Cast bullets in .458 win mag.

I have 2 .458’s both shoot cast successfully, especially the 525 grain postel style I got from the bullet barn several years ago.
 
I was looking at the Lyman 457406 more or less. For data I got several sources will probably try them over 2400 and IMR4064 as I have both on hand. There isn’t a whole lot for data out there.

Since a lot of my rifles use a whole lot of lead. I’m looking making a bullet trap from half an old propane tank filled with sand to make it more portable I’m going to use what was the valve hole with a iron plug to fill it/empty it.
 
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I have a bunch of 485gn gas checked bullet that I developed a load for my 458 win mag, seems to shoot them well, when the rifle is back form the smith for some work I will proceed to do some media testing to see how they upset at 100m. I would like to possibly use them on game.
Here is how I do it and what I got at 100m
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Cast bullets worked well for me in the past, as long as you don't kick them too hard in the butt, or just use a gas check mold. 2400 will give you very mild recoiling loads (500's around 1,300 fps ballpark iirc) and 4064 will give you ballpark 1,700-1,800 fps with 500's depending on how much powder. I had extra IMR-4350 and RL-19 (quite slow for 458 WM) and full cases were in that same range, 1,700 or so fps. Enough to know you mean business but pleasant compared to full steam loads.
 
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Yeah that is the reason for me to load cast is to use less powder than my jacketed or TSX bullets and cheaper components bullet wise too! I find the 350gn tsx or hot cor full loads feels about the same recoil wise as the 485gn cast! I have a box of 500gn Hornady starting load was unpleasant lol!
 
DGY said:
Yeah that is the reason for me to load cast is to use less powder than my jacketed or TSX bullets and cheaper components bullet wise too! I find the 350gn tsx or hot cor full loads feels about the same recoil wise as the 485gn cast! I have a box of 500gn Hornady starting load was unpleasant lol!
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I have a handful of the 500gr interlock softs sadly discontinued have yet to try them.

As for cast for hunting a flat meplat should do the trick I wouldn’t worry about them having to deform. It’s actually pretty hard to get an alloy bullet to deform unless it’s a lead/tin alloy once the antimony gets involved game over. Brobee did get some expansion on campro out of .44 mag so it is possible even with a harder bullet just takes some doing.
 
saskgunowner101 said:
Cast bullets worked well for me in the past, as long as you don't kick them too hard in the butt, or just use a gas check mold. 2400 will give you very mild recoiling loads (500's around 1,300 fps ballpark iirc) and 4064 will give you ballpark 1,700-1,800 fps with 500's depending on how much powder. I had extra IMR-4350 and RL-19 (quite slow for 458 WM) and full cases were in that same range, 1,700 or so fps. Enough to know you mean business but pleasant compared to full steam loads.
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I have grown to really like this cartridge for the amount of versatility it has. light bullets(350’s) is about all you need for most of North American game short of grizz or bison or I can be loaded up to take elephant. Verity of powders rhat work well for it and in a pinch it could be loaded like a belted .45-90. I have heard of guys using powders for .50 bmg some even duplexed with a kicker charge of faster powder but unless it was all that was available I’d rather not try it.

I’m definitely going to play around with it maybe 3 .457 round ball just for giggles might be a viable coyote load if it works though.
 
antiqueguy said:
I have a handful of the 500gr interlock softs sadly discontinued have yet to try them.

As for cast for hunting a flat meplat should do the trick I wouldn’t worry about them having to deform. It’s actually pretty hard to get an alloy bullet to deform unless it’s a lead/tin alloy once the antimony gets involved game over. Brobee did get some expansion on campro out of .44 mag so it is possible even with a harder bullet just takes some doing.
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I don’t worry too much about them deforming but I have a friend who shoots cast out of his 458 Lott I think and it tested them and they shattered/grade in media( I think water jugs) so I would want that to happen in a game animal since I hunt for the meat….
 
antiqueguy said:
I have grown to really like this cartridge for the amount of versatility it has. light bullets(350’s) is about all you need for most of North American game short of grizz or bison or I can be loaded up to take elephant. Verity of powders rhat work well for it and in a pinch it could be loaded like a belted .45-90. I have heard of guys using powders for .50 bmg some even duplexed with a kicker charge of faster powder but unless it was all that was available I’d rather not try it.

I’m definitely going to play around with it maybe 3 .457 round ball just for giggles might be a viable coyote load if it works though.
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I have full confidence in my 350gn tsx for everything up here including bison and grizzly bears! 350gn going at nearly 2600fps and over 5200 ft-lbs at the muzzle I can’t see that combo not working on everything even elephants 🐘 lol
 
DGY said:
I have full confidence in my 350gn tsx for everything up here including bison and grizzly bears! 350gn going at nearly 2600fps and over 5200 ft-lbs at the muzzle I can’t see that combo not working on everything even elephants 🐘 lol
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A tsx is much different from the hornady/speer I use. I generally don’t use mono bullets as they are really not necessary for game here and have been know to fail. For softs on bigger/toothy game I’d just step up weight/construction as needed.
 
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Bison up here are pretty big and killed 2 hunters so far so I want something that’s gonna hold together… that said that rifle bullet combo isn’t my primary combo, 9.3x62 286gn partition or Aframe or 250 ECX!
Anyway to each their own but in really a 30-06 180 quality bullet will take care of everything walking in North America biggest bear, biggest bison and biggest moose included!
 
I use a 485gr gas checked cast bullets, with imr4198 powder. I pushed velocity over 2000 fps to see what would happen and had no problems besides noticing increased lead fouling, but still an acceptable level. I load it in the 1800 fps range for most shooting. want to try powder coating sometime.
 
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Mr.Rigpig said:
Im also interested. I have tons of cast .458 bullets for 45-70 & I want to load some in the WM.
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If you are fussy about it, I read that the leade on 458 Win Mag is different shape than for 45-70 - so maybe the bullets are different, at front, also - I think the bullet diameter is close to the same between them. I had seen cast bullets advertised for 45-70 and for 458 Win Mag, so I presumed they were different to each other.
 
jethunter said:
I load it in the 1800 fps range for most shooting. want to try powder coating sometime.
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I would definitely go for it, even with crappy Princess Auto powder coating, results are pretty good. Not the best for coverage when PC'ing in high humidity, but quite decent in low humidity, and a dream to clean the barrel after shooting (assuming a good fit).
 
saskgunowner101 said:
I would definitely go for it, even with crappy Princess Auto powder coating, results are pretty good. Not the best for coverage when PC'ing in high humidity, but quite decent in low humidity, and a dream to clean the barrel after shooting (assuming a good fit).
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I do powder coat other bullets already, haven't got to the 458 yet. PC cast bullets were magic for 35 rem, can load them right up to factory jacketed bullet speeds. 458 should be the same.
 
jethunter said:
I do powder coat other bullets already, haven't got to the 458 yet. PC cast bullets were magic for 35 rem, can load them right up to factory jacketed bullet speeds. 458 should be the same.
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Oh okay, I was wondering for a minute if you were an absolute die-hard when it came to using only bullet lubes, and were hesitant to try PC. I should have known better once I thought about your cgn handle lol
 
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