School me on 458 Socom.

1903Collector

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I have a few lowers that have been kicking around my safe for a while so I was thinking about a 458 socom upper. I figure I'm looking at about 2K for an upper, ammo, brass, dies and tools and bullets.

So what do I need to know if anything? What about magazines? will GI mags work?

Thanks,
 
This is a FUN caliber, and would be very effective on decent size game. Should be deadly on hogs, though I have not hunted with mine yet. Supposedly the terminal ballistics are similar to .45-70 when shooting within 200 yards.

I don't think Damage Industries offers them anymore, but I bought their upper a few years back and it has been trouble free and extremely accurate. The end of the barrel looks like the end of a garden hose- thick diameter with a huge bore. Tromix has upper assemblies for reasonable money. You could build your own but to do that I suggest having an upper receiver with the port enlarged to help with ejection.

I used an Ace skeleton butt stock, which I randomly had as a spare but they seem to be popular for this purpose. I'll have to look for a pic of mt rifle, but I'm very happy with it. Here's a couple of my loads and a bullet recovered from a sand berm.

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I would not want to be hit by one of these- talk about ruining a day! The red tip is the Hornady FTX 325 grain IIRC, and the hollow points 300 grain JHP- that's the recovered bullet. The hollow points actually feed perfectly for me. I have read that Pmags are not recommended, but all I have used are pre-ban USGI since I live in the PRM. A 30-round mag will only hold 10 .458 SOCOM- they are that big. Answer to your question regarding USGI mags is that not only are they OK, they are recommended. I may try a -Pmag someday but may have to use one of those -.458 SOCOM - 10 rounds' marked bottom plates. Probably I will just stick with my old mags to avoid any potential for trouble.

If you reload, it's not that expensive to shoot. I ordered a couple bags of Starline brass. Excellent brass, but it does need to be sized before shooting the first time. I use Imperial sizing wax for these and the are easy enough to size with that lube. I use a Little Crow trimmer but I have only needed to trim my brass once and not very much when I did. I have reloaded the brass a few times and there are no sign of problems & I will try to see if I can get 10 reloads out of it. Use CCI 350 large pistol primers. Drinks a lot of IMR 4198 powder. I am using a Redding die set with good results.

A very fun round with extremely effective terminal ballistics. Last time I shot it, a friend of mine who is an active duty Ssgt. went with me to the range to shoot it. At 50 yards we shot basically into the same ragged target hole for a few mags worth. When we went to retrieve the target I was surprised to see that we had blown a 4 foot tunnel through the sand berm and had started to hit the railroad ties at the back of the berm. Neither of us had seen anything like that before, at least from small arms.
 
I have the Radical Firearms upper, was short money at the time (I think there was a tiff with royalties) but it shoots great. Starline brass, IMR 4198, Winchester Large Pistol, and Barnes 300gr TTSX for me. definitely worth getting if you are looking for a big bore. Sierra 300gr HP's are cheap for Sierra projos but I have feed issues with anything not pointy. If you assemble an upper, beware the feed ramp. This round requires a single feed ramp, not the split M4 type. those fatty projos need room to move.
 
I've been spending a lot more time working with .45-70 lately. Never owned a 458 SOCOM, but I know they take the same bullets as .45-70 and can run them as the same velocities, so you've got the same ballistics as .45-70. Nothing to complain about there! There's definitely a 458 SOCOM AR somewhere in my future.
 
I own a .458 Socom but don't shoot it all that much, primarily because of the cost of ammo. If you reload that's going to be much less of an issue. I think Mountain did a very good job of summarizing info. Recoil is stout, probably a little more than a 12 gauge shotgun, but not unmanageable. Tromix makes some nice uppers. I believe Rock River and Wilson also make uppers.

Wide variety of ammo, including some subsonic. This caliber is at its best from 0-200 yards. After that the bullet is going to start dropping like a stone.
 
I have the Radical Firearms upper, was short money at the time (I think there was a tiff with royalties) but it shoots great. Starline brass, IMR 4198, Winchester Large Pistol, and Barnes 300gr TTSX for me. definitely worth getting if you are looking for a big bore. Sierra 300gr HP's are cheap for Sierra projos but I have feed issues with anything not pointy. If you assemble an upper, beware the feed ramp. This round requires a single feed ramp, not the split M4 type. those fatty projos need room to move.

Good advice- if you build your own, best to be sure that you are buying the barrel with barrel extension / feed ramp.
 
Wasn't planning on building this time around, one of the Wilson uppers caught my eye but it's pricey. I do reload so it's just getting the tools and components.
 
Mountain really covered the bases here.. I've had mine, a Rock River Arms upper for about 3-4 years now.... love it! I did lots of research before purchasing, checked out the 450bushmaster, the .50AA and maybe another in that class, after weeks of research, I came away with the 458 socom, hands down. Some of the reasons for going with the RRA were related to dependability and performance. They had a really good bolt and the carbine gas system was the length of choice that worked best. I spent lots of time reading on the 458 Socom board I found, tons of great experience there to draw from also the history of the 458 socom and where and how it came to be. I actually used it for bear hunting this past season, but didn't get an opportunity to use it.. felt really confident carrying it .. :)
I to used 20 and 30 rd Colt preban mags, modifying the front of the mag to get good upward motion of the bullet into the chamber.. works great. I use the same mags for my 300 aac black out.. another upper I absolutely have fallen in love with. I used that for coyote hunting.. :) hehehe, didn't get a shot at any of them either .. The one point I'll make, you don't have to spend 1500 for a good upper, the RRA has been fabulous and flawless.. think I paid like $750 with the bolt and charging handle new.
 
I remember one of the episodes of Sons of Guns (before the whole kiddie thing came out) with Will selling suppressed 458 SOCOM ARs to hog hunters. IIRC, they were on air boats hunting hogs in a swamp???
They looked like a very effective hog remediation tool!
 
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Mountain really covered the bases here.. I've had mine, a Rock River Arms upper for about 3-4 years now.... love it! I did lots of research before purchasing, checked out the 450bushmaster, the .50AA and maybe another in that class, after weeks of research, I came away with the 458 socom, hands down. Some of the reasons for going with the RRA were related to dependability and performance. They had a really good bolt and the carbine gas system was the length of choice that worked best. I spent lots of time reading on the 458 Socom board I found, tons of great experience there to draw from also the history of the 458 socom and where and how it came to be. I actually used it for bear hunting this past season, but didn't get an opportunity to use it.. felt really confident carrying it .. :)
I to used 20 and 30 rd Colt preban mags, modifying the front of the mag to get good upward motion of the bullet into the chamber.. works great. I use the same mags for my 300 aac black out.. another upper I absolutely have fallen in love with. I used that for coyote hunting.. :) hehehe, didn't get a shot at any of them either .. The one point I'll make, you don't have to spend 1500 for a good upper, the RRA has been fabulous and flawless.. think I paid like $750 with the bolt and charging handle new.

Did this just 'mate' to a RRA LAR-15 .556 lower?
 
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