Ladies and gents: Anyone out there loading casts bullets in his or her .458 Mag? What weights, loads, velocities, accuracy? Anyone fooling with blackpowder in this case?

I have loaded several cast loads in my 2 .458 Winchesters with Lymans 552 Gr. Gas Check bullet. This is an excellent bullet with a large meplat and a delevery like a brick thru a plate glass window! The bullet no. is #462560 loaded over 62.0 gr. of IMR 3031 powder for about 1800 FPS. I cast them HARD from Linotype and have had zero leading problems. I believe this mold is still available from Lyman. I found a 4 cavity model at a gun show about 20 years ago, and it is still casting them faster than I can shoot them. Bill T.

Bill: I have seen that slug, and it sure is impressive. Have you had an opportunity to try it on game? I think the brick-through-the-window analogy is apt. Unfortunately, I think Lyman has dropped that mould, but I might be wrong.

Bill,

I believe you are correct about that mold. A bit of good news is that Saeco has a very similar mold.

Lee makes a 500 gr gc mold that is supposed to be pretty good, but unfortunately is a single cavity.

I plan to shoot alot of lead through my 458 when its finished, but haven't gotten any molds yet.

I bought some Gunhill Bullets (finn made???) GC lead bullets, 313gr and 515gr. Wanted cheap ammo for practice. At first I had no faster powders than N130, but low charges gave masive velocity spread of 230fps from 1312 to 1542fps. Group size 4". I then calculated a load that would fill the case: N150, but the pressures were so low that the powder was not burning completely, 3 shot groups around 1.5".

So, I got some N120 and toilet paper (Serla sen olla pit��, 3-ply), loaded with and without paper wad and: WOW. With 38.0gr N120 a 6gr wad of rolled paper firmly pushed against the powder, the velocity was 1640fps and spread was down to 4.59fps/5shots!!! Groups around 1". I doubt that neither bullet nor barrel is capable of smaller groups. Freebore is about .35" with these bullets seated with all lube grooves down in the case. I tested to put them .05 into the lands with no improvement, but double spread.

Then I got my Brno602 and loaded up 5 rounds each of 6 loads, all with the magic paper, shot 5, NO hole at 100m. Shot five more, still no hole. I got only 3 holes in a newspaper at 30m (100ft) with 10 shots. At that point I decided not to look further for additional precision. The freebore is around 7/8". From what I have read lead bullets do not like long jumps, at least not in my Brno. AKI

Hi AKI
What do you use your 458win to more then target practice. I have just bought one 458WinMag myself (in some attack of madness ) Thought I could use it on the moose and boar but what should I load it with. My first thougt was 350gr Hornady RN or 400gr Barnes.
AKI what are your loads and experience of the 458
PerN

Hejsan Per! My 458 will be my new moose sledge when I get the time.

There is good and bad madness. Buying big bores is a sign of the former.

What rifle did ju buy? Have you shot it yet?

I�ve loaded some 500gr Hornady SP for moose, but I have read on finnish forums of good experiences on moose with the 350gr Hornadys too. N540 might be the best powder there is for full power 500gr loads.
I saw some Norma with A-Frames, but for the price of a box of 20 you could get a Lee Challenger press and dies... Handloading recommended! Don�t be affraid of compressing some loads, just crimp them properly. Get Winchester brass. It stands pressure better than Rem (if you want to challenge Saeeds speeds). I got 100 cases from www.staffansvapen.se last month.

A great caliber. Perhaps the best there is for moose up here, if one can handle the gun. Lets hope the sweedish 6,5 gang are scared off by the topic of this thread.

Lycka till! AKI

No AKI I have not get the gun, but hopefuly it will turn up the coming week I got the licens yeasterday from the police and the rifle is waiting in boliden until I got that

I found a used gun on the net (www.jaktia.se)
It is a custom build Husqvarna, Mod 98, Ictus barrel and winchester safe. The store also had a used Hornadys tools, some brass, some reloads (300gr) and a box of 500gr Hornadys RN. They offerd me the tool, reloads, brass and bullet for 750skr, I took it I had newer thougt on using such heavy bullets to hunt, but it was to cheap to say no. I am a little worried of it how will be handling the recoil from 500gr :O

PerN

Oh that one. It has been there for some time. Start with three rounds with very light loads, say 65gr N540. Lighter bullets than 500gr would be better. Shoot them standing. You have to get your brain and body to realise that the recoil is quite managable, that the scope wont hit your fore head, find the correct spot on your shoulder. Hold it firmly and squeese of. The recoil is looong compared to 300 mags or 9,3x62 but NOT painful at all.

Thereafter you can increase the load when you feel ready for it. DON�T start at the bench. That might destroy everything! At +650m/s things are getting tough... Du har glada dagar framf�r dej. Njut! AKI

Bill, The only game that I ever took with that slug was a fair sized deer at about 80 yards. It drilled a neat .458 dia. hole right thru him and he went down like he was hit by a freight train! It kicked up an amazing amount of dirt about 15 yards behind him. These heavy cast slugs penetrate well and perform splendidly. It's too bad that Lyman doesn't still make that mold, it sure is a good one. Bill T.