has anyone ever shot a non dangerous animal such as a whitetail or moose, etc with the 458 win mag loaded with the 500gr soft point round nose? I enjoy shooting mine and take it hunting but have not harvested an animal with it yet. I am curious on the results.

Dr. John,
Yep, a moose in Alaska. The moose went down as if struck by lightning.

500 grain Hornady RNSP, at 2150 fps MV. The range of impact was 100 yards. The on side shoulder was broken and the bullet broke up into two hunks of lead and the empty jacket, but each of these three missiles made a mess of the lungs and great vessels and broke a rib on the off side, coming to rest under the hide. One broken shoulder and a rib going in and three broken ribs on the off side, and a chest full of blood and mush.

It was the most spectacular bullet failure and most instantaneous moose kill I have ever seen.

I have also bagged some hoary marmots with the same load. Not much left of them at all.

A 500 grain Swift or other 450 to 500 grain premium bullet would be my choice for moose.

The 500 grain Hornady RNSP would be more than adequate for smaller deer than moose, but so would their 350 grainer loaded to 2100 to 2500 fps in the 458 Win Mag.

A buddy in Vietnam shot a water buffalo with a M79. to see what it would do. Quite effective
i might add.

I have shot quite a few Impala with a .458 WinMag and .450 Dakota. Then there was that tribe of Baboons that we waxed with .458 WinMag.

I mostly shoot solids in my .458s, so you are basically just punching holes through them. There is not a lot of meat damage even if you hit bone since the bullet mass keeps driving through. In fact, I saw less meat damage with a .458 solid than with a 7mm 160gr Nosler Partition.

I would not hesitate to hunt deer with a .458 if I was so inclined. As long as you were not faced with LR, bean-field type shooting, I don�t see any problems. It would certainly get the attention of your hunting partners.

I've used all my African rifles on North American game. Can't see just punching paper with them at home and expecting to be good with them in Africa.
Now that I think about it, it must been two or three years now since I've used a "regular" rifle at home, other than my chuck rifles. Oh, I've shot woodchucks with .375, .416, .458 and .505 too. Great fun!

Dr. John... one of the best whitetail/black bear projectiles for the 458winmag is winchesters plain-jane 510 soft point. The first sign of a ignorant big bore shooter is that they believe these cartridges will blow deer up. 270s-300s will do far more dammage.

I know of a few guys who use it over hear on small game to get more the feel of the guns

I have shot several deer, wild pigs, and two coyotes with my 450 No2. I usually use the 350 Hornady RNSP at @2330fps. I have taken one pig with a 480 Woodleigh SP, one pig and a coyote with a 500gr. Hornady SP. I have also shot several skunks and armadillos [solids on the 'dillos].
The nice thing about a 458 rifle is the different bullets avaliable. The 300 and 400 gr. bullets for the 45/70 work well at speeds of 1600 to 1800fps., and at reduced recoil. I especially like the 350gr. Hornady RNSP. I have used it in 45/70, 458WIN, and in my 450 No2 double at speeds from 1800fps to 2330 fps with excellent results. It feeds smooth as silk in a bolt rifle or a Marlin Lever.

about those 510gr winchester bullets. are they available for reloads or only in loaded ammo. I have shot pre-loaded stuff and they shoot great but reloading is more fun.

if the 500gr soft point hornady is "explosive" and too soft for moose....what is it designed for?

I also shoot 300gr Barnes X with pretty good accuracy. I wonder what these will do. I just tend to like the heavy-for-caliber bullets. and those hornady 500grainers are very accurate in my rifle.

Closest I've come was shooting a blacktail Doe with the 375H&H. The range was about 10 yards...maybe 12. Bullet was the 270 Hornady Spire point.

I've never seen such a big cloud of steam blown off an animal, as that doe threw off. Quite impressive at 10 yards!