The “458 Winchester Magnum, all the cartridge you’ll ever need” thread.

[TTundra]

Campfire anecdotes from a previous era.

These stories linger on ignoring decades of advancement in bullet and powder tech. There's always going to be operator errors and/or mechanical issues that will arise, but no different now than any DG cartridge.

The 458 Win is as formidable as most.

 

[odonata]

I'm a big bore fan but also a big bore newbie so I don't have much in the way of expertise to offer. Just enthusiasm. I have an old friend who kept talking about taking a trip to Africa when we retire in a couple of years and never being one to wait until the last minute, I used this possibility as a perfectly legitimate reason to buy more rifles "just in case".

I had a good assortment of Sako, Steyr, Ruger & Winchester rifles in 30-06, 9.3x74r, 375 H&H and 405 Winchester to handle any PG hunting that we might do. This was fairly easy to do because I could find these in left-handed bolts or ambidextrous falling blocks.

It got a little more challenging when I started trying to find a larger more powerful rifle in a left-handed bolt action. As Fatback posted on the previous page, it is possible to find a nice LH Winchester M70 or something like a LH Zastava, but they're not real common or always affordable. For my particular situation, a left-handed standard action was the easiest route to get started (I wasn't going to sacrifice my LH Winchester 70 Safari Express in 375 H&H to make a bigger rifle...I love it too much).

So eventually with a lot of patient & excellent advice from @Riflecrank, I bought an affordable Ruger M77 MkII in 7mm Rem Mag. I put pillars in it, Talley crossbolts & a stainless rod through the grip to reinforce it. I did all of the reinforcing while it was still a 7mm RM so I could make sure it reassembled properly and functioned well before upsizing the barrel.

I then got McGowen to make me a 23", 1:14 twist in a #5 profile to put on it.

With a Dremel, some chisels and a bit of sandpaper, I was able to enlarge the barrel inlet to make it into a nice 458 Win Mag for me to start testing with:

To get going, I've been shooting 404gr Shock Hammer's at 2,250 fps. I'm not going to lie: I was a bit intimidated the first day I took it to the range because I didn't know what to expect. Fortunately, it turned out great. I love the way this rifle shoots & I like the way it feels. Once I got used to shooting it & realized I wasn't going to have my glasses broken, it rapidly became one of my favorite rifles to shoot. I've only put 36 rounds through it in the last month but they all made me smile.

I need to practice, practice, practice. Not too bad for day #1.

With four rounds and a Leupold 3x20mm Big Bore scope, this rifle weighs 9.64# / 4,372 grams. Now that Arkansas has implemented a straight-wall season this year, it'll be interesting to see if I get a chance to try her out. If not, then maybe the next time I go hunting hogs in Texas.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I think the proven velocity with a 500 grain bullet is 2150 fps.

If a 458 achieves this level, then it is the equivalent of the 450 nitro and 470 nitro in double rifles.

If the Lott has an advantage in higher velocity, it only comes with more recoil.

Since the recoil of the 458 is the limit for most shooters, the Lott is more gun than we need for nearly any situation.

But in the event of a change at close range, there probably isn’t such a thing as too much gun.

Have you noticed that some of the same people that swoon and get poetic about the history and stopping power of the .470 NE will talk smack about the .458 WM?