I am just curious. I currently have a custom built rifle in 458 win mag on a P17 enfield action (remington). I have always wanted a 460 weatherby. which cartridge is safer in this action. from what I have seen, the 460 wea runs on lower pressures than the 458 win. this would stand to reason that the 460 wea would be safer in this action. or is my thinking completely wrong. from all the posts I have read, this action will more than adequately handle the 460 wea. or does more come into play considering the increased recoil of the 460?

The P-17s made by Winchester and Remington....and I do not include the Eddystones here...are fully capable of handling any cartridge you can feed through the action and this includes the .460 Weatherby.

I wouldn't leave much rim left on the bolt face but it might work anyway. I'd far rather see one go to the .458 Lott however because it's a smaller diameter case.

However the brass case is the weak part of (almost) any P-17 chambering and I'd not worry to much about the action.....you'll melt the case first.

I do hardily recommend all P-17s to be magnafluxed before installing a new barrel.....you need to be looking for a crack in the front receiver ring.

quote:

from what I have seen, the 460 wea runs on lower pressures than the 458 win.

This is not correct.....both cases are very high pressure about 60,000 PSI

yeah, I just noticed after searching and reading a bunch of posts that the 460 runs higner in pressure than I thought.

The p-17 is strong enough, I built my 500 Jeffrey on one, and Saeed's 577 T-rex is built on one.

It'll be an expensive conversion. In addition to the re-chamber, the bolt and extractor have to be opened up, and the feed rails and ramp re-worked.

If you want to load the 460 to 458 velocities, then you will be operating at lower pressures.

dr john,

What you are probably thinking off is that the 460 Wby will duplicate 458 Win or 458 Lott ballistics at much lower pressure.

Of course if loaded to equal pressure the 460 will develop more back thrust on the bolt because of its bigger diameter.

But someone must telling fibs at different times. Several people on this forum repeatedly say that Wbys only ever have about 3 of the little 9 lugs bearing. But the same people talk about action set back on big cartridges in other actions. One would think if the latter was true then those Wbys especially in 30/378 and 378 would have all the lugs bearing as over loaded 30/378s are not uncommon as the owners strive for the magical 3500 with 180 grain bullets and 378 owners hunt down 3200 with 270 grain bullets.

Mike

When more than two guys at a gunshow are talking, they are probably saying, "That action was designed for..."

The idea that one cartridge has enough extra bolt thrust over another to make a difference keeps some minds busy, with everything but calculations and experiments.

I have not done either for the P17, and here I am posting as if I had anything to say.