.458 Winchester Magnum Mauser

David LaPell

David LaPell

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Our local gun shop has a Mauser 98 that was professionally rebuilt and rebarreled .458 Winchester Magnum. The work that was done was excellent and a new wooden stock put on it, and I think when I looked it was only going for around $400 or so. The problem up here is that caliber, the biggest thing we can hunt is a black bear and its rare if they get over 400 pounds. I was doing a little reading on the .458 and if one wanted to handload for it (with the cost of factory ammo I wouldn't do anything else) you could use a 300 grain bullet and the speed is about 500 fps more than a good .45-70. I know in reality that this gun is far and away more than one would ever need but I kind of wish I had the money on hand right now, because I think it would be fun to at least shoot it a few times, but not with the big loads! Thoughts on this big beast?
 
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I had a Ruger No. 1 in that caliber years ago, never really used it. I later purchased a nice CZ550 in .416 Rigby. Zombie rifles are so two weeks ago, so mine was my Sasquatch rifle. I should have kept it, but even the cheapest ammunition is $5 a round. I haven't followed .458 Win Mag prices, but they are probably similar. My understanding is that a Magnum Mauser action like the CZ is needed and that a standard 98 action is not adequate.
 
They are only worth shooting with the big loads. It's a rite of passage for people who love to shoot. Shooting the big guns are more fun when you handle them as well as most handle their pet deer rifle. The price of the ammo is high but how much is gasoline for a hot rod car? You don't get something for nothing in any case.
 
A surprisingly versatile cartridge. It will thump the big stuff up close but load it with a 350 gr. Hornady at about 2400 fps and you can reach out to about 250 yds pretty easily. That's a real good bullet too - I've seen it fired nearly full length through a good sized moose. I bet it would be really good on black bears too!
 
Buy it for plinking.

No, really!

I don't have any data, but I've heard of shooting reduced loads with lead bullets and pistol powders in big bore guns.

And if you ever need to shoot the Zodiac Killer through a house, or shoot an elephant, you'll be ready.
 
My first 45-70 was an 1895 Cow Boy with the 26' barrel. I saw some +P+ 350 grain JHP's on line, and thought they would be the ticket. They came out at 2150 or so-ouch. Then I started to hand load for that gun.
 
I've had a few 458s, and a 458 American on Argintine 98 action.
Back in 60s my old man was shooting rifle turkey shoots. You
could use anything, offhand- iron sights. There was a guy there
that was equal to old man. Shoot offs were called for. Club got
tired of shot offs. Ties were settled with coin toss. The old man
was not lucky on the coin tosses. He started using my m-70
458 or 375 for the practice rounds. The blast from them shook
the other guy up so bad there were very few shoot offs after
that.
 
At $400 I'd say buy it. Having a big bore to take out and blast once in a while can be a lot of fun and you know if you pass there will come a day when you think, "I could've had a nice 458 for $400."
 
Buy the Mauser rifle, buy a box of 458 brass, and 1# of Accurate Arms 5744 powder. Now the important part, open your reloading manual to 45-70 Springfield rolling block load data. You will be good to go with loads that are easy on the rifle and you. Increase the powder charge 5.0 grains, you are up to Marlin 1895 levels, not hard on you and will shoot lengthwise through the black bear.
 
I once had a model 70 in 375 H&H and being young and dumb at the time
bought a box of 300 jacketed ammo. Well 20 rounds off the bench cured me big time. Sold it back to the dealer I got it from at a loss. As Moosedog said it kinda jumps up your nervous system. That was all the jumping up I could handle. The other posters brought up a good point. Try cast bullets, tailor your loads to what you want. Frank
 
I built myself a .416 Taylor on a Winchester M 70 action. It is a simple wildcat in that one takes .458 Win. Mag. brass and neck them down to .416". I shoot nothing but my cast 350 gr. bullets. I can and do load the range from the equivalent of a 45-70 up to 458 WM energies. It is a lot of fun to go to a remote spot in the desert and shoot 'rocks' out to a couple of hundred yards. Every rifleman should have a big bore blaster. :-) .....
 
My best friend bought a used Ruger 77 in 458 Win Mag. in about 1984. It came with all the previous owners reloading left overs. Lots of 500 grain JSP's bus just a few 500 FMJ's, when ask about where the FMJ's had gone (thinking there would be a tale of big game hunting). He informed us of loading and using the 500 FMJ's at full power on ground hogs. We laughed and said that didn't seem very sporting. He responded in a serious tone that the sporting part was letting them get in their hole first!

I own a 450 3 1/4 N.E. and fired about 200 rounds out of it, I have owned 3 different 375 H&H mags (shot about 400-450 rounds), and I've shot somewhere around 75 rounds through 458 Win mags. The most fierce recoil I have ever felt was that Ruger 77 with a hand loaded 350 Hornady JSP at about 2250 to 2300 fps. would just plain knock tears out of you eyes! Ruger No 1's were nowhere near as bad.

Any load you can put in a 45-70 is safe in a 458 Win Mag. The 45-70 case is officially 1/10" longer but capacity is very close and the Win. Mag. will handle all the pressure and then some! So those 405 grain Cast loads at 1200 fps are fun plinking loads, and at 2200 fps will shoot through just about anything but a bank vault! Have fun. Ivan

PS: A 5 gallon bucket full of water with the lid on tight and a second bucket full but no lid setting on top of it. Shoot the lower bucket and enjoy the geyser! Best done from 25 yards if you plan on staying dry. :)
 
The bad is the cost of ammo. The good is that you don't want to shoot a lot of it. Don't shoot from a bench. You want your back to flex and let the barrel climb to absorb some of the energy
 
Buy it.....never know when you will find a cape buffalo in your tomato patch.....I bought a 458 Interarms Whitworth years ago and carried it in my trunk when I was working on the road. Got a call from another trooper one Sunday afternoon for assistance. He was at a ranch where they raised bison and a bull had apparently got tired of being penned up and had walked through a field fence and was out in the middle of a two lane highway with abt 30 foot of field fence snared in his horns.
He was charging at anything that got within 50 ft of him, the rancher had shot the bull several times with his 30-30 which apparently really irritated the bull. A 500 gr FMJ from the Whitworth ended the crisis.
 
David LaPell said:
Our local gun shop has a Mauser 98 that was professionally rebuilt and rebarreled .458 Winchester Magnum. The work that was done was excellent and a new wooden stock put on it, and I think when I looked it was only going for around $400 or so. The problem up here is that caliber, the biggest thing we can hunt is a black bear and its rare if they get over 400 pounds. I was doing a little reading on the .458 and if one wanted to handload for it (with the cost of factory ammo I wouldn't do anything else) you could use a 300 grain bullet and the speed is about 500 fps more than a good .45-70. I know in reality that this gun is far and away more than one would ever need but I kind of wish I had the money on hand right now, because I think it would be fun to at least shoot it a few times, but not with the big loads! Thoughts on this big beast?
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Although a very strong and robust action I would approach this one cautiously. The 458 Win Mag approaches levels that can destroy an older military action you are considering. Even if built "correctly" there is still always a concern for the big thumpers in these actions.
Just an opinion:)
 
.458

I once fired a .458 Winchester Magnum that only weighted about 9-10 pounds. In recoil, the rifle nearly came out of my hands and the recoil was brutal. In contrast, I also fired the more powerful 460 Weatherby but that rifle, built on a Champlin action, weighed about 13 pounds and was far more pleasant to shoot.

A reloader can easily duplicate .45-70 ballistics in the .458 and there's nothing on this continent requiring such a large cartridge.

You can indeed use the rifle as a fun gun with the right loads. Hopefully, I'll never see you on Youtube allowing some unsuspecting bloke to get his brains scrambled by the rifle's ferocious recoil.
 
I chose the marlin 444s over the 45/70 years ago. I have a rem 700 in 338wm that will shoot more distance but I'm too old for it..
 
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