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Post by Junior on Sept 18, 2019 10:55:09 GMT -7
Here a few days ago I was shuffling things around and came to the realization that I have several guns laying around that I have never fired, and decided I better do something about this.
First one up was a Remington 700 safari in 458 win mag that I got for a steal. When I picked this rifle up the front sight was broken off, and is why I got it as cheap as I did because the guy did not think it was fixable. I put a new front sight on it, as well as a Williams reciever sight.
Not having any 458 ammo on hand, I went down to the local ammo whole saler, but at 130 bucks a box I decided to skip out on that. A set of Ebay dies and my trusty lee hand press and I was away.
Loading 500 grain Hornady RN bullets over a case full of varget, I let the first one fly off hand at 100 yards to see if I was on target. Next three I fired prone laying over the hood of my 1974 mack dump truck and they went into a group under 2 inches. Good enough for me. Sighted it on and it's ready for next moose season.
Out of curiosity I fired one round into a stack of spuce blocks and got just over 57" of penetration with the non expanding bullet.
Internet is not cooperating so I will try to get photos up later.
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Post by missionary on Sept 18, 2019 14:47:55 GMT -7
Reads like that was a good deal. A little work on a firearm or most anything usually ends well. I would think most any 50-50 cast slug over 400 grains chugging along at 1600-1850 fps is all a moose would need. They cannot be tougher than a buffalo. Unless you ever have to put one through the grill doors to get to the heart / lungs. Mike in LLama Land
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Post by Junior on Sept 18, 2019 16:17:06 GMT -7
I'm currently not casting, and if I buy bullets, I'm gonna buy jacketed if I can get them for the same price. A case full of varget from the 458 is pushing that 500 grain bullet at just over 2200 FPS. This rifle is magna ported so recoil is actually not bad at all. I wasn't able to hunt moose this year but I would like to whack one next year. I like big guns like this for hunting since I can make a heart shot from any angle.
My wife just passed her hunters safety and will be trying to get her first moose as well next year as well. I'm going to be setting up a 7mm/08, 7x57 or a 6.5 Swede for her to use and I'll be standing backup with either this 458 or I have a 338 win mag as well, but I feel the 458 would be more appropriate for trying to stop a moose if she fails to make a good shot.
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Post by missionary on Sept 19, 2019 5:53:50 GMT -7
Sounds like a good plan. I do understand the time element of casting. And if you can find jacketed at cast prices I would do so also. A 500 grainer at 2200 will take care of any critter that is tromping our fare planet. We shoot a jap 86 converted to 50 Alaskan and a cast 500 grainer chugging along at 1900 fps does unique things to whatever it slams into. Now getting your wife out there will really make it all complete. I hope she gets the big one and bragging rights for the year !
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