This caliber seems to have a bad rep for compressed loads in all powders and bullet weights, marginal >2.5” accuracy, and even trouble with misfires,
Other than compressed loads, which sometimes ARE the right thing to do, I've never heard any of that about the .458 Win Mag. Where did you hear all those things???
The only things I've ever heard bad about the .458 Win is that early ammo had a lot of failures of the bullet jackets, (a problem that went away after Joyce Hornady came back from a safari,) the common problem of the factory claiming higher velocities than the round delivered, and some complaints about ball powder, and its sensitivities. Also heard complaints about the ball powder used and its poor performance in Africa.
As far as I know, bullet and powder issues were essentially fixed decades ago.
Never heard of any accuracy issues due to the design of the cartridge. Generally speaking, big bore rifles are surprisingly accurate, BUT few people can shoot them that well, with full power loads. Plus, a .458 is not intended to be a long range round, so maybe some rifles weren't built with maximum possible accuracy in mind.
My .458 will overlap 3 shots at 100yds, with some loads. Also consider that a 5 shot group of .45 caliber holes can be 2-2.5" across and still be one ragged hole.
Most .458s have some variation of "express" sights, and aren't fitted with target grade triggers, so shooting sub-moa groups isn't as simple a matter as it can be with guns built differently.
As an example, I can get sub-moa from my 14" scoped .30-30 T/C Contender, but even that same ammo won't shoot sub-moa from my Winchester 94. The cartridge might be capable but if the gun isn't then it isn't.
Most of what I shoot is 400gr cast slugs at 18-1900fps. Works for anything I might meet in North America, and while I can load elephant loads, I don't bother. Sorry, I don't have the exact load data handy.
I did load a box of Speer 400gr flatpoints at 2100fps. That Speer bullet is made for the .45-70, and is overdriven at 1800fps+ and seriously overdriven at 2100. Doesn't seem to expand as much as explode at that speed.
The Hornady 350gr RN on the other hand IS built to give good controlled expansion at that speed (and 2100fps is far short of the 25-2600fps that the .458 could do with that bullet, loaded to max.
Bullet selection is important for what you want it to do. Shooting a deer with the 510gr softpoint "Lion load" is kind of wasteful. Using the .458 Win case to launch a cast slug at hot .45-70 speeds works great, and is less wasteful especially in $.
My loads are assembled the exact same way I do all my other ammo of the same type (straight wall rifle round). I don't bother with any of the "tricks" used to make match ammo as accurate as possible, there's no point to it, for me and what I do with the gun.
I do crimp. Heavily. Using the standard seater die. When firing heavy loads in bolt actions, rounds in the magazine can be slammed back and forth, and a good crimp helps prevent bullet "setback" in the magazine.
My .458 is a custom built (aka sporterized) Mauser, I found at a gun show. No idea what the guy who had it built had in mind, but its not set up to be a dangerous game rifle.
I don't load or shoot "elephant loads", nor do I buy factory ammo (waay too expensive for me) but if you can afford it, and want to, then by all means, enjoy! (I do have a couple boxes of 500FMJ that I'll probably never load, just in case, you understand...)
The .458's straight case doesn't do well with the slowest powders. Medium burn rate rifle powder (or even the faster ones) are the way to go in that cartridge.
Hope this helps
