Good morning all.

I have now got my first big bore, a Mauser M98 in 458 Win.Mag. 24" barrel, open sight only, so far.

There is , maybe, no need for it here in Norway. The moose is not THAt big. But, the dream, plan is a trip to Africa for Buff, Hippo and some plains game, and then the 9.3*62 is on the low side. Nice excuse to buy a big bore to

But, a lot are saying the Win mag is not a good round? From what can find out, it delivers more less what the 450 NE doubles did, so nothing short there.
Brass is around at a low price to.

Any tip on bullets, solids and soft points?
I am thinking of woodlights, 480-500 gr bullets.
Also, the rifle will be used during the moose hunt, have to be a good one in thick heavy timer ground, short range shot.
Any tip on a bullet?

Glad to hear from happy 458 Win mag. users.

Wish you all a good weekend.

I am off to test my dear big bore

9,3x62:

You did just fine!

With modern powders and bullets, I feel more than comfortable hunting elephants on down with a .458 Win Mag. Nothing much likes a .458 450-500 grain well-constructed bullet at 2100 fps (maybe a wee bit more) in the brain or through the heart. At those velocities and modern techniques, old problems like caked powder, squib loads, etc. seem to be a thing of the past.

Both of the below animals were taken with Hornady DGS .458 ammo. Some folks like monometal solids and to be honest, I'd have used them if I were reloading at the time, but you can't complain with the performance I had on both the elephant (shoot-through brain shot and unnecessary shoot-through heart follow-up). We found but one bullet in the buffalo. all three shots were frontal or quartering frontal and only one stayed in the animal and only had a trace bit of lead pooching out of the hole in the bottom. BTW, I've never shot anything with Hornady DGX bullets. Folks complain about them.... I'd research a bit before I used them myself.


The rifle is a Military Mauser, customized by Jack Hammrick of South Carolina and Tim Ward of Georgia. Slick as can be!

9.3,

You'll be just fine. The complaints about the 458 WM were from the old days. With new powders, and the great bullets available today, the 458 is all you need for anything that walks.

My .458 currently has 9 buffalo under it's belt; all with 450 grain A-Frames and H4895 for 2200 fps. My current load uses the same bullet and A2230 to produce 2350 fps. Same speed with two grains less powder with the 450 grain Banded Solids. I'll give those a whirl in Mozambique in early Oct.

On a related note, I'm one of those with a bad experience with Hornady DGX bullets, though it was with .450 NE. Since Hornady isn't likely to pay for the costs of trying them again I see no reason to spend my own money to see if those exploding bullets were just a fluke.

9.3x62moose,

You did fine! The 458WM is one of my favorites and far more versatile that a lot of folks think. Elephants and buffalo seem to fall over quite easily when hit properly with the standard 500 gr load at 2100fps. When you push the 450 to 2300fps you've pretty much eliminated any advantage a 416 offers and if you load the 350 TSX TO 2500fps plus which you can you've got a real hammer for thin skinned game. All this with moderate recoil. You're going to love your 4-5-8.

Mark

Just finishing up the book on Paul (kambada) Grobler, who culled more elephants then maybe any else ever. He settled on BSA push feed 458's. He thought the pushfeeds saved his life several times when he could drop one into the spout and close the bolt to fire.
That should get people fired up!!

One of the good things is, if you reload, there are many lighter bullets with spitzer shapes for hunting smaller game. These will increase range and keep sufficient energy. Enjoy your new acquisition.

If you are young enough to still have flexible eye sight, I'd consider staying with the iron sights but I'm sure the experienced hands have a lot to say on that.

It seems to me that when the .458 WM first came out many decades ago there were some problems with the solids bending in game, and that helped give it a bad reputation. But, all that has been solved long ago I would think.

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
Just finishing up the book on Paul (kambada) Grobler, who culled more elephants then maybe any else ever. He settled on BSA push feed 458's. He thought the pushfeeds saved his life several times when he could drop one into the spout and close the bolt to fire.
That should get people fired up!!

Funny thing, every controlled feed rifle I own will take a round dropped into the barrel. Sometimes it blows me away how experienced people can simultaneously know so much, and yet so little.

quote:

Funny thing, every controlled feed rifle I own will take a round dropped into the barrel. Sometimes it blows me away how experienced people can simultaneously know so much, and yet so little.

There are a few CRF actions that wont feed that way.

I use my 458 for everything. 315 GR GS Custom HV for flat shooting, 450 GR GS Custom FN sold for DG.

Good luck with your rifle and shoot it often

quote:

There are a few CRF actions that wont feed that way.

That can be fixed.

The .458 WM excels with 450 gr bullets for DG.

The best powder by far for me has been AA 2230. 'Michael .458'...here on AR...tells me TAC, X-terminator, and IMR 8208 are also good and some use H 4895.

In my rifle...with 450 gr NF or CEB solids...72 gr of AA 2230 yields ~2275 fps. For softs...I am going with 420 gr CEB non-cons. 72 gr of AA 2230 gives me ~2325 fps with them and at that vel...they shoot to the same POI as the .450 gr solids.

My .458 WM 1957 M-70 Winchester is one of the most accurate rifles I own. I often shoot sub-one-inch groups with it.

Enjoy!

Any idea if the CEB stuff will make it to South Africa?

Very interested in them.

Helo all.

Sorry for my late reply.
Thank you all for good information.

Yes, I am loading my own ammunition, so I am planning on getting some light bullets for target, range fun and some hunting here in Norway/ Europe for wild boar before I go to Africa. Guess the running pigs will be good practice and fun.

Right now I am planning on using only the open iron express sights...But, a low powered scope is on my wish list.
Will have to do some more shooting before I make up my mind. Right now I like the rifle/caliber.

Had a go at the range with 30 rounds of 500 gr solids from Norma last evening, great fun and the recoil was not as bad as some have told me.

More than my 9.3*62, but not sharp and hard, slow and hard, a big push, but not making me feel uncomfortable.
Yet.

Will keep the forum with information when I get more.

Have a good sunday all

And, I suspect your new .458 will deal with moose quite handily.

The only game animal I have dispatched with my .458 Lott thus far was a 50lb javalina. It died rather quickly.

9.3 a good lighter bullet for moose/deer/hogs in the 458 will be the 400 grain Woodleigh protected point. These are a favourite of Australians for extending the range of their bigbores. You should be able to get 2400fps no problems and have seen them shoot under an inch in the right gun.

quote:

Originally posted by Karl:
9.3 a good lighter bullet for moose/deer/hogs in the 458 will be the 400 grain Woodleigh protected point. These are a favourite of Australians for extending the range of their bigbores. You should be able to get 2400fps no problems and have seen them shoot under an inch in the right gun.

Sumbuddy tell me the load that will get 2400 fps with a decent 400-grain bullet in a 24-inch-barreled .458 WinMag and I will not need any other rifle.
I do not doubt it. I just do not know it in specifics.
We already know that 2150 fps with 500-grainers (soft or solid) in a 24" barrel is a piece of cake with a .458 WinMag.
That will handle anything that walks the earth.

http://www.accuratepowder.com/..._LoadSpec_7-2-13.pdf

Page 54.

Congratulations on your new acquisition. When I first found this forum, I was devastated to find that my .458 Win Mag was worthless for Buff and Elephant. Made me wonder what it was that REALLY killed the specimens I had taken since sooo many experts were convinced it couldn't have been a .458 (GRIN).
Have you considered looking into shooting cast bullets from your new rifle ??
There are a lot of excellent loads using lead alloy bullets in the 400-500 gn range that have the potential to provide you with much less expensive practice that is less physically punishing on both you and the rifle, and will easily kill any Hog or Moose up your way.
These days, mine gets a lot more cast rounds than the big jacketed ones.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

quote:

Originally posted by Karl:
9.3 a good lighter bullet for moose/deer/hogs in the 458 will be the 400 grain Woodleigh protected point. These are a favourite of Australians for extending the range of their bigbores. You should be able to get 2400fps no problems and have seen them shoot under an inch in the right gun.

Sumbuddy tell me the load that will get 2400 fps with a decent 400-grain bullet in a 24-inch-barreled .458 WinMag and I will not need any other rifle.
I do not doubt it. I just do not know it in specifics.
We already know that 2150 fps with 500-grainers (soft or solid) in a 24" barrel is a piece of cake with a .458 WinMag.
That will handle anything that walks the earth.

Hi Ron not sure myself as only used others guns in this calibre but the Aus ADI guide might be a start point, I think Hodgon markets these for you fellas.

http://www.adi-powders.com.au/...58+Winchester+Magnum

458WM is a great round. Easy to load, shoot, get accesories for & plenty of power in a small gun.

Not to side-track this thread but is anyone else still having a mental problem compressing ball powders like the issues years back with the WW 748/ 458WM item of clumping from compressing over time and temps?

It still bothers me. That's why I try to stay away, to this day, from compressing ball powders & not too fond of compressing any powders much. I like full cases but not compressed loads----just me

THanks for the info regarding light bullets.
Oh yes, the 458 will handle moose just fine..

I will look into the cast bullets to, sounds interesting. Something I have never tried out.

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:
http://www.accuratepowder.com/..._LoadSpec_7-2-13.pdf

Page 54.

Excellent. Thanks.
If I had this back around 1985 I probably never would have bought another rifle after my .458 WinMag. M70 and a Ruger 30-06.


You too Karl.

quote:

Originally posted by Karl:

Hi Ron not sure myself as only used others guns in this calibre but the Aus ADI guide might be a start point, I think Hodgon markets these for you fellas.

http://www.adi-powders.com.au/...58+Winchester+Magnum

I am bookmarking both of those sites on me iphone and laptop.

Great choice. I run Woodleigh 500 grain solids and softs out of mine, and have killed a few buffalo and a great scrub bull, as well as smaller animals.

I bought a mid 1960's ear Browning Safari grade in 458 WM just for grins 4-5 years ago.
What a FIND. Well under $2K, swings like a bird gun. Long claw extractor, 3 postion safety and throws 500 gr bullets @ 2160 and 450's @ 2270 FPS out of its 24" pipe at about 100F. As most have mentioned, I do this with Win brass and AA 2230 with no issues.
I have spent 2X-3X as much money on a bolt gun but none shoot any more reliably or any more accurate. Plus it is light enough to carry all day.
BTW; I have pushed that 500 gr bullet past 2200 FPS with the aa2230 but recoil in that light rifle will wake you up and I just thought 2160 was enough. I use the 450 swift 90% of the time anyway.

EZ

Thank you all for the good help.
450 gr. Woodlights are now ordered. Look out Mr.Moose

Will look some more to find some good lead cast bullets. Any tip?

Clarry Haglund has a good selection;

http://home.broadpark.no/~trudlang/leadbull.html

M

Oh, great, and in the home land to. Good.

Thank you.