If You Were Building A .458 Win.....

.458

Yes the mag. box is long for the .458WM but the action and the mag. box held together ( thank who ever watches over gun nuts ) I still like the Brno action better as the 5 + 1 rnds. is a piece of mind in the field,thats 5 for the bear and 1 for me. Besides Boomers M70 is too pretty.

be safe all
pounder
 
i'd go with a savage action .

get bored of the rifle as a 458 , it is very easy to swap out the barrel and bolt head and go to something else .

then if you want to go back to 458 , just swap in the old parts and your good to go .

Push feed actions are not an appropriate choice for a dangerous game rifle.
 
Because it is possible to induce a double feed by short-stroking the bolt on a push feed rifle.

Besides that, If you're going to go to the trouble and expense of building a custom rifle, why not choose something a little more elegant than a Savage action?
 
Because it is possible to induce a double feed by short-stroking the bolt on a push feed rifle.
What if you're not going to hunt dangerous game with it?

Besides that, If you're going to go to the trouble and expense of building a custom rifle, why not choose something a little more elegant than a Savage action?
I do agree with that to a point, but if someone just wanted to build a cheap/beater gun play gun, why not use any suitable action?

OTOH ... If i was doing this project, I'd use one of those commercial 98s from Tradex.

.
 
Ouch! He got in a pretty good shot there Boomer ;) :p

After all these years with fiberglass stocks, I owe myself a nice looking rifle. But this M-70 is definitely utilitarian grade, no fancy French or Turkish walnut just straight grained and strong. In a couple of years it won't look so pretty. Although, if I begin to feel disadvantaged by the 3 shot magazine I might have to upgrade to a McMillan stock and a Sunny Hill drop box magazine.
 
What if you're not going to hunt dangerous game with it?

Then why build a .458 at all if you're going to follow that logic? If we're going to play Walter Mitty (not that there's anything wrong with that), there's no sense doing it by half measures.
 
I kind of agree; while I am a huge fan of Savage, they just don't spring immediately to mind for a .458. It would be a super easy, and economical build, but it just doesn't 'seem right' in my mind. Still, it might be fun to have a 'switch barrel' savage with a set of short magnum barrels right up the line, from .264 to .458; just for plinking and such.

For jsut a .458, though, a Ruger MkII would be my first choice for such a build, or possibly a CZ/Brno. I hate the classic M-98; the bolt feels just too sloppy for me.
 
Then why build a .458 at all if you're going to follow that logic? If we're going to play Walter Mitty (not that there's anything wrong with that), there's no sense doing it by half measures.

Why a .458 at all if I'm not going to hunt dangerous game with it?

Because I like guns, and I like gaining experience with different cartridges.
I want to play around with a .458 win, that's why.:)

Half measures, meaning push feed instead of CRF?

Well if you feel that way that's too bad, but I really don't care because I don't feel that way.:D

I was mostly hoping to get some info about the feed rails in different actions, and how well they work with the .458 win.
I guess I could have been more clear.
 
Moose Masher,

The only 458 I ever owned I had built by Fred Breitwiser in Kitchener. (Anybody remember him?) It was on a 98 Mauser. That was forty-four years ago, and I had it built for the same reasons you are wanting to build one. :)

The only load I ever used in it was 500 gr Hornady soft points. It fed, fired, chambered, extracted and ejected flawlessly. I brought it to the Yukon with me, but never shot anything with it. A guy in the NWT bought it for hunting bison over there. He used it a lot, and I have some pictures, somewhere in my albums, of him with a huge bison.

Ted
 
"...............
I was mostly hoping to get some info about the feed rails in different actions, and how well they work with the .458 win.
I guess I could have been more clear.

Well, in that case, here's a picture of the feed rails of two identical FN actions. The top one was modified by Bill Leeper for a .375 Ruger while the bottom shows the original configuration which was for a .270 Win. Bill also modified the follower for slicker feeding.

I imagine similar work would be required for a .458 Win.

P2100130.jpg
 
I guess we have many fine actions for a 458. PF or CRF would not matter to me if it was built right(expense) I have had nicer feeding and less issues with big bore push feeds than CRF. I have never short stroked a gun even when dealing with bears. My first 458win is a Ruger tang safety. I have not shot it much yet. I got it for the same basic reason as many do. To shoot one and get experience with different actions and cartridges.
 
Model 70! Exactly as Toebako said, get the Safari Express, get the barrel cut and the front site moved back, put the peep where the rear base would go and glass bed in a Boyd's pepper laminate.

Just another vote for this, they make the gun you want already, and it's perfect. .458's a great cartridge, just don't neuter and embarrass it by putting it in a push feed.
 
...just don't neuter and embarrass it by putting it in a push feed.

Neuter and embarrass, I have to say I find that pretty comical.

I was chatting with a fellow not so long ago that built a 404 Jeffrey on a Rem. 700.
I'd imagine that's enough to give you fits!:eek:
I can just see you twitching at the thought of it.:D

I really do prefer a CRF and will almost certainly go that route.
I personally just don't buy into the hype that push feeds are such useless pieces of garbage that some would have us believe.

In this case I am looking to put together something just for fun, not aesthetics, or tradition, or as a working tool that I will use to defend myself against truly dangerous game.

I like the classics as much as the next guy, but some take it too far.
 
That is a great picture, thank you for that!

Well, in that case, here's a picture of the feed rails of two identical FN actions. The top one was modified by Bill Leeper for a .375 Ruger while the bottom shows the original configuration which was for a .270 Win. Bill also modified the follower for slicker feeding.

I imagine similar work would be required for a .458 Win.

P2100130.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom