: I am well aware of the ridiculous dorp in velocities from factory .458WM ammo these days. I cannot fathom why, with the excellent powders we have today.
: My old 22" .458 American made 2,060fps with 510gr. Winchester solids, yet that is the velocity Speer Chrono'd a .458WM at back in the 70's.
; Presently, I have a .458 Alaskan M70, same capcity as the .458WM, and it has no trouble making 2,200fps with a 500gr.Solid or soft using a variety of powders, none compressed heavily. As well it'll run 2,450fps with a 350gr. Barnes "X" and 2,400fps with a 400gr. Sounds pretty close to or better than the English .450's to me, yet no one is complaining about them.
: In testing, the Alaskan guide (can't remember his name) found the 400gr. Barnes "X" out penetrated all softs up to including 500gr. in the .458WM, and even matched solids, yet produced large wound channels, killing big bears much better. I'd think the 400gr.X or 450gr."X"'s might be excellent for about any game reqiring deep penetration.
: The premium bullets today, and modern powders now make any .458WM deliver true factory balistics of 2,150fps with a 500gr.
: Premium bullets today, have replaced sectional density requirements of old to some extent. The rules have changed, I believe - or have they?
: Francis Selous found the .450BPE with 500gr. hard cast bullets worked well on Elephant with 75gr. of Engish Powder. In case you're unaware what those balistics actually are, it's inferior to the .45-100 Sharps. He also found the 340gr. cast bullet, with up to 120gr. Powder worked wonders on the cats and large antelope species. This load is virtually identical to a light bullet load in the .45 2-7/8" Sharps.
; I guess game is tougher these days.
; imho, of course.