This rifle is chambered for 5.56 (kinda) I literally poured my heart and soul into this thing for over two years. Each component hand selected. It was made to go hand in hand with a specific round, that is absolutely not going to be found anywhere..components to reload come dearer than I'm willing to pay. Can I shoot 62gr wolf poly out of it? sure, but that would be like drinking the finest scotch out there from a dixie cup. A rifle like this for me living in Indiana has literally no use. It was the pipe dream of all pipe dreams. I want it to serve some purposes and I currently have no deer legal cartridge rifles.
looking at 3 options
(1) re barrel it for .458 and buy a new bolt.
(2) Say to heck with it, shove it back into the safe and buy a 24" barreled rossie 44 magnum lever gun I can get a great deal on.
(3) Throw together an Encore in a caliber of my choosing...most likely .35 Rem
I've never so much as shot a rifle in .458, but also no personal experience with .44 magnum rifles and their effectiveness on deer.
The .50 Beo is not an option due to parts and ammunition availability, not to mention I'd have to open up the ejection port on a high dollar upper that (for the time being anyway) cannot be replaced.