blackbearhunter,

Welcome to the forum.

You can use any bullet, in any caliber, in a reduced load as long as you use the right powder for the job.


I understand that one of the IMR powders is specifically made for reduced loads, although I have never used it myself.

We load quite a number of calibers with reduced loads for one reason and another, but use pistol powders exclusively for this purpose.

Our powder of choice is UNIQUE, but others, such as GReen Dot, Red Dot, Bluw Dot etc are suitable as well. As long as you adjust the charge weight for each.

Just today I have loaded 750 grain bullets in our 577 T.Rex with 40 grains of UNIQUE. I use a small tissue paper on top on the powder, just to keep it in place by the primer in such a large case.

The best source for reduced loads is one of the old Lyman handbooks.

What load would put the 458 in the 375H&H catagory or slightly lower for reduced recoil and great performance on game?Would the 350gr.& 400gr.bullets be the ones to look at for this load?Also is there such a thing as a low recoil 500gr.load?I just dont have any experince with the 458 and Iam looking for some help from sportsman that have already explored this cartridge.Would a load that equals the 450marlin be what I need?My rifle is the whitworth and has a small diameter light/weight barrel,the rifle feels light also maybe8# max.Handles great like a 30-06 or something and would like to keep it that way.On the chance I decided to change it to something else someday,with the short action,what would be the best candidate for a new barrel?would the 338-06,338,35whelen,416taylor,375taylor,45-70,450marlin or 358 work on a 458 action?I just dont know one way or the other and really appreciate everyones help,Thanks.

Blackbearhunter, one thing that they say not to do is to use light charges of slow powder. This combination is linked to several gun explosions at least that what the powder manufacturers say. Why this combination is dangerous is not fully understood but they think that with a light charge the slow powder is spread out all over the case and only partly burns when the primer fires. This gets the bullet going but not very fast. It goes part way down the barrel and lodges. Meanwhile back in the case the rest of the powder decides to finsh burning. Now we have a powder charge burning with a plugged barrel. Kaboom!! Not good. I have done a bit of work with reduced loads with a 30-06 for small game loads. To prevent the above scenario I use fast powder, and filler to keep the powder back near the primer where it belongs and use a magnum primer to burn all the powder at once even if some of the powder has strayed during carry or riding it around. I hope this helps keep you safe as you experiment with this interesting subject of making a rifle more versatile. Good hunting. "D"