Anyone have any experience with the .450 ackley magnum?

Calvin45

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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….
 

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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
 
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

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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

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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
 

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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! 🤔😂
 
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.
 
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! 🤣

 
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