Will these rifle rounds last?

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gbclarkson

New member
I was casually cruising Cheaper Than Dirt, looking at ammo prices, and found these:

.458 Lott, $168.05, 20 round box
.460 Weatherby Magnum, $165.92, 20 round box
.500 Nitro Express, $207.76, 20 round box
.505 Gibbs, $193.40, 10 round box

YIKES! Glad I am not a big game hunter. CTD even listed some of these as "Best Sellers". Really? At these prices, why not shoot .50BMG at ~$4-$5 per round?

At these prices, will these rounds last?
 
J

jimbob86

Moderator
That there has got to be some RIGHT expensive dirt, or they are sellin' it by the ton......

I need to get into the ammo makin' biz!
 
T

taylorce1

New member
Yeah they'll last, they are very specialized rounds, and for the most part if you can afford rifles in those cartridges then you can afford the ammunition.
 
C

Cossack

New member
.500 NE has been around since 1890 or so...

These are all dangerous game hunting cartridges. Most people will never need them, and those who do will pay for them. They're still only a small part of the cost of dangerous game hunting.
 
J

jmr40

New member
Most who own those rifles load their own. When you only sell a handful of anything the cost goes up considerably.
 
4

44 AMP

Staff
The last time I priced plain old vanilla .458Win Mag it was over $80 a box, and that was some time ago.

When I got mine, within a couple months I picked up a bit over 200 virgin cases, and did the about the same when I got a .375H&H.

Considering the amount I load and shoot these rifles, I have enough stock for the rest of my life, and probably another life too. ;)

Short of a lottery jackpot win, I'm never going on African safari, and the premium ammo for dangerous game is simply a waste of money in North America (or at least in the lower 48;)).

Most of my .458 shooting is cast slugs at 18-1900fps ish, and considering I've recovered slugs over two FEET deep in an elm tree, I think they are adequate for anything I'm likely to run into. :D
 
S

Scorch

New member
No, none of those will last. I mean, who ever heard of those? :rolleyes:
And the price for those? They must be made for killing elephants or sumpin.;)
 
E

eastbank

New member
when you have several tons of mad as heck animal trying to grind you into a bloody rag or have you for lunch, 80-100 dollars for 20 rounds of insurance will seem cheap. eastbank.
 
T

Tony Z

New member
They'll last a very long time: shoot three or five rounds of those, you'll be racking that rifle and putting the ammo away. Some 40 or 50 years later, the partial box will still be there, waiting for the next outing.
 
F

fourbore

New member
This is, I assume, hunting grade quality ammo. As pointed out, most reload for practice or buy lower cost ammo from specialty suppliers.

Comparison to 50 bmg is pretty naive. I look at zombie, black pajama, rambo, style ak/ar/sks stuff and I dont get it. That makes me just as naive. Now, I see how it feels from the other side. And worse yet, I dont care why someone shooting in his chinese made army boots, uses a ninja gun. That does cut both ways a tactical/zombie guy could care less about a 500 NE double. Some 'person' shows up at the range firing magazine after magazine of zombie loads spraying the heck out of a human silhouette at 25 yards at the end of the day he spent as much on ammo as the shooter who fired 10 or 20 well placed shots. Is that a problem or should one offend the other?

I assume we are honest, hard working folks, spending what is left over on what they enjoy. That or retired and trying to make the most of what time is left. Time and money ..... never enough.
 
B

BoogieMan

New member
Recoil on 460 wm is about 99lbs as compared to a 30-06 around 25lbs.
I want a 460wm in the worst way. I have to stop buying other guns long enough to actually buy a mag action mauser in 460wm and or a double rifle in any of the others. Maybe im a little sadistic but I love the punishment of finely finished walnut and blued steel. For now I have to be satisfied with the 47lbs my 460s&w provides.
 
K

kraigwy

New member
Years ago I was the Company Commander of a AK NG Native unit on St. Lawrence Island.

One of my sergeants was a guide and was given by a client a Model 70 in 458 WM. He loved the rifle but couldn't afford to shoot it.

Across the island some one years ago stretched and abanded a lead cable.

I told him to go cut chunks of lead off the cable. The next time I came to the village I brought him a used RCBS Jr press, 458 molds, Dies and powder, primer and some brass. Plus reloading data for cast bullets for the 458 Win.

I taught him how to cast, lube and load the bullets. The straight wall brass will last for dern near ever. And the velocity was just short of factory 458 ammo. All he had to buy in the future was primers and powder.

It turned out to be his number one whale and walrus gun.

------------------------------------------------
I have a 375 H&H Mag, I had a mold made that would produce jacketed 375 bullets. Short pieces of 3/8 in copper tube was placed in the mold, and the lead poured in. I would then run the finished bullet through a sizer to insure it was perfectly round. It shoots the 270 gr bullets at factory velocity and is quite accurate.

jacob%20066.jpg


Shooting DG ammo doesn't have to be expensive.
 
E

eastbank

New member
i own a 458 mag and a 375H&H mag, i have never used the 458 on a animal. but i have used the .375H&H mag on three hunting trips to africa and it sure put the hammer on the animals i took. eastbank.
 
M

mapsjanhere

New member
Not to mention that .50 BMG is illegal in pretty much every country but the US for private ownership, and even here you'd probably want to stay out of a number of states with one.
 
R

reynolds357

New member
I no longer have my .458 Win mag or my .460 WBY. I have a safe queen .416 Rigby. The biggest thing I still shoot is my 375 Weatherby. It gets very little trigger time now that I have a 375 Ruger.
 
K

kilimanjaro

New member
I have a few Ruger No. 1 rifles in the big calibers, they are great to shoot. Not to mention, you can pick them up for a big discount once the owner decides his shoulder isn't made for the recoil. I got a .450/400 NE for a song and a half, the deal included a box of shells. 2 fired brass cases and 18 unfired rounds. That's all he got out of it.

I'm just a slim customer, you have to learn to roll with the recoil. If you try to macho it out, you'll pay for it.

Reloading is the only way to go, it knocks that $10.00 cartridge down to $2.50 or less.

The .505 Gibbs was Hemingway's favorite elephant cartridge, mainly because he could boast about it in print. This has made a 'cult cartridge' and it is not going to go away. The Nitro Express calibers are likewise not going anywhere. The two American loads are the American answer to the need for dangerous game cartridges for magazine rifles, and are a step up from the .458 Winchester Magnum, which despite it's name, is not that magnum of a magnum.
 
G

gyvel

New member
when you have several tons of mad as heck animal trying to grind you into a bloody rag or have you for lunch, 80-100 dollars for 20 rounds of insurance will seem cheap. eastbank.
Click to expand...

Easy enough solution for that: Just stay away from those kinds of animals.

Just sayin'...
 
H

handlerer2

New member
Ah, Boogie, a sadist would persuade his wife to shoot the 460WBY. Then he would strum her traction wires.

A masochist would would receive vicarious pleasure from shooting the Weatherby repeatedly, himself.
 
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