I've read in many Reloading manuals that .458 Win. does best with faster to medium burning powders ; -- and I know the major Co.'s have good reasons for this in terms of even burning and accuracy .

BUT , -- I'm looking to dehorn the PERCEIVED recoil ; ( I understand that raw Ft.Lbs. of recoil are a function of byllet Wt. and Pressure ) .

And it always seems to me that SLOWER powders , and SPHERICAL POWDERS , give a more comfortable rolling recoil .

I'd like to work up loads with Barnes Tripple X 450 Grainer , -- over , say , H414 , to try to achieve the above .

I'd be interested in loads with any Spherical Powder slower than W748 .

Any information good or bad on this ?

-------------- MMCOUGAR .

My experience was with the 458 lott, though it applies to the win mag. Two points, first, there simply isn't enough room to fit a slow powder unless you're happy with much less than top velocities. The other is, I've found slower burning powders tend to recoil more than the medium rate powders, when loaded to the same velocity.

The most objectionable load I ever fired through my 458 Lott was VV N550 under a 500 gr hornady, velocity was 100 fps less than my top RL 15 load, but recoil was signifigantly greater.

The slower powders are generally loaded to greater levels, ie more powder, so you have the additional weight of teh powder, and more importantly the additional gas generated, which I pressume is at a higher pressure when the bullet leaves the barrel, which produces more "rocket effect" for lack of a better term.

I've had a similar experience with my 350 Rigby comparing Varget to H 4350. The 4350 load was 5 gr more powder, and both loads pushed 250 gr @ 2700 fps. The recoil with H-4350 was much worse.