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............
