.458 Win Mag on a Short Action?

[mdwest]

and he says I am a bad influence

you are in fact a bad influence...

the VZ24 action sitting on my desk next to the .458 win mag dies that came in from midway last week confirms it..

 

[AZDAVE]

@mdwest @PHOENIX PHIL Well guess you might be right but just wait till we talk about doubles Just ask phil

 

[Daga Boy]

The 458 African was designed to fit into a standard (30/06) length action. Basically its a shortened 460 G&A. As the 458 has a straight walled case you could cut the cases back or load to a reduced COL. You cant do that with a bottleneck case as the neck would end up too short.
Alternatively, you could load 45/70.
Note that max CIP for 458WM is 62000.

 

[crs]

In the post above, Daga Boy closes with a suggestion of a .45-70.
If that is worth considering, then consider the .45-90 which has a case length of 2.4 inches and a case capacity of 89.68 grains, just short of the .458 Win Mag at 93.3 .
For the 1886 .45-90 lever action rifle, the COL is 2.88. In my 1886 .45-90, we have reached 2150 fps with 450 grain bullets; there were no signs of excess pressure and the load has proven to be very effective on big game.
With a slightly longer action, the bullet could be seated further out to gain case capacity for more powder or less pressure.

Just trying to help.
Just think, you may come up with a new short-action equivalent of the .458 Win Mag with your name on it!

 

[Matt Carro]

These guys are have been working on all the WSMs for a few years. Spoke to their office manager and she said they will open the webstore in July of this year. They do semi auto and bolt in all calibers from 6.5WSM to 458 WSM. BLRs are in development but will only be available in 358 WSM and up.

 

[Ray B]

About 30 years ago a few guys in Alaska were building rifles for what was called the 458 Alaskan, which is the 2.5" 458 brass shortened to 2". as I recall it was an efficient cartridge and used the lighter 458 bullets (350-400 grain). It might be something to consider for the short action.

 

[bruce moulds]

a 9.3 wsm might be interesting.
bruce.