Hi guys,

Here is my latest (and last) rifle purchase... and it's a ripper!
It's a Winchester M70 'Safari Express' in .458WM and even though I bought it secondhand it's in great condition.
Even though I bought it secondhand, I have followed this particular rifle's history quite closely on a couple of shooting forums. When first bought, this particular rifle was... well... a lemon! It was advertised as in excellent condition and the first owner eagerly snapped it up. However all was not what it seemed! The bedding job that was done on the rifle was done completely wrong and after 7 shots the stock cracked behind the tang. Also the rifle wouldn't feed the second round from the magazine which essentially meant it was a single shot. And finally, the barrel band that held the sling swivel was loose and slid freely up and down the barrel.
The owner contemplated what to do and considered returning the rifle, however the gunshop came to the party and offered to help get the rifle fixed so off to the gunsmith it went.
When it came back the bedding was done correctly and the chips behind the tang were repaired. It fed all rounds flawlessly and the barrel band was repaired. The owner was so happy with the end result he went to the N.T. with it and shot some buffalo!
Eventually he sold it to it's new owner and that's who I bought it off.
I got it for a very reasonable price - especially considering all the gunsmithing that went into it and it really is a very nice rifle.
The first thing I did was fit the Talley bases to the rifle and fit some steel Talley rings to them. My tried and tested Pentax 2.5x scope was fitted to the rings and the whole package came up nice.
Now, what to feed it?
I had some reloads left over from my last .458 which was built on a magnum length action. The projectiles on these reloads were seated out long to suit the action and thus they were to long to fit in the Winchester's magazine. So what I did was slowly seat the projectiles in deeper until they just fitted in the magazine. These loads consist of the 500gn Woodleigh PP and a hot load of 77.5gn of AR2206H which proved mild in the last rifle, but with the bullets seated deeper I was worried that they may prove too hot for the Winchester..?

So today saw me doing a session over the chronograph, where I chrono'd 3 loads;

Reload. 300gn HP over a mild load of 2207 = 2661fps
Winchester factory load. 510gn SP = 1980fps
Reload. 500gn Woodleigh PP 77.5gr 2206H = 2220fps

That last load did prove to be safe in my rifle, with the cases falling out of the chamber and the primer and miked case were fine. Despite that, I'm only after 2150fps so I think a little tweaking may be in order. I'm going to drop it back a grain which will prove easier on the case, rifle and the shooter!

Speaking of the shooter the chrono session was punishing. The rifle isn't particularly heavy for a .458 - and indeed, of the 3 .458's I've owned, this is the lightest. I fired off 14 rounds of the 500gn reloads off the bench and the recoil was brutal. I even copped a scope to the head but luckily I was wearing safety glasses and judging by the chunk that was taken out of them I'm glad I was...
By using a ballistic calculator I worked out that recoil is around 72ft/lbs which is getting up there in anyone's language..
So there you have it, my new rifle.
This is my third .458 and I think it may be my favourite so far.
It's just such a complete rifle and there's nothing that I would change.
As far as I'm concerned it's the perfect rifle..

Thanks for telling the story on your new rifle.
I'd love to see a picture of the beauty.
How was accuracy?

[URL=http://s1299.photo bucket.com/user/badboymelvin/media/image_zpst7avueaj.jpeg.html] [/URL]

Woodleigh 500gn PP


Winchester Factory 510gn SP


Sierra 300gn HP

Very nice looking 458! I like it.
Those Winchesters are hard to beat and sounds like you have a good one with all the bugs worked out.

Enjoy it, mate! Hope it serves you well. It got me out of a few scary situations.

No flys on the 458!!! Shoot it with confidence.

Had a barrel band come loose on a Kimber Caprivi and I pretty much went ballistic. No excuse for that whatsoever. They don't like me much anymore. Glad you got a good rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:


Enjoy it, mate! Hope it serves you well. It got me out of a few scary situations.

Will do mate. She's in good hands...

we are officially promoting you from Bad b-o-y to "Bad Dude Melvin"...

My first one was an early Ruger 77. What a hammer!

congratulations from the "other side".

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
we are officially promoting you from Bad b-o-y to "Bad Dude Melvin"...

My first one was an early Ruger 77. What a hammer!

congratulations from the "other side".

Rich

My first one was a Ruger 77 also, with a 22" tube. Great gun, should have kept it.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Thanks for the compliments guys, I'm very happy with it.
I did a little bit more testing of the 500gn reloads today. As it was very hot today I went to my range and sat the rifle in the rifle-rest and left it in the sun to get hot. I also sat a reload on the dashboard of the car and left it there until it was almost too hot to touch. I then fired the hot reload in the hot rifle to see if there was any pressure spike... and there was. Upon opening the bolt there was sticky extraction so I'll be backing this load off a grain and a half. The above might seem a bit extreme but as this rifle will be used for sambar in the Victorian alps, as well as being used in the N.T and hopefully Africa, I want the rifle to be totally dependable in any temperature.
I'm getting over 2200fps now - but I was ever only after 2150fps so I reckon backing off a grain and a half will hopefully get me spot on!

How do you fit 77 gns of 2206H in a .458 win with a 500 grainer? that's about all I can fit in my Lott ..I have had to vibrate .458 WM cases to settle 74 grains. Woodleigh makes a special bullet with a low cannelure, but even with these ,it's a big squeeze..

quote:

Originally posted by badboymelvin:

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:


Enjoy it, mate! Hope it serves you well. It got me out of a few scary situations.

Will do mate. She's in good hands...

That's a great looking rifle. Congratulations!

I hope you have years of enjoyment and shoot lots of critters with it.

Good velocities with the 300gn'ers.

Cheers, Chris

quote:

Originally posted by dhufish:
How do you fit 77 gns of 2206H in a .458 win with a 500 grainer? that's about all I can fit in my Lott ..I have had to vibrate .458 WM cases to settle 74 grains. Woodleigh makes a special bullet with a low cannelure, but even with these ,it's a big squeeze..

I originally had the 77gn load loaded to an OAL of 3.440 to suit the magnum length action of my CZ. I vibrated the powder to settle and crimped in place. When I sold my CZ and bought my Winchester, the loaded rounds wouldn't fit in the shorter mag of the Winchester. So what I did was put the loaded rounds back in my press and seat the bullets deeper so they just fit in the Winchester mag. And that's how I did it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:

quote:

Originally posted by badboymelvin:

quote:

Originally posted by BenKK:


Enjoy it, mate! Hope it serves you well. It got me out of a few scary situations.

Will do mate. She's in good hands...

That's a great looking rifle. Congratulations!

I hope you have years of enjoyment and shoot lots of critters with it.

Good velocities with the 300gn'ers.

Cheers, Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks mate, it is a great rifle - as you would well know!

Wow, that's a great looking 458! Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by badboymelvin:

Speaking of the shooter the chrono session was punishing. The rifle isn't particularly heavy for a .458 - and indeed, of the 3 .458's I've owned, this is the lightest. I fired off 14 rounds of the 500gn reloads off the bench and the recoil was brutal. I even copped a scope to the head but luckily I was wearing safety glasses and judging by the chunk that was taken out of them I'm glad I was...
By using a ballistic calculator I worked out that recoil is around 72ft/lbs which is getting up there in anyone's language..

Might I suggest that in the future you conduct your bench sessions with a Lead Sled or homemade equivalent?

Back in the 70's I developed a wildcat .505 based on .460 Weatherby case shortened, and I built my own "lead sled", using a section of channel iron bent 90 degrees and fastened to a sheet of 3/4" plywood.

I placed my bench rest stand and a 25 pound bag of shot on the plywood, set the rifle on the bench, with the butt resting in the vertical portion of the channel iron, and set the channel iron against my shoulder. My 8 3/4 pound rifle was tamed!

I was using a load which propelled a 570 grain bullet at 2150 fps and the recoil off the shoulder was significant. Calculated energy: 89 foot/pounds. Recoil velocity: 29 fps.

So there ya go, all you have to do in a .458 is learn to live with heavy compaction, Not a terrific idea IMO but to each his own..

A little compaction is not only OK, but advisable as it makes for good accuracy, too much will have you trying kill your buffalo with the buttstock of your rifle and that seldom works..This has been claimed as the bain of the .458 Win. for years, and that is a "half truth"....

The fact is the 458 kills just fine at 2000 to 2100 FPS, with a 500 gr. bullet with mild compaction, less recoil, and what a nice buffalo or elephant gun it is, but some are not listening these days.

If that low velocity bothers you just punch it out to the wonderful .458 LOtt and go with 2300 FPS, that's a real hammer for sure and you can still shoot factory 458s in your gun. Makes since to me but many here have scolded me unmercifully for such damination of the .458 Win! why be dat?

BadBoy,

fine purchase. You may have seen the one in the classifieds this past week, that I bought. Rechambered for the 458 Lott. Probably not necessary, but those big long rounds look sooooo good.

I have the same rifle and love it. Have yet to shoot buffalo with it, but it will go with me next time. I am loading it to 2050 fps with H335 and 500 grain bullets.

there is just something irresistible about trying to control the uncontrollable...

I handled a CZ in .458 yesterday at the local Cabela's, and it felt pretty lively. It was used, however, and they were still asking $1099 for it. There are NIB CZ's in .458 all over the Net for that price. Not the first time Cabela's has been off its rocker pricing a firearm.

Very nice .458, thanks for sharing.

I get about 2100+ fps out of my Steyr in .458 Win Mag with 63 gr. of 4198 Extreme and a 500 gr Woodleigh Weldcore--no issue with compaction.

I don't know about the powder, but you shouldn't have any problem getting Woodleigh bullets, I would think.

Nice rifle and nothing wrong with the old .458 Win. I sure wish Winchester would offer the Model 70 stainless in that cartridge. Your new rifle got me back to thinking about one of my plans to buying a Model 70 stainless in a long action and sticking a new stainless barrel in .458 Win. Mag. on it, plus a set or irons.

I will be looking pretty hard at the Barnes 450 grain offerings as the bullet of choice. A little lighter, but I doubt anything hit by it will know the difference.

If you can find Woodleighs, that is.

I have been waiting since September for them for my 425 Westley Richards project...

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
If you can find Woodleighs, that is.

I have been waiting since September for them for my 425 Westley Richards project...

Well, being as he's in Australia, I wouldn't think that would be a major problem . . .