Finally handled a .458 Whitworth and was surprised to see how narrow the butt was for the caliber. Stock looked like it should have been on a .222. I've always thought they "looked right" however this one looked like it would hurt. Was this an oddball or are they all like that?
Biggest I've shot is CZ 550 in .375 and it's not bad. Sako L61R in .338 is just mean. Whitworth looks brutal but nice to carry.
How are they for felt recoil vs. 550 or mdl 70?

I will let you know soon as I bought one a few months ago. Health issues have kept me away from the range but I am ready to give it a go now. I had Somarriba bed the stock and put on a decelerator recoil pad. I bought the Whitworth safari rifle for its weight and handling qualities as I plan to shoot more of the lighter bullets.

Safe travels............Larry

I have 458 Whitworth, Ruger #1 & Brno Zkk602. The Whitworth hurts the most, but as you said, is nice to carry. Factory pad is part of the problem, hard.

I love mine. It's no pussycat, but it fits me fine so it's easy to handle.

I have shot many of them and I always thought they handled recoil about as well as any .458..I believe them to be one of the better factory production 458s out there.

The Narrow butt is indeed not "optimum." However, they are a handy rifle and the weight you save in Wood in the butt carries pretty well! I shot 500 or so Full patch 500 Grain full loads in mine over the first few years and no you did not have to sniff the barrel to see if it went off... Cracked the stock, sent it back to Interarms, came back in plain wood and very poor fitting. Called them and spoke to the supervisor, he said "send it back, I'll find a decent piece of wood and bed it myself." Did so, and the wood is not as nice as the original which was superb but is nice and it is bedded very well. That was 20 years ago now. Still going strong.
Now I shoot just cast loads 433 and 465 grain and hunt deer with it. Love it.

My .458 Whitworth is a joy to carry but it definitely gets your attention on the range. But I never notice the recoil shooting at game so I like it. I wouldn't trade it for another.

My handloads at 2150fps kick more than factory loads in my brother's 458 Lott in Ruger Safari Magnum. We've fired them side by side. However that gun weighs substantially more.

quote:

My .458 Whitworth is a joy to carry but it definitely gets your attention on the range. But I never notice the recoil shooting at game so I like it

Wish I had mine back.

The narrow butt thing has been kicked around in print for years, I don't know who decided that, but so many English and German big bores have narrow butts and Ive shot so many of them with both recoil pads and steel butt plates that Im of the opine that's just BS that's been in print so long that most think it just must be, so they keep the rumor spreading..A lot of stock design is a sales gimmick.

From a purely physics standpoint, it has to be that the same recoil forces spread out over a larger area results in less felt recoil. The A-Square Coil-Chek stock is a great example. Although ugly as sin to most, the surface area of the butt is probably 2 1/2 times that of a typical rifle, and shooting the big calibers in that stock is quite easy (except maybe Saeed's T-Rex!). When I have a big-bore rifle built, I specify the dimensions of the butt of the stock for that reason.

quote:

Originally posted by vvreddy:
My .458 Whitworth is a joy to carry but it definitely gets your attention on the range. But I never notice the recoil shooting at game so I like it.

This is my experience as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
The narrow butt thing has been kicked around in print for years, I don't know who decided that, but so many English and German big bores have narrow butts and Ive shot so many of them with both recoil pads and steel butt plates that Im of the opine that's just BS that's been in print so long that most think it just must be, so they keep the rumor spreading..A lot of stock design is a sales gimmick.

ray, you don't really mean to say that stock fitting and steel vs rubber don't matter, do you?

Give me a straight, full stock and wide butt any old time. I look at the little bitty butts on Remington Model 700s in big calibers and cringe.

Bill I made a couple of stocks using the full width of the Limbsaver Nitro Large recoil pad. ( It's a big wide pad.) You are right about a wide butt pad. They are really nice to shoot.
Also, sometimes I router out a trough in the forend and fill it with about 5 oz. of epoxy mix of # 8 shot. That really changes the felt recoil and personality of the rifle. (For the better I think. I like the old school, weight-forward balance.)

I disagree with some ideas of stock fitting yes and I have that option I hope.. I said that narrow butts and steel butt plates don't bother me!! and they do not, I have shot my 404 with its steel butt plate, many 348 Winchester with hot loads, A 450 with a steel butt..I always recall a well known gunsmith/stockmaker who said a recoil pad only serves to give a rifle a one inch head start at your shoulder..if you know how to hold a rifle the butt makes little difference to me at least and some others I know..Many gunmakers use Silvers pads on high dollar big bores and they are hard as steel for sure..Everyone is not required to agree with your thinking Jeffe, I know that hurts, so I'll apoligise now and get it over with!

I love the .458 WinMag Whitworth as from the factory.
The recoil pad can easily be replaced.
The black Pachmayr Decelerator looks good on this factory stock that got refinished and had its pad replaced,
by Bill Alexander in Tallahassee, FL about 1990, he is still gunsmithing there, as he pleases.
He removed a little wood to fit the Lyman peep base to the factory-drilled holes in the receiver.
I had moved there from Anchorage, AK.
The wood on this rifle was standard factory, found new in the box at Boondock Sporting Goods, Eagle River, AK, about 1987.
The color-case-hardened, shiny steel grip cap was a nice factory touch on these rifles too.
This is what "Circassian" walnut looks like, IMHO, and the factory stock layout to grain was great:

Whitworth Mark X Express Rifle, .458 WinMag, 8.5 pounds dry weight (minus the Lyman rear sight and Weaver bases), 24" barrel, 13.75" LOP.
Winchester Model 70 Super Grade Safari Rifle, .458 Winmag, 9.0 pounds dry weight, 24" barrel, 13.75" LOP.





Both rifles are well balanced.
The M70 has a slightly chubbier stock to balance the slightly heavier barrel.
The MkX has a slightly longer forearm, but it is slimmer to match the slimmer barrel.

The MkX rear express sight is easily removed and replaced with a fold-down single leaf sight if the Lyman rear peep is being seriously used.

The M70 "Super Grade" factory stock is OK.
I like the MkX wood better.

Recoil?
Certainly not a factor if hunting with a .458 WinMag.
8.5-9 pounds is great to carry and shoot offhand.
This is the ultimate in portable muzzle WHOMP for the least shoulder WHUMP that I can think of.




















I refuse to pay extra for pretty wood, but I will gladly accept it on a factory rifle for the regular price. Then if it ever splits I will happily exchange the termite food for a synthetic stock.


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quote:

Originally posted by Scott Leonard:
Finally handled a .458 Whitworth and was surprised to see how narrow the butt was for the caliber. Stock looked like it should have been on a .222. I've always thought they "looked right" however this one looked like it would hurt. Was this an oddball or are they all like that?
Biggest I've shot is CZ 550 in .375 and it's not bad. Sako L61R in .338 is just mean. Whitworth looks brutal but nice to carry.
How are they for felt recoil vs. 550 or mdl 70?

So, you must have found an oddball, or some variation on the usuals that I have seen.
Was it one of the cheaper "Alaskan" Mark Xs?

My factory stock on the Mark X Whitworth Express Rifle (8.5 pounds) has as ample a butt pad as on the M70 Winchester (9.0 pounds). Recoil is similar with both. I never noted any difference.

BTW a CZ 550 Magnum in .458 WinMag or .458 Lott (of the several I have owned and weighed myself) may weigh from 9.125 pounds (with Kevlar/Aramid stock) to 9.625 pounds with a particularly dense Lux (Euro Hogback) walnut stock. Of course one with a laminate-fat-American stock will be HEAVIER.

I have owned over a half dozen .458 WinMags.
Ruger No.1, pushfeed Win M70, Remington M700, and several CZ 550 Magnums. The CZs got rechambered to .458 Lott or re-barreled to bigger cartridges.
The rest got traded in.
The two I have left, pictured above, Whitworth and Winchester: From my cold dead fingers, or for cold hard cash.
The definition of a "gunwhore?"
Ray?


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I shot my Mark X Whitworth Safari 458 Monday using Barnes 450gr factory ammo. I also shot my Merkel 141 in 9.3x74R. I have decelerator recoil pads on both rifles. The "Larry recoil factor" finds the Merkel the least pleasant to shoot. Your shoulder may have a different opinion.

Safe travels..........LL

Rip,
That is one nice Whitworth, Id be proud to hang it on my wall!!