I shot a .458 Winchester mag today

M.D.Spencer

New member
A pre-64 model 70. Super grade. Lovely gun.. Bluing is near perfect. Stock has a couple nicks. Wasn't a thing wrong with it. This gun went to Africa and shot a Elephant. It's on it's second owner ( not me :( ) The guy bought it for a mere $400.00.

I shot her twice.
 
He didn't buy it for $400.00 he "stole" it. LOL

GREAT price! I had a Super Grade pre '64 in .458 and sold it in the 70's for $950.00, at that time it was a good price.
 
Funny Butch!!! I'd shoot them. As for the price. The guy who bought it said the Doctor wouldn't sell it for more than what he paid for it. WHY THE HELL I CAN'T GET A DEAL LIKE THAT!!!!!
 
gunsmither, I'm like you, but you never know when an attack prairie dog may appear. I'm working on a 416 Rigby at the moment. I have a Grandson,Josh, that really likes to shoot them. Guess who gets them on paper.
Butch
 
I used to shoot with a guy that had a .458 American in a XP-100 silhouette Unlimited gun. When the sun was behind you the bullet looked like a comet all the way to the ram line. Quite a pumpkin chucker. I never had any desire to touch it off. Still don't miss it I think. My .300 Savage was plenty for me.

Mike Swartz
 
I had a .458 I played around with for years until a whip-lash injury made it just plain foolish to continue. I will admit that I generally loaded it down a bit. Standing isn't too bad, but from the bench, it's like a trip to the dentist. I also fired a .460 WBY. "standing". I wouldn't want to sit behind that BEAST.
 
The worst kicker I ever shot was a Baikal hammerless 'coach gun' that I was using for turkey hunting. Well under 7 lbs and with 2 3/4" turkey loads while leaning against a tree - WOW.
 
A long time ago, a friend, who collected Weatherbys, showed up at the range with his .460 and a box of 50 full power handloads. The guy actually liked recoil, and had the broadest, beefiest shoulders of anyone that I have met. When I walked up, he asked me if I wanted to try it. He had a 100 yd small bore target posted at that distance, and not being a complete fool, I took the shot standing, remembering something that I thought that I remembered Elmer Kieth wrote. I spread my legs well fore and aft, but did not lean forward much, with the intent of letting the muzzle rise, and letting my body bend at the waist to allow it to. Well, I pulled it into my shoulder as if my life depended on it, checked my distance from the scope, and concentrated on the target, and trying not to jerk the trigger. The shot went pretty much as planned. I managed to keep it in the black, about 4" form center, and knowing that I would undoubtedly flinch on the second shot, I called it good with one. After that I asked him about how the rifle that I had just shot compared to the .458. He said that he had bought a Ruger 77 that he had sold after getting his larger caliber Weatherbys, since, at that point the Ruger's recoil seemed unremarkable. At that point, he sat down at the bench and shot up his box of ammo, much as you or I would have done with a .243. If I remember correctly, he told me that his load was 112 grains of 4064, topped with a Hornady 500 gr. round nose. He also revealed that he did all of his powder measuring with a set of Lee dippers, and that that particular load took two scoops. Interestingly enough, he told me that the .378 had the more wicked recoil, because the .460 has a heavier barrel, with a built in muzzle brake, and the .378 was a higher velocity round, which made its recoil more stinging. This was one part of the shooting sport that I have no desire to revisit. Having escaped bruise free, I am content to contemplate the experience from the distance of several decades, confident that my old shoulder would not get off so easily today.
 
I have a good friend that has a 300 weatherby ackley that he uses for 1000 yard matches. These darn things look mean as hell, but i have do desire to ever shoot one of them. This probably doesn't compare much to the cartridges you guys are talking about above, but it is the biggest cartridge i have ever seen in person or spent any time looking at. I think those big old cartridges look neat but they definitely aren't for me and have big old shoulders to!! Lee
 
I know a lot of big bore shooters. The better ones are small people. The big guys absorb all the energy and the small guys roll with it. If any of you remember Al Flores, he was very good with the cannons.
Butch
 
Shot a friends 458Lott to get it on paper... Ended up with tendonits couldn't button my pants for a week.. Never Again.
Think I'll learn from that probaly not.
 
Mark,
Simple I inflamed my elbow tendon and was in a sling and on pain killers for a week. I still don't know how I did it. As Forest Gump states "stupid is as stupid does."
 
A pre-64 model 70. Super grade. Lovely gun.. Bluing is near perfect. Stock has a couple nicks. Wasn't a thing wrong with it. This gun went to Africa and shot a Elephant. It's on it's second owner ( not me :( ) The guy bought it for a mere $400.00.

I shot her twice.

Now that you have taken the "Introductory Course to Recoil", I have a nice 8 1/2 pound 505 Gibbs for you to try:D.

I once bought a very trim, older Continental Arms (Belgian made) double in 450-3 1/4" Nitro Express. It only weighed a bit over 7 pounds. On my first trip to the range I figured it would be no worse than my 470 Nitro double, so I settled into my hold and squeezed the front trigger. The next thing that I knew was that it was recoiling out of my front hand, and the only thing that prevented it from recoiling further was the rear sight catching me on my forehead just above my nose ;). It had doubled, as the sear engagement for the rear trigger was a bit on the light side. Guess I found out why the previous owner sold it ;).

Jim
 
skeetlee,

Those 300 ackleys are not really that bad to shoot. A 17# gun with a brake on it, to me is more comfortable than a light 12 ga. The 300ack looks more menacing than it is.

A lot of guys are building some huge pistols, like 458's, 338 Lapua, just about anything in a rifle cartridge, only with out a butt stock. Those huge cartridges in a heavy pistol are not near as bad as putting it against your shoulder.
 
skeetlee,

Those 300 ackleys are not really that bad to shoot. A 17# gun with a brake on it, to me is more comfortable than a light 12 ga. The 300ack looks more menacing than it is.

A lot of guys are building some huge pistols, like 458's, 338 Lapua, just about anything in a rifle cartridge, only with out a butt stock. Those huge cartridges in a heavy pistol are not near as bad as putting it against your shoulder.

WHOOoahhhhh, hang on just a dang minnit! :)

Can anyone spell MUZZLE BRAKE?? Those big ol' pistols are BRAKED and since brakes work by redirecting all that extra muzzle blast pistols respond even better to braking than rifles. The tremendous increase in braking potential of using half the powder to push the gun forward coupled with the longer recoil window allow these huge cannons to be hand fired. Take the brake off and they'll completely destroy the shooter. It's not that the hand-holding is more effective than the more conventional shoulder stop method, it's that the guns themselves are set up to better control recoil. You lop off the barrel of a shoulder fired weapon and the recoil will be very light.

al
 
The barrels usually are at least 20" and some pushing 30",,,,and yes they are BRAKED.

There's no chivalry in shootin a large caliber with out a brake. All large caliber rifles should be braked, there is no reason not to.
 
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