458 SOCOM

[my82cam]

I am going to use my new 458 SOCOM to deer hunt in Indiana this year. so far, I have only shot it at 100 yards and was very happy with it, just 1 big hole. my question is this, how far can I really shoot with this gun? I could take 1 mile long shots if I were capable, it is very flat up there! I am shooting 325gr hornady FTX. I do plan on spending a lot of time shooting at longer distances this fall before I go hunting. just wondering what I could expect

[RWF]

i do not know but i would guess it will be like shooting a morter round, but if you hit it it would down. but just should anwser your question,

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi

[MacGyver]

.458 SOCOM was really designed to be a 150m round. Within its range it hits awfully hard. Get out much further and it really starts dropping fast.

[nightrunner]

It has similar energy to the .45/70govt and that round was used to drop buffalo in one shot at 1000 yards. Draw your own conclusions.

But it was designed to be used inside of 150-200 yards, doesnt mean its not effective beyond that. Just know your drop/holdover VERY well.

[MacGyver]

Yeah, that's not to say you can't get out there, it's just going to drop a lot. My supersonic load right now is loaded with 325gr FTXs. With a 100m zero, it's got 1246" drop at 1000m. That's 103 feet. It would be a big guess for me.

[mikegideon]

Like Macgyver said, it kinda drops like a rock past 150 yards. I doubt that your sights will allow you to do enough holdover to go much past that. Do you know how fast those FTX's are moving?

[mikegideon]

At 1700fps muzzle velocity, your holdover will be 17 MOA at 300 yards with a 100 yard zero. Energy at 300 yards will be around 860 ft-lbs. (BTW... holdover at 1000 is 135 MOA).

I have loaded and shot some of the 325's, but don't have any chrony data on them. 1700 is a good guess.

[Rightwinger]

On the old 458Socomforum.com site, there was a picture of a rig one of Marty's buddies had set up. An AR with a ladder site on the back of an AR. He was ringing a gong consistently at 700 yards. The only issue was, as stated, the thing was pointing at the sky like a small artillery piece. Use it for the designed purpose, one shot, no track kills, from 200 yards in. We should all plan a Socom day somewhere and ring the crap out of some gongs or old brake rotors. I like that the caliber is alive and well here in Tennessee!

[MacGyver]

Like Macgyver said, it kinda drops like a rock past 150 yards. I doubt that your sights will allow you to do enough holdover to go much past that. Do you know how fast those FTX's are moving?

With the drop listed above - 2050fps at the muzzle.

My FTXs have now been backed way down. I'm shooting almost exclusively subsonic now. At 1050fps with 100m zero, I'm a foot down at 150m and 3 feet down at 200m. By the time you get to 300m, your at the limit of most folks' dials.

I need to work with the caliber some more. The Spectre has been taking all of my attention of late.

I might try to machine a ladder sight sometime this fall. You'd have to do it for a particular load, I guess, but it would be a lot of fun.

[mikegideon]

I'm thinking 2050 is over pressure. May get 1800-1900, but I've never busted 2000 with a 300 grain in my 16" rifle.

You should be able to do a 20 MOA riser and a good scope with some elevation range. Upping the velocity to 1800, your zero adjust would be 38 MOA at 500 yards, and 53 MOA at 600 yards (again, with a 100 yard zero).

A ladder site could just be calibrated in MOA or Mils, with zero adjust tables for different loads.

[MacGyver]

Those loads were through a friends bolt gun with a 20.5" barrel. As far as I know, it's still his hog shooting load of choice. They seemed to work okay. I couldn't work up a load to get to 2050 with my current setup. With my 10.5" barrel, it would be a grenade.

[mikegideon]

i figured it was something like that.

[MacGyver]

Yeah, I was trying to use a best case scenario to get to 1000m. Even with that load it was over 100ft of drop. I'd be curious if you can get there with QuickLoad. I think it was with using magnum primer and lil'gun.

With my 10.5" barrel, I might as well be chucking them by hand.

[MacGyver]

I'm kind of jazzed about trying the ladder site. Looks like the CNC mill is going to be earning it's keep.

We'll have to get Dolomite in on this one.

[mikegideon]

I've beat the crap out of the SOCOM in quickload. There's no real combination that will push a 325 grain bullet past 2000 in a 16" barrel. I think 2000 is about tops with a 20" barrel.

[mikegideon]

I'm kind of jazzed about trying the ladder site. Looks like the CNC mill is going to be earning it's keep.

We'll have to get Dolomite in on this one.

The geometry is easy if you just do MOA graduations and use a table for each load.

[MacGyver]

Yeah, I'll see if I can work up a folding design.

It's entirely possible that I'm misremembering on the load, but have 2050fps in my brain because when he told me, I was sure I was going to be seeing pressure signs. I was surprised when there weren't any immediately visible.

That said, I'd still consider it a 150m round.

[mikegideon]

That said, I'd still consider it a 150m round.

Me too

[dlm37015]

must be something in the water i just ordered a wilson gas piston 458 socom

[Caster]

must be something in the water i just ordered a wilson gas piston 458 socom

That'll go good on one of those Wilson lowers you just scored!

[MacGyver]

must be something in the water i just ordered a wilson gas piston 458 socom

Ohhh! We're going to need to see that when you get it!

[Dolomite_supafly]

I wonder if a M203 quadrant sight might work. Maybe fill in the current graduations and mark new numbers.

I will look at adapting a ladder style site to a picatinny rail. I was looking at it a few years back for my wife's 45 ACP bolt gun.

There are tons of perfectly useful sights from long ago. We just need to figure out how to attach them to our modern guns. Imagine an AR with a Sharps style tang sight.

Dolomite

[mikegideon]

must be something in the water i just ordered a wilson gas piston 458 socom

Fun caliber. Looks like SBR has brass right now. I don't know what's up with Midway these days. They can't seem to keep stuff in stock. I know that doesn't bother you

[MacGyver]

There are tons of perfectly useful sights from long ago. We just need to figure out how to attach them to our modern guns. Imagine an AR with a Sharps style tang sight.

Dolomite

That's exactly what I was thinking

[mikegideon]

Quigley meets Stoner.