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.458 Winchester Magnum

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June 7, 2025Updated:June 7, 2025
Cape Buffalo

HISTORY
The .458 Winchester Magnum was a direct descendant of the .450 Nitro Express 3 1⁄4 inch and the .450 Watts. (Figure 1). The .450 Watts case was shortened from 2.850 inches to 2.500 inches and introduced in 1956 as the .458 Winchester Magnum.

Figure 1: The .458 Winchester Magnum cartridge (right) and its precursors.
It was designed for use against heavy, thick-skinned, dangerous African game species such as elephant, hippo, rhinoceros, and Cape buffalo (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The .458 Winchester Magnum – more than capable of stopping and dropping Africa’s biggest and most dangerous.
The exceptional sectional density of the 500-grain bullet, combined with a muzzle velocity of between 1,950–2,250 ft/s, provided the cartridge adequate penetration on these big animals. Rifles produced for this cartridge usually weighed under 11 lbs. The combination of these factors helped the .458 Winchester Magnum, in its heyday, to become the most popular dangerous game cartridge on the African continent.

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