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

[hoytcanon]

I’ve used the 325 gn ftx as a culling round on soft skin animals, mentioned elsewhere on here, very effective, but messy, not the projectile to use if you want to retain meat, 300 gn Sierra or Speer hollow point projectiles work well for general work, my pick of the lighter projectiles is the woodleigh 405 gn PP , pushed at modest speeds
Gumpy

I have had good success with the jacketed 350 grain RN from Hornady and the 350 grain FN from Speer, in .45-70 and .450 Marlin, but the Hornady feeds slicker, I had to take a file to the Speer's to stop them from catching on feeding. I'm going to work up a load with these.

 

[Riflecrank]

HOLY COW !!!
Having never tested or hunted with that bullet, I did not know it was that soft.
300-gr/.458 Nosler Ballistic tip.
Must be meant for .458 SOCOM and .45-70 single shots, and don't push it there either.
1800 fps MV would probably be plenty fast for that bullet.
Your load was probably doing ~2200 fps MV.

It would probably vaporize at 2800 fps as soon as it exits the muzzle, like the Sierra 300-gr HP/FN "ProHunter."

Monometals only should be used at .458 WinMag speed,
for caliber size entrance hole on a deer and 3" diameter exit hole from a tough bullet.
Like
250-gr GMX at 2700 to 3000 fps or
400-gr TSX proprietary to Buffalo Bore factory load, advertised at 2250 fps, did 2350 fps in my 25" barrel. See deer images on page 6 of this thread.
Or 404-gr Shock Hammer at 2500 to 2600 fps: Pinhole entrance, explodes inside heart and lungs, and an approximately 225-gr stub goes straight out the other side for a good blood trail, if not DEAD RIGHT THERE,
whether on deer at 200 yards or cape buffalo at 30 yards.

Speaking of Sierra, the 300-gr Nosler BT ought to behave about like the Sierra 300-gr HP/FN regarding powder charge versus MV produced, both being cup&core jacketed bullets of similar bearing surface and same weight.

21-1/2" Savage Model 116 .458 WinMag
Federal case trimmed to 2.490"
Primer F-210
H4198
60.3 grains >>> 2200 fps
68.0 grains >>> 2550 fps

 

[Hunter-Habib]

When loaded to 2130 FPS, the .458 Winchester Magnum will drop game just fine.

 

[michael458]

I tested what Nosler called the Ballistic Silvertip some years ago, and it went to hell at a bit over 2300 fps tested in one of my 458 Super Shorts........ I assume this Ballistic tip is very similar ..............

After this test I never loaded anymore of these for anything.......

Reduced loads for 458 Winchester, for deer/bear, one needs to consider the bullet seriously. Bullets designed for 45/70 velocities, are fine, as long as you run them at 45/70 velocities in your 458 Win........... 1600-1800 fps on the upper ends............ They will certainly perform well at those velocities, above that, they might go all to hell........

One of the best conventional non premiums I have tested here are the 350 Speer, Hot Cor, or something like that....... they did very good at two different velocities tested........

Now, this is assuming that the bullets I tested 14 years ago are the same bullets today.

Stepping up to what I would call Premium Conventionals, we have this Barnes X Blue Tip... I forget the official name of this bullet, and I assume it is still made today..........It did very well at different velocities....

Another bullet I like a lot in 458s at higher velocity is the standard 300 Barnes X, however, it does not perform the same as the Blue Tip version at lower velocity impacts..........

Another excellent Premium is the 300 North Forks.................

350 North Forks.............

I saw mentioned the Hornady 350 RN Soft......... In the beginning, many years ago, indeed this was a 458 Winchester Bullet and could handle 2400 fps velocities.......... The first Flat Nose Version of these for the lever guns was that same Round Nose Version with the nose flattened......... This is it;

I don't have a photo of more recent versions of the 350 Hornadys but they were tested again some years later and were much softer expanding at much lower velocities........Wait, sorry I do have a photo of a later test where you got expansion at 1538 fps impacts, showing changes were made later....

Another 458 Winchester Bullet I would vote for easy is the 350 Barnes X................. This would be a superb bullet for bears, moose and such..........

I tested lots of Hornady Flex Tips over the years, in 458 and .500 caliber, they have always done well up to around 2300 fps...... I would not go past that.......

And now you can move up another notch to the Super Bullets ............... Top of the list is the 250 and 260 Socom Raptors from CEB............ I have used these extensively on everything from Impala to Cape Buffalo Cows......... One of the only ones I have ever recovered was a Cape Buffalo Cow..... I have had guys use them on Moose and Elk, and that was DRT....... I have used them on many wildebeest, zebra, +++ all DRT........... This is incredibly wicked and deadly......... These are Extrreme.

Another Extreme is the Lehigh "Extremes"............. I did not use these in the field, however I did test the very first concepts of them with JD back in 2006. Lehigh brought them a long way since then. Recently I had a friend that needed a Elk and Bison loads for his 458 B&M. The 250 Socom Raptor was fine for the elk, but I could not get a heavier bullet to the same POI for the Bison. I wanted a bit more penetration on bison. Finally I matched up the 250 Socom Raptors with a 250 gr Lehigh Extreme................ My Friends Elk dropped to the shot on the spot with the 250 Raptors, and his bison at just over 50 yards dropped to the shot with the Lehigh Extreme.............. This is a test with the 225 Extreme.........

Choose your bullet wisely........... It does all the heavy lifting and will determine your success, or failure in the field............

 

[Riflecrank]

Wow !
Thank you Michael458.
That is an encyclopedic post on the lightweights for the .458.
I will replace my Hornady 250-grain GMX with those CEB Raptors, 250 & 260 grainers.
2700 to 3000 fps in a 24"-barreled .458 WinMag is how I would use them,
with non-compressed AA-5744 or compressed H4198.

Another bullet that is very impressive for expansion at very low or very high velocity (long range or short range), according to the MIB testing of Michael458 is that 300-gr blue-tipped Barnes bullet.
That is about the first thing I tested back in 2017 and my starting load with that was what I liked best.
At about 2640 fps MV it carries the whomp of a hot .375 H&H 300-grainer, and recoil is like that rat-killer load too.
You can go faster but little is gained from that ...

Above is the initial 50-yard 3-shot ladder from 71 to 75 grains of H4198.

71.0 grains of H4198 above, 50 yards, 3 shots, and same target is scribbled on busily below:

So I went home and loaded some more with 71.0 grain charge only, fired them over same Oehler 35-P on another day:

5 shots above appear on the two targets below, first a 100-yard three-shot,
and then shot #4 after scope adjustment,
and then shot #5 after another scope adjustment.
The fifth shot was a bullseye at 100 yards.

Ready for a try at 300 yards to see if claimed BC is correct from Barnes:

OK. Wind was blowing lightly from right to left on target. Drop was about what it should be for G1 BC 0.236.
Then it should be pretty close using the BDC reticle hold for 300 yards:

Wind drift consistent again, elevation by BDC reticle hold would certainly be good for deer/plains game at 300 yards, with rifle/scope zeroed at 100 yards for close-range varmints.

 

[Riflecrank]

I will confess that I used to be a Lottite.
I had scorned the .458 Winchester Magnum, rebarreled & rechambered several .458 WinMag CZ 550 Magnum rifles.
Then I saw the light.
A take-off CZ 550 Magnum barrel from a .458 WinMag was expertly installed on a Pre-'64 Winchester M70 action that stated life as a .30-06.
This involved shortening at the breech (set back) of only 1/8".
The minor diameter of the CZ barrel threads are same as the major diameter of the Winchester.
So the threads got wiped clean in the re-threading to fit the Winchester.
Sights and recoil lug on the CZ barrel were timed to proper alignment by my Master Gunsmith.
A SAAMI .458 Winchester Magnum reamer was used to re-chamber the set-back barrel.
Fantastic !
Here is the parts rifle that rekindled my "passion" for the .458 Winchester Magnum in 2017:

That rifle likes the 500-gr TSX at 2250 fps MV, loaded long COL:

Not so accurate at almost 100 fps faster:

Just 50 yards, but that is where I start with load testing.
I have no doubt the 2250 fps load would do well at longer range.
I call that rifle (pet name) "Chimera" as in Chimera WinCZechster (spelled correctly that time).

 

[Riflecrank]