Guys,

Some of you might know me from the other forums, however I have been building a wildcat 458 for near on three years (yes things are slow downunder) and i have nearly finished it!

Currently I am doing load developement, and need to get the controlled round feed to feed correctly, it will be a single shot anyway....the next one wont.

I'll post photo's if anyone is interested, it has been a very good learning curve!

I have been able to get 300gn projectiles at over 2780fps......

SSGA

Welcome to the forum ssga. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

It sounds like your building an interesting gun. Don't you guys down there have some water buffalo? That cartridge should be just the medicine for that size animal.

What platform are you building it on? Feeding that fat case can be a problem. I think Remington solved it with their interchangable magazines. For a while I was considering having my 8mm Rem mag rechambered to the 8mm Ultramag and a couple of the Smiths I talked to said all I had to to was replace the magazine section of the 700 action with the 300 or 338 ultramag magazine section.

Perhaps you might consider a 700 action if those are available for your next one, that interchangable magazine sure solves a lot of wildcat problems. If your wanting a controlled round feed I think Ruger chambers in some of the Short mag calibers and that would be another option. Brownells catalogs their actions.

Show us some pix of what your doing and again welcome to the forum.

__________________
Bob from Idaho

Unfortunately ssga is a Browning A-Bolt fan ... already tried to convince him to build the next on a Ruger as they're the easiest conversions for wide fat wildcats. Look at how easy the AR series of cartridges have fed from standard magazines over at the AR forums.
I'll let ssga elaborate in detail on his 458Alpine, but the improved case and blown forward shoulder makes it hard to control headspace (for initial fireforming) on a push-feed action. But like all wildcatters ... where there's a will, there's a way.
Cheers...
Con

If I remember correctly Browning had some feeding problems with the WSSM cartridges, but not with WSM's so much. It looks like that those feeding problems can be overcome with the Browning actions.

I've always been a Remington fan, but like all guns anyway.

__________________
Bob from Idaho

Here is photo of the gun when i got it back from the smiths.

Action is a Brno 601 (308win)
barrel is a 1-8 with a 1-14 twist 26" long
stock is a custom thumbhole

SSGA

Attached Thumbnails

 

here is a photo comparing the necked up (yet to be fireformed) Alpine cases compared to a standard 458winmag. Brownings are they way to go but remingtons are cheap.....

SSGA

Attached Thumbnails

 

It looks a lot like a rimless version of the .450 Alaskan. But then the WSM cartridges are very similar to the rimless version of the .348 Win.

It may well do, I was not really looking to copy anything other than the 458 winmag but in a short action and to get 5000lb muzzle energy for a true "Sambar Stopper".

Interesting notes are, it holds 76gns (no drop tube) of AR2207 (H4198) to the seating depth of a 300gn Partition and overall water capacity to top of the neck it 87.8gns of water,it may just reach 88gns if i cleaned the case after it had been fireformed


Tonight I'll post some photo's of some fully fireformed an loaded cases......

SSGA

The thumbhole stock is going to mitigate the recoil some making it nicer to shoot. I know you guys got water buffalo down there, are you planning on taking it to Africa? 5000 pound of energy should do nicely for about anything you'd hunt with a big boomer.

__________________
Bob from Idaho

Actually no Faucettb not going to africa, not sure if you are aware of Sambar deer, however like Eland etc they are notoriously difficult to drop on the spot......this is my answer of course combined with shot placement! It has been designed for use with lightweight projies so they act more like a giant spitzer expending a lot of that energy inside the animal before coming out the otherside


I will try some 500gn projectiles and see if water buff like them, if i get half a chance....

SSGA

OK I had to look up those Sambar deer. They'd be a lot more like our elk and where I looked they could weigh up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds) or so.

Durned big deer and would seem much more like our elk here in the US.

Where I live in Northern Idaho we can have short shots in the brush or shots to 800 yards plus across a canyon or a logging clear cut.

I've been using an 8mm Remington Magum for lots of years with a 220 grain Spitzer boatail at 3080 fps from a 24 inch tube.

I can see where your going with the nice short action 458 and lighter bullets. That should be a zinger for what your doing.

When you get those cartridges blown out and get some targets shot send some pix.

__________________
Bob from Idaho

Yeah Sambar are small than Elk yet they live usually as lone animals and in thick Alpine country, which requires the preference for "drop on the spot".

To quote well travelled international hunter/author Scott Haugen

Take the cunning traits of the whitetail deer, the elusiveness of columbian blacktails and the caginess of high country mulies, and combine them with the superior instincts of the elk. Now roll them into one species. What do you get? The ultimate forest dwelling deer; the sambar of Australia

Iattached a pic of a group shot this week, however I'll have to take some pics later with the fireformed cases. As you can see it is very accurate for what it is designed to do.

SSGA

Attached Thumbnails

 

Sure sound like a heck of an animal to hunt. Here in Idaho we've taken a real hit in our elk populations the last few years. We had a killer of a winter a few years ago that just decimated the populations, then the wolf re-introduction program came along and changed the face of elk hunting as I knew it growing up here. Anyway bottom line is less elk and elk that don't herd up anymore. Digging the out of steep canyon bottoms and brushy draws is the norm now.

Here's some of the country I hunt in.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
Bob from Idaho

As promised.....

Attached Thumbnails

 

I got photo's of animals that have passed on, should i post or leave you to believe.....they are relevant due to being the Alpines first harvest.....

SSGA

Wow, I like it

http://www.hunt101.com/img/465120.jpg

Success last weekend......


SSGA

Very nice. The photo made it look like a dwarf elk with a large head! Nice animal and nice cartridge.

Yeah admitadely it was only half grown...but success on the first hunt is always good! The sambar when full grown are only just short of Elk in weight, shorter at the shoulder but broader/wider being a Jungle/Tropical deer.....I can post some other photo's of sambar here if you wish?

458 Alpine Controlled Round feed fixed and now is 99% finished......

SSGA

Project and cartridge going so well, i couldn't help but purchase a browning A-bolt Stainless stalker in 325wsm and send her to the gunsmiths today.....at least this one wont take three years....and she will be a ripper in the field!

SSGA