458 win mag reduced loads

[Orr89rocz]

Been working with my 20” ER Shaw barreled savage 111 budget build over last few yrs. Wanted to share some of my favorite loads so far for deer hunting. These are mild and work very well so far. Targets are 1” squares


My go to has been the Speer 400 gr and 64 grains of reloder 7. Hornady cases. Speer lists 70 as min low but theres plenty of case fill with this load and running it thru quickload it seems to be fine. Ive fired it in warm air and cold air and it does have minor velocity variation as expected. 2060 fps in warm air and 2025 in cold. Gun is sensitive to holding down the forend on the bench else it gets bad vertical stringing. I shot one buck with this at 85 yrds quarter away, hit far side shoulder, exited, and anchored him right there. Never took a step

Another one has been the hornady 300 gr hp. Hornady says its designed for 45/70 and loads it to under 2100-2200 fps. I have been using 62.5 gr H4198 and get around 2230 fps. Good accuracy but i havent played too much with it since shooting this group as it does what i want. (Also have a hotter 2400 fps load with 74 gr Benchmark that shoots ok and took one deer with that, neck shot. It does expand fairly quick. )

Last i just started playing with barnes 300 ttsx bullets. Im low on 4198 so i am trying Accurate 2015. It is low pressure and high case fill. I found some Speer cases and wanted to try them since i had alot of firings on the hornadys lol
Min load from accurate/hodgdon says 68.4 with the hornady 300, so i tried 68-69.5 gr so far. 68.5 shot two touching so far. 2087/2092 fps. Skipped shooting 69 and went to 69.5 which shot two an inch apart. 2153 and 2152 fps. Im going to play with those and work up to see if there is a 2300 node, but 2150’s is good enough. Mild recoil. Heres the 68.5 gr

Heres 69.5

Will see if they repeat.

 

[Old Navy]

458 for deer! Wow!

 

[rockhound78]

Just think of it as a warm 45-70

 

[Orr89rocz]

458 for deer! Wow!

“Brush gun” lol

 

[Big Mc]

Been working with my 20” ER Shaw barreled savage 111 budget build over last few yrs. Wanted to share some of my favorite loads so far for deer hunting. These are mild and work very well so far. Targets are 1” squares
View attachment 1510208

My go to has been the Speer 400 gr and 64 grains of reloder 7. Hornady cases. Speer lists 70 as min low but theres plenty of case fill with this load and running it thru quickload it seems to be fine. Ive fired it in warm air and cold air and it does have minor velocity variation as expected. 2060 fps in warm air and 2025 in cold. Gun is sensitive to holding down the forend on the bench else it gets bad vertical stringing. I shot one buck with this at 85 yrds quarter away, hit far side shoulder, exited, and anchored him right there. Never took a step View attachment 1510185

Another one has been the hornady 300 gr hp. Hornady says its designed for 45/70 and loads it to under 2100-2200 fps. I have been using 62.5 gr H4198 and get around 2230 fps. Good accuracy but i havent played too much with it since shooting this group as it does what i want. (Also have a hotter 2400 fps load with 74 gr Benchmark that shoots ok and took one deer with that, neck shot. It does expand fairly quick. )View attachment 1510194

Last i just started playing with barnes 300 ttsx bullets. Im low on 4198 so i am trying Accurate 2015. It is low pressure and high case fill. I found some Speer cases and wanted to try them since i had alot of firings on the hornadys lol
Min load from accurate/hodgdon says 68.4 with the hornady 300, so i tried 68-69.5 gr so far. 68.5 shot two touching so far. 2087/2092 fps. Skipped shooting 69 and went to 69.5 which shot two an inch apart. 2153 and 2152 fps. Im going to play with those and work up to see if there is a 2300 node, but 2150’s is good enough. Mild recoil. Heres the 68.5 gr
View attachment 1510195
Heres 69.5
View attachment 1510196
Will see if they repeat.

I shot one once, i think i would rather be in front of it then behind it. Tommy Mc

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

Big Mc, had a fellow show up at my sil match at Benning years ago. Had a 458 and 2 boxes of full power factory ammo. He announced anyone could shoot it as much as they wanted, just be SURE all the brass was put back in the box. He wanted to reload light loads for deer/hogs. I immediately made an announcement. Anyone shooting it at my targets will be paying for new targets. I suggested they shoot it at a pile of dirt about 100 yds downrange that was within line with the backstop. Two fellows shot it twice, the rest only shot it once. Scores were noticeably lower that match!

Frank

 

[K22]

Oh, does that bring back unpleasant memories of the 70's. One of my friends who was a "few cans short of a six pack" brought one in the mid 70's, had to special order it, a Winchester Model 70. from Firearms Unlimited in Pittsburgh. He never planned to go on any kind of hunt that required such a canon, he just wanted one after watching the movie Dirty Harry. And yes, he already had a 44 Magnum revolver, but it was a Ruger since the S&W's were almost impossible to find after the Dirty Harry craze hit.

When he finally received it, we were young and dumb and excited to try it out. We went to a dump to shoot this monster. He had 500 grain factory ammo. I shot it once and once was enough, it knocked the snot out of me. He shot two rounds which was all he could tolerate. The next day we both had black and blue shoulders.

Getting back to your issue, neither of us could handle the recoil of a full factory load. I was reloading by then, so he brought some dies and some smaller grain bullets, I think it was 400 grains. I found a reduced load; I think it was in the Speer Manual using SR4759. It helped but was still awful to shoot.

 

[Orr89rocz]

Ive only shot 300 gr at 2500 and a 500 gr at 1860 fps. Its stout but not terrible but also not full house. Might work up some full power stuff later, just never needed it lol. Its a 8lb 13 ounce gun with a good pad. Had a 416 rem mag that was way more violent.

 

[Old Navy]

That is a gun that needs a brake.

 

[topsail86]

Full case of 2fg black powder and jam a 400 grain jacketed bullet on top. Bolt action 45/70.

 

[Orr89rocz]

68.5 gr 2015 load running just under 2100 fps.


70.5 grain load running 2190’s fps

Im done messing with it lol that will do