I had a Model 70 .458WM once, and after some repairs to the rifle I embarked on a few grand / hair-raising adventures with it. I miss the rifle, and I like the cartridge. Maybe I do prefer British cartridges, but there's still something neat about the .458WM to me. Sure, it wasn't making safari history a hundred years ago, but it did when the British cartridges went out the window for a while. I found it a gentle thing to shoot, yet it still put a prompt hurt on dangerous animals and made me some good food.

So, I thought it might be fun to see who else likes or loves the .458WM. A quick Google or AR search will find all the familiar problems with the cartridge, so hopefully we can just stick to anecdotes by folks who like it. What are the chances?

I used and liked Woodleigh 500 grain solids for buffalo, when I was hunting with the .458WM. It was fine, but if I had my time again I might play around with 480 grain solids.

In 1970 I was a graduate student in Germany when I first began to get serious about hunting in Africa. At the time, British double rifles were in decline, with ammunition more and more difficult to obtain, so when I learned that Krieghoff had started to supply its O/U double rifles (Bockdopperbüchsen) in calibers .458 WM and .375 H&H, both readily available cartridges with Boser primed cases, I leapt at the opportunity and ordered a Krieghoff "Teck" boxlock double in .458 with an interchangeable set of barrels in .375 H&H and another in 20 gaurge 3" Magnum.

In the interim between ordering the rifle and taking delivery I worked on a cartridge and rifle I had been developing for some years, the .505 SRE, which was ready to go by the time I set off for Africa in the fall of 1971. So was the Krieghoff, and it accompanied me on the plane, while the .505 and my Model 70 Winchester .300 H&H went on ahead by air freight.

As things turned out, I used the .505 on my first elephant and my rhino, but on the very last day of my five week hunt I had a chance at a remarkable elephant, and I took the >458 to do the job. The elephant turned out to have only one tusk, but what a tusk! It weighed 94 pounds, although my PH was sure it would top 100. A very large nerve made the difference, but still a prized trophy.

On a hunt the next year, I used the .458 on two Cape buffalo and the .375 on lion, leopard, eland and greater kudu. All very satisfactory.

Here's the elephant:



And here's the tusk:

Pretty sporty hunting togs!

I wasn't really planning on hunting that day. We had given up on the prospect of really big ivory and were on our way back to camp when one of the locals stopped us with news of an elephant with really big ivory. We were pretty skeptical, but the trackers and gun bearers went out with him to look and came back grinning.

He was a very old solitary bull, with just an "askari" as a companion. The other tusk had been recently broken off and the nerve was still festering, so he was not in a very friendly mood. When I first came up to him, I was lined up for a frontal brain shot, but a big branch was in the way and I didn't want to try it. As we moved around for a side shot, he seemed to sense something and suddenly moved away.

We could see his feet beneath the underbrush, facing back in our direction while he tested the air with his trunk. Finally he moved off a little way and we found him on the other side of a small clearing, behind some very large bushes, reaching up to pull something down from a tree. Only his head was visible and I had to take a shot with it raised almost straight up, which made finding the aim point for a brain shot difficult, to say the least.

I shot and he went down, but was struggling on the ground. He was hard to see behind the undergrowth, but I managed to finish him off. The situation was made more difficult by the "askari", who was trumpeting loudly and threatening to charge, which prevented us from crossing the clearing to get closer for a finishing shot.

He turned out to be so old that he was on his last set of teeth, and they were so worn down that it was hard to see how he could have chewed his food.

That's a proper trophy, for sure.

The 458 was key in resurrecting interest in African hunting, at least for those not wealthy. The 458 could be had in a relatively inexpensive rifle, and was generally effective despite initial ammunition issues. I'm sure many were bought as a "Step One' to a safari never taken, but dreams are what keep us alive :-)

My friend and partner, Harry Creighton, the gunsmith who brought all my gun projects into fruition in those days, built the first .458 WM I had ever seen on a Mauser action, but certainly never planned to use it in Africa.

He used to hunt squirrels with it, using round balls and a mild load of pistol powder. He was careful to shoot them in the head.

This is the .458 Harry built for me back in the '60's, which was stocked by Hal Hartley. It is on a high number Springfield action and features a Lyman 48 receiver sight and a Lyman Alaskan scope in a Griffin & Howe side mount.

A piece of history, that! :-)

quote:

Originally posted by xausa:
In 1970 I was a graduate student in Germany when I first began to get serious about hunting in Africa. At the time, British double rifles were in decline, with ammunition more and more difficult to obtain, so when I learned that Krieghoff had started to supply its O/U double rifles (Bockdopperbüchsen) in calibers .458 WM and .375 H&H, both readily available cartridges with Boser primed cases, I leapt at the opportunity and ordered a Krieghoff "Teck" boxlock double in .458 with an interchangeable set of barrels in .375 H&H and another in 20 gaurge 3" Magnum.

In the interim between ordering the rifle and taking delivery I worked on a cartridge and rifle I had been developing for some years, the .505 SRE, which was ready to go by the time I set off for Africa in the fall of 1971. So was the Krieghoff, and it accompanied me on the plane, while the .505 and my Model 70 Winchester .300 H&H went on ahead by air freight.

As things turned out, I used the .505 on my first elephant and my rhino, but on the very last day of my five week hunt I had a chance at a remarkable elephant, and I took the >458 to do the job. The elephant turned out to have only one tusk, but what a tusk! It weighed 94 pounds, although my PH was sure it would top 100. A very large nerve made the difference, but still a prized trophy.

On a hunt the next year, I used the .458 on two Cape buffalo and the .375 on lion, leopard, eland and greater kudu. All very satisfactory.

Here's the elephant:



And here's the tusk:

Your 458 truly has some fantastic history,the O/U DR's are shunned by many,I have a O/U CZ that started life as a 458 WM & is now a LOTT,it is my favorite to shoot,it is the last one I will sell,my S x S DR's will go first when the time comes

I have a Krieghoff O/U double rifle chambered in what amounts to a .450 Watts rimmed, which I created by expanding .375 H&H Flanged Magnum cases to .45 caliber. The performance was the same as the .458 WM factory round, 510 grain bullet at 2150 fps., but the pressure was lower and that, plus the rim made theoretically for better extraction in tropical conditions. That said, I have never had a problem with my .458WM as far as extracting is concerned, despite its rimless extractors.

I had Krieghoff make me a spare set of both .458 and .375 extractors to take with me to Africa, but never had occasion to use either set.

There are no flies on the 458 with modern bullets. Mine is a MARK X with 20 inch barrel that I've owned for about 25 years. I've never seen any need to go bigger. Elephants, buffalo or anything else I have shot with it have died very quickly.

Mark

I have 2 of them. One is an immaculate Ruger with the tang safety and the other one is an older green box Remington out of the "Custom shop". Both of them shoot very well.

What an incredible elephant, Xausa!

I knew some of us must enjoy and appreciate the .458WM!

I love your posts Bill. Good stuff!!

Friend sent me these photos.Hunter was his neighbor and had an association with someone in Winchester management, this was proof for ad campaign as he was told.

Anyone know any more?

Great pic!!!

Notwithstanding some early issues with unsuitable powders, I think the 458WM is a modern classic.

One of the great dangers when hunting DG is 'African shortstroke', where the excited hunter fails to pull the bolt back far enough to pick up the next round.

A 458 Win in a reliable, medium-length action like the old FN Mauser/Browning should be much less prone to this danger than longer cartridges needing magnum actions.

While the power may not equal the Lott, .505 etc, it is up with the .450 NE and equivalents traditionally accounted heavy enough for all species. Its post-war replacement of those cartridges made 458WM ammo easily found in remote places. Even if the hunter feels need of the .458 Lott's extra power, the little Winchester may save the day(rate) if he runs short of cartridges.

I don't see much point in chambering it in db rifles, however, since lower-pressure rimmed cartridges returned.

quote:

Originally posted by xausa:
I have a Krieghoff O/U double rifle chambered in what amounts to a .450 Watts rimmed, which I created by expanding .375 H&H Flanged Magnum cases to .45 caliber. The performance was the same as the .458 WM factory round, 510 grain bullet at 2150 fps., but the pressure was lower and that, plus the rim made theoretically for better extraction in tropical conditions. That said, I have never had a problem with my .458WM as far as extracting is concerned, despite its rimless extractors.

I had Krieghoff make me a spare set of both .458 and .375 extractors to take with me to Africa, but never had occasion to use either set.

I have hunted a tuskless with mine & it was an easy kill, I load NF 450 fn @ 2250 & it just works,my gun has never failed to eject in the field, only once at the range, the belt on the brass was imperfect, it was clearly defective, this is one round out of hundreds,I load this gun with 350 to 500 gr bullets for different game.I never feel undergunned with this gun.The PH's always go nuts when they see my 21" barreled O/U DR in 458 Lott.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill73:
The PH's always go nuts when they see my 21" barreled O/U DR in 458 Lott.

Why? Because they fear standing beside you when it's fired?

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill73:
The PH's always go nuts when they see my 21" barreled O/U DR in 458 Lott.

Why? Because they fear standing beside you when it's fired?

It's not bad to shoot at all,weighs close to 10 lbs,last camp that I was in,all the PH's were shooting either a 458 WM or 458 Lott,& they were just tickled to see a DR in the Lott,especially the configuration that mine is in,short & handy.

I have one built in 56 or 57. It was finished in the custom shop and has a buttery smooth action and feeds flawlessly.

I will post some pics of it later. It is going with me along with my .500 NE double for a double ele hunt in August.

quote:

Originally posted by xausa:
In 1970 I was a graduate student in Germany when I first began to get serious about hunting in Africa. At the time, British double rifles were in decline, with ammunition more and more difficult to obtain, so when I learned that Krieghoff had started to supply its O/U double rifles (Bockdopperbüchsen) in calibers .458 WM and .375 H&H, both readily available cartridges with Boser primed cases, I leapt at the opportunity and ordered a Krieghoff "Teck" boxlock double in .458 with an interchangeable set of barrels in .375 H&H and another in 20 gaurge 3" Magnum.

In the interim between ordering the rifle and taking delivery I worked on a cartridge and rifle I had been developing for some years, the .505 SRE, which was ready to go by the time I set off for Africa in the fall of 1971. So was the Krieghoff, and it accompanied me on the plane, while the .505 and my Model 70 Winchester .300 H&H went on ahead by air freight.

As things turned out, I used the .505 on my first elephant and my rhino, but on the very last day of my five week hunt I had a chance at a remarkable elephant, and I took the >458 to do the job. The elephant turned out to have only one tusk, but what a tusk! It weighed 94 pounds, although my PH was sure it would top 100. A very large nerve made the difference, but still a prized trophy.

On a hunt the next year, I used the .458 on two Cape buffalo and the .375 on lion, leopard, eland and greater kudu. All very satisfactory.

Here's the elephant:



And here's the tusk:

Awesome photos/story/trophy

Amazing bull

http://forums.accuratereloadin...071088422#5071088422

Love to the .458WM with my new rifle by Wayne.

I'm a fan. I have carried on as my heavy rifle on two of my safaris. Shot a couple of buffalo and a kudu on one and an elephant, giraffe and impala on another. The kudu and impala were because its what I had in my hands at the time. The impala was interesting in that at the shot it launched straight up and I swear it jumped 10 feet off of the ground. Everything I have shot with it died quickly. I have only used the 500 grain softs and solids from Hornady.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
I have one built in 56 or 57. It was finished in the custom shop and has a buttery smooth action and feeds flawlessly.

I will post some pics of it later. It is going with me along with my .500 NE double for a double ele hunt in August.

Very nice! It looks to still be in pretty much immaculate condition.

I have shot some elephants, all except one with a Brno 602 in .458Win..

Did a (not very scientific perhaps..) penetration test with it, made a one meter long block of 2" by 8" pinewood stacked and fired at it with Federal factory with 500 grain Woodleigh solids...from 20 meters..barrel is 25 "

One bullet blew clean through and the others went 96-97 centimetres. They penetrated at least as good as my .475 NE double..with 480 grain Woodleigh solids.

That said, the .458 is about to become a .500 Jeffery...more for the hell of it than need of it perhaps..

BTW, nice rifle Lane..

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:
I had a Model 70 .458WM once, and after some repairs to the rifle I embarked on a few grand / hair-raising adventures with it. I miss the rifle, and I like the cartridge. Maybe I do prefer British cartridges, but there's still something neat about the .458WM to me. Sure, it wasn't making safari history a hundred years ago, but it did when the British cartridges went out the window for a while. I found it a gentle thing to shoot, yet it still put a prompt hurt on dangerous animals and made me some good food.

So, I thought it might be fun to see who else likes or loves the .458WM. A quick Google or AR search will find all the familiar problems with the cartridge, so hopefully we can just stick to anecdotes by folks who like it. What are the chances?

I used and liked Woodleigh 500 grain solids for buffalo, when I was hunting with the .458WM. It was fine, but if I had my time again I might play around with 480 grain solids.

Hi Ben.

I owned your M70 .458WM after you sold it and in a moment of madness sold it

I too like the .458WM round and in fact it is my favourite cartridge. I have loaded everything from 300gr Sierra FNHP at 2650fps up to the 500gr Woodleigh PP at 2220fps. I have settled on the Woodleigh 480gr RNSP in my .458 and with a load of 74gr AR2206H I get spot on 2150fps from a 24" barrel. This load has very little to no compression and cloverleafs 3 shots at 50m.
I can highly recommend it

Neat deer you got today, mate!

quote:

Originally posted by Pondoro:
BTW, nice rifle Lane..

Thank you sir.

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:
Neat deer you got today, mate!

Thanks mate

The .458 with the 480gr Woodleigh at 2150fps works well on fallow!

The .458 WinMag was my first "big bore" love.
My first was a Ruger No. 1.
My second was a Remington M700 BDL "Safari" model,
seen here taking a cow moose by drawing permit at Fort Richardson, Alaska in 1986 or 1987, excellent eating:



The Army MPs did not find it amusing that I used an "elephant rifle" on cow moose,
though I fired only one shot and recovered all the bullet fragments.
It was a spectacular Hornady .458/500-gr RNSP bullet failure, though the moose died instantly.
Soon after that, the drawing-permit hunt that was so close to post housing became archery-only.
I wonder if I am partly to blame for that.

The next game I used that rifle and frangible-bulleted load on was hoary marmot in the Chugach Mountains.
Spectacular results, excellent varmint rifle!

I never had any problem getting 2150 fps with 500-grainers from my 24" barrels, even with old IMR-3031.
Never could get 2400 fps with 400-grainers with old IMR-4198 without loosening the primer pockets.
But newer powders can do even that.
Really, nowadays, the .458 WinMag makes us look silly for wanting anything bigger.
Long live the .458 Winchester Magnum!

THE FEW THE PROUD THE 395 FAMILY
Rip

I shot some DG with the .458 with handloads and found it and excellent killer..It got off to a bad start when the firearms companies advertised 2150 or there abouts and folks with chronographs were getting 1900 FPS..the .458 almost didn;t survive that, but it hung in there and holds a place in DG rounds today..

I like it with a 480 or 500 gr. bullets at 2000 FPS plus and try to get 2100 at least, thus I always use a 24 inch barrel. A complaint Ihave is load density, to get 2000 plus you must cram the case, and I don't prefer to do that..My approach to the 45 caliber big bore is the 458 Lott, loaded down to 2200 FPS..That is about a ideal elephant or anything else killer as one could ask for, and a 458 solid at 2100 to 2200 will penetrate at least a Sherman tank, and maybe a Nazi Panzer! much less a elephants head!

But IMO, the 416 and 404 is just as good and has been my preference over the years..

Hey guys,

This also might be a good thread to share our favourite loads for the .458.

Mine is the 480gr Woodleigh RNSP loaded in a Winchester case on top of 74gr or AR2206H (H4895) sparked by a CCI mag primer.

This load gives exactly 2150fps in my 24" barrel and has very little - if any compression.

Love my Whitworth. Never pointed it at anything bigger than a deer. Back in 1983 or so, Had dreams of the dark continent but never went. Shot first one with hor 500 fmj elephant loads. Now I hunt with it some every year. 443 and 485 cast over aa2015. Hasn't failed me yet. Don't expect it will. Have a 2.5 X etched glass recticle shotgun scope on it.

quote:

Originally posted by Fury01:
Love my Whitworth. Never pointed it at anything bigger than a deer. Back in 1983 or so, Had dreams of the dark continent but never went. Shot first one with hor 500 fmj elephant loads. Now I hunt with it some every year. 443 and 485 cast over aa2015. Hasn't failed me yet. Don't expect it will. Have a 2.5 X etched glass recticle shotgun scope on it.

Etched-glass reticles are a good idea but they would solve only half the modern problem. You've still got the erector tube bouncing around at every shot. Another member suggests that the Leupold 2.5x Compact is the only reasonably modern scope able to withstand the big ones for long.

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:

quote:

Originally posted by Fury01:
Love my Whitworth. Never pointed it at anything bigger than a deer. Back in 1983 or so, Had dreams of the dark continent but never went. Shot first one with hor 500 fmj elephant loads. Now I hunt with it some every year. 443 and 485 cast over aa2015. Hasn't failed me yet. Don't expect it will. Have a 2.5 X etched glass recticle shotgun scope on it.

Etched-glass reticles are a good idea but they would solve only half the modern problem. You've still got the erector tube bouncing around at every shot. Another member suggests that the Leupold 2.5x Compact is the only reasonably modern scope able to withstand the big ones for long.

Little Konus has had several hundred of my cast loads aimed through it. Hunted several years. Never moved zero. Just lucky I guess. Would go to a peep if it fails I think. Just tried this little scope and it works great so kept on going.

Yes, Fury01, it's marvellous how lucky we can be. My thoughts are based on the obvious vulnerability of having a four-inch, possibly four-ounce, optical entity suspended on a spring or two inside your scope. The industry obviously knows something about failures but covers the matter with unconditional life-time warranties. These are fine as long as the scope doesn't fail on your trip of a lifetime, at which time all the warranties in the world are useless.

The only other insider info we have on the susceptibility of image-movement scopes comes when a maker comes out with an improvement. Then we have Swarovski saying recoil can multiply the inertia on the erector tube by up to 800 times (hence their rear helical springs), Leupold spruiking special rare-earth springs and Vortex padding their brass innards with hardened-steel to reduce wear.

As with life, I guess we are lucky with scopes until we're unlucky.

Agreed. That is why I love Iron Sights! Now having said that, I have never had a scope failure and that covers about 45 of my 59 years. Burris and Leupold mostly. I remember Burris used to advertise their dual springs assembly. Don't know if that was important. They also had a PosiLock that I am sure worked pretty well as it locked the adjustment mechanism in place. Don't think it sold well enough to keep though.