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

Baby is already walking and talking and home on the range, precocious !!!

Barrel diameter at 25" from breech face is perfect for a #5 Pac-Nor Sporter Contour,
the ideal contour for any .458 Win MAG:

Sir Jerry,
That H4895 requires too much drop-tubed compression to be optimum with a bullet as long as the 404-gr SH.
It will work with the stubby Woodleigh 400-gr PPSN for +2600 fps,
but I am not going to try it with the 404-gr Stone Hammer.
Work up to 80 grains of HODGDON BENCHMARK in your W-W brass at 3.480" COL
or 3.380" COL in Norma brass.

My rifle Freki has same barrel as Baby except only 24-1/4" instead of Baby's 25-1/2".

With Norma brass, 80.0 gr Benchmark, F215 primer, COL 3.380" COL, 24-1/4" barrel MV = 2600 fps

With Norma brass, 82.0 gr Benchmark, F215 primer, COL 3.480" COL, 24-1/4" barrel MV = 2620 fps

Add 15-20 fps (estimated) for your extra 1-1/4" of barrel length.

Again, if using W-W brass: 80.0 grains Benchmark @ 3.480" COL.
3.580" COL with that brass will give lower pressure and velocity unless you add more powder.
Your mileage may vary, but I would use no more than 82.0 grains of BENCHMARK
with the 404-gr SH at longest COL of 3.580".
You might get 2635 to 2640 fps from Baby with that.
Just my SWAG.
Worth what you paid me for it.
Go easy on Baby.

Temperature effects (lack of them) don't get any better than what you get with HODGDON BENCHMARK, as far as I know.

Congrats to both Sir Ron and Sir Jerry for work well done and accomplished.

The results for my blogs for the month of April was good news in that the most read and favorite for the month was The .458 Winchester Magnum! That was a first! And I give credit for that to this thread: "The Great .458 Winchester Magnum. . . " Keep up the good work all Sirs of the square table!

The .300 and .338 Win Mags have been fairly consistent favourites. Now I can add the Great .458 Win Mag, which seems appropriate.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

You have quite a way with words Sir Ron, many Thanks for the load data and posting the pics, I'll get out to the shop and get that pillared stock fit next week, have a few honeydo's for this weekend, plus, have a dude coming by this morning to buy then ride my last Harley Davidson off the farm, see entirely too much stupid on our roadways anymore, giving up something i love dearly to try and stay alive.

Hello Sir Bob, that's great news, I also think Sir Ron's work crusading and informing the masses of the merits available with the great 458 WM have caused prices on those rifles to continue to climb.

Have been cruising the for sale sites going on two years now, good to excellent 458 WM's are selling briskly and for good money, the word must be getting out ; ]

Oh, bluefish, this 10lb rifle with 404 grs at 2565 doesn't kick, again, just a quick bark and short buck, very easy to stay in the gun for repeat shots if needed, just like all the rest of the 458 WM's I've had.

Yeah, .500 NE double, heavier bullet, not quite as fast, not that bad. I had good control, was able to put follow up shot on target pretty quick. I never felt overwhelmed or intimidated by the recoil, just a big push. I felt in control, was not controlled by the gun.

DF

Yep, agreed DF old buddy, my 500 Nitro boots me a lot harder AND faster than any 458 WM I've ever had, thinking 33grs more propellent and near 170grs more projectile weight are the deciding factors, my 500 recoils violently fast, but yes, entirely controllable, but, you definitely have to keep your head in the game to break two quick accurate shots.

Agree, you gotta be paying attention. I was pretty focused, knowing it was a beast. And I wasn’t disappointed. But convinced myself if I had to, I could use it on a big critter. Sorta a mind over matter deal.

DF

So, next is some 404-gr SH with 61.0 gr H4895 for Louise to try, then onto the 403-gr HHT-B in water buckets.
After that, AA5744 subsonic loads would be the best use of the 400-gr SUB-X.
They seem to want to spray all over the target, like a shotgun pattern, if they go too fast from the .458 WIN MAG.

While I was at it I loaded some bullets more appropriate in a .458 WIN MAG/MAGA:





Inches of barrel ain't everything.
The TC Encore barrels may not be as fast as the Pac-Nor like on my Freki and Sir Jerry's Baby.

The CEB Safari solids are seated without belling the case mouths and no compression, then crimped with a LEE FC die.
Slick and pretty.

The 404-gr Stone Hammers are also seated without belling, and then crimped with LEE FC die.
I did a loose powder pour with no drop tube, and significant compression was required.
Previously I used a drop tube and seating the bullet required only slight compression.
I will use a drop tube next time.

Hammerella feeds all softs and FN solids as slickly as greased glass.
Thanks to Sir Jerry for that slick M70 Winchester.
Freki has trouble feeding the FN solids longer than 3.275" from her left side of magazine,
just like Mahohbesta the Browning Safari FN Mauser.
They are both FN Mauser actions.

I will go shoot a cow for the freezer with Hammerella the M70 Winchester,
using a 404-gr SH and a 400-gr SS insurance shot.
(The Chick-fil-A Holstein is going to hate me.)
Thanks to Sir Jerry and Sir James for first field testing these bullets on cape buffalo.
I feel safe now.

Gunner, never asked you before but how does your .505 Gibbs recoil compared to the 500 NE?

DF

Great work Sir Ron, damn that's a nifty pairing at only 3.380 inch, those will easily run SAAMI length in any 3.400" boxed 458 WM, I had no idea these would be loaded SAAMI length, with four more inches of barrel they'd both top 2500 fps, anyway anyone slices it, 2500 fps with 400grs will get it all done, more so with the way these two bullets perform.

Got home with a couple pounds Benchmark last night after Mama's Day visit, will load for 2600+ fps with the 404's tomorrow and shoot for groups, did get the barrel channel opened up on the extra stock for this rifle with the pillars and bedding throughout, I've had that stock so long had forgot the LOP measures a full 14 inches before sending it off to Johnboy for painting, great great news there.

DF, no comparison, that 505 Gibbs is brutal, even loaded down with 600's at 2150 fps, the rifle weighed 10lbs, but burning 140grs powder with 600grs really booted, on the other side of the coin, 600gr Woodleigh solids at 2500 fps with near 150grs of powder was horrendous, the big rifle and brass cases handled that level of performance with ease, but holy damn man, it rocked!

Look up "Too much of a good thing," it will be in the photo ; ]

Baby's new stock:





Love it !
Hammerella is a pedigreed hound that will hunt, closest I have to Baby, and what a coincidence I got her from Sir Jerry.
The only NightForce scope I have to imitate Baby:



Cloudy day image above, but the sun came out when I got a favorite "custom-painted" Leupold scope on Hammerella:



I won't be wanting to change that HS Precision stock, can't beat it for for beater use, good weight for this rifle.
I do not need it made lighter by a half-pound !!!





I do believe Sir Jerry had a Leupold 2.5-8x36mm on same rifle when he Bagwelled DG and PG with it,
though it was in a glorious custom walnut stock which is now in my safekeeping.

Hammerella is a JES re-bore with 5-groove rifling.
Barrel length from breech face to crown is 23-13/16" as Winchester M70 "24-Inch" barrels often are.
Muzzle diameter is 0.715".
Hammerella has not the speediest of barrels but she is accurate and the slickest functioning rifle ever I shot.
Well tested at the range on 05-12-2025.

The ammo tested in Hammerella:





The last shot of the 5-leaf clover that looks like a 3-leaf clover:





I then adjusted the scope to zero the CEB 400-gr/.458 NP.700 Safari Solid at 25 yards,
and fired the 404-gr Stone Hammers at 25 yards to chronograph 5 shots ...

25-yard group (above) looks like Mickey Mouse, last shot of the 5-shot string:









I am wondering if the failure to use a drop tube on the 404-gr Stone Hammer loads
might have affected uniformity, as like can happen if you don't hold your tongue just right in your mouth
as you crunch those tiny extruded granules of powder with variable force ?
A standard dev of 4.2 fps for 5 shots is excellent,
but not as excellent as the CEB bullet's 1.4 fps for 5 shots.

I am thinking maybe I should use a COL of 3.480" and 81.0 grains of Benchmark,
through a drop tube, next time.
Hammerella might like that better.

As it is, Hammerella seems to want to shoot to about 2" high at 100 yards with the 404-gr SH
and dead-on at 25 yards with the 400-gr Safari Solid,
both loads 2500 fps MV.

I expect the current loads would work well on anything.
Glad to hear Sir Jerry got hold of some Benchmark.
That hound will hunt too.

Recoil is at a nice level.
Even with that 20"-barreled TC Encore, no problem.
I really can't tell much difference in recoil between the 410-gr SUB-X at 1900 fps versus the 400-grainer at 2400 fps in the Encore,
or 2500 fps in Hammerella,
Baby's cousin.

Yeah, gunner, rumors floating around that you’re such a tough hombre, that .505 is just yo truck gun.

DF

Do you guys know who's left that makes 458 Win Mag brass? All I see is Norma. Winchester, Remington and Hornady do not.

Jorge, why ya reckon no one’s making .458 brass. Are sales that slow such that there’s no incentive? I wouldn’t think so. Seems to be and has been a pretty popular round.

DF