I have acquired a Parker Hale Safari Model rifle in .458 Win. mag. It is giving trouble loading soft nosed(flat top) ammo. Does anyone know of a fix for this problem or is it a fault on all rifles with soft nose ammo? I would be greatfull if anyone can advise me of the correct proceedure.

Common problem especially with blunt projectiles. Have a competent gunsmith fix it for you.

Good luck. Cheers, Chris

Chris,
Sometimes it's just easier to switch to a different bullet. If you're not locked into what you have for any particular reason, try changing it up. My Ruger in 458 doesn't like long flat noses, but feeds flawlessly on short blunts like the weld cores or tapered like Barnes.

I will second that... Have it fixed... A 458 is made for dangerous game.. And dangerous game should only be hunted with the best bullets.. And the best bullets (at least solids) are ALL flatnose solids.. Thats why...

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:
Common problem especially with blunt projectiles. Have a competent gunsmith fix it for you.

Good luck. Cheers, Chris

Keep the rifle pointing in a safe direction and try a slow motion feed from the magazine watching to see just how the cartridge feeds up from the magazine and under the claw extractor onto the the bolt face of the Parker Hale. With anything other than round nose bullets, which guide themself into the chamber better, the cartridge needs to pop up out of the magazine onto the bolt face and align up for virtually a straight line feed to avoid catching.

If the heel of the extractor is still too much of a crescent shape the head of the cartridge can balk and not clip smoothly in under the extractor onto the bolt face with the bullet then catching on the top of the chamber or up in the top bolt lug recess in the receiver.

Often magazine rails are blamed for holding the cartridge too long in the feed cycle but a claw extractor has to also allow the cartridge to feed smoothly up onto the bolt face.

Remove the firing pin and do as eagle27 says.

Thanks Gents for your replies. I will investigate along the suggested lines.

You might consider rechambering it to 458 Lott. I had the same issues with mine, and the Lott cured all of the feeding issues.

I have reformed the feedrails and magazine plate. The rifle now feeds flat nosed, round nosed, jacketed and lead bullets. Many thanks to all who helped.
Chris.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris O'connor.:
I have reformed the feedrails and magazine plate. The rifle now feeds flat nosed, round nosed, jacketed and lead bullets. Many thanks to all who helped.
Chris.

That's the proper way to handle the problem. Simply changing to round nosed bullets is the easy way out. I've always said that a rifle that won't feed flat nosed solids, will at some point, fail to feed a round nosed bullet also. The reason being that there is an issue of some sort with the feed mechanism. Correct the problem instead of simply switching bullets. As someone else said, a DG rifle should be capable of shooting the best bullets for the job, and those bullets have flat noses!

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:

quote:

Originally posted by Chris O'connor.:
I have reformed the feedrails and magazine plate. The rifle now feeds flat nosed, round nosed, jacketed and lead bullets. Many thanks to all who helped.
Chris.

That's the proper way to handle the problem. Simply changing to round nosed bullets is the easy way out. I've always said that a rifle that won't feed flat nosed solids, will at some point, fail to feed a round nosed bullet also. The reason being that there is an issue of some sort with the feed mechanism. Correct the problem instead of simply switching bullets. As someone else said, a DG rifle should be capable of shooting the best bullets for the job, and those bullets have flat noses!

+1. On the comments...