On the left is a 400 grain Speer. On the right is a 500 grain Hornady DGX.



Shot some loads Sunday evening with IMR 4064 and the Speer 400 grain bullet. Going to go out and try the best shooting one soon. It is 101.0 grains of IMR 4064 and a CCI 250 mag primer. Average velocity for 3 shots was 2497 fps.

What model of rifle, and how much did it hurt?

Ouch!!

That Speer is gonna kaboom a jackrabbit.

i have one of those 460's in my cartridge collection. it looks like an artillery shell. i couldn't imagine shooting it would be much fun.

Very nice. I have been wanting to play with one of these. How is the recoil? One of these days, I will run across one at the right price and snag it.

It's a Weatherby Mark V Custom.

Gunner,it should fling some skin.

As far as the recoil,it is not bad. It has a Pendleton muzzle brake and that helps. I don't load it to the gills,just where it has the accuracy and velocity I want.

The rifle.

Ten years back I went onto a sporting goods store in Reno, Nevada. On the shelf was a like new Weatherby rifle in 460. Included was a box of eighteen cartridges and two spent shells. While I’d heard this is the norm, however this is the one time I’ve seen it.

The 460 has the same powder capacity as the 416 rigby and the relatively new 450 rigby. The 460 could be loaded down to those pressure levels. Less pain, more gain.

Did Weatherby ever make them without the built in brake? There was one on here I inquired about but to get rid of the brake, the barrel had to be cut to 22".

I paid a dollar to shoot a .460, sans scope, many years ago. Worst dollar I ever spent.

I'm a nicer guy than that and never charge anyone to shoot my big guns. I usually just tell my friends, "hey, I'm having a hard time zeroing this. Will you shoot it?" and never mention that it's a .404 or Rigby or whatever.

AFAIK,all .460's came with a muzzle brake.

I have two 500 grain bullet loads for my .460.

1) 87.0 grains AA-4064,500 grain Hornady DGX,Fed 215 mag primer. That load is averaging 2070 fps ie .458 Win mag velocities.

2) 95.0 grains Var-Get,500 grain Hornady DGX,Fed 215 mag primer. This load is averaging 2316 fps i.e. top end .458 Lott velocities.

If I was a real man, I'd get me one of those, load it with a 350 grainer to 3000 fps and go elk hunting. Just kidding, no harm meant. Anything that regularly takes over 80 grains of powder is too much fun for me. But I'd really like to see it in action.

I have shot the 350 grainer at 3000 fps. The bolt knob pounds the first knuckle on my trigger finger. If shot enough (more than 3 rounds) it will draw blood.

The 400 grain at 2500 fps is good enough.

I bet it does draw blood. At my advanced age I've gotten used to both my retinas. If I had your rifle I'd have a brake that would make an Abrams tank weep with jealousy. And I'd wear a outfit like that Nazi gun crew on the Guns of Navarone when on the bench...

I like this guy!

It has a brake. The recoil is not that bad and I wear a PAST Mag recoil pad while shooting off the bench.

I have no problems using it hunting.

I had heard those New Mexico rabbits were tough, but I always thought they meant chewy.

Its my understanding the 460 shooting factory ammo is cranking 93 foot pounds of recoil. 375 H&H is doing 37 foot pounds (my limit). I'm jealous of anyone who has the mental and physical fortiude to shoot at that level well.

If it wasn't such an expensive gun, this would fix the problem. Worked for me and it doesn't change the bolt knob profile from the side.

DF

Not many, short of gunner and Ken, have the cajones to shoot those big cannons on a regular basis.

Gunner has a .505 Gibbs he uses on rocks, 'dillers, wabbits and assorted varmints. That gun started out as a .416 Rigby. He shot it out, had it rebored to .505G. How many do you know who have actually shot out a big boomer like that...

Not many...

DF

You keep me spitting up my drink, Lee. The Guns of Navarone reference was perfect.

I don't shoot factory ammo. My handloads are far easier on the shoulder and finger.

New Mexico jackrabbits are hard to kill and they have been known to charge!

Yup,that would work.... maybe. It does not help that the bolt knob is checkered.

But,like you said,it is an expensive rifle.

Love those McWoody stocks .

Yeah, I like them, too.

Sorta off the reservation (OP posting), but here is an Edge McWoody/FN/Shilen Swede. McM no longer offers the Edge with marble finish that doesn't have a black background, because the black carbon shell sometimes showed thru the finish. So, my McWoody Edge is no longer available. Ironically, it's one of the nicest McWoody patterns I have out of three.

DF





Thumb smudge picked up by the camera. Not a defect.

The Pendleton Dekicker muzzle break that Ken has on his rifle was the original brake on the .460's and continued on the many Japanese Howa build rifles until they were made in the US whereby the integral brake was changed to a screw off KDF style brake.

I personally like the Pendleton as it is less noisy that the current brake and achieves its goal of reducing the muzzle rise during recoil. This makes the Monte Carlo Design behave more like a classic style stock but without the pile driver effect such as you find with a Ruger Number 1 in .458.

I would much prefer to sue a Mark V in .460 than any Ruger number One in the .458's.
John

That 400gn Speer will not hold up to velocities much over 2000 FPS as the jacket is paper thin and the bullets sometimes disappear in a blue mist before reaching the 100 yard targets. I tried it with the following:
400gn Speer FP
40gn Blue Dot 1720fps 2628FPE Fed 215 Primer
57gn 2400 2080fps 3844FPE Fed 215 Primer
58gn 2400 2120fps 3993FPE Fed 215 Primer
100gn IMR 4064 2500fps 5553FPE
110gn IMR 4064 2750fps 6719FPE

The 400gn Remington is a more stout bullet for lighter plinking and feral control in the .460.

John

John,I am using 101.0 grains of IMR 4064 and a CCI 250 Mag primer. In my .460 that load is averaging 2500 fps.

Here is what it does to a jackrabbit at around 70 yards.



In this picture,the rabbit was on the left side of the pic. The dark spot is where it was found.


John,do you think the Remington bullet is stout enough for deer or even elk?

LOL, by comparison my old 416 Rigby only had around 53 ft lbs free recoil, my 8 bore with a full load has around 200 ft lbs free recoil, that's an 800 gr round ball over 350 graing of FFg Black powder in a 10 lb rifle with a muzzle velocity of 1400 fps.

My 505 Gibbs and 577 Nitro run about 100 ft lbs each, with 600 gr Woodleighs at a sedate 2150 fps and 750 gr Barnes' at 2070 fps.

Elks 460 loaded full bore is no pussycat either, I used to have one and did take the 500 gr Hornadys all the way to 2800 fps, just to see if I could, brass only lasted a couple firings, did that with IMR-4350, iirc the charge was in the 128 gr neighborhood, loaded the rest to around 2550 after I got through playing.

Just ran Elks rifle with a top load, 500 gr bullets at 2700 fps with a 124 gr powder charge in an 11 pound rifle, free recoil is 98 ft lbs, quite the handful.

Maybe for the average guy...

DF

Beautiful rifle. I would load it like the Rigby with a low pressure combination. Some say it works even better at the moderate velocities in the range of the 458 Lott.

Shot a 458 a fair amount and it's mainstay/jack rabbit load was a 350 gr. cast bullet. Performance was good and it made it fun to shoot and on the cheap too. Full power not so much as it was over my threshold. Shot it once prone never again and a standing bench is the way to go. Even though the 460 turns me into a cream-puff I have seen a number of women some very petite shoot it well. My alibi is E = MC2 the smaller gals just roll with the punch us heeman take it on the chin.

I want to try this load on hogs.

Although it works well on rabbits.

6 or so years ago I was hunting bear on Kodiak. A guy shows up with a 460 Wby. He used up nearly a box of shells confirming zero v. flinches.

When I got back to camp I heard he shot several times and missed. He cut his hunt short and flew home.

I always wanted to own a real safari rifle so bought a CZ550 in 450 Rigby, which is almost identical to the 460 Weatherby. I wanted to see if I could develop an accurate load with acceptable recoil. I did a lot of testing with various bullet weights and powders and finally decided to have a load that looked serious so settled on Hornady 500gr DGS, everyone is impressed when they see my cartridges.

After some research and a lot of testing, my current load is 23gr of TiteGroup powder with Federal magnum primers. This is giving me 1.25" groups at 100yds. There have never been any signs of a pressure problem. The recoil while benchresting is acceptable and I am able to return home with my retinas and dental fillings still intact.

The really heavy thumpers I think I like reading about more than shooting them. I recall an etching of Sir Samuel Baker firing his two bore. He would have his gun bearer lean into him back to back before firing. This double could fire a one pound exploding round, almost a mortar round. Even Baker decided this was too much of a good thing and went back to his 8 bore and 577s. He was a large man and had no trouble carrying and swinging the eighteen pound doubles. At eighteen pounds and with the black powder loads these should have less recoil than the 460 at least the 577 not sure about the 8 bore.

Go back a few posts and read what gunner said about his 8 bore.

DF

You’re a fugk8n maniac! Laffin

He ain’t the only one...!!

DF

Flattery will get you nowhere.

Gunner had 200 ft. lbs for the black powder load 8 boar and 100 for the nitro load in the 577. I think the Blk powder load was close to the same velocity so probably not a huge difference in recoil. 1800 vs 2000 fps?

Ken,
I would use the Remington version at not much more than 2000fps for deer and rib case shots only. other wise meat loss will be a certainty.
Remember the bullet, both Speer and Remington, were not made for the .460 velocity capabilities, in fact neither were some bullet commonly used .458 caliber bullets loaded in the .458 Winchester. The .460 is a big lift for the caliber and most of the negative commentary made on the .460 is by unqualified people. There is some utter drivel in print about this wonderful and versatile cartridge which can be loaded to your own personal tolerance.
John

Thanks John.

Swift makes a 400 grain A-Frame which will hold up to the higher velocities. I will use the Speer just for rabbits and such and use the SAF for hunting big game.

Ken,
The Swift will be terrific. 116gn of 4064 or Varget will get you over 2900fps and I used to standardize on 110gn for 2750ps when the old 400gn Barnes X was around as that 2750fps was very accurate and replicated the .30/06 trajectory.

I also tried the 500gn Swift A-Frame and it too was extremely accurate, loaded over 122gn of IMR 4350 for 2660fps and shoots into the same groups as the cheaper 500gn Hornady. I grain more chronographed at 2678 which is pushing the 8000FPE the cartridge was rated at. Corrected to muzzle velocity would be there, as I only quote the 15 ft chronograph distance from the muzzle with my loads.

John

Thanks again John.

Interesting stuff. I've fired full house .458 Win, never shot a .460.

You guys are in a league all your own...

I'll enjoy all this from the bleachers...

.375 H&H is about all the big boomer I have or want. I have a number of 45-70's and enjoy them a lot. Those can be juiced up to pretty interesting...

DF

DF,
The .460 is an adventure. It can be loaded to your own tolerance, has a factory extended magazine these days, can be loaded from the bottom during stressful stalks with one still in the breech, aligns with the .30/06 for trajectory and remove the will to live on everything it is pointed at.
On top of that, it is incredibly accurate. MOA is very ho-hum to a .460 Weatherby. My 5 shot groups have been as low as .6" at 100 yards in my prime.
John

Bet you shooting off a standing bench...

DF

Not a .460,but this is the bench I use for shooting.

No. The truth is, I have never seen a stand up bench before.
John

Elmer Keith was a proponent of the standing bench for big guns. There are photos in his books.

The way Elk's bench is set up, seems he's more in an upright position relative to the butt stock, not too unlike a standing bench.

Benches where the shooter is crunched down, leaning way forward, isn't a good big boomer stance.

I got a set of long legs for my bench, just never set it up.

DF

Heres one version of standing bench. Son with Muzzle loader. Works just as well with extended runs with375R.

At close range it is hard on noses too...

Yep and eyebrows,,too, Known as the "Weatherby trademark"

DF...

It is not easy on shoulders.

Everytime I think of the 460wby magnum, I think of shooting jackrabbits for some reason..

You, too...?



DF

Of course, "with 500 grains of lay the fu-k down and stay down" how could you not?

Dem po wabbits...

DF

Hey, you can't post a photo of Gunner without his permission! :-)

Gunner class ordinance, for sure...

DF

Alright, you two are grounded, no school till after the first of the year, or the end of deer season whichever one comes first.