I had a 460 couple yrs ago got it used from a guy who got it used it was his first gun and he had never been hunting but wanted to shoot a bear. a little bit of an odd fellow. now the gun came with about 80 rds loaded ammo he was not a handloader and knew nothing about guns but some of the ammo boxes were marked new unfired brass so I don't know if the ammo was factory or real nice looking handloads and since I live on an island in Alaska I cant just run out find a fresh box 460 to compare. so heres the problem this is a factory muzzle braked wby built in 70s the recoil is so brutal it had knocked one of his molars out and ive plenty time shootin big bore like 416 458 even 500 a square but shootin this offhand the cheekpiece hit my chest spun me sideways an pulled ribs out of sternum enuf you see them. now I watched bunch people on youtube shootin 460 an it didn't look like recoil was anywhere like loads I shot and I weigh over 200lbs so my question is were these likely sombodys souped up handloads or is all 460 wby brutal

I checked my recoil chart and it shows the .460 Wby as having 99.6 pounds of recoil in an 11.25 lb rifle. The same weight bullet in a .458 win mag is about 60 lbs. yes it is a beast when it comes to recoil.

Yep I exceed 200lbs too...........not saying by how much...........but I can't say that the 460 wby (dozen shots) that I've shot are anywhere near that bad. No physical side affects (next day) at all.

It's a gun/calibre I could learn to shoot should I have one thrust upon me.

But I thought a 416 Rem mag kicked worse (harsher "stabbing" recoil)

Something wrong here.

I have a 450 Rigby which is the same case as your 460 but without the belt. I shoot 500 grain bullets at a MV=2450fps. Now I don’t jump for joy when it comes to shooting this rifle off the bench and 8-10 shots is about my comfort limit. It sounds like you have some pretty hot loads.

I shoot a 416 rem and factory loads w 400gr crony over 2400 to almost 2450 not bad recoil not much diff than 375 depending how gun fits but 460 every shot I had so much shoulder trauma I had to set it down an wait few min an never shot it off bench . a buddy used to shoot 12ga coach gun w 3in mag both bbls at same time off his back porch everbody had to try it but it didn't beat you as bad as the 460 my guess is somebody handloaded these rds as I cant see any way you could hunt with this kind trauma. just how fast can you push a 460 wby?

“....... the recoil is so brutal it had knocked one of his molars out and ive plenty time shootin big bore like 416 458 even 500 a square but shootin this offhand the cheekpiece hit my chest spun me sideways an pulled ribs out of sternum enuf you see them. ......”
Not saying you or the former owner are “stretching the blanket” a bit, but I have shot a .460 and still have all my natural teeth and no ribs poking out.
Molar huh? You aren’t supposed to put the rifle butt either on your jaw, or on your sternum, it is supposed to be on your shoulder

guess we could use some shootin lessons musta been holdin our mouths wrong

I had a 460 Weatherby for 30 years, and used full loads (124 grns powder and 500 grn proj, you couldn't get any more powder in there) weigh 175 lbs, and never had a problem with recoil, maybe your just weren't holding it right.

I've loaded my 500 Jeffery up to 2510 fps with a 570g TSX, fun index is low. At 2300 fps it's fun to shoot off hand. My CZ 550 weighs 12 lbs with scope unloaded and I wouldn't want it any lighter. Everyone's recoil tolerance is different I've found mine

Anukpuk,
Is the .460 ammo factory Weatherby or hand loads?

quote:

Originally posted by anukpuk:
I had a 460 couple yrs ago got it used from a guy who got it used it was his first gun and he had never been hunting but wanted to shoot a bear. a little bit of an odd fellow. now the gun came with about 80 rds loaded ammo he was not a handloader and knew nothing about guns but some of the ammo boxes were marked new unfired brass so I don't know if the ammo was factory or real nice looking handloads and since I live on an island in Alaska I cant just run out find a fresh box 460 to compare. so heres the problem this is a factory muzzle braked wby built in 70s the recoil is so brutal it had knocked one of his molars out and ive plenty time shootin big bore like 416 458 even 500 a square but shootin this offhand the cheekpiece hit my chest spun me sideways an pulled ribs out of sternum enuf you see them. now I watched bunch people on youtube shootin 460 an it didn't look like recoil was anywhere like loads I shot and I weigh over 200lbs so my question is were these likely sombodys souped up handloads or is all 460 wby brutal

If this happened to you,you really have no business shooting big guns.

Stick to calibers you can handle.

I am 5 and half feet high, weigh 130 pounds, and have shot thousands of rounds from all sorts of rifles, on the bench and off hand, and never suffered anything.

We have 15 year old kids shooting the 577 T.Rex, which makes the 460 Weathertby seem like a little dinky toy when it comes to recoil, and they have no problems.

I don't think those are factory loads. If you shoot that rifle standing up, try to roll with the recoil. During my shooting career, I generally shot boomers from the standing, or sitting positions. The sitting position is more accurate than you might think. Hold the gun tight to your shoulder, so it can't get a running start at you.

I suspect your story is a little more vivid than the actual event's were. No harm in that. If you wish to keep that rifle, you'll need to learn how to reload. Start with Western/Accurate Powder's 5744, and a 450 grain lead bullet with a gas check. There are a few outfits in Montana that sell those bullets. Make sure those bullets are "Hard Cast" with a Brinell Hardness of 21.
Start with 45 grains of the XMR 5744. Then get a recipe for your cartridge off of a reputable website: Nosler. Hornady, Norma, Speer, Hodgdon. or Western Powders/Accurate Powder

Provided the bolt is not sticky or hard to open and there are no other signs of high pressure such as leaking primers etc, I think we could assume that the loaded cartridges, whether factory or handloads, are within spec.
My early Hornady Handloading guide says that for those who shot the data for the 460 Weatherby a 25lb bag of lead was used between the shoulder and the butt to prevent badly bruised shoulders. The test rifle also had a muzzle brake.

A heavy bodied person shooting a heavy recoiling gun is actually acting more like a lead sled or similar when shooting off the bench as there is more momentum to overcome to push the upper body back with stout recoil so the rifle butt just buries itself deeper into the shoulder, and could potentially cause the rib damage you speak of. Make sure the rifle is pulled hard into the shoulder so the body starts to recoil immediately and the butt is not jumping into the shoulder.

When I first started using my lightweight Mauser 404 I was very fit and of a similar weight to Saeed (only I was 1.8m height so very scrawny) and the 404 just pushed my shoulder back with the muzzle rising up and left quite a bit (I'm a lefty shooter). Couple of images below taken from 8mm movie demonstrate this when I was taking a buffalo. Pre-shot I had a rest through the fork of a small tree but the second image shows the rifle coming well up and out of the fork under recoil, I just rolled with the punch.
The recoil didn't bother me then and I was mostly wearing a tee shirt when shooting the 404. Now over three decades older and weighing in around 200lbs I definitely notice the 404 can hurt a bit when firing a few strings off the bench and my shoulder bruises even shooting heavy cast bullets. Fitting a Pachmayr Old English Decelerator pad has been a real improvement in soaking up the recoil.

I suspect anukpuk is trolling, and getting some good gas mileage.

Rip ...

ive watched at least a dozen you tube videos of women kids senior citizens shootin 460 with no problems an ive shot liteweight 458 and a buddys 500 asquare and shot a truckload stuff w my own 416 none of these hurt to shoot that's why I posted this aint no bs about tooth n ribs I didn't hav problem w extraction an I read wby had to tone down loads n change to better brake so maybe these are just hot handloads if the people on youtube had been shootin loads this hot somebody would have dropped the gun an these wbys are too pretty to take that chance

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
I suspect anukpuk is trolling, and getting some good gas mileage.

Rip ...

YYYeeeeeppppp!!

while i've had the snot knocked out of me ....
well, nevermind, i smell troll stool

Makes no since to me with the hottest of handloads that such an injury could possibly happen...I had George Hoffmans 460 WBY, until I sold it for him, and I shot all the ammo he sent with it, about 80 rounds, off hand and off the bench, some years ago prior to his death and although the recoil was fierce by comparison, but it was shootable for me back then, today I wouldn't even consider shooting those biggest of bores.., and this poster has a muzzle brake on his...The posters post has to be a troll with a sence of humor, or the village idiot!! who knows...