Need load advise for a 460Wby

James Jones

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Jul 1, 2002
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I have a friend that has decided he wants to use my 460 on a hunt in Africa. for Cape buffalo,Hippo,Crocks and Lion.

He has decided after talking to the PH that bullets in the 450-500 class will work best. So i'm thinking that the 450 and 500 gr Barnes Triple shocks might work pretty well
I've got about 7 lbs of VV-550 that I think would work well in this case.
Anybody have any helpfull info on the load data?
 
well , I dropped 122grs of VV-550 in a primed case and stuffed a 500gr Hornady FMJ and let it rip. BAD idea , recoil is a good bit more than factory ammo with a muzzel velocity of almost 2700fps.

This project has been suspended until a brake is installed , I have the day off so I may run to a buddies and chuck it up and screw on a KDF I have around here.
 
I've been looking for a use 460 Wby but can't find one at a decent price. (416 Wby are easy to find). I'll get Shawn to shoe it with one of his uber brakes.
 
I heard of one up for sale here in SA and not having a big bore I thought it was worth a look. But after seeing a video of a guy shooting one I'm not sure I want to be part of that experience. That looked really really uncomfortable.
 
LRHWAL , the unbraked 460 shooting full house loads kinda sucks , I got a great deal on the gun so I bought it but if I were building a big bore I probably build a 458Lott.

I prdered a Vias brake yesterday from Brownells and I'm gonna screw it on tonight. My buddy has decided that he realy wants this gun so I'm gonna end up trading him a couple AR-15M4's for it.
 
I got the brake fitted , and it works great !! now it only kicks as bad as a light weight 338 Win mag!!! still pretty bad but not as day wrecking as before.

if anybody is intersted we worked up to 126grs of VV-550 and a 500gr Honady FMJ bullet for a velocity average for three shots of 2796fps !! he said that'll work so thats gonna be his big game load

He also has two boxes of 300gr Nosler partitions he wants to load up fast so he can shoot smaller plains game and he thinks that those will make a better "Lion Load"

Anybody have any recomendations on a better powder for thse lighter bullets?
We're gonna mount a scope on it tonight and HE is going to shoot some groups with it tomorrow, so I'd like to throw some loads together tonight for him to shoot.
 
Big bore , Like I said I realy dong think that you would be any better served with a 460 than a 458 Lott or hell even the 416 Wby.
And personaly I think I would rather have a 378Wby or 375 Ultra to shoot the cape buffalo and everything smaller.
I'm a fan of PO Ackley in the since that velocity is a good killer and a good bullet moving pretty fast will dump alot of energy than a non expanding solid moving slower.
I saw a big bull elk shot at a little over 300yds with a 260gr Nosler partition launched out of a 378Wby at over 3200fps and it just about knocked him off his feet , he staggared back/sidways away from the shot for a second then collapsed and diden't even kick after that , the bullet hit the on side shoulder and exited behind the ribs on the off side leaving about a 2" exit.
 
by JDJones
if anybody is intersted we worked up to 126grs of VV-550 and a 500gr Honady FMJ bullet for a velocity average for three shots of 2796fps !! he said that'll work so thats gonna be his big game load
JD, the Hornady FMJ is not an extreme tough FMJ and at that kind of speed is likely to not give adequate performance on Daangerous game at the ranges that they are normaly shot. As far as the 300 Nosler Partion at very high speeds it is also likely to come apart. I have a 400 grain 416 Partion sitting on my desk that ruptured the reaf jacket and the lead core is .172" below the rear of the jacket and this happened at a muzzle velocity of 2440 fps, shot into the shoulder of an Asian Buffalo at 70 yards. To shoot those kind of speeds You might want to think about the Barnes TSX and the Banded solids of monolithic construction.........
 
The tripple shocks are originaly what I was thinking. I think that hes ot going to go on the hunt for another several months , not to sure , but I'll try to see what he wants to do. Thanks for the heads up about those slugs being soft.
I told him he needs to talk to the guide about what he recommends for projectiles
 
I don't know if this is true but I heard that some PH's don't allow big bores with muzzle brakes due to the excessively loud muzzle blast.
If this is true, I don't believe I would care to tote an unbraked 460 WBY. I would like to shoot one once though.
If WDM Bell killed elephants with a 275 Rigby aka 7mm Mauser, I think a 458 Lott with stout slugs would probably suffice for tembo.
More power to your buddy JD. I hope he shoots some trophies!
Sam
 
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<font color="purple"> Big bore , Like I said I realy dong think that you would be any better served with a 460 than a 458 Lott or hell even the 416 Wby.
And personaly I think I would rather have a 378Wby or 375 Ultra to shoot the cape buffalo and everything smaller. </font>


[/ QUOTE ]

I'll look into it. I have a 375 RUM Kirby built me (with a 30" Lilja #8, Holland QD, trigger job and other upgrades). It's a real tack driver and kicks much less than my factory A-bolt 270 WSM - that is until I send the 270 WSM to Kirby for a brake and trigger job.

I use my 338 RUM (Kirby built) for elk.

I mostly use my 375 RUM to bust rocks. For the larger pieces of granite it can't crack, I grab one of my four 50 BMGs.

I'm thinking after Kirby puts on one of Shawn's awesome brakes on the 460 Wby, beds it and works the trigger over, it should be a good rock buster between the 375 RUM and the 50 BMGs.

Lately I've been busting rocks with the 308 Kirby sent me (everyone should have a friend like Kirby who sends them guns regularly /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

The boulders that my 50's wont bust are being saved for Kirby's 510 AM /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'll bet it won't be long before I can order a 408 or 416 AM (300 FPS faster than the SHY-TAK).
 
I had real good results with the 300 &amp; 350 gr. bullets by adding enough H380 until the bolt got a little resistance to it. Semper Fi
 
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