But if you want a little reach for plainsgame then I think a 1-6 scope is better. But 458 and plainsgame ?? It is like using a mortar beyond 100 m.
Exactly! What are your functional (hunting) requirements for your .458 Win?
Look at it the old school way….
If you are a father with a wife and three young children at home. Your wife is a stay at home mother or works part time. You are the major bread winner with a modest income for a family of five. You can only afford one vehicle. You see where this is going, don’t you?
You may desire a Corvette or other sports car but obviously that isn’t practical. Even a Camaro or Mustang hasn’t enough room for the children and groceries. Enter the minivan of the 1980’s. Then the soccer moms graduated to the huge SUV’s for those who could afford them.
Did I mention that you are a tradesman who needs a pickup truck? Or maybe you need a truck for a side hustle (job) as a handyman? Enter the dual cab pickup truck. These are the best selling class of vehicles in the USA for good reason.
So, what are your requirements for your .458?
Dangerous game at 50 yards – Iron (metallic) sights if your vision is still good enough to shoot at least a 2” group off the sticks at 100 yards, just in case.
Large plains game at 50 to 200 yards – After 100 yards the mighty .458 Win isn’t so mighty. At 150 yards the energy retained is approximately half of the muzzle energy, close to that of a .308 class cartridge at the muzzle.
Note: The above energy comparison is for consideration, not debate from the captain of the debate team. Yes, we all know that guy J
If shooting more than 50 yards with eyes that need reading glasses, an illuminated Low Power Variable Optic (LPVO) in 1-4x, 1-6x, or if you can afford one, a 1-8x scope is best.
If buffalo is you quest at ranges between 30 and 100 yards, an illuminated LPVO will serve you well! The light gathering qualities of these is a bonus in the dark bush.
If you are going on an elephant hunt with your mighty .458 and plan to carry your own rifle as you trek ten miles a day in the hot African sun, a tiny reflex (commonly referred to as a red dot) sight makes sense.
Elephants do not see very well and are hard to kill. Accurate shot placement is essential to avoid your PH empting his rifle into your trophy to avoid it escaping with your misplaced bullet holes in it!
Shooting elephants is .99% of the time within 50 yards, if not 30 or less.
The tiny reflex sight affords more carrying room for one’s hand wrapped around the rifle’s receiver. Also, if using a safe (muzzle pointed outboard, NOT at any human ever) Africa carry, I find scopes rather irritating against my neck and shoulders. Darn irritating!
The best of both worlds includes quick release mounts for the scope and a reflex sight. Swap out one for another at the truck based on the game and environment. If you will not be able to see more than 50 yards in the bush, either will meet your needs. A tracker may willing carry your other safely packaged sight in a backpack that you have given him.
The LPVO at 1x magnification will provide a better (brighter) sight picture with a clear illuminated dot or crosshairs for quick sighting. It will also “gather light” which allows humans to see into the shadows better than with unassisted vision.
A reflex sight on your rifle will carry easier but… Here’s the rub, reflex sights project the red (or green) dot against the screen one sees. That screen is coated with iridium so that it will reflect the dot for human eyes to see. The iridium coating restricts the light passing through the screen by the equivalent of a f-stop or two.
https://opticsguides.com/how-does-a-reflex-sight-work/
“The technical principle behind the reflex sight is simple. A small LED produced a colored point of light reflected against the small, semi-transparent mirror and returned back into the front lens like a luminous target.
Because it has a semi-transparent mirror, it reflects only some light, thus enabling you to view the lens clearly. The shooter can see both the reflected point and the target in one image line through a special mirror.”
The bottom line from the above is an illuminated LPVO at 1x is better, sometimes depending in the available light in the bush, much better than the light stealing reflex sight. The reflex sights are however much smaller and present an easier carrying rifle than the neck rubbing scope.
Now let’s discuss reliability and durability for both LPVO and reflex sights.
Reliability includes
- Illumination, does it always function as designed?
- Does the dot appear circular to your eyes? My astigmatism makes a lot of dots look like the blob from hell! My Aimpoint H1’s have a much clearer, round dot to my eyes than my Trijicon RMR and SRO. I have a couple of Holosun reflex sights on S&W M&P .22 Magnum and 5.7 x 28mm pistols. The Holosun dots are like fat blobs…
- Tracking, does it always move the point of impact as designed?
- If one click equals one minute of angle POI movement at 100 yards, does the sight always “track” as it should? Move it five clicks up and 5 clicks right and shoot a group. Is the center of that group about 5” up and right from your original POI?
- Now, move the sight 5 down and 5 left. Has the POI returned to the original POI? If so, the sight tracks good.
- For a LPVO, anti-fogging today is a given. If not, better toss that scope!
Durability include, “Takes a licking (kicking, extreme abuse) and keeps on ticking” like an old Timex watch.
- If one drops the rifle and the LPVO or reflex makes first contact with a rock, does that sight survive and hold its zero (POI)?
- Does the sight survive extreme climatic changes such as temperature and moisture variations and remain optically clear and hold it zero?
A common phrase in Precision Pistol (Bullseye) completion shooting is, “Buy once, cry once”. That means it’s better to cry about how much money the very best equipment costs than to suffer its failure when you are 90% of your way through a match shooting what should be a new National Record!
Reliability and durability for a LPVO:
- Nightforce, although these scopes are heavy and their optics are superseded by Swarovski and other makes.
- Most people have good luck with Leupold although a small percentage of users experience equipment failures.
- Do not risk your $10,000 hunt or more hunt to a low cost scope!
Reliability and durability for a reflex sight:
- Trijicon of Aimpoint, Period!
- Once again, do not risk an expensive hunt on a low cost reflex sight!
The choice is yours, choose wisely.
Also for your consideration,
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/red-dot-rmr-sights-for-dangerous-game-rifles.73440/ 
