the 24" barrel ?
Maybe so.

I bet swiftshot said something brilliant, just above this post. I have him on ignore.

Freki has been weighed with the Nightforce SHV 3-10x42mm scope,
Burris Low 30mm X-Tac rings on a Near Mfg. 20-MOA rail
and a Griffin Armament silencer mount on the muzzle threads instead of thread protector:
10 pounds exactly.
Add the rubber lens caps and she is 1.5 ounces overweight,
unless the Griffin mount is replaced with the thread protector.

Whenever the holidays, weather, and a shutdown of the local public range get cleared up,
I will be zeroing Freki at 600 yards.
With a 30-MOA holdover should be pretty close at 1000 yards.
'Puter says 29.93 MOA is needed.
Holding the 30-MOA tickmark a gnat's eyebrow below center at 1000 yards should do.
Might have to set up a billboard for a 3-feet square "bullseye" at 1000 yards,
if Farmers Smith or Jones, one or the other, will allow it.

Geri is the other .458 WinMag M98 of equal weight and barrel length, though 1:14" twist instead of 1:10" like Freki,
and 0.2" shorter throat than SAAMI .458 WinMag.
That is still about twice the throat length of a SAAMI .458 Lott.
Re-throating is only a few twists of a reamer.

Geri will be next at 1000-yard shooting.
Geri and Freki both will get loads of Benchmark fine-tuned for 2500 fps MV with the 404-gr Shock Hammer.

Freki and Geri are the names of the "Wolves of Odin,"
as well as the "rat terriers of the Square Table."

Is it truly a square table or rectangle table?

Sir John,
Great to see you posting.
Hope you are getting back on the horse and riding the range as usual,
with your trusty .458 WinMag in the scabbard.

Yes, the Square Table is truly square.
Oaken planks are added to two sides of the table whenever it grows for new membership.
Whatever carpentry and finest oak that it takes to keep it true and square,
it shall be done, in honor of the .458 Winchester Magnum.

A .458 WinMag suitable for any game, whether Sheep-Hippo-Varmint or 1000-yard Creedmost Match:





MOAR reticle on the 3-10x42mm SHV (Sooter-Hunter-Varmint) scope from Nightforce:
Dial the 10X down to 5X and the subtensions in MOA will double, theoretically:

Sir Ron,
I think your about ready to go "Creedmoor" with that rig. On the Square versus Rectangle; wise choice. A Square table allows room for each knight in the growing membership to line up their 458WM's in front of their place irrespective of the number they bring. My one Whitworth has room to breath sitting across from your Wolf pack and all their friends on our growing square table. If the table was a rectangle we might have a problem with space!
My Favorites are the Ruger Canoe Paddle Stock and the #1 but if I got a call to Judea & Samaria, I might like to borrow Freki and a bucket full of the 400 twins. Should be sufficient as a stopping rifle all the way up to Toyota's.
F01

Sir Dennis,
Maybe it should be called the CreedMOAR Match and see if Nightforce will kick in for sponsorship.
Jim Shockey for MC heh-heh-heh.
The Square Table measures 30 feet on each side, and growing.
That is a 120 linear feet to scoot up 40 chairs.
One more Knight and we will enlarge it to 40 feet square for elbow room.

Excellent idea about providing overwatch in Gaza.
Shock Hammer will be great for rats fleeing the flooding of the tunnels.
A CEB Safari Solid for the Toyota "Technicals" at closer ranges,
after softening them up with the Shock Hammers at longer ranges.
Ultralites and hang gliders carrying the two-legged rats should make for some good sport.

Creedmost, CreedMOAR, or CreedMOA-QUAD ?
Depends on whether either Nightforce or SWFA make the best sponsorship offer, heh-heh-heh.
SWFA scope shown here might give the most bang for the buck, check it out at swfa.com ...

They also make a MIL-QUAD reticle but I am stuck on MOA as here:

I have about a dozen between the 6X and 10X SS's. They are really tough to beat for the money. Mine are all the mil versions but I haven't ever had a lick of trouble with one of them. I use the old hose washer trick to make a hasty zero stop in them. They have alot going for them, and the 6X with the excellent Mil Quad reticle will let you shoot a bunch further than you would think and they're better in low light.

No scope needed for proper hunting in Africa.You need just naturally occurring shooting sticks(your arms) and a good iron sight.

Sir Scotty,
Good review of SWFA I see.
Fixed 6X is sold out, so must be others who share your enthusiasm.
The MIL-QUAD is also amazing:



Happy to be finally catching onto SWFA scopes.
The bullseye at 1000 yards is one mil square,
but this old dog is stuck on MOA for the Creedmoa Match at 600, 800, and 1000 yards.

Maybe someday a .458 WinMag will go to King of One Mile.
The best VLD bullet for that is yet to be decided.
Maybe pair a 60-MOA tilt rail with a MIL-QUAD reticle for that heh-heh-heh.

Apparently Lab Radar has a resale value of zero now.
Glad I never bought one now.
Not so for the Garmin XERO C1 PRO.
It seems to be the Dick Tracy's Watch of chronographs.
The "Pocket Clock-it" is what the developers jokingly call it.
Soon as logistics permit I will get a .458 WinMag out and clock it.
Should be helpful for fine tuning the Creedmoa Match loads,
if it is as good as they say.
I bit the bullet and got one before killing off my opticals.
Seems so simple even a caveman can do it.

Sir Ron,

Thanks for the link to the new product. I was planning on getting a new chronograph soon & this does look very interesting. Recently, my friend John & I were doing some plinking at the cabin in between squirrel hunts and using his LabRadar connected to a Microsoft Surface. Fancy schmancy combined with aggravating & glitchy made it a mildly annoying setup. I'm glad that there might be a superior option now as I don't think I would have bought a LabRadar after using his:



I went out & read a few reviews of the Garmin & the overall feedback has been very positive. In the list below from Outdoor Life, the pros are long & the single con will probably disappear soon:

Keep the Mighty 458 WM fires burning on through 2024 and beyond Gentlemen, may all have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Sir Darryl,

I got a tip from my Gunsmith's CNC-CAD-CAM-Machinist son on 12-21-2023.
There were 9 units in stock at
www.wallsrifles.com
in Florida.
I jumped on it and ordered one. It arrived 12-26-2023, a day earlier than tracking initially predicted.
I would normally not order 4 days from Christmas, but I dared it for the Garmin Xero C1 Pro.
What a present for myself ! Thank You Jesus !

The young man, Austin, who tipped me off is a Genius Gunsmith himself,
tutored by his Pop since he was able to walk around in the shop.
He is a match shooter and prefers long-range rigs of rat-caliber.
Everybody is crazy about something I reckon, or they lead dull lives.
For some the craze is the .458 Winchester Magnum, which can also be used for rats, and anything else.

I looked at the WallsRifles site after mine arrived and there was only one unit left.
Out of stock everywhere else I looked.
There will be more I am sure.

Austin also recommended a couple of storage cases for the Garmin Xero.
The "Nanuk 904" is from Canada, about $40 (USD) via Amazon, this is Austin's:



The "Apache 1800" is from China, for $12.98 from the hometown Harbor Freight store,
here's mine:



Young pup teaches old dog new trick.