Posted this on the African forum, too. Friend of mine and I are hunting Maasailand in July. He's going for lion, leopard and buff. He will be using his .458 Win for lion and buff, 30-06 for leopard.

I'd appreciate suggestions for the best factory loads for lion and buff, as he doesn't reload. I'm leaning toward the 500 A Frame and Barnes solids for buff, and the A Frame for lion. Thanks.

hornady factory loads, heavy mag

jetdrvr, I think you're dead on with your choices, and Norma offers loads with those bullets:

#11110 .458 Win Mag Barnes solid
#11120 .458 Win Mag Swift A-Frame

George

Jetdrvr:

The Norma rounds would be an excellent option, but don't forget custom loaders such as www.superiorammo.com and www.safariarms.com

They could provide your friend with a number of options such as 450 grains vs 500 grains, etc.

Good Luck.

Thanks, guys. I've had some stuff loaded by Larry at Superior. They do good work. We'll try the Hornadys and the other two. I'll chrono them for him. Probably go with George's selection, depending on accuracy and I have personally had great success with the A Frame in both 7mm Rem and .375. Lots of one shot kills with that tough bullet.

I would probably go with a quicker opening bullet on lion than the Swift A-frame. Either a 500 grain Nosler Partition or Hornady DGX. I would also look at the new Hornady DGS as a solid for buff. The 500 Swift A-Frame would be great for buff as would the 500 grain Nosler Partition.

465H&H

Yeah, the A Frame is a very tough bullet and we were curious as to its efficiency on cats. We were also thinking about the Partition or the DGX.

I guess the jury's still out on the DGX for buff? Haven't seen much feedback at all on the new Hornadys.

Advertised velocities on the Hornadys are impressive. After the Interbond problems, though, I am hesitant on betting the farm on a relatively untested bullet. I've yet to read a hunting report by someone who has used the DGX on buff.

Don't believe the Hornady advertised velocities for the 458 Win until you try them in your rifle. I couldn't get 2,100 out of them although they are advertised as 2,260 fps.

465H&H

I thought that sounded a bit on the high side. I'll chrono them and see what they really do for us. Thanks.

... I don,t know if they are still loaded but the Federal Premium Safari ammo loaded with the 400 gr Ttrophy Bonded Bear Claw 458 Win Mag . is loaded to 2400 fps ... For lion and buff it would be my only load .....Or have Superior load the 400 gr GS HV to 2400 fps or the 350 gr TSX to 2500 fps ... Killin machines for sure ...

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
Don't believe the Hornady advertised velocities for the 458 Win until you try them in your rifle. I couldn't get 2,100 out of them although they are advertised as 2,260 fps.

465H&H

When I chronographed them through my CZ Lott, they averaged 2,150.......

I'm not a great fan of taking two different loads (for the soft points) but in this situation that's what I would do. Cat's are more prone to shock thus most experts (not me) agree that they like the velocity to be at least 2,300 or greater for cats. That's why the 375 is better for cats than the 458 unless you can get the velocity increase. So I would take some 400grain Swifts for the job loaded with AA 2230 powder you can achieve this velocity with moderate pressures. I disagree with the Swift aframe being too hard for lion their muscle density is quite high so you don't need to worry about bullet expansion with the greater velocities. For the buff I would use the 500 grain barnes X or the Swift aframe It will do a bang up job on the buff and for backup any good solid will do, I prefer the Hornady and GS solids.

Dirk

dirklawyer

I don't care for 375, however we agree on the 458 with 400s. Trying not to get too far off thread, as this is about factory loads. However your comment on the 400 gr Swift A Frames is spot on. I shot 3 lions with a 400 gr Swift at 2325 fps in 458 Winchester and it hammers them down. I used RL 7 for this. As for a factory load I can't really say, but for lions look hard at the 400 gr Trophy bond load I would think would do well.

Factory loads I think Remington used to load the 450 Swift. That would be perfect in 458 Winchester for buff.

I would hate to be limited to Factory loads in 458 Winchester. Handloading you can do so much with one.

Michael

I chronographed a bunch of 450 gr Swift Remington factory ammo and as I remember it didn,t even do 2100 fps ..., from 3 different 458s ..................... found my chrony results avg vel for the Rem factory 450 swift load 2074 fps .......

Gumboot458

My point on the last comment exactly! For 458 Winchester it is at it's best with good handloads.

I can run the 450 Swift and 450 Barnes solid steady on 2250 fps in 22 inch guns in 458 Win.

I am not surprised at the low factory velocities of the Remington, but one could have hoped for more!

Fortunately I have polluted my rifles rarely with factory ammo, only when I needed pressure readings.

Michael