shooting cast in .458???

[Parson]

I am thinking about building a .458 Win mag on a 98 Mauser action and using cast bullets. Most standard chamber reamers for the .458 have a long throat not allowing a cast bullet to touch the rifleing, anybody have any first hand knowledge as to how well they shoot under these conditions. Also how well do they feed using a wide meplate bullet like LBT's?

[blysmelter]

Planning much the same myself this days, M98 actior, A&B barrel, laminat stock, ghostring sigths.
And to feed the beast there are to options, pick up more OT or castboolit; guess wich one I will choose!

[Johnw...ski]

I built a .458 Win. Mag. on a Remington Enfield action useing a 26" 1-14" twist barrel. The throat is .4585 and about .12" long I used a reamer from Brownells.

Seems to shoot fine, although I have never shot from the bench I manage to hit more often than not at 1 and 2 hundred yds. on paper targets useing 500 gr. bullets.

John

[HABCAN]

I never shot anything BUT LEE cast in my Rem 700 .458 and it seemed to do any job I asked of it in either accuracy or impact, though I never used it on game as it was more of a toy than anything. Was a great rifle for gophers. I'd shoot the 'hill' with it, and the guys on each side of me with the .22's would shoot the gophers that came staggering out after the
'earthquake'!

[nicholst55]

I'm building a .458 Lott on a Winchester 1917 action, that will likely never see anything BUT cast boolits. It's just a .458 Win. Mag on steroids.

[wonderwolf]

I'm building a .458 Lott on a Winchester 1917 action, that will likely never see anything BUT cast boolits. It's just a .458 Win. Mag on steroids.

The .458 Win Mag (2.500") is the 375 H&H pretty much cut off at the base of the shoulder(2.412") and blown out. The .458 Lott (2.800") is the 375 H&H (2.850") blown out for all practical meanings (slight dif in actual case dimensions but you get the point)

I've had fairly good luck with cast boolits in my .458 Win Mag though I have not done nearly the amount of load work ups I've wanted to do by this point in time. I need to invest in a belted magnum case saver. I KNOW i'm not seating the heavier ones out far enough. My rifle has a long throat....honestly it hasn't seemed to have hurt accuracy yet.

With the lyman 500gr bullet I'm using I'm going to start lubing only the first few lube groves. as I'm thinking the bullets have a lot of jump right now. A chamber cast is in order for sure. :Fire:

In the end I would like to have 2 loads one mid range thumper using the 385gr bullet and one all NA game thumper using the 500gr bullet.

[johnly]

Maybe I should just change my name to Sadistic Sam, as I just purchased a 22" Ruger #1 barrel in 45-70, that I'm going to screw into a M70 action(same thread pitch as a Ruger) and run a 458 reamer into the barrel. Ought to weigh about 8 pounds :twisted::twisted: when I'm finished. I think I'll skip the Tyson treatment by avoiding factory loads, and stick to cast.

I'll need to buy or rent a reamer, unless someone here has one that I can borrow.

John

[Nazgul]

I have used several cast bullets in a Mod 70 458 WM. Lyman 500gr RNFB, 535gr Postell, and the obsolete 540gr FNGC. Saeco makes a 405gr Spire point that is good for lighter loads. They have all worked well, but they shoot to different points of impact. I believe this is because of the long throat on the chamber. It has never been a problem because I don't use it as a bench gun, just for ringing the steel or blasting rocks.

Have had a lot of fun with an RCBS 540gr PP bullet. they can be pushed to any speed that is reasonable.

[James C. Snodgrass]

In my Lott I use the 500 lee sp & the 500 fp gc. The pb sp tends to strip the bullet at about 1800 to 1900 fps, I think its the narrow driving bands, but the gc design does well up to 2200 fps, To tell the truth I kinda crap out at about 2000 fps you know sorta to much of a good thing. I've had good luck with trailboss for reduced loads around 1100 to 1200 fps they print very well. Good luck and good shootin James:Fire:

[charger 1]

Ok teeth move over, here comes my foot. For crying out loud dont mention lott,cast,and 458 wm at the same time. Lott and cast go together like any other dead ended throat chamber. Whereas the typical 458 wm's funnel throat will only handle buffalo type loadings, and even then not overly well. I've been up and down the 458 cal road so many times I've worn a rut, and I can tell you the norm 458 wm chamber/throat is the DEAD LAST thing you want behind a cast. Its theoretically and proven WRONG

FROM MOUNTAIN MOLDS


The throat is the part of the chamber between the case and the rifling. In a perfect world, the throat diameter would be 0.001" - 0.002" larger than the groove diameter. The throat serves to align the bullet so that it is pointing straight into the barrel. If the throat diameter is much larger than the bullet diameter, then the throat cannot align the bullet. Also, an excessively large throat diameter may make the bullet susceptible to gas cutting as it passes through the throat.

[waksupi]

I shoot a Postell bullet in my .458 WM. I'm not pushing them fast, but at 200 yards, they give good results on the gongs.

[Old Coot]

I had my best luck in the .458 WM with a 550 gr gc bullet cast in Lyman #2 alloy and pushed with 68 gr IMR 3031. Under an inch for three shots, cause that was all I'd hold still for from the bench. The mold was from Lyman and I don't remember the number. Of course I was much younger then and thought I was indestructable.

[blysmelter]

Planning much the same myself this days, M98 actior, A&B barrel, laminat stock, ghostring sigths.
And to feed the beast there are to options, pick up more OT or castboolit; guess wich one I will choose!


Ended up with a "used" CZ602 chambered in 458Lott, do not think it has seen much use. It came with dieset and some hundred condom bullets.
Nice gun and it shots well!

Now I am wondering about which mold to buy? It will be a Lee and the boolits is for training/plinking.
What do you guys think about the 405grs FP or 450FP, both without gascheck?

[James C. Snodgrass]

I've got both molds and I don't think that the gas check gains you any thing at low speed I also like the spire point 500 lee if it will fit in you magazine.