Let's talk big bore intermediate range.

[spamassassin]

I have a 30" untapered .458 barrel sitting around and a Winchester M70 push feed with a magnum bolt face that has been shot to pretty near the limit of the life of the barrel that's on it. So I'm thinking of cutting a .458 Winmag chamber in my spare barrel and threading it onto the action. It'll be useful for about 500 yards as far as delivering 300-500gn bullets. What'cha all think? I've already got 7mm and 30 cal and 22 cal options for various ranges but I don't have anything in a big bore that's useful beyond 150 yards. Perhaps there's another chambering in .458" that I should look into.

 

[diggler1833]

A "long range" .458 Win Mag huh? Looks like a lot of punishment to shoot something that is going to be ballistically inferior to some of the other larger bore calibers. It could work...but I haven't heard of anybody doing it so far. Might be a reason for that.

 

[spamassassin]

No, not long range. Sigh. Please read, then comment. Intermediate range is directly specified so ballistic inferiority to some other round is totally irrelevant. Uggh.

The sole purpose would be being loud at 500 yards or less. The barrel I have on hand weighs >9lbs, the action is ~3lbs and the stock I have is right at 10lbs so at plenty over 20lbs plus a very effective effective muzzle brake, let's consider recoil to not be a factor. Now then, to the question. Is there any other cartridge anyone can think of that may provide the same entertainment value and use my .458 barrel and my spare action which has a magnum bolt face (and isn't .458 LOTT)?

Nobody having done it before was never a valid reason for not attempting something. It's only ever been a valid excuse for not being courageous enough to fail. I'm looking to explore the ballistic challenges of a pumpkin slinger, make a new toy and use up a spare barrel and a spare action so it might be helpful to the conversation to keep that in mind.

Make your own Kool-Aid. Drinking what others make outside your view is just asking for them to play you for a mark.

 

[Doeboy]

All I can say is ouch!!

 

[Hairball]

Personally, I like to shoot large odd calibers. I say go for it. While it may not have much practical use (too heavy to carry around),it will spend its life on a bench. Fun for ringing plates but as long as you build it for what it is you should be happy with it. I am in the process of building up a .416 Barrett aside from the M99 that I have. Most think it's a waste of money but that's ok, just a novelty to have some fun with.

 

[spamassassin]

A brutha's gotta admit, I was pretty clear.

For the serious replies, thanks for the encouragement. I'm too old and broken to spend time busting brush after stuff that bleeds anymore so it is in fact destined for life on a bench or at most a bi-pod 20 feet from my sports car.

I was hoping that someone had done something in maybe a 458 cal from a RUM case or something similar with big case capacity and without a belt. I could do another wildcat but I'm a little loathe to do so.

 

[pc3]

You can load the 400 gr woodleigh protected point or the Hornady 325 gr FTX gummy tip pill. Big bores are a lot of fun. Like any calibre run your load through exbal or the like and if you have some holds in your scope you will be fine. What you see energy wise on paper does not seem to correlate with the huge knock down power you see on game. So go for it.

 

[alpine44]

.458 bullets in the listed weight range (300-500gn) have a pretty low BC and will slow down significantly over 500 yards.

That gives you three three choices:

1) Push the bullets hard to stay supersonic at 500 yards (a 325gr Flextip would need V0 ~ 2700 fps to do that at sea level)

2) Find out what bullets will group nicely after going through the transsonic range

3) Start subsonic

For option 1) a modified RUM case would probably give you a little more breathing room as far as case volume is concerned.

2) and 3) can easily be done with the .458WM case.

If you get tired of "loud", try to lob cast lead bullets at subsonic speeds with something like Trailboss in the .458WM case. If you are wondering how to deal with the mortar-like trajectory through a scope, please ask.

Keep us posted on your project. Something different is always interesting.

 

[Wicked Weapons]

What twist is your tube? You'll likely need a very fast twist and long/heavy bullets with high BC to get those fatties out to +500. Shorter/lighter bullets aren't your friend at distance.

I've been pushing a few different aerodynamic pills (subsonic only) out of 1:8" twist barrels chambered in 458 SOCOM. 500m is no problem. 30 MOA base and 34mm tube helps get enough elevation.

[/URL]

There's the 458x2 American? Basically a shortened 458 Win Mag so it will have a belt. .458×2-inch American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

458 SOCOM is #2 & #5 from left. 458x2 is #6 from left.



460 Steyr is a long range option, built on a 50 BMG case though. Honestly, I can't think of anything that's been done in 458 that will meet your requirements.

 

[T J]

The .458 Lott will put some more gas in the tank. I think one could easily enough open up RUM cases to .458, I know i've read about it somewhere. As far as horsepower from a standard long action goes, the RUM case is probably as good as you're going to get.


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