Anyone have any experience with the .450 ackley magnum?

[Calvin45]

This is a relatively new to me cartridge with ever so slightly more capacity than the 458 Lott. Here's a handy picture, .458 win mag, 458 Lott, 450 ackley. Can fire the Lott and the win mag in the ackley chamber.

Anyways, reason I ask is I'm in the process of buying a rifle chambered in this beast, with dies and brass as well

Does anyone here know much about the dang thing? There's not a ton out there….

 

[Calvin45]

@memtb @MagnumManiac @Frank in the Laurels @Rosebud if I recall correctly you fellas like the big thumpers…any of you happen to work with one of these at any point?

 

[memtb]

Calvin, you're a man "after my own heart"!

While I don't have any experience with the 450 Ackley Magnum…..I do have two books with articles written by the same author!

One book is Big Bore Rifles and Cartridges by Wolfe Publishing and Wildcat Cartridges Volume II also by Wolfe Publishing. The author's name is Gil Sengel. Both are very old articles…..but should offer good basic information.

I will say this, it's based off of a .375 H&H case blown out to minimum taper and using a .458 cal. bullet. I suspect, without really studying, that it has slightly less body taper than the .458 Lott! Not a great deal of difference between the two.

Just guess'n…..I would think that .458 Lott dies might be more readily available. However, both would probably be a special order item!

If you can't find either of these books…..I can try to copy the articles and get them to you! memtb

 

[memtb]

Calvin, I didn't finish reading your entire post!

If you have dies and brass……Dude, you just hit a homerun!
Here's a photo of what little, ancient load data that I have.

I'm certain that with some of today's powders you can improve on that a bit! memtb

 

[memtb]

Calvin, found some more data in the Wildcat Cartridges book by another author. The author is Dick Egolf, and here is his data from 1974! memtb

 

[Calvin45]

Calvin, found some more data in the Wildcat Cartridges book by another author. The author is Dick Egolf, and here is his data from 1974! memtb

View attachment 533200
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Thanks !!!

 

[Calvin45]

Calvin, found some more data in the Wildcat Cartridges book by another author. The author is Dick Egolf, and here is his data from 1974! memtb

View attachment 533200

Thanks!

Here's a pic of the rig from the auction house . Winchester model 70 safari express, good irons, near new mint condition, rechambered from a 458 win mag. 21 inch barrel + brake. Should kill on one end and maim on the other haha

 

[memtb]

Thanks!

Here's a pic of the rig from the auction house . Winchester model 70 safari express, good irons, near new mint condition, rechambered from a 458 win mag. 21 inch barrel + brake. Should kill on one end and maim on the other haha

Sweet find! At one time I was look'n for one to make a Lott out of, but the desire passed….. well mostly!
Is it still set-up in the original .458WM format?

If so, I think you will have to remove the magazine block, which essentially shortens the magazine box length for 30-06 length cartridges and the bolt stop must be modified!

I may be wrong on this…..never done it! memtb


Oh……what's that "thingy" with the holes on the end of the barrel!

 

[MagnumManiac]

The 458's I have had are: 45-70, 45-120 (black powder converted to smokeless) 450-400 Nitro, 458WM, 458 Lott & 450 Rigby…never had a 450 Ackley, but it is so similar to the 458 Lott, I would imagine similar, albeit a little more, ballistics. The 450 Rigby, prior to it's introduction, was my own wildcat and it had me hooked, until I got my 505 Gibbs.
I would say that any load with 480g or 500g pills above 2300fps is gonna wake you up, however, the recoil is not as bad as many think.
I really didn't like the factory throat on the 458WM, the Lott is a much nicer design, so I re-chambered my WM to the Lott and had 2 of them.
I found 3 powders to work extremely well with heavy bullets in the Lott, 760, RL15 & H4350, just a warning, H4350 jumps felt recoil by a good margin, but produces excellent accuracy. 760 is great and less felt recoil.

Cheers.

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

Thanks!

Here's a pic of the rig from the auction house . Winchester model 70 safari express, good irons, near new mint condition, rechambered from a 458 win mag. 21 inch barrel + brake. Should kill on one end and maim on the other haha

Oh it doesn't maim. It only cripples!

 

[Calvin45]

Sweet find! At one time I was look'n for one to make a Lott out of, but the desire passed….. well mostly!
Is it still set-up in the original .458WM format?

If so, I think you will have to remove the magazine block, which essentially shortens the magazine box length for 30-06 length cartridges and the bolt stop must be modified!

I may be wrong on this…..never done it! memtb


Oh……what's that "thingy" with the holes on the end of the barrel!

That thingy I beleive is what they call "speed holes"….makes the gun go faster!

 

[Calvin45]

It's here!!! I finally picked it up!

A few pics for y'all. It is indeed a Winchester 70…only downside is it is a push feed (post 64 pre 06 then) not a crf but I'm not too bothered about that, I think the unreliability of push feeds compared to crf has been greatly hyped up.

A very beautiful stock on this; the pictures don't do it justice. I also love that it has the safari express sights! This rifle will never be defiled by an optic of any kind, that's not what it's for, seems sacrilegious, and might be a great way to get a black eye.

I haven't had time to shoot it yet. Got the dies, brass, and some 300 grain hornady hollow points for vaporizing things, some 400 grain Speer flat points, and some 480 grain woodleigh weldcore bullets for serious business.

You can see in the one picture how the ackley does indeed have an ever so small shoulder and is actually a hair longer than the .458 Lott as well. Not a big increase in capacity but not as inconsequential as I had read either, I compared them. It'll fit a bit more powder in there. The ackley round is a handload with that 480 woodleigh .

This is the nicest gun I've ever owned and the most powerful by far. Can't wait to get it roaring!!!!

Also the trigger is actually just awesome and the bolt is like glass…she's definitely been worked on more than just the simple rechamber job methinks.

Even with the brake and a good recoil pad, I anticipate a proper beat down at her hands haha…I don't have the most precise scale but it's more than 8.5 pounds and less than 9.
@fordy
@memtb @Muddyboots @ButterBean @MagnumManiac @RockyMtnMT @Mike D Texas @Mike Matteson @Rosebud @Orange Dust @Hand Skills @FEENIX @asd9055 …..okay I'll quit tagging people this is getting ridiculous, on a positive note there's lots of folks I talk to on here on a regular basis, at this point I'll have to apologize to the ones left out! . Just tagged y'all cuz I'm like a kid at Christmas here and needed some folks to share in my joy here haha, my wife "doesn't get it"

 

[quigley257]

We built a 458 Lott a few months back for a customer. If I remember correctly, the rifle was a bit over 8 lbs and threw the 500gr Hornady bullets at right around 2250 fps. It was not pleasant to shoot. The big bores are a different kind of recoil and I definitely prefer it over getting slapped by one of our light weight 300 WSMs. Many people will look at a 375 H&H cartridge and think that they would be just awful to shoot but they're really much more of a push than a kick especially in an appropriate sized rifle.

 

[Calvin45]

We built a 458 Lott a few months back for a customer. If I remember correctly, the rifle was a bit over 8 lbs and threw the 500gr Hornady bullets at right around 2250 fps. It was not pleasant to shoot. The big bores are a different kind of recoil and I definitely prefer it over getting slapped by one of our light weight 300 WSMs. Many people will look at a 375 H&H cartridge and think that they would be just awful to shoot but they're really much more of a push than a kick especially in an appropriate sized rifle.

Can't speak to that yet. Can say I've shot a fair bit of .358 Norma and a lightweight (7pounds ish) .375 Hh and they definitely let you know…but I'm with ya. The really lightweight 7mm and 30 cal mags are just so SNAPPY…don't actually hit the shoulder as hard BUT something about the speed of their recoil makes it much harder not to flinch in my experience