458x1.5" Barnes

Historical Notes:

The 458x1.5 inch, which was never intended to be anything except an abstract experiment, has surfaced in a number of roles including a military one. It all goes back to 1962 when Frank C. Barnes was playing around with the 458 Winchester Magnum and cutting it off to various lengths that finally culminated in the 458x2 inch. All this was reported in the June 1963 issue of Guns & Ammo magazine. Nothing noteworthy developed with this very short version as a sporting round until the metallic silhouette game came into bloom, at which point several individuals built up special silhouette pistols based on the Remington XP-100 action and chambered for the 458x1.5 inch. One of these was Larry Stevens of Carlson City, Nevada, who won a number of matches in the unlimited class with this combination. He reports the recoil with bullets over 300 grains as being rather heavy.

General Comments:

The 458x1.5 inch will certainly knock down metallic pigs and rams when fired from either a pistol or a rifle. Also, a 300 grain bullet exiting the muzzle at 1500 fps to 1800 fps is a potent field load and could be effective for anything from small game and varmints on up to deer sized animals. The cases are easily made by cutting off a standard 458 Winchester Magnum case for a length of 1.5 inches. No one makes loading dies for the cartridge, but one can improvise by using 45 Colt or other 45 pistol dies. 

Source: Cartridges of the World

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