It is a manly looking cartridge. After so many years of being held up as a bad example of a bad inluence I am happy that someone else is a bad influence on me .
JCN

I don't know a whole lot about this cartridge, but wouldn't it be kind of like a shortened 450 Rigby or 450 Dakota? Also, how do you go about necking up from 338 to 458 without ruining the brass? just curious.

JCN,
I suspect that you are certifiable, like me. Everybody has to be crazy about something, or life is a bloody big bore.

A man has got to know his limitations, speak softly, and carry the biggest stick he is totally comfortable with, and then he will go far.

Ken,

I have so far necked up 150 cases without a single problem. The neck thickness is the same as just about any factory cartridge. No splits, no runout, no mishaps at all.



The new .338 Lapua Magnum brass has the hues of annealing of the shoulder and neck area visible on the shiny new brass. Well executed.



As Ross Seyfried said, anneal after necking down and before necking up.



Lapua has annealed the stuff for me, apparently after they neck their basic down to .338.



I use two off-the-shelf RCBS neck expander dies for a two step neck-up. The first die is .30 to .375. The second step is .375 to ".45" and I am done.



The original 20 degree semi-angle Lapua shoulder is still there. No fire-forming is necessary, but the shoulder becomes sharper after firing. It is a very adequate shoulder.



The body taper is the same as the .338 Lapua, which is the same as the original .416 Rigby from which it was derived.



The neck does shorten as it necks up, but it does not thin much at all, and there have been no problems whatsoever. .338 Lapua Magnum brass is 2.724" max.

45 Lapua is 2.667" as necked up.



I can stamp or engrave a "45" in the blank spot on either side of the Lapua shield on the factory headstamp and I have brass that matches my barrel: 45/.338 Lapua.



That .338 Lapua Magnum brass is the best there is on the planet, and the 45 Lapua is one of the best wildcats possible. No problems.



Modifying a set of .338 Lapua dies, and a set of 460 Wby dies, I have made up my own 45 Lapua reloading dies:



A 460 Wby sizing die shortened just over a quarter inch provides the neck sizing. You basically cut off the belt area of the die. The Lapua base is bigger than the 460 Wby base (above the belt), but the Lapua body tapers a little quicker than the Weatherby.



Then cut off a .338 Lapua sizing die precisely in the shoulder area, just below the neck-shoulder juncture, so that the 45 Lapua neck sticks through the top, free and clear, but the remaining shoulder of the die sets the headspace.



Then cut off a 460 Wby seating die at the bottom, to shorten it and get rid of the belt area. Fortuitously, it allows even a crimp of the 45 Lapua case mouth without problem, since the 45 Lapua neck is long enough to be perfect for this.



An RCBS universal de-priming die or a cutoff 460 Weatherby de-capper/sizer is used.



It's perfect, and it has some advantages over the 450 Rigby and 450 Dakota, especially in the brass department!!!

I might add, just to be a bad influence, that this rifle can be made by simply



A) rechambering just about any .458 WinMag rifle that has an action long enough for the .375 H&H



or



B) you can rebarrel any rifle with a .375 H&H-length action



The CZ 550 Magnum with its big box is the easiest route, and I have done both A and B on a CZ. The 25" CZ barrel gives only about 50 fps greater velocity than the 22" McGowen barrel.



The box of the CZ allows cartridges of 3.750" COL easily.

If you seat the bullets out long enough and cut the throat with enough freebore to handle what you want, then the 450 Rigby/Dakota has nothing to offer over the 45 Lapua, except snob appeal.



To chamber such a rifle, use a .338 Lapua reamer with a floating pilot for .458, then use a .458 Lott reamer for the neck and throat, and/or any throat reamer you want.



Or order the 45 Lapua reamer from the other Dave at PTG. They have it listed.



No worries with the 45 Lapua. If it were ever standardized, it ought to be called the ".457 Faultless Express" just to be more distinguishing when everyone starts raving about the effectiveness of their "four-five-seven" on safari.



Now, the only use I have for the 460 Weatherby brass is to neck it up to .510 caliber.

I have a bunch of those softs taken from Cape buffalo in 416 and 375 caliber, they all look just like yours and came to rest on the off side skin...they certainly are consistent and they never fail to perform as pictured above...

I wish I could get them to knock a hole out the other side, but due to their design they won't do that and that design is on purpose as that is what most folks have told Mike they want.

Ray,
O.K., you converted me to a believer in the 404 Jeffery and now North Fork.

I think the North Fork "shank technology" is better than anybody else's. Even got GSC beat there. This bullet is like an original TB BearClaw with driving bands, and you do not have to worry about the "gilding metal" variety of TBBC that may be showing up with the new ownership of the TB designs.

Now if only a solid to go with the softs in calibers .375 and up would be forthcoming from North Fork, eh?

BTW, the bullet pictures are from the North Fork web site. I did recover a soft, but I had to use a pick and shovel to excavate 2 feet of the earth and gravel berm to find it. The solid shank was still in good shape, and some of the bonded lead of the nose was still there, despite the rocky-red-clay "test media." Buffalo-resistance would be nothing compared to that berm!

How does the 458 Lapua differ from the 460 G&A and the 450 Vincent Long?

The 45/.338 Lapua is based on the shortened .416 Rigby case.

The 460 G&A and 450 Vincent Long are based on the full length 404 Jeffery case.

They all have about the same capacity.

The 45/.338 Lapua has better quality brass than the other two, since it is designed to operate at higher pressures, has a thicker head.

Sorry to not have responded sooner.

This thread was started many years ago, back when North Fork was only making softs. Mike Brady eventually made those FP solids, and Cup Points: Veni, vidi, vicci, vamoosi.