458 SOCOM question

[TAJ45]

Having eyed the upper very heavily that just sold, being totally ignorant of that and the 450 Bushy, I did a bit of research.
It seems the feeding of the 450 was iffy enough to give me setious pause. The 458 didn't have any negative ink there but took regular 45 cal rifle projectiles whereas the 450 was the 45acp bore size needing .452 which I have stacked high and deep (former BE and ISPA). Both lead and jacketed plus a few plastic coats.
Hmm sez I, howabout a .452 AR bbl chambered in a .452 SOCOM? My only use would be social, occasional short range steel practice, a la Steel Challenge.
Another thing, never did read about what the socom case could be made from. I looked hard but nada. Anyone? 284 Win maybe?

 

[johnfred1965]

If I recall, the 458 is based loosely on the 50AE case, they needed something big to start with. As far as making your own, I looked into this years ago and fell back on starline to take care of that problem for me! If you had a die with a .452 neck, resizing 458 would be a snap. then all you need is a 452 reamer and a barrel blank. How about 375? seems I read that someone was necking them down to that size now too. As for the 458 bullets, I watch for them on sale at the various vendors and sponsors on here, and usually find a box of 50 for less than 20 bucks. Still haven't deer hunted with it, but have a great time at the range with all the looks I get when I start cranking off rounds.

 

[XTR]

There are some potential issues with the 458 SOCOM. most of them have to do with the way the individual chamber is cut, the free bore, and ogive of your bullets, and getting the bolt to close.

It’s been pointed out by one poster somewhere that that is a big fat very heavy bullet for the AR 15 system to close on.

I recently started getting mine together. One thing to consider with both the SOCOM and the 300BO is that if you want to run sub Sonics it’s easier and more options to get the system to cycle with a pistol length gas system than it is with a carbine length system.

 

[wedgy]

A little off the OP but I built a .458 SOCOM on a Savage short action .308 std shank. Same bolt face and they fit in the .308/.243 mag and feed perfectly. You can also run way higher pressures than the AR platform such as the Lehigh 560 grain prefractured subs bullets which put the smack on pigs.