Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The great 458 Winchester. Everyone should own one at least once

Fury01 reminds me of the cast 480-ish-grainer at sub-2000-fps that he has found to be so effective on deer and such from his .458 WM.
Pleasant and sure killers.
Some cast bullet loads follow that I would recommend.
These are all done with 65.0 gr of AA-2230.
The seating depth and the bullet weight are both important factors in how much velocity derives from that fixed charge of powder.
The SAAMI .458 WM throat is the important factor in making them all accurate enough for hunting.
The tight throat of the .458 Lott (only 0.459" diameter in its short length of free-bore) severely limits chambering of the 0.461"-diameter bullets best for accuracy.





The last one above is an example of a bullet that can only be seated to 3.385" in the .458 WM.
To chamber a loaded round of this in a SAAMI .458 Lott would be impossible,
without nose sizing the bullet enough to fit in the Lott throat.
Of course we could also nose-size that bullet for the .458 WM+ and load it longer than possible in .458 Lott:



Bill Bagwell has used the 480-ish-grain, semi-hard, Lyman PH (Parker Hale) bullet at about 1300 fps (with BP)
in his .45-70 & etc. Sharps 1874 rifles with barrel sights
to take game in NA and Africa, near and far, bison to zebra, etc. out to 500-ish-yards.
That RCBS 45-500 FNGC bullet has a shape very close to the PH.
With its extra weight, hardness, and velocity from the scoped, smokeless, .458 WM, what is not to like ?
Consider that all the above cast bullet loads were test-fired in a 23"-bareled M70 Winchester named Marcella, a very handy rifle.
The 1:14" twist worked well with all of the cast bullets.
Mine are all PC-painted, and most are gas-checked.
Making your own bullets has much to recommend it, while our brass, powder and primers last.
When it really hits the fan, FLINTLOCKS.
Eat the Democrats first.