Pics of your .458WM's

DaddyFlip said:

I am not speaking from experience but my opinion based on watching many DG hunting videos is no paying client needs to be in a hurry to get off a second shot. Some of the paying clients I've seen are not very good at cycling the bolt on that second round anyway. With practice, a paying client might/should be able to eject and load a single shot just as effectively and/or effectively enough for the real world time in which they might need to touch off another round. Reloading a single shot is not that difficult or slow if you practice and decide AHEAD OF TIME your order of operations. Again, not speaking from hunting experience, just manual of arms experience.

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That makes sense - most people can't shoot well at all. Personally, I would want more than one shot when facing dangerous game. Nothing wrong with hunting deer or elk with a 458 either.

For me when hunting with a single shot it tends to require you to focus much more on putting the first shot in the proper place. Second I like single shots. Third with practice on the manual of arms for any rifle you can get very quick and loading for your second shot. They are much shorter and handier than a bolt gun. They are not for everyone.

My order of preference for hunt rifle is Double rifle, single shot, bolt gun, lever gun.


Saying that I have hunted more in the last 20 years with doubles and bolt guns.

Another Ruger No 1. I had always wanted a Tropical. This one showed up used, coincidentally, only miles from my home on consignment. I really would like to use it on Cape Buffalo one day.

The dilemma now is I have a bolt action 375HH and a 458WM single shot. Maybe the solution here is bring both and kill two buffalo? I have time to think about it, I suppose. Also, time to save to hunt two buffalo since that isn't cheap.

My old original trusty FN Browning High Power .458 Win Mag. Simple, Effective, Elegant:

What scope and rings is that? Warne?

Yes, those are Warne base & QD rings with a Leupold VX3 1.5-5. That setup has been on the .458 for almost 40 years.

Are there any factory rifles made in 458 win mag today?
(Besides Winchester m70, Zastava m70 and Blaser R8)
Asking because I am getting big bore bug!

Mine is a working grade rifle.
Interarms Mk.X, 3-position M70 style safety and barrel band. B&C Medallist stock. Meopta R2 1-6 illuminated in QRW mounts. Lightweight and shoots well.

Tim Blackwell said:

Mine is a working grade rifle...
Lightweight and shoots well.

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Apparently so... nice buff!

Tim Blackwell said:

Mine is a working grade rifle.
Interarms Mk.X, 3-position M70 style safety and barrel band. B&C Medallist stock. Meopta R2 1-6 illuminated in QRW mounts. Lightweight and shoots well.

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I have the same rifle. Please tell be more about how you added the m70 3 position safety, and where you found that barrel band!
I’d love to make both of those upgrades to my rifle!

My personal favorite DG rifle is my Brno ZKK-602 458 Lott. It has a 22.5 inch barrel, 3 position safety, pop up peep sight, Nikon Monarch 1-4 African scope and Warne QD mounts. Weighs 10.8 lbs. It was originally built by Jack Lott for Peterson’s Hunting editor Todd Smith in 1990-91 for a Cape buffalo hunt in Zambia but the original wood stock cracked while sighting it in so Todd sent it off to Robbie Barrkman of Robar for a replacement McMillian synthetic stock and other custom work but he didn’t get the rifle back in time to take to Africa and ended up using a 375 H&H to take his buffalo.

Many years later, Mr. Smith sold it to our own @Luvthunt who subsequently sent it to AHR for more custom work and he planned on taking it to Africa for DG but circumstances prevented this and he subsequently sold it to me right here on AH in 2024. I was perfectly happy with my 416 Rigby, maybe I’m sentimental but this rifle was calling to me, after all these years it had never been taken to Africa for DG. If a rifle could talk it was telling me “take me to Africa!”

The following year, 2025, found me in the Greater Kruger with this rifle and I was able to fulfill it’s destiny by taking elephant and buffalo. I hope there are many more DG hunts to come.

Brickman301 said:

I have the same rifle. Please tell be more about how you added the m70 3 position safety, and where you found that barrel band!
I’d love to make both of those upgrades to my rifle!

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I had a gunsmith do the work, Alan Swan here in Queensland Australia. From memory both the barrel band and safety are from NECG. A big improvement over the original.

Thank you! I’ll check out NECG.

Tim Blackwell said:

I had a gunsmith do the work, Alan Swan here in Queensland Australia. From memory both the barrel band and safety are from NECG. A big improvement over the original.

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'62 Browning. I only have pics on my phone because I've toyed with the idea of selling it. Fantastic rifle.

CJW said:

'62 Browning. I only have pics on my phone because I've toyed with the idea of selling it. Fantastic rifle.

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Just cast that Rapala out there...

My .458 from 1977. Picture taken in about 1984.

Tim Blackwell said:

Mine is a working grade rifle.
Interarms Mk.X, 3-position M70 style safety and barrel band. B&C Medallist stock. Meopta R2 1-6 illuminated in QRW mounts. Lightweight and shoots well.

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love it, especially the meopta

Gotta love the Ruger No.1, especially in 458WM

My first .458 WIN MAG was a new-in-box 1984 model Ruger No. 1, traded off.
Almost forty years after its make, I found a like-new 1980 model: From my cold dead fingers next time.

I have No. 14 rifle in the .458 WIN MAG build pipeline.
here is No. 13 in my .458 WIN MAG battery, a fun gun:

Well, that was fun. Might as well count them down, and when No. 14 is ready it will be like a partridge in a pear tree.
12th .458 WIN MAG, like a day of Christmas, a 20"-long SSK Katahdin barrel with an old TCA shotgun forearm and a new TCA "frame" made in 2025: