Does anyone know if the magazine box for the 458 Win Mag on a Ruger 77 MKII is made thicker and stronger than the standard box?

Ruger and Brownells used to list the magazine for the 458 as a seperate part number, compared to the other box for 300 WM & 7mm RM for examples. But now the 458 box is shown as discontinued.

I'm trying to figure out how to beef up the box that's in my 458 because it appears to be dented in front from recoil. It would be nice to just buy a correct part, rather than custom work.

Perhaps the 416 Ruger box is tougher than a standard box, and I could use one of them.

KB

as far as i know -
the 458 winmag was only on mark I, not mark II. the mags between then aren't (without mods) interchangable.

i use the mag mag box, and follower, for 458 AR

and yet a third different product.
m77 - tang safety
m77mkII - 3pos safety
m77mkII MAGNUM -- also call the RSM, 3pos safety, and HUGE action

the m77 and mkII are roughly the same size.. the rsm is a HUGE, and i don't believe a single signifigant part interchanges.

the mags won't.

so, you have an RSM or a 77 in 458

I have a MKII that was a 300WM, but I had it rebarreled to 458. The front of the magazine appears to be bending or bulging, apparantly from the cartridges under recoil. It still feeds properly, but I wanted to try to head off trouble before it fully developes. I suppose it's possible to reinforce the existing magazine, but I figured I ought to try a simpler solution first.

KB

Well, after a long and difficult conversation (as usual) with Ruger parts dept, I finally ordered a magazine box for the 416 Ruger M77 Hawkeye Alaskan.

Hopefully she found the right part number. Also, hopefully the box is designed for the recoil. I hope it's not a one-size fits all kind of thingy. IMO, if it can stand up to the 416 Ruger, there is every reason to expect it to withstand the 458, with my handloads.

KB

Just a follow-up. The magazine from Ruger arrived. It's supposed to be the part number specifically for the 416 Ruger. The metal doesn't look any thicker than the one I have. However, the new part fits close to perfectly.

When comparing the two magazine boxes, the original is definately bent, and it looks like it's intentionally bent. Of course I don't know if it came that way from the factory, or if the parts got swapped somehow while at the shop for coating. I know that mysteriously the rifle fed properly just before I sent it off, and didn't feed worth shit when I got it back. For one thing the follower that was in it when I got it back wasn't a magnum follower - it was the same follower that's in my Ruger 30-06. I took the follower out of my 300WM Ruger, and put it in the 458, and it would feed correctly again.

I don't like it when something like that happens.

Anyway, back to the new magazine box for the 416 Ruger. It fits nice and tight, and it looks a little wider than the box that was in there, especially towards the front. The old box was not snugged down tight, when the rifle was assembled, and ratteled around. This new box has no loose play, and fits right up snug under the lip of the feed ramp, with no gap or ledge. I have tried feeding with a variety of handloads - pointy bullets and blunt nose bullets - and they all feed nice and slick. the cartridges stay put too, no jumping out from under the feed rails prematurely. It seems the slight extra width has helped, not hurt.

Apparantly Ruger deems it stout enough to withstand the recoil of the 416, so it ought to be ok with the 458, especially since I'm not using full blast factory or handloads.

Sometimes we luck out with an easy fix. Time will tell.

KB