458 WIN MAG bolt action rifle recommendations

[Boomer]

Thanks!
I think I'll just stick to my .30 cals!

To master big rifles, its true that you have to want to. But neither do you have to shoot a .458 with "elephant" loads to the exception of all others. As with any cartridge, handloading produces the .458's real versatility, and .458 loads can be made up at .45 Colt, .45/70, and OMG power levels. As such, it becomes quite easy to increase your recoil tolerance to cartridges that you otherwise might think are beyond your ability to master. The versatility gained by the handloader gives you the choice of mild small game and plinking loads, slightly heavier loads for medium sized game, and full powered heavy bullet loads for really big, tough, or dangerous game. Next to power levels, your shooting position plays an important role to felt recoil management. A correct off hand position allows the recoil impulse to cross your chest, and down your leg that is placed rearward. These rifles are designed to be used by ordinary people, and if a wimp like me can learn to shoot them, so can you.

 

[Dogleg]

Sorry for the derail guys.
Noob question: What is the recoil like on a .458 mag? I can't imagine its any fun?
I've shot 7mm mag, 30-06, .308, .44 mag, 7.62x54R and .338 Win Mag. The .338 just about knocked me over.

A .458 might change the way you view the universe. Or alternately, you might find it to be fun in an odd sort of way. Factory loads can be quite mild, in the way that 4 30-06s going of at the same time is mild. Turn the heat up on the loads, or switch up to the Lott and its higher recoil velocity and a certain jarring element is introduced.

Its not like it'll kill you, but in general sort of way people who don't need the big bores would do well to stay away from them. Having said that, people often talk about how much little guns like .300s and .338s kick and then find a support group of people who think that shooting one is akin to a near death experience. In some cases, shooting a big bore will reset their perception of what real recoil is. If that doesn't work they will likely at least quit whining about it.

 

[Still alive]

To master big rifles, its true that you have to want to. But neither do you have to shoot a .458 with "elephant" loads to the exception of all others. As with any cartridge, handloading produces the .458's real versatility, and .458 loads can be made up at .45 Colt, .45/70, and OMG power levels. As such, it becomes quite easy to increase your recoil tolerance to cartridges that you otherwise might think are beyond your ability to master. The versatility gained by the handloader gives you the choice of mild small game and plinking loads, slightly heavier loads for medium sized game, and full powered heavy bullet loads for really big, tough, or dangerous game. Next to power levels, your shooting position plays an important role to felt recoil management. A correct off hand position allows the recoil impulse to cross your chest, and down your leg that is placed rearward. These rifles are designed to be used by ordinary people, and if a wimp like me can learn to shoot them, so can you.

Appreciate the encouragement Boomer!
For me, I truly have no need for a .40+ cal rifle. I don't hunt Internationally and between my 7mm mag and .308, I can take what I need in BC ( mainly deer) easily. I also don't reload which kinda cramps the downloading theory. I pick up my ammo, sight in a few rounds and go. I also don't know anyone with a cannon to try and if the recoil is even 2x more than the .338 Win Mag, I really don't even want to try! Yup! Bigger wimp here!!
Funny thing is I have shot the SW500 revolver. It wasn't pleasant but I had no problems with it either!

 

[Still alive]

A .458 might change the way you view the universe. Or alternately, you might find it to be fun in an odd sort of way. Factory loads can be quite mild, in the way that 4 30-06s going of at the same time is mild. Turn the heat up on the loads, or switch up to the Lott and its higher recoil velocity and a certain jarring element is introduced.

Its not like it'll kill you, but in general sort of way people who don't need the big bores would do well to stay away from them. Having said that, people often talk about how much little guns like .300s and .338s kick and then find a support group of people who think that shooting one is akin to a near death experience. In some cases, shooting a big bore will reset their perception of what real recoil is. If that doesn't work they will likely at least quit whining about it.

By your Sig line, I can see you are a real fan! LOL!
I was thinking you're right! The .458 will definitely change the way I view the Universe...from my backside looking up!
I've seen the Youtube videos of the Arabs in a shooting room(?) with some huge .40+ cannon and flying all over the place! I don't want to be the Canadian version of that! 4x 30-06 recoil would be uncomfortable to say the least. To each their own. Enjoy your guns! And thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Dogleg]

Yeah, that's Saeed Al-Maktoum's .577 T-Rex in his underground range in Dubai. The videos never get old.

Interestingly, he openly states that he views the rifle as useless for anything except torturing people and the laughs that he gets out of it. He's an interesting character, being somewhere in the royal lineage and considered by many to have killed more buffalo than any living non professional. I believe that he also won a gold medal in Olympic trap shooting once, but could be wrong about that.

 

[Still alive]

Yeah, that's Saeed Al-Maktoum's .577 T-Rex in his underground range in Dubai. The videos never get old.

Interestingly, he openly states that he views the rifle as useless for anything except torturing people and the laughs that he gets out of it. He's an interesting character, being somewhere in the royal lineage and considered by many to have killed more buffalo than any living non professional. I believe that he also won a gold medal in Olympic trap shooting once, but could be wrong about that.

Must be nice to have more money than god and have nothing better to do than own a "useless" rifle just for torturing his friends!

 

[Dogleg]

He wrote once that he has somewhere around 400 rifles. He hunts with 2; a .375/404 and a spare 375/404. That's a 375 RUM basically, although he now loads it down to 2800 fps with a 300 grain bullet. I asked him if he thought there was any difference between that and a 375 Weatherby at the same speed and he didn't think there was any. The main 2 things that stand out are that he tried higher velocities and that most of his observations are soley with Iis own handmade mono bullets.

 

[c-fbmi]

The biggies aren't hard to master, as has been stated, but they are a work up gradually kinda thing. Don't believe everything Boomer says either........all 6'3" and 250 lbs of "wimp"........Having met and spent some time with Boomer, "wimp" is probably one of the last adjectives that would come to my mind in describing him !!!! Working into recoil insensitivity isn't hard but it is expensive and takes a lot of expensive bullets and powder and time. It also takes a great deal of concentration and a will to master. If, as you say, you have no need for it then it would be all wasted except for the fact that you could say you done it. I love biggies and have been shooting 375 and up since my early 20s and just recently mounted a scope on my .470 NE and proceeded to fire 15 rounds from the bench off bags to sight it in and check scope repeatability. This does take a great deal of concentration, and it actually does hurt, but I managed some pretty nice groups at 50 mtrs. Headache came later in the day, as well as a sore shoulder pocket, so much so that I couldn't shoot anything bigger than my 25-06 for a week. But there are no long lasting effects and I wouldn't normally be shooting my .470 off bags except for the reasons already stated. Off hand I have no issue with any of the big stuff, one just rolls with the punch and I have fired more than 50 rounds in an afternoon with the 470, to no ill effect. Many people have fired my .470 and came away saying that it wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it would be, and then asked if they could fire a few more........at a measly $10.00 a pop............My 450 Ackley on the other hand was very ugly and very few people ever asked to fire it twice. It would take your shooting muffs and glasses off with every shot, that's how violent the recoil was. I think I may need to build another...........Right now I'm working on a 458 based on the 375/416 Ruger case, improved with a 40 degree shoulder. This should equal the ballistics of the Lott and should be a very practical and usable cartridge and rifle. As if my 378 Wby, .416 Rigby and .470 NE won't cover that class of game........

 

[hoytcanon]

I will say upfront that the opinion that follows is very... "soft." The .458 WM is not one that I have owned or loaded for.

However, I have contemplated it on many occasions... for me it would be the M77 (surprise, surprise...), and it would be bedded before firing a shot... as I would do with any manufacturers bolt .458 WM... it is not only Ruger M77's splitting at the tang on heavy recoiling rifles. Find a tang safety model... bed it... done.

 

[Johnn Peterson]

To start with, with the exception of a major bit of luck on Lotto 649, it's highly unlikely my



Winchester model 70 Super Express will see any field use in the likes of Africa. As with a few other rifles I have, I do enjoy other calibres to shoot and to work up loads for. With the 458WM, this is my third. A friend locally in Duncan bought and still has the Ruger M-77 that was my first. Another site member in Mckenzie made a deal with me for the second, a Brno 602. Out of the three, obviously the Winchester is my favorite. Other than fitting the niche of 'something different' to shoot on occasion, it comes into use when I find or think I'm flinching with any other item I have, say shooting from bench at the target range. Roar about three quick ones out of the 458, then with what else I was shooting, the flinch 'seems' to have disappeared. With the three 458's I've had/have, the Winchester is the best on paper. I was at the range one day shooting with a friend and former site member, HS4570 that has since passed away.



When he saw a couple of load test targets I'd just shot with Winchester from the bags on the bench ,



he grabbed the best one and said "I'm signing this one"!! Anyway, it's a handful to shoot, but it is capable of decent accuracy.

 

[jjohnwm]

The 458 with full blown elephant smashing loads will have about 3X the felt recoil of a 338 in the same weight rifle. They're just plain fun...

What is the recoil like on a .458 mag? I can't imagine its any fun?

A .458 might change the way you view the universe. Or alternately, you might find it to be fun in an odd sort of way.

There you have it. If you know it's gonna be horrifying...it probably will be. If you know you'll have fun...you will!

To master big rifles, its true that you have to want to.

Succinct...and perfectly correct...as usual!

 

[brybenn]

4 out of 5 of the friends that have tried my 458 wm have bled. The only buddy that didn't get the scope in the forehead is almost totally new to rifles but he listened to me well. The others bragged their 308 or 300 wm were cannons and thought I was lying about the 458 being in a much higher class of recoil. Funny thing is they never wanted to fire a second shot
To me it isn't bad until around the 30 th shot. Then my body starts to say "You're an idiot watch me involuntarily mess up your group"
If the gun fits well and has some heft 9+ lbs they aren't to bad. A Lot more then a 338 or 300 wm for sure though

 

[Boomer]

. . . Don't believe everything Boomer says either........all 6'3" and 250 lbs of "wimp"........Having met and spent some time with Boomer, "wimp" is probably one of the last adjectives that would come to my mind in describing him !!!! . . .

You're crediting me with more mass than I deserve, by about 30 pounds. And what about the day I was whining from getting my knuckles wrapped with the lever of your .45/70! You weren't there to see it, but I wasn't very tough when my legs cramped up after climbing up and down that little hill at Moraine Lake, so ya, I'm a wimp. My wife . . . now she's tough!

 

[Buster95]

4 out of 5 of the friends that have tried my 458 wm have bled. The only buddy that didn't get the scope in the forehead is almost totally new to rifles but he listened to me well. The others bragged their 308 or 300 wm were cannons and thought I was lying about the 458 being in a much higher class of recoil. Funny thing is they never wanted to fire a second shot
To me it isn't bad until around the 30 th shot. Then my body starts to say "You're an idiot watch me involuntarily mess up your group"
If the gun fits well and has some heft 9+ lbs they aren't to bad. A Lot more then a 338 or 300 wm for sure though

And with a 11 lbs rifle?

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Mine, pictured in previous posts, 9lb 11oz.

 

[medvedqc]

I've got a interarms mark X in a custom stock but if I didn't have it I'd have bought a cz 550 or a zastava

any chance to see the stock?

 

[medvedqc]

very good advices given here.

 

[blueoval56]

I have the CZ 550 Safari Classic 458wm and love it to bits. I have found some decent loads with cast bullets, best luck so far has been with 390gr gas checked. I also load the 350gr Speer mag tip to 2500fps and it's a lot easier to shoot than full house 500gr loads. Right now I'm learning how to paper patch and if that works out then I'm going to buy an adjustable paper patch mould that should throw bullets from approximately 250gr to 600gr. I've already patched some 200gr .452" pistol bullets for a gopher load and they worked out pretty good although those small bullets are tough to patch.

Tons of fun to be had with a 458. I just put a Leopold 2-7x33 in talley quick detach rings on mine and I'm happy with it so far.
I also have a 458 Lott reamer to punch it out but haven't gotten around to it yet. A winter project I guess.

 

[jjohnwm]

I like CZ's but they're too heavy...great for lots of shooting, less great for lots of carrying. I also briefly owned a Winchester70 Safari in .458Win, but foolishly sold it before really playing with it much. That's okay, though, because I eventually found THE GUN on the EE. THE GUN is an Interarms Mark X in .458Win, 9.2 pounds scoped, and one of the most delightful rifles I own. No room to make it a Lott, and I don't really care. So far it's taken only a couple of coyotes, using factory-.45-70-equivalent loads, but hopefully this fall it will get the nod for at least some of my deer hunting. The eventual plan is to take it to Africa and use it on a Cape Buff or...be still, my beating heart...an Elephant.

If that happens, the Leupold will come off (QRW rings) and the open sights will be used, at handshaking distance. In the meantime, the scope makes this a very practical, very shootable ".45-70 bolt action rifle"...like a Siamese Mauser, but with infinitely more style!

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This gun is a prime example of the importance of gun fit in controlling recoil. It fits me so well that full-power 500gr .458WinMag loads out of this rifle are much less punishing...to me...than 270gr factory-equivalent loads are when fired from a Ruger #1 .375H&H, despite what the numbers and the charts say. If you are recoil-sensitive...or, more likely, if the internet has made you recoil-paranoid...you simply have to try various guns and find what works for you. Less calculating, more shooting.

Say what you like about the EE, but if you keep your eyes peeled and strike quickly when you see something you want, you can find some amazing guns. This cost me much less than the replacement model70 Safari that I was seeking, and it took about ten minutes and 3 shots at the range to know that it was much, much nicer..for me. YMMV.