Marrakai,

I bought the rifle with the idea that it would have to be converted to a rimless round and prior to buying the rifle I had JJ check out the ease and cost of conversion and what cartridges would be suitable. His answer was that it would be easy, not very expensive and, due to action width, 450NE 3 1/4" was the only real choice. And not a bad choice at that.

Thanks for your input, really apreciated

New Guy,

Optimistic as I was about keeping the gun a 458wm I have come to the conclusion that it really needs to be converted to a rimmed or at least beltless round. I think it would probably be just fine with a rimless, beltless cartridge since the blade extractor/ejector system really keeps a good grip on the case.

Unfortunely this good grip causes at least the extra step of pushing the cartridges into the chamber so that the blade clears the belt of the 458wm. About 40% of the time the push is needed. Worse, every so often, maybe one in twenty or thirty, a gentle push doesn't send the cartridge home and it takes more push, or, due to my fear of mucking things up, a slight twist of the cartridge to get the belt to clear the blade. This is slow and awkward.

I would hate to try to load this rifle under pressure, as it is, rather than just drop in a cartridge or two as time allows, close the gun, mount, while pointing, and pull.

I will follow up with more as I shoot this rifle more since it seems that I offer the board a rare first hand account of a shooter with a rimless belted cartridge DGR who has noticed feed issues.

JPK