My passion for big bores, and 458 caliber started with a 458 Winchester......... I can't quite recall how long ago, but Bill and I was cruising a local gun show, a fellow we knew had a 22 inch Winchester M70 in 458 Win on the table. I bought the gun for $600 or $650 as I recall...... I started loading up, and had a great load for the gun with a 400 Swift A Frame, at 2325 fps. It was a hammer, and back then just happened to be perfect for a mission I got called on in 2000. This was the time that Zimbabwe was slipping into chaos, land grabs by the government, that sort of thing. Most hunters were cancelling hunts and not going because of the turmoil. I had a PH friend over there that contacted me. He had lion problems, and no hunters. I jumped on the airplane soon as I could get a ride and went over. I took the Winchester and some of those 400 Gr Swifts and off we went.
Long story short, we were hunting hard, two different areas with lion issues. One was on the Matetsi area, and these lions were really being a pain with the local folks, killing cattle, and being a pest at night in the village. The other area was a photographic safari privately owned farm. It was around 16000 acres, fenced. A group of lions had got inside the fence and was raising hell with the wildlife there. We were baiting and back and forth every night in the two areas trying to catch up with these guys............ 6 nights in, we were on the way to the Game Farm, dropped by one of the baits on the Matetsi area, and one of the male lions crossed our tracks from going in. We stopped, he stood broadside as I got out of the vehicle and took a few steps towards him, he stood his ground at 20 yards. I hammered him with the 400 Swift and he disappeared. Then we heard more lions in the brush. Mind you, its Zero Dark Thirty now. We approach where I shot the first lion, and found him stone cold. Bullet had taken him on the shoulder, busted him all to hell. One down....... There was a large lioness we spotted within 30 yards, we got up to her, busted her as well. There were plenty of Lioness on quota, and we needed to break up this cattle killing and village pillaging ring. We got over to where I shot her, and she was stone cold as well...........
That 458 and Swift A Frame had done the job very well. It was a hammer. This is where I learned that 458 caliber and other big bores is just the ticket for this sort of thing.............Later I shot several plains game at various distances, and in every case, it was BANG FLOP, DRT on the spot. Sable at 100 yards, zebra at 170, and various other critters never took a step...........
I was 458 nuts by then. Later getting several Winchester M70s in 458 Lott, using those for elephant and buffalo on many occasions............. And a few more 458 Winchesters as well. Naturally all of them Winchester M70s............
Scopes on every single one. You have to pull big bores in tight against the shoulder and control them. Very few scopes qualify as DG Scopes, and all should be low power. I used 1.5X5 Leupolds for years until I got tired of sending those back to Leupold because they bust. I had 15 or more of these things, and had to, because there was always 3-4 at Leupold for repairs. Later I found the greatest DG Scope ever, the Nikon 1X4 African at the time, today it is the Monarch. It has plenty of eye relief, more clear than Leupold, and even just as important or more important, it has a very large field of view at close range. At 10 yards I can clearly see an entire lion tip to tip.............. Perfect. After 1000s on top of 1000s of rounds big bore fired with these Nikons, I have yet to bust one and never had to send one for repairs. This is good not only for DG in the field, but also good for getting work done on the range, one is not wasting time changing out scopes weekly..............
Just hold on tight, pull it in tight to the shoulder and control the gun. Do not HOLD LOOSE............ That is when it will get you.............