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

Inspirational of Sir Darryl. Enaa baasee'.
I am getting out the wood working tools and attacking the stock in picture he posted above, of my .500 Mbogo, first ever.
Will enlarge the barrel channel to fit a fatter barrel on a ".500 Jeffery Match" rifle, to be completed after 20 years of WIP.

The only thing I do different is make the long-axis grip screw hole big enough for the epoxy-coated allthread to slide in
with a gush of epoxy overflowing.
If you don't have a grip cap to cover the bottom of grip, flush finish of epoxy over the rod,
or you can drill from the action side before the rear pillar goes in.
I did the latter on the stock above, hiding the grip rod entirely.

Another thing maybe not discussed enough is to be sure there is tang relief behind the tang.
I like to make that the final bedding touch after all else is done.
Use two thicknesses of vinyl electrician tape around the side surfaces of the tang and set it in epoxy bedding covering the wood around the tang.

Tang wood is covered by a thin layer of epoxy at rear and sides.





Gap between the tang and this layer of epoxy at rear ... dang ... should have taken pic before removing barreled action from stock,
will do.

Well, this one is looking a little tight, will be re-done:

Hog out old epoxy, masking tape on stock exterior, two layers of vinyl electrical tape on tang plus release agent,
sanded to finish after hardening.
I now recall that a professional gunsmith did this stock bedding not me,
though I have done many others since learning from him and others.
I want a little more relief at tang.

Also note even a professional can get some chipping of laminated wood when counter-sinking
the cross bolt heads:









At least this proves a laminate stock can survive +8000 ft-lb loads with bullets from 450- to 777-gr.
That was with a secondary recoil lug on the barrel, however.
The old .500 Mbogo has a skinny enough barrel to go in a new B&C stock.
The secondary recoil lug on barrel is superfluous with a full-metal endoskeleton in the stock.

Thankfully I am not left handed.
If I crack my Ruger MKII or Hawkeye stocks, there is a B&C for them too.
If I were left handed, there is always a way to convert a righthand stock to a lefthand, however.

In my previous thread about favorite 40+ caliber rifles that got the ball rolling on this particular project, JFE mentioned tang relief as part of a helpful punch list below that had some overlap with your suggestions in this thread. I've been making note of all the useful advice I've been getting (which was the point of asking all these questions in the first place) but it's still nice to see some actual photos of what other people have done whenever I'm in DIY mode.

Lacking professional scraping tools,
just took a couple of hours to use wood chisels and 80-grit sandpaper wrapped around wooden dowels
to remove about two ounces of old epoxy and wood from the barrel channel of the CZ Phat American stock.
No. 6 Light Target McGowen contour with straight taper to 0.820" muzzle diameter at 24" length
required a little elbow grease.
The .500 Jeffery Match heavyweight rifle is in the middle of the "workshop" photo below:



1:20" twist like CIP but with some extra throat instead of the CIP .500 Jeffery no throat.
I might use this as a BPCR with greasers or paper-patched, saves me from ever wanting a 50-140-3-1/4" Sharps 1874.











There is no recoil lug on the barrel, but there will be soon. Not done yet.

With a heavy barrel and a heavy stock, the .500 Jeffery Match is not a sheep rifle.
Field-ready, scoped and loaded, a .458 WinMag will be about 3 pounds lighter.
That is the ultimate sheep rifle.

Just a few comments re: powders for the .458. I learned from my .45-70 days, including the Ruger No.1s, that almost anything that would work in a .223 Rem would do so in a .45-70 and a .458 Win. However, from considerable experience - and any limitations of powders being available in this area - I settled on three Hodgdon propellants that were usually available locally: H4198, H335 and H4895. I've never needed anything other than those three. I still have 'em, though H4198 is getting low. It (H4198) is far more useful in those two .458-calibers than realized by most .458 WM or .45-70 fans. And it is very temp resistant (IMR 4198 is NOT the same).

Comming up this Saturday (God willing); My blog is: Comparing two African greats, The .375 H&H and .458 Winchester Magnum. In the .458, I showcase one load; the 404gr SH for a moose hunt to 500 yds! It's based on my test results in the Ruger No.1H firing the former Barnes 400gr X-Bullet... thought some might be interested.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

Certainly will be watching for that, Sir Bob.
I get email notice when you make a blog entry.
I print them out and put them in an Oxford file folder after I have read them.
Always interesting, and good competition for my half-ton of recently acquired pulp.

In the Fall 2000, Number 4, RIFLE Magazine's HUNTING ANNUAL,
Thomas McIntyre had a piece called "Borrowed Rifle Blues," pp 36-41, 105.
His last book in 2023 was
THUNDER WITHOUT RAIN A MEMOIR WITH DANGEROUS GAME--GOD'S CATTLE, THE AFRICAN BUFFALO.
RIP Thomas McIntyre.



A highlight of the article above was the author's description of Australian PH Bob Penfold's loaner armory of eight rifles in .458 WinMag.
These were used by Penfold and his guides, and any client pitching up in need of borrowing a buffalo rifle.
Henceforth, both Sir McIntyre and Sir Penfold join the Square Table as Honorary Knights and/or Saints.
Maybe Sir Woods has kept tabs on Bob Penfold's status.
He may also be declared a Saint if gone to the Happy Hunting Ground.

Circa 1987 to 1988, Sir McIntyre had just sold a "post-64" M70 .458 WinMag, but found himself headed for a buffalo hunt with Sir Penfold.
"No worries," he was assured of a proper loaner in the Northern Territory.
Sir Penfold had eight identical .458 WinMags to grab from for PH and client.
He designed both rifles and the handloaded ammo for all.
... "strong and reliable ... light to carry ... and fast handling."

Penfold's design:
Mauser 98 action with bolt face, rails, ramp, magazine and follower fitted for .458 WinMag.
Bolt knob enlarged and bolt handle lengthened by 3/4", swept down for scope clearance.
Slim barrel cut back to 20" and Mag-na-ported.
Chet Brown fiberglass stock painted flat black with "spray can" paint.
Timney trigger set at 4 pounds.
Side safety.
Front sling swivel was sweated onto barrel.
Scope mounts were Australian-made Lynx "bridge mounts."
Scope was Leupold 1.5-5x, with several spares on hand to change out.
Lynx mounts had not failed in 15 years, but "several" scopes had, on these eight rifles.
Ammo:
510-gr Woodleigh softpoints
and "just enough fast-burning powder"
to provide 2000 fps from the 20" barrel.
Penfold was "convinced that no buffalo or banteng was going to be able to tell the difference between a bullet
traveling at that speed and one traveling at 2150 fps."



It all worked well for Sir McIntyre, on pages 38-39:

"Needless to say, when I actually got to use one of these creme de la creme borrowed rifles, the results were anticlimactic.
After three or four days of hunting, looking over hundreds of buffalo a day, we finally spotted a very good bull slipping through
the cover of paperbark and tea trees along a dry watercourse. We managed to circle downwind of him, and to get within probably 75 yards,
where I then was able to get a rest on a tree trunk and hold the reticle of the Leupold scope on an opening in the cover.
As the bull's shoulder passed through the opening, I thumbed off the safety and squeezed that Timney trigger.
Just before the bullet hit the buffalo, it struck a twig I hadn't seen and started to upset.
Still it went in right behind the shoulder, and the bull just rocked forward and crashed to the ground.
I bolted a second round in an instant, but I never needed it."

Now a plug for Alaska Arms.
Seems to be a great company.
Nice business card in the box with the part delivered in a velvet pouch from Alaska to Kentucky.
Front of card:

Back of card:

More details:

Sadly, Bob Penfold has also passed. He had a hunting concession in Arnhem Land about 250km from Gove (now Nhulunbuy) in the Northern Territory. He sold the guiding business to Matt Graham who has since passed away suddenly at a very young age.

I recall seeing one or two of those 458’s when I was at Matt’s camp. They were in poor condition at that point (2013) as they were quite old and camp rifles tend to get no love whatsoever. Like ol’ Ugly they were built on Mark X actions but the barrels were very light. I think these rifles were something like 7-7.5lbs all up and were primarily designed for guides taking long walks in the tropical heat and humidity. They were designed to be carried a lot and shot infrequently.

A point not often mentioned about cross-bolts is that where no factory cross-bolts are fitted you might like to try to fit one of Recknagel’s square section cross-bolts at the front of the action. These need to be fitted very carefully. In flat bottom receivers (like 98’s) the square section is supposed to fit up against the recoil lug and action flat, providing more support than a round section cross-bolt. The old military 98’s had something similar.

Enaa baasee', Sir Joe.
So it is Saint Sir Penfold.
And he had a bunch of Ol'Ugly rifles knocking about the Australian bush
maybe a decade before Sir Phil's hit the Alaskan bush.
Early 1970s versus 1980s.

Saint Sir McIntyre described what he could see of the rifles and ammo
plus whatever Saint Sir Penfold told him.
Bedding and reinforcement of the Chet Brown fiberglass stocks was not mentioned.
Maybe they had the military M98 or Recknagel steel embedded ?
Something was done right well if they survived 4 decades for you to find them still in service in 2013.
The Alaskan Ol'Ugly has served for 4 decades too.
Krylon paint over wingwalk paint has worked for Sir Phil.

I apologize as I have not kept up on all 156 pages of this treasure trove! I have, however, just started playing with a new-to-me .458 WM. This is Colombian M98 that someone did a nice job of converting to .458 Win mag. It had a cheap plastic stock so I restocked it with a used McMillan that is pillar and glass bedded. With some very minor alteration to the feed ramp it now feeds everything up to 500 grain RN very well. It has a 26" barrel that will likely be cut back a fair bit and a ruger banded front sight installed. The scope is just for some initial testing and I am thinking different bases for QD rings and a 1.5-5x20....or maybe just irons.




Anyway, I loaded up some rounds with Accurate 2230 using Hornady data and their 500 RN FMJ. The book shows a max load of 78.3 grains at around 2200 FPS from a 24" barrel for the DGS and DGX bullets. I broke 2300 FPS with just 76 grains and a 26" barrel in 40 degree weather with the FMJs. With the .458 bore I wouldn't expect much gain/loss between a 24" and 26" barrel so was pretty surprised at how hot these loads were, especially given the cool temps I was shooting in. Even though bolt lift and extraction were fine, I am going to back off some.

Has anyone found extreme lot to lot variation with the Accurate powders?

Lads,
I dont get to the Campfire often enough...

Re the Penfold 458s. My recollection is hazy, but the original was called "Black Max" and was featured in a hunt where Col Allison and Bob Penfold took the prototype rifle along for a New England pig hunt and Bob Penfold blooded it on a medium sized pig. From what I think I can recall, they featured in the Outdoors magazine (long gone) probably circa very early 1980s. I was likely reading the article in Mr Gaughan's French class, hidden inside the French text book.

The details of these rifles elude me, but pretty sure what was mentioned previously is about correct.

Here is one that I grabbed after Matt Graham's camp was dismantled ... its Leupold 1.5-5x is due refurbishment.







A thing of beauty in its own ugly way, and if only it could speak of its adventures.
Cheers...
Con

Wow, what a hunting gun! Looks like it's seen some excellent ground and hunting. Cool pictures

When purchased (after Matt Graham passed away) I pulled it apart to clean ... under the stock line it was full of bull dust from years of travel on the utes. Pure 100% working rifles.
Cheers...
Con

Thanks for chiming in, Con. It always good to get some first hand info and pics of the subject matter. I’m sure RIP will be along soon with a few questions. The first thing that strikes me is that it’s an ex mil 98 and not a Mark X.

That rifle has some real character. If you saw it at a bar it would probably just look up from its drink slowly, look you square in the eye and say, "Yeah, I saw some stuff"...then slowly look back down at its drink.

My recollection of the build specs was that they definitely (obviously) used M98 actions ... I suspect it was ex-mil or whatever could be sourced to do a build. I cant recall the first Black Max being named as a Mark X action, some may have been though.

Personally I think its novel that its magna-ported.

Cheers...
Con

Big ol' enaa baasee' to Sir MedRiver and Sir Con for the latest contributions to the Square Table.
Sir Names are now assigned by the Hand of the King unless said Sir wants to change it.



Sir MedRiver,
I would not be surprised if you had a variant, short chamber, maybe even as short as a .458 Lott.
You need to put an inverted, flat-based bullet with a long shank in a 2.500" case and see how long you can stick it.
SAAMI slug jump is 0.6725" from a 2.500" case mouth with a 0.458" diameter of right cylinder slug.
Also slug for groove diameter and check twist of the barrel.
If all is SAAMI, you have a great barrel.
Going from 24" to 26" will gain you only about 10 fps per inch, and lesser gains past 26".
20" to 24" is about 15 fps per inch of barrel length.
Shortening below 20": 20 fps per inch and greater loss rate the shorter you go.

I have not seen or heard of much lot-to-lot variation in AA-2230 of 2016 or later vintage when it
and brother AA-2460 were reformulated for better ThermoBallisticIndependence (TBI).

In SAAMI chambered .458 WinMag, verified by me,

500-gr TSX at 3.78" COL (longest possible) in a 24-7/8" CZ barrel for .458 WinMag: 2342 fps corrected to MV: 83.0 gr AA-2230, Hornady brass/F215

500-gr Trophy Bonded Sledghammer Solid at 3.550" COL in a 24" Ruger No. 1 .458 WinMag: 2408 fps LabRadar MV: 83.0 gr AA-2460, W-W brass/F215

The TBSS was at 80*F, and same session the Hornady Factory 500-gr DGS load gave exactly 2140 fps MV by LabRadar, from same 24" Ruger No. 1.

I do not doubt your results a bit.
If you use Norma brass you will be able to shorten the long COL loads by 0.100" of COL and have same net case capacity
as the longer COL loads with W-W, Hornady, or R-P brass.
Just a reminder.