My .458WM project is finished!

[Badboymelvin]

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie here and I'm really enjoying this site and all the information you guys are willing to openly share.
Thought I'd break the ice by showing you all a pic of my new rifle.
It's a CZ550 Safari Magnum in .458 Winchester Magnum and it's my absolute favourite rifle in my absolute favourite caliber.
I'd owned it for a while (my second .458WM in a CZ) and while I thought it was nearly perfect it wasn't quite...
So it went off to a gunsmith who specialises in big bores and when it came back - in my eyes at least, it was perfect!
Here's a list of the mods I had done;
Barrel shortened to 21"
Cross-bolts fitted
Buffalo horn tip fitted
Sling barrel-band fitted
Feeding ramp polished
2.5 Pentax riflescope with Warne mounts

It will cloverleaf 3 shots at 50m with Winchester 510gr factory ammo, but when I have enough empties it will be fed CEB 420gr hollowpoints. At around 2300fps they will be a very formidable load.
I just can't wait to try them on some Aussie scrub bulls and buff! My dream of course, is to hunt Africa with it. The HP's for buff and lion and the solids for ele and hippo..

Until then however, I guess I'll just keep reading all the stories on here!

Good hunting to you all.

Russ.

 

[spike.t]

welcome and a nice opening post . rifle looks great and i like the barrel length, although i know certain people on here wont.....

 

[James.Grage]

Welcome Bad Boy

Looks like you have a good project going and it will cover just about everything you are looking to go after.

 

[bluey]

gday russ , welcome to AH ,enjoy the site,
.

 

[Royal27]

Welcome!!

Looks great

 

[bassasdaindia]

welcome , the rifle looks great although I am not a fan of the 458 WM

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Very nice!

 

[blackdog001blackdog001]

Nice projct. I am curious, however, will th 21" barrel allow for the full potential of the 458WM case. It seems a bit short to allow efficient utilization of the case capacity.

 

[Wheels]

Welcome to AH.

Nice first post and toy.

All the best.

 

[Badboymelvin]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the compliments
I really do love the old WM, it's a grand old cartridge. And all the horror stories from years ago are well and truely behind it now..
Th CZ is a great rifle, leave the factory a bit rough, but a fantastic candidate for a custom rifle. They're cheap too!

The .458 does better than most big rifles in a short barrel. Quickload (if you trust a program that is) says that with ADI powder it will top out at just over 2100fps with a 500gr. Several guys I know are getting around 2200fps with AA2230 in 22" Winchester's..

As a side note, in the CZ it's easy to get Lott velocity from the WM case. This is because the CZ has the magnum length action and HEAPS of freebore (in the .458 chambering). All you do is load the projectile as far out as the mag allows (3.8"), crimp it using a Lee Factory Crimp Die (cost about $20) and you have the same OAL as the Lott round - with the same ballistics.

Russ.

 

[enysse]

Beautiful rifle, it will be easy to carry in the brush.

 

[PaulT]

G'day Bad-boy, welcome to the site.

Nice looking shooter !

Like you, I too like short-ish tubes on my big bores.

My .50 cal bolt gun carries a 20" tube which is perfect, i.m.o.

You are in for a treat when unleashing those 420 Raptors.
I have seen quite a few used on buff and they are great.

Best of luck, good health and good hunting
Paul.

 

[Rob404]

Looks like a Real Horse to shoot

 

[Kano]

Good rifle in a good caliber... I love CZs.

 

[Badboymelvin]

Thanks again for the compliments guys

I took my new re-vamped CZ out last night to sight it in and chrono some loads.
With me I had some 510gr Winchester factory ammo and some 300gr reloads, loaded with the Sierra FNHP designed for the .45/70. I use a min load for these and they are not compressed and have very low pressure to boot. They also kick about 1/3 less than the 500gr stuff. Despite the low pressure they still had a MV of 2650fps with the 25" barrel, so I was more than keen to see what they did now.

I decided to shoot the reload's first, to get used to the recoil, and I decided to just shoot them through the chrono. I planned to use the Winchester stuff to sight in as I'll be using these on deer soon...
So I fired off the first 300gr and the first thing I noticed was that they seemed to kick like the 510gr's. I fired a couple more and recoil was definitely up.
This I found strange as although the barrel had been shortened and a few other things done, the overall weight is around the same. Very strange...
Looking at the chronograph revealed a MV loss of around 50fps with the barrel 4" shorter. This pleased me very much guys!
Grabbing the 510gr's, I braced myself and fired the first one through the chrono — and nearly hit it!! Seriously guys, I just, just missed it so for the second shot I really concentrated on clearing the top of the chronograph. Unfortunately I was focusing so much on missing the chrono I didn't have the rifle tucked in tight enough and the result was I copped a scope right between the eyes. Recoil was definitely way up.
I must also add that it has been a while since I fired it last and I need to get used to shooting the big girl again. Also, it was a hot day and I was only wearing a T-shirt so all these things undoubtably had an impact on felt recoil. The chronograph showed that the Winchester factory loads were doing an average of 1930fps. This was once again around 50fps slower than what they did when fired from the 25" barrel. (They averaged 1980fps before)
I sat the big .45 in the Shoulder Guard rifle rest and proceeded to sight it in. With the 510gr factory stuff, I sight them in at 50m and have them shooting 2" at this distance. Then they're around 3" at 100, zero at 150 and drop around 5" at 200.
I fired the first shot and to my delight, it hit EXACTLY 2" high and EXACTLY in line. If the next shot does the same this will be a quick sighting in! Fired the second shot and that confirmed that she was spot on. Which was an absolute bonus, coz man, it kicked. The first shot off the bench actually winded me slightly!
But I didn't care, I'll get used to it again and it was GREAT to be shooting it again.
So on the way home I had a rifle sighted in, blood trickling from my forehead, sore shoulder and a smile from ear to ear

 

[Bruce Fletcher]

Welcome Russ, You have a beautiful rifle. Looks the perfect set up for the bush. If I remember correctly the complaint on the 458 wm was bullet failure rather than anything else in the early days. Much better bullets and powders so enjoy your new rifle.

 

[bassasdaindia]

I am very fond of modified cz 550's with a little work they become great rifles .

yours looks that way.

 

[bebo]

Very beautiful rifle!
.... but I'm not a fan of the .458WM ... and ...21" barrel ... hum ...

 

[Badboymelvin]

The 21" has just transformed the rifle! It is so fast to use now and it points just perfectly. It took me a while to convince myself to trim it back from 25", but now that I have and having used it, I will never go back to a longer barrel on a .458.
And with the 4" trim I only lost 50fps

 

[bebo]

50fps = ZERO ! Ok..
Choose something like Woodleigh weldcore bullets or Norma ..
Great!