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

...looking through my files, I had a single x-bolt M-70 African, S/N 365661. I purchased this rifle and a S/G .257 Roberts for the princely sum of $2500. The date was 10 Apr 1985. My original plan was to keep the African and sell the Roberts.

A year later I was attending a gun show in CO and a fellow asked me if I had a pre'64 M-70 .458 African rifle, and I said I did. I had brought the rifle with me and had it in a gun bag under my table. This fellow asked if he could examine the rifle, and I retrieved said rifle and removed it from the bag. The fellow examined it from stem to stern, and asked if I was interested in selling it. Well, at the time I had no plans to part with my third rarest caliber M-70 and picked a number I thought would be out of reach, so I said, "Yeah, I'd have to have $3500 for it" thinking my "buyer" would flinch and return the rifle to the table. NOPE! He produced thirty-five old dead presidents and walked off with my African.

That was 1986. In the years since, I've owned four other .458 Africans, but only one had the single x-bolt. Sometimes it's best to keep one's mouth shut.



Sir Ele Hunter

Tears in my beer.

Sir Ron:
When I began hand loading the .458WM, the bullet choices were limited, and dealing with the short case length, I had to prioritize case capacity vs velocity. Based on the information and components which were available at the time I decided to load to the same velocity as the forty-five caliber NE cartridges. Basically, 2150fps with a 500gr FMJ from a 24" barrel.

My rifle was/is a 1994 Winchester CRF M-70. Brass, Winchester. Primers Federal 215. Powders: AA2230, H-335, IMR 4320, H-4895, IMR 3031. Thirty odd years ago, if I had had the in depth information you've provided, I could have saved myself a lot of grief.

However, all things considered, I successfully accomplished my goal and actually exceeded all my expectations. Most of the bullets used in load development were 500gr FMJ Hornady. Early on, I was shooting Jack Carter's original TBSH bullets. Then I switched to Speer AGS. My PAC load was minimum 2100fps @ 30yds. Twenty-two hundred fps was readily attained with no pressure signs, but I found that 2185fps was the optimum in my rifle.

As an aside, the following are some factory 500gr FMJ ammunition. Velocities across the screens and corrected to muzzle. Five shots each.

Winchester=2080fps
Federal=2047fps
Remington=2060fps

Through the years I've listened to the experts bad-mouth the .458WM and attempt to convince everyone (who'll listen) the Lott is SO much better. I long ago dismissed their collective ignorance and moved on. To each their own.

Sir Ele Hunter

Sir Ele Hunter,
Enaa baasee'.
The original Winchester ammo of 1957 production (500-gr FMJ), from Sir Tony's donation to the Square Table,
was over 64 years old when I tested it in a 25" Shilen barrel, got exactly what you got, 2080 fps MV.
It used a small-grained extruded powder that showed no compression or clumping.

If we repeat the truth often enough maybe it will finally get ahead of the lies about the .458 Winchester Magnum.



In honor of your meeting with Oom Jannie:

In memoriam of Jack Lott,
here he is just a few weeks after being tossed by a cape buffalo.
His corneal abrasion from that twig that poked him in the eye healed
and he was able to resume hunting with his M70 African .458 WinMag
and an M98 .375 H&H.
He vowed to keep an eye open (at least one of them) the next time he pulled the trigger on a cape buffalo,
and to shut his eyes tightly the next time he got tossed into the treetops by a gut shot cape buffalo.



Notice how the picture below shows that factory .458 WinMag ammo shot more accurately in Jack's wildcat .458 Lott
than the .458 Lott handloads did.
Also the picture caption is good in pointing out:
The slower bullet had greater barrel time and shot to higher point of impact at 50 yards: Rock&Roll



Images above from HANDLOADER'S DIGEST, 10th Edition.

Mahohboh's expert opinion of the .458 WinMag coming up ...

From Ron Thomson's book MAHOHBOH pg. xiv, "Foreward" by
Volker Grellmann, President SCI-Africa, Windhoek, Namibia, June 1997:

The many Ron Thomson books are widely available in e-book form for cheap including MAHOHBOH.
Hardcover editions of MAHOHBOH are listed for about $125 to $250 on Amazon.
I suspect the many nimrods carrying MAHOHBOH hardcopies in the field did it for the elephant anatomy images.
The Square Table's main interest is in what he had to say about his trusty .458 Winchester Magnum:

An example of a Browning .458 Winchester Magnum
like the one Mahohboh was married to, except with some lipstick on her:

















And her little sister:

Those Browning FN long extractor are great looking rifles, even without the lipstick. I am more enthralled by them than most M70's. I only have one, a non-lipstick version 30-06. I definitely think of it as a fine representation of days past of rifle production. I would be very tempted, if locally I run across a good condition 458 Winchester. I use to see a few locally in the early 90's.

Tears in my beer about never owning a Browning FN .458 WinMag.
Keep looking Sir Larry !
A little bit of remebrance of Sir Jerry's:

(Note front sight hood after doing +2300 fps with a Nosler Partition at 3.34" COL.)













3 shots with scope at 100 yards:



3 shots with iron sights at 50 yards:



Worth a rerun, great handloading and shooting by Sir Jerry our Square Table Champion,
great rifle, great cartridge, no guff.

Agreed awesome rifle cartridge combination.

Here is a little Jack O'Conner / 450 Watts:
https://gunsmagazine.com/discover/jack-oconnors-450-watts-comes-home/

Sir Larry,
Enaa baasee' for helping us get to the 200 page mark on this thread.
I have that magazine article in a pile.
Your link is going to save me some scanning to get a 24hr photo gallery of that .450 Watts.
Stand by.

Great blog entry from Sir Bob yesterday, Part One and Part Two to follow:

https://bigborefan.wordpress.com/2024/04/13/why-i-still-promote-the-458-winchester-magnum-p1/

A sample of his Square Table Approved load data:





From my current Ruger No.1H Tropical (24″)

In late May/2019/ Temp 54F @ 3.56″ COL/ 81 grs H4895/ 500gr Hor. = 2317 fps corrected to MV.

On June 11/2019/ Temp 21C @ 3.617″ COL/82 grs H4895/ 500gr Speer AGS = 2312 fps corrected to MV.

On June 11/2019/ Temp 21C @ 3.53 COL/84 grs H335/ 450gr A-Frame = 2403 fps corrected to MV.

On July 23/2019/ Temp 20C @ 3.325″ COL/82.5 grs H4198/ 300gr TSX = 2958, 2961 and 2959 fps (instrumental) -v. accurate! Corrected average (Chrony 15′ from muzzle) to MV = 2980 fps/5915 ft-lbs.




From my CZ 550 and it’s 25″ barrel, I got a high average of 2283 fps (corrected to MV) from the 500gr Hornady RN at 15 feet from the muzzle = 5786 ft-lbs. (5800 ft-lbs is claimed for the .458 Lott). That was from 81 grs of H4895 in winter weather and temps. COL was 3.44″.

On Jan 7/2010/ Temp at -7F, @ SAAMI COL/79 grs of H4895/ 500gr Hor = 2266 fps corrected to MV.

On June 30/2008/ Temp at +20C, @ 3.44″ COL/80 grs of H4895/500gr Hor = 2286 fps corrected to MV, etc.


My next outing is with my Ruger No. 1 with the second try at NEMO/BEMO/LEMO/HEMO cast bullet loads.
Primarily looking for accuracy at 2150-2200 fps with 480-ish grainers: NEMO, Nitro Express Modus Operandi.

I like pictures.


The .450 Watts O’Connor used on his 1953 safari began life as a
standard 1898 Mauser. Tom Burgess did the extensive metal-smithing.
Harvey Anderson barreled it; Albin Oslin stocked it.


Jim Stiehl bought the rifle, but not the claim. When it arrived,
the floorplate “was a big surprise!”


Fitted with an aperture sight and a 2½x Lyman Alaskan scope in a Griffin & Howe
QD side mount, the .450 saw action on buffalo without the optic.


The .450’s extended tang is unusual, added for a tang safety.
There’s none in the slot. The original Mauser flag safety would have been
as convenient. “I have a .450 that might have been Jack O’Connor’s.”


The .450 Watts (center) was the wildcat predecessor to Winchester’s .458 (left).
The .458 Lott (right) is slightly shorter than the Watts, essentially the same
ballistically. All are based on the .375 H&H.


This photo shows the .450 and O’Connor’s 1953 Cape buffalo. Note the
engraved floorplate. “Always use solids for buffalo,” said Don Ker. Jack had not.


Dr. Jim Stiehl (left) donated the long-lost Mauser to the Jack O’Connor
Center in Lewiston, Idaho. Wayne is in the middle and at right is Buck Buckner,
who helped Lou Scharbau track it down.

Text of the article by Wayne Van Zwoll in GUNS Dec 2022:

JACK O'CONNOR'S .450
WATTS COMES HOME
'ALWAYS USE SOLIDS FOR BUFFS'
WRITTEN BY WAYNE VAN ZWOLL

“They buried the boots and the feet.” It was all they could find of the man, reported Don Ker. The buffalo had wiped the earth with the rest of him, until there was nothing left but stained soil. “Always use solids for buffs.”

It was an unnecessary caution to Jack O’Connor, after m’bogo had shed the effects of his softnose to seek revenge. The tale “Buffaloes Shoot Back!” would appear in the January 1954 issue of Outdoor Life magazine.

Don Ker, of the famous outfitting firm Ker & Downey, was guiding Jack with Herb Klein and Red Early, on a two-month safari in the summer of ’53. They’d disembarked at Nairobi and driven south into Tanganyika, toward the Simiyu River.

The buffalo was spotted from the safari car as “a great black object” in grass and thorn on a low hill. Don saw it too, and was impressed. He motored on, so as not to disturb it.

As buffalo landed just below lion on Jack’s list, he’d secured a suitable rifle in .450 Watts. Winchester had yet to unveil its .458, so this was a custom project coming together in Washington state. Tom Burgess of Spokane had opened an 1898 Mauser action for the long cartridge and “fitted a Holland & Holland floor plate, magazine and trigger guard….” Harvey Anderson chambered and installed the barrel in his Yakima shop, slotting the muzzle to tame recoil. Clarkston’s Albin Oslin made a “good, strong” eminently shootable stock of plain walnut with cross-bolts book-ending the magazine. A Jaeger trigger, Lyman receiver sight and 2 ½x Lyman Alaskan in Griffin & Howe’s QD rings completed the package.

Wildcats

The .450 Watts was reportedly developed in 1948 by James Watts, a schoolteacher and big game hunter. An Alaska resident after 1936, he refined its design with Harvey Anderson, who built rifles for it on ’98 Mauser and 1917 Enfield actions. Watts took a rifle in .450 to Rhodesia and shot heavy beasts with it. O’Connor’s use of the cartridge gave it more exposure.

Unlike the .450 Ackley, the .450 Watts is not straightened or necked with a slight shoulder. It is most like the .458 Lott, inspired in 1959 when a buffalo ignored the persuasion of the new .458 Winchester Magnum and gave Jack Lott a toss. The Winchester, on a .375 H&H hull cut to 2.50″ to fit standard rifle actions, holds much less fuel than the Lott’s 2.80″ case and hurls 500-grain bullets about 200 fps slower. On some charts, the .450 Watts and .458 Ackley, both wildcats, trump the Lott, SAAMI-approved in 1995. But wildcatters can be optimistic and aren’t held to pressure ceilings. P.O. Ackley lists velocities of 2,470 fps for the Watts and Ackley, with 500-grain bullets driven by 90 grains of IMR 3031 — and even higher speeds with 95 to 98 grains 4320. But these are frothy loads. In sum, the .450 Watts, .458 Lott and .458 Ackley all land a harder blow than the .458 Winchester and the 450- to 475-caliber British double-rifle rounds to which it’s compared.

O’Connor wrote the .450 Watts cartridges he used were made from .375 H&H hulls run into a .450 Watts die, then loaded with 82 grains of No. 4895 powder and 480-grain bullets developed for the .450 Nitro Express. With a muzzle velocity of 2,175 fps, they carried 5,050 ft-lbs of energy — a ballistic match for “the great .470 Nitro Express, Africa’s favorite game cartridge, which uses a 500-grain bullet [at 2,125 fps], with 5,030 ft-lbs of energy.”

Impressive energy. But the buffalo had looked very big.

A kilometer past the animal, Don stopped the car and grabbed his .475 double as Jack thumbed the big .450s into his Mauser. They sneaked back through the bush. The buffalo was still there, no doubt waiting, speculated O’Connor, “to toss and pound an innocent dude hunter.”

The hunters had inched well within iron-sight range when a shot alley opened. The bull was lying down, quartering off. Kneeling, Jack steadied the sight in the aperture. The big Kynoch’s impact behind the shoulder “almost turned the buffalo over.” The animal slumped forward.

“Again,” Don directed. Jack sent another. And again the great body rocked. Looking down to top off the magazine, O’Connor had his thumb on the stack when suddenly the beast rose. “Then he lowered his head and came for us.” The two rifles thundered at once. The bull turned, staggered a few feet, and as the .450 fired once more, piled up. Jack’s first softnose had struck as intended, high in the lungs. It had flattened on the spine.
“The buffalo is genuinely a tough character,” wrote O’Connor. “Among the professional hunters of British East Arica, it is generally agreed that [a young hunter is lucky] to get knocked down and kicked about a bit early in his career by a buffalo.” Caution follows.

After this safari, the .450 Watts rifle gave way to others in Jack’s writing and sometime after the 1953 hunt in Tanganyika, O’Connor parted ways with his Watts.

Home Base

Jack and Eleanor and their four children had moved to Lewiston, Idaho in 1948. Their house on Prospect Avenue would be their last. Jack died in 1978, Eleanor a few months later. In 2006, the Jack O’Connor Hunting Heritage and Education Center was established nearby, overlooking the Snake River in Hells Gate State Park on Lewiston’s southwest hem. The Center’s mission, inspired by its namesake’s career, was to extend his vision of hunting, writing and conservation to future generations. The museum displays 65 of his hunting trophies, also several O’Connor firearms: his Biesen-stocked “Number Two” .270, his favorite .30-06, Eleanor’s 7×57 and others.

This past June, the .450 Watts that had accompanied Jack on safari 69 years ago turned up at the Center’s annual fundraising event.

Homecoming

“I came by it incidentally,” said Dr. Jim Stiehl, whom I met during the gun show kicking off the weekend. Jim had traveled from his Illinois home to attend. “In 2003 a South African colleague I had worked beside in Zurich asked me to take delivery of a .318 Rigby he had bought from a man in Idaho. So I phoned the seller to arrange shipment. With more African hunts in mind, I asked if he had any big-bore rifles to peddle. He told me of one that might have been O’Connor’s. I wasn’t looking for anything that special; besides, how would I verify its provenance? But the price was right. Imagine my surprise when the rifle arrived! The floorplate was boldly engraved JO’C!”

So began Stiehl’s search through for a description and photo of the rifle. He found both. Buck Buckner, one of the Center’s founders and an authority on the writer, had thoroughly described the rifle in a 2002 Safari Press book, Jack O’Connor, by Robert Anderson. Also, there were photographs of Jack with the rifle and his buffalo in the 1954 magazine article and in the book Jack O’Connor’s Big Game Hunts (Outdoor Life and E.P. Dutton, 1963).

But Stiehl wouldn’t learn of the Center for another decade. Meanwhile, O’Connor enthusiast Lou Scharbau had taken the trail of the .450. Jack’s son Bradford, who lives not far from Scharbau in western Washington, referred him to Buckner. Buck had Dr. Stiehl’s name in his notes but an outdated address. In March 2019, after years of diligent sleuthing, Scharbau was on the phone with Stiehl, who confirmed he had the rifle. Immediately, Scharbau invited the retired surgeon to the Center. Two years of interrupted travel delayed the visit.

“I haven’t hunted with it,” Jim Stiehl said, unzipping the case. “It has value beyond utility.” Then, with a grin: “It’s home now.” And so he donated it to the Jack O’Connor Center, along with two boxes of Watts loads from Quality Cartridge in Hollywood, Maryland. “I’ve fired it,” he continued, handing me the rifle, “but only at the range, with modest loads. It shoots quite comfortably for a rifle so powerful!”

The .450 comes to cheek naturally. Fine balance, a straight comb and a slim wrist brings it alive in hand. The barrel’s heft steadies it. The Alaskan’s post reticle came instantly to eye. Flipping the G&H tabs and sliding off the scope, I slipped the Lyman stem and aperture into the rear sight base, a switch taking but seconds.

Jim Stiehl owns and uses other rifles. He could have carried this one afield. Instead, he preserved its fine condition. His generous donation brings to the Jack O’Connor Center not just a vintage post-war custom rifle but a slice of history.

Once, when Tanzania was Tanganyika, and hunters plied British East Africa on two-month safaris, this .450 helped the pre-eminent gun writer of his day stop “a big, square-built, blocky, low-slung animal, as black as sin,” coming very fast!

To learn more about the Jack O’Connor Hunting Heritage & Education Center, visit jack-oconnor.org or phone 208-743-0543.

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"O’Connor wrote the .450 Watts cartridges he used were made from .375 H&H hulls run into a .450 Watts die, then loaded with 82 grains of No. 4895 powder and 480-grain bullets developed for the .450 Nitro Express. With a muzzle velocity of 2,175 fps, they carried 5,050 ft-lbs of energy ..."

JOC looks to have had a full-blown integral muzzle brake on that rifle, slotted fish gills.
Looks like 5 pairs of those slots on the sides of the barrel near muzzle.

Of course we know he was shooting a reduced load compared to what can be done with a SAAMI .458 WinMag nowadays, even limited to 3.34" COL and 60,000 psi.

The 480-gr soft he was using was too soft it seems, from the description of the lung shot mashing up against the spine of the buffalo that charged them.
Of course if he had been using a 404-gr Shock Hammer at 2500 fps MV from a .458 WinMag,
that first shot would have killed the buffalo DRT.

I killed my first cape buffalo with a .416/380-gr GSC FN (SOLID) at 2506 fps MV.
I killed my second cape buffalo with a .510/450-gr GSC HV (SOFT) at 2654 fps MV.
One shot kills.

My next one will be sort of an average of both of those loads for caliber, mass and velocity.
It is a SOFT bullet that converts to a SOLID after impact.
.458/404-gr Shock Hammer HP blows off nose in chest cavity of buffalo
and the cylindrical base solid destroys spine, if entering at angle of JOC's first shot.
How could that possibly fail ?
Only by muffing the shot.
A gut shot with any bullet might not go well for either the shooter or the shootee.
I am sure we all can recall a story about a gut-shot cape buffalo that got angry about it ...

to put the gentle recoil of the .458 WinMag into proper perspective: Ride the Lightning

Back to a real sporting rifle, adequate for anything and won't give you a herniation of any sort from packing it: