I purchased a ".458 African" Action. This action does not have a super grade floor plate. It does not have the correct magazine box. The magazine box is the 264.338 short magnum box.

The action is stamped "458" on the front recoil lug bottom. The bolt,extractor and follower are jeweled.

By the serial number this action is a 1959.

I talked to a RKI who gave me some good info already but I thought I would ask here.

What is this action?

I paid 1400+ for the action, Too much??

Thanks,
fast

Well, I think the guy that got the money got a good deal.

Most of, but not all of the "magnum" actions that came out after the 300 and 375 H&H's had the front recoil lug stamped "458" indicating they were the shorter magnum actions. They came in 264, 300, 338 and 458 calibers, maybe more. The magazine box is probably correct. There may be others who can correct me on any errors I have.

Hello Jim,

I saw you just sold a pre64 375 for 1K so I know that this action being what it is you're right about "the good deal". But I have a 3 day inspection period. What I don't care for is that I have about a hundred bucks invested in mail and transfer fees.

Any guess to what a fair price would be for this?

thanks
fast

All original 458s are Super Grade, so your floorplate is not from a 458. IMO Jim's analysis is spot on. Kinda reminds me of my hotrodding days when I found that many FE Ford big-blocks are marked 428 but few are really that large, most are 352/360/390s.
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
All original 458s are Super Grade, so your floorplate is not from a 458. IMO Jim's analysis is spot on. Kinda reminds me of my hotrodding days when I found that many FE Ford big-blocks are marked 428 but few are really that large, most are 352/360/390s.
Regards, Joe

JD and the mother load was the crossbolt 427. I had chances to buy them but even then they were spendy.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
Well, I think the guy that got the money got a good deal.

Most of, but not all of the "magnum" actions that came out after the 300 and 375 H&H's had the front recoil lug stamped "458" indicating they were the shorter magnum actions. They came in 264, 300, 338 and 458 calibers, maybe more. The magazine box is probably correct. There may be others who can correct me on any errors I have.

Jim,

just called the dealer and he will send back my funds as I will return the action.

Could have gotten a Dakota for $1800
So I'd say other then collector or just plain nostalgia status you paid a bit much. $1000 tops for a factory action again with collector and nostalgia reasons set aside

All short Mags (300, 264,338,&458) were stamped 458 on the recoil lug. The 458 had a super grade floor plate. The 458 also had a single verticle crimp on the magazine box 1 1/4" from the front and all the remaining short Mag have a single crimp 1 1/2" from the front. JM