Does anyone know the status of Hornady's 458 Winchester "Heavy Magnum" ammo loaded with the 500 grain Interbond bullet? I have contacted Hornady with this question and have not yet received any response. I see that the ammo is now listed as "Custom" versus "Heavy Magnum" on both Midway's and Cabela's websites. I wonder if this means that they will be downloading the ammo to more "standard" velocity? Midway shows this ammo is "Out of Stock and No Back Order" indicating that it will not be available for at least 30 days. Cabelas recently revised the availibility from one to two weeks to 12 weeks.

I see that the full metal jacket bullet Heavy Magnum loading continues to be available.

For the record the soft nose Heavy Magnum ammo gave a muzzle velocity of 2,175 feet per second from an old Ruger M-77 with a 24" Magna-ported barrel during a cold (20 degree F) Michigan winter day.

Don, From what I have learned from Hornady is that their Custom Interbond is loaded to the same velocities as their Heavy Mag. I am using it now in my 20" bbl 458 and showing 2060fps but my rifle has always been "slow" in the velocity department when compared with others. In a Lott chamber in another rifle the standard 458 ammos showed consistant velocities over 2100fps. I have been impressed with both the ammo and new bullets. performance.

458Win,

I found the Heavy Magnum soft nose rounds to be excellent from the bench, yielding roughly 1.5" to 2" groups at 100 yards (using a 1-4x power scope with heavy duplex crosshairs), which is all I expect from myself anymore, with any load. I have not used them on game yet, but found that they mushroomed very well and retained in excess of 95% of their weight when fired into firewood logs (best backstop I had available at the time). Really, they weighed essentially the full 500 grains and were "perfect" mushrooms.

The velocity was actually about what I expected as my rifle tends to be a bit slow too. I tend to get about 50 to 70 feet per second less than reloading manuals would suggest. This is so typical I think that it is a characteristic of the rifle as opposed to the seemingly universally high velocities reported in various manuals.

These loads are sure a lot faster than I can generate with handloads.