Savage 110 - ER Shaw 458 win mag
Rifle started off life as a Savage 110 7mm Winchester magnum square back in a plastic stock. ER Shaw makes a 458 win mag kit for Savage small shank actions. It is a magnum contour barrel with 1:14 twist at 24 inches long and comes with the Savage barrel nut wrench and head space gauges all for about $250.
You might ask BUT WHY? Great question. Let me say the intention here is to primary use this set up as a brush gun with custom loaded ammo only. Full power factory ammo is painfully expensive and the recoil is almost as painful too. (at the time of this review ammo was $5 per shot or better) Unfortunately factory ammo is also loaded mostly for dangerous game. I'm not going to be hunting dangerous game with a Savage 110 any time soon, more like never. However it is possible to custom load all the way down to subsonic with 510 grain bullets. Chances are I'll land somewhere between a 350-400 grain bullet shooting 2200-2500 fps and using it for nothing over 200 yards, after all it is a brush gun or at least that is the idea.
With that said the gun was built and the first two tests have been made. The first test was shooting 350 grain bullet at about 2400 fps based on Hodgdon's reloading data. The gun was build and put into a Choate stock out of an abundance of caution using an aftermarket .25" recoil lug. The resulting rifle weighted in at 12 pounds 13 ounces and wasn't very difficult to shoot at all. I would say it was more like shooting a 3 inch magnum 12 gauge shotgun. The recoil wasn't sharp like a 300 win mag or other faster magnum cartridges. It actually put a smile on everyone's face who shot it. Did a real number on a gallon water bottle too.
The second test was shooting 405 grain bullet at about 2200-2300 fps. However this time we "skinned down" the rifle to something more likely to be carried in the woods now coming in at under 9 pounds total. This load is still no where even close to a factory full load. I'd still consider it middle of the road, however now the rifle is getting close to being unpleasant to shoot. It is critical to hold the gun just right, tight to the shoulder and a very good grip to avoid any sliding around. My son left his thumb on top of the stock behind the action and regretted it. I still believe in a hunting situation the recoil wouldn't be felt, it isn't that bad. However it is more than a 300 win mag by enough that anyone sensitive to recoil shouldn't even try to shoot a load like this.
My son and I have several more tests to perform, all custom loads to determine what will be best to shoot. We hope to see if this is a viable option for a bolt action brush gun that will better the 45/70 and our previous 458 socom bolt action build. More information will be added as we have time to develop and test more loads. Is this a great idea, who knows? Will we have fun trying to make this work, absolutely!!! If you don't reload, you probably will just think we are nuts. That's OK, maybe we are, but what is the fun in being just like everyone else?
Some initial video showing...
Test 1
Test 2
Rifle started off life as a Savage 110 7mm Winchester magnum square back in a plastic stock. ER Shaw makes a 458 win mag kit for Savage small shank actions. It is a magnum contour barrel with 1:14 twist at 24 inches long and comes with the Savage barrel nut wrench and head space gauges all for about $250.
You might ask BUT WHY? Great question. Let me say the intention here is to primary use this set up as a brush gun with custom loaded ammo only. Full power factory ammo is painfully expensive and the recoil is almost as painful too. (at the time of this review ammo was $5 per shot or better) Unfortunately factory ammo is also loaded mostly for dangerous game. I'm not going to be hunting dangerous game with a Savage 110 any time soon, more like never. However it is possible to custom load all the way down to subsonic with 510 grain bullets. Chances are I'll land somewhere between a 350-400 grain bullet shooting 2200-2500 fps and using it for nothing over 200 yards, after all it is a brush gun or at least that is the idea.
With that said the gun was built and the first two tests have been made. The first test was shooting 350 grain bullet at about 2400 fps based on Hodgdon's reloading data. The gun was build and put into a Choate stock out of an abundance of caution using an aftermarket .25" recoil lug. The resulting rifle weighted in at 12 pounds 13 ounces and wasn't very difficult to shoot at all. I would say it was more like shooting a 3 inch magnum 12 gauge shotgun. The recoil wasn't sharp like a 300 win mag or other faster magnum cartridges. It actually put a smile on everyone's face who shot it. Did a real number on a gallon water bottle too.
The second test was shooting 405 grain bullet at about 2200-2300 fps. However this time we "skinned down" the rifle to something more likely to be carried in the woods now coming in at under 9 pounds total. This load is still no where even close to a factory full load. I'd still consider it middle of the road, however now the rifle is getting close to being unpleasant to shoot. It is critical to hold the gun just right, tight to the shoulder and a very good grip to avoid any sliding around. My son left his thumb on top of the stock behind the action and regretted it. I still believe in a hunting situation the recoil wouldn't be felt, it isn't that bad. However it is more than a 300 win mag by enough that anyone sensitive to recoil shouldn't even try to shoot a load like this.
My son and I have several more tests to perform, all custom loads to determine what will be best to shoot. We hope to see if this is a viable option for a bolt action brush gun that will better the 45/70 and our previous 458 socom bolt action build. More information will be added as we have time to develop and test more loads. Is this a great idea, who knows? Will we have fun trying to make this work, absolutely!!! If you don't reload, you probably will just think we are nuts. That's OK, maybe we are, but what is the fun in being just like everyone else?
Some initial video showing...
Test 1
