battle of the big bores… the .458 Win Mag advantage–part 3

Let’s pretend… or, let me pretend… My rich uncle died and left me a fortune… Naah, that won’t work ’cause I only had three uncles and they all died thirty or more years ago, and I didn’t receive a plug nickel from any of ’em.

So, let’s say that I was a very smart entrepreneur who made millions and managed to save a couple of ’em. What would I do with such a stash? That won’t work either because I never was an entrepreneur! Well, my job, or calling, was the type where my “employers” MO was something like this: “God, you keep him humble and we’ll keep him poor!” So, that ain’t gonna work either!

Hey, I got it! Let me pretend that I won the lotto, the BIG one! Hmmm… that’d cost a couple bucks… just maybe that’s it!! Ah gosh, I’d have to be struck by lightening 6 times before I’d win, so they say. I might get killed! That’d be no fun at all!

So, let’s just pretend anyway… Pretend what?

That I’m going on safari to South Africa for elephant and Cape buffalo, plus some other stuff. Hey, that’s a great idea! But what rifle should I choose, and what cartridge?

Today we’re gonna compare my pet .458 Win Mag (in it’s CZ550 format) with the favorite of the nostalgic crowd…  “Crowd”? Hardly! Well, let’s just say it’s far more popular that it’s rival we looked at last week, the .404 Jeffery!

The .416 Rigby, as disclosed a few weeks ago, has been the darling of a nostalgic bunch who think that by owning one they can somehow relive the experiences of the famed African PH, Harry Selby. Yes, I know that no writer of the past or present is going to put it in those stark terms. They have been, and are, more politically correct. It’s usually presented in a way that highlights it’s ballistic qualities. What do I mean?

On the forums, there seems to be a certain je ne sais quoi fascination with early 1900 British cartridges for African DG, and the .416 Rigby is out-pacing the others, such as the .577 N.E., by quite a distance. So, what’s the big deal? Well, it has become the darling of some writers like the late Jack O’Connor, and more recently Boddington and Barsness. Well, Boddington at least, though to be fair about it, he uses many different rifles on African fauna. But, he’s gone on record as liking the .416 Rigby very much while he makes ballistic distinctions between .416’s, .458’s and .577’s.

To be more politically incorrect… people–in this case rifle shooters–get jaded with their possessions. They want something new and different. When it comes to Big Bores, there are only so many in few calibers. There IS a current craze but it pales in comparison to the short-magnum craze of recent times in the .270 to .30-caliber class! Just what we need is another short-short WONDERWAMMER in .30-caliber “magume”, as one Italian gunshop owner was want to call his .300 magnum.

But all that is beside the point… which is that the .416 Rigby seems to be more and more the talked about magic for African DG.  Ruger chambers it in their M77 MkII. That one seems quite popular for a Big Bore. As well, so does CZ in their 550 Magnum as well as CZ-USA in their Magnum Express Rifle. Then, it’s possible to have one custom built by some smaller enterprises as well as by your favorite ‘smith.

The cartridge-case is BIG. Dimensions in BARNES #4 is as follows: case length = 2.900″ and COL at 3.75″ max. That demands a full-length magnum action. Case capacity is nearly equal to the Weatherby .416. “Nearly”, that’s the operative word… just not quite.

According to GUNS&AMMO’s Complete Book of CARTRIDGES (2009), there are eight factory offerings, all 400-grainers except for one 410 load. The ballistics are traditional: ranging from a low of 2297 fps (400grn) to a high of 2440 fps (400grn). Nothing special or outstanding there.

As pointed out a few weeks ago, because of the size and volume of the case, it should nearly equal the .416 Weatherby ballistics, and this seems to be a boast among the cognoscente, but rarely do owners use it’s full potential, being content with what they say worked back in the day. That’s baffling! Why go to the bother of a longer, heavier, and usually more expensive rifle only to use 66% of it’s potential? Plus, ammo is scarce and EXPENSIVE! I’d MUCH prefer the .416 Ruger or Remington! Or, really, the Taylor! Why? Because the ballistics are the same and items are much handier and cheaper!

But, the real point of this series of blogs is to measure the .458 Win Mag up against other Big Bores, such as the .416 Rigby.

Since my .458 Winchester Magnum is the same basic rifle as CZ’s .416 Rigby, it’s a fairly straightforward matter of comparison. But we must use handloads, as factory loads in each are below par–for reasons that are a deep mystery to most handloaders.

First up, the .416 Rigby, and we’ll use the best loads right out of BARNES #4 manual because it gives the best data of all that I have on hand:

350grn TSX: SD=.289; BC=.345; best load=2615 fps from 104 grns powder (24″ barrel). K.E.=5314 ft-lbs.

350grn Banded Solid: SD=.289; BC=.364; best load=2706 fps from 107 grns powder (24″ barrel). K.E.=5690 ft-lbs.

400grn TSX: SD=.330; BC=.392; best load=2464 fps from 104grns powder (24″ barrel). K.E.=5392 ft-lbs.

400grn Banded Solid: SD=.330; BC=.388; best load=2580 fps from 109.5 grns powder (24″ barrel). K.E.=5912 ft-lbs.

NOW, the .458 Win Mag (all Barnes’ loads from 24″ barrel; my loads from 25″):

350 TSX: SD=.238; BC.278; best load=2753 fps from 80 grns powder; K.E.=5890 ft-lbs. (There is no 350 Banded, but a 330 Banded which I’ve not yet tried in my CZ).

450 TSX: SD=.306; BC=.369 (Barnes data at 3.34″–I can load it to 3.7″ in my CZ); Barnes=2242 fps/5022 ft-lbs from 73.5 grns powder. At 3.7″, about 2400 fps should be possible.

450 Banded: SD=.306; BC=.362 (Barnes data at 3.34″ =2385 fps best load from 79 grns powder/5683 ft-lbs. From my 25″ at 3.7″ COL 2450 fps/5997 should be quite possible.

500 Hornady: SD=.341; BC=.287 (Hornady data from 24″) best load=2200 fps. I can quite readily get 2260 fps at 3.34″/5670 ft-lbs.

Then, as pointed out last week: there are 550’s and 600’s(SD=.409; BC=.454– at 2150 fps and 2050 fps, respectively, which puts the .458 Win Mag out of reach to the .416 Rigby, or any other .416.

Just calculate the momentum and you’ll see what I mean: 600 X 2050 = 1,230,000 compared to 400 x 2600=1,040,000. Now I realize that Woodleigh makes a 450grn for the .416’s (as recently mentioned) and a 550 in .458″ as well. If we grant 2400 fps for the 450 in .416″ and 2150 fps for the 550 in .458″–both loads are reasonable–then do the math again: the .458 Win Mag would only need to push that 550grn out the end of the barrel at 1964 fps to make things equal in momentum. Their SD’s are similar so that’s not a factor in this comparison. The Rigby would have a slight advantage in kinetic energy but fall behind in momentum (which is more important in Big Bores) by about 10% as well as in a permanent wound channel due to 21% less cross-sectional area. I give the advantage to the .458 Win Mag again. Then, of course, there are 600grns available, and at 2050 fps with an SD of .409 compared to .372 in the .416/450grn, plus 14% more momentum, the .458 Winchester pulls away from the .416 Rigby.

I’ll stay with my CZ in .458 Winchester, thank you very much!

Coming up in our next blog: the .500 N.E. Can the .458WM hold on? Or, is it slipping behind? We’ll see…

Shalom

BOB MITCHELL

The Battle of the Big Bores… the .458 Win Mag advantage

This will take a while… like several weeks… are you still with me?

To give some background: My CZ 550 in .458 Winchester has been in my possession for three years and a couple months. During that period I’ve tested 9 bullets, ranging from the 350 Hornady to the 500 Hornady. Well, let’s give the complete list: 350 Hornady, 350 Barnes TSX, 405 Remington, 450 Barnes X, 460 hardcast (Lyman-very poor results), 465 cast (fair results), 450 A-Frame, 480 Hornady DGX and 500 Hornady Interloc. Velocities for loads that gave good to excellent results ranged from just over 2000 fps (405 Remington) to 2750 fps for the 350 TSX.

The 500 Hornady saw most of the action early on and a total of 7 powders have been tried with this projectile, while H335 and H4895 proved to be best. H335 gave very consistent results and fine accuracy. Another distinct advantage of H335 is that it’s a ball powder, making it possible to get more into the case without undo compression. It is THE powder recommended by Hornady for their 500 grainer and shows best, or second best, in Barnes manual No.4.

Aside from the 460-grain Lyman hardcast, all of the accepted loads were near the top in velocity and granted an average of 1.25 MOA.

Bullets on hand that I yet want to give a try are: the 600-grain Barnes Original, 330-grain Barnes Banded, 325-grain Hornady FTX and 350-grain Speer Hot-Cor. The 300-grain TSX and 500-grain DGX are on my short list as well.

The bullets that have seen more action in testing are: the 500 Hornady, the 350 Barnes TSX and 465 cast, though cast bullets will not likely see much use in the future. As mentioned in these blogs, my North American big game load is the 350 TSX at 2750 fps. The rifle with that load has gone moose hunting (once–no moose sighted) and black bear hunting (one dead bear).

The rifle weighs in at 11 lbs even ready to go, with scope, sling and 4 cartridges loaded with the 350 TSX. It’s accurate and flat shooting to 400 yards or so.

Why am I putting the .458WM up against other Big Bores? Glad you asked as that gives me a wonderful opportunity to expound on it’s stirling qualities!

Before we do that, however, let me quickly add that this rifle with it’s hunting load inspires great confidience. It’s deadly (5890 ft-lbs at the muzzle), accurate (MOA), and with it’s superb balance and handling qualities I really wonder why I don’t use it for all my big game hunting! Or, even for medium game and varmints… seriously, as that would provide even more opportunities to carry it and get in more realistic practice.

My manual on the .458WM is primarily geared to handloading and using it for North American hunting, though it’s traditional settings are acknowledged as well.

As it has been emphasized in these blogs: The main advantage of .458-caliber over the other big-bore calibers is the vast array of bullets suitable for anything from white-tailed deer to the pachyderms. There are other advantages as well… which we’ll discuss later.

These are far from a complete picture!

Here are a few others: Though loaded for the Ruger No.1, .45-70 IMP, they are entirely suitable for the .458WM… that is the 330 Barnes Banded, the 350 TSX  and 480 DGX (Of course, the 350 TSX has already been emphasized as one of the best, and the 480 DGX has been tried in handloads. It too is an excellent hunting bullet for the heavies.)

There’s little hope that it might see African or Alaskan brutes, but the anticipation that it will be toted over ridges, across streams and meadows in search of bear and moose is a present reality. I’ll not try to justify my choice of such a firearm for Canadian fauna, or insult your intelligence by claiming it’s the best choice… NONE of us can justify hunting other than as a means of recreation in our day. But the physical and psychological benefits derived can’t be measured in dollars and cents, nor will Wall St., or Bay in Toronto sell shares in our hobby. In that light, no justification is needed to explain our use of a .308 Winchester, a .45-120 Sharps, a .338 Win Mag or a .458 Win Mag for our big game hunting.

But, when selecting a Big Bore, there may be practical reasons for choosing one over another.

That the .458 Winchester has advantages over a number of popular Big Bores is the argument to be presented over the next several blogs. And all that in spite of the fact that it’s not the most powerful or charismatic! But it does have charm and experience, and it will not break your bank account if you befriend it. As well, it has some  attributes that some of the more charismatic  types only wish they had! Don’t go away…

This gets interesting even if it doesn’t solve anyone’s personal relationship problems or the World’s economic crisis!

In our next session, the .458 Winchester Magnum will go head-to-head with an ole-timer, the celebrated .404 Jeffery! Don’t miss the action… According to some… that is a few-some, the antiquated .404 Jeff has had a resurrection of sorts, and is in better form today than ever in it’s heyday… We’ll see!

Best to ya!

BOB MITCHELL