The .458 Winchester Magnum is a belted, straight-taper cased, dangerous game rifle cartridge. It was introduced commercially in 1956 by Winchester and first chambered in the Winchester Model 70 African rifle. It was designed to compete against the .450 Nitro Express and the .470 Nitro Express cartridges found in big bore British double rifles. The .458 Winchester Magnum remains to this day one of the most popular dangerous game cartridges. Most major ammunition manufacturers offer a selection of .458 ammunition for rifles chambered in the cartridge.

History

The .458 Winchester Magnum was designed for hunting dangerous game animals by emulating the performance of powerful English double rifle cartridges in a bolt-action rifle. The use of a bolt-action rifle offered hunters a cheaper alternative to the big-bore double rifle, and ammunition could be manufactured using available tooling. The .458 Winchester Magnum soon became a success as dangerous game hunters adopted the cartridge. Soon game wardens, wildlife managers, and professional hunters switched to the .458 Winchester Magnum as their duty rifle. The cartridge would become the standard African dangerous game cartridge in short order.

The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .338 in (8.6 mm) caliber, belted, rimless, bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms. It is based on the blown-out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. The .338 Winchester Magnum is the first choice among professional grizzly and brown bear guides in Alaska to back up clients where a powerful stopping caliber is required on charging bears. It is also the most popular medium-bore cartridge in North America and has the most widely available choice in rifles among medium bore rifles. The action length is the same as a 30-06 and most major rifle manufacturers in the United States chamber rifles for the cartridge including the semi-automatic Browning BAR Mk II Safari making it a very powerful combination against charging dangerous game. The cartridge was intended for larger North American big-game species and has found use as for the hunting of thin-skinned African plains-game species.

The .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as .300 Win Mag or 300WM) (7.62×67mm) is a popular, belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963 as a member of the family of Winchester Magnum cartridges. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a magnum cartridge designed to fit in a standard length action. It is based on the .375 H&H Magnum, which has been blown out, shortened, and necked down to accept a .30 caliber (7.62 mm) bullet.

The .300 Winchester is extremely versatile and has been adopted by a wide range of users including hunters, target shooters, military units, and law enforcement departments. Hunters found the cartridge to be an effective all-around choice with bullet options ranging from the flatter shooting 165 grain to the harder hitting 200+ grain selections available from the factory. The .300 Win Mag remains the most popular .30 caliber magnum with American hunters, despite being surpassed in performance by the more powerful .300 Weatherby Magnum and the newer .300 Remington Ultra Magnum. It is a popular selection for hunting moose, elk, and bighorn sheep as it can deliver better long range performance with better bullet weight than most other .30 caliber cartridges. Military and law enforcement departments adopted the cartridge for long range sniping and marksmanship. As a testament to its accuracy, since its introduction it has gone on to win several 1,000-yard (910 m) competitions.

The .45 Winchester Magnum is a .45 caliber rimless cartridge intended for use in semi-automatic pistols. The cartridge is externally a lengthened .45 ACP with a thicker web to withstand higher operating pressures. The 45 Win Mag is nearly identical in dimensions and loading to the .45 NAACO developed by the North American Arms Corporation for their Brigadier pistol, developed to supply to the Canadian Army after World War II. The army ultimately did not adopt the pistol and its non-NATO standard ammunition.

The cartridge has been primarily used by hunters and metallic silhouette shooters.

Specifications

Although, the .45 Winchester Magnum may be based on the .45 ACP and have the same Rim and Base dimensions, the .45 Winchester Magnum has no parent case. The .45 Winchester Magnum case is redrawn with thicker walls and longer case. The thicker wall dimensions of the .45 Winchester Magnum are designed to accommodate a higher internal pressure (40,000 cup) than that of the .45 ACP (18,000 cup [21,000psi or 140MPa]).

Coordinates: 51°03′48″N 1°18′29″W / 51.0632°N 1.308°W / 51.0632; -1.308

Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs National Park, along the course of the River Itchen. It is situated 61 miles (98 km) south-west of London and 13.6 miles (21.9 km) from Southampton, its closest city. At the time of the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district which includes towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham has a population of 116,800

Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchester's major landmark is Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The city is home to the University of Winchester and Winchester College, the oldest public school in the United Kingdom still to be using its original buildings.

Winchester is a small suburban town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, eight miles north of downtown Boston. It is an affluent bedroom community for professionals who work in the greater Boston area. The population was 21,374 at the 2010 United States Census.

History

The land on which Winchester now sits was purchased from Native Americans by representatives of the settlement of Charlestown in 1639, and the area was first settled by Europeans in 1640. In the early years of the settlement, the area was known informally as Waterfield, a reference to its many ponds and to the river which bisected the central village. In its second century, the area was referred to as Black Horse Village, after the busy tavern and hostelry in its center.

Until the middle of the 19th century, parts of Arlington, Medford, Cambridge, and Woburn comprised what is now Winchester. The movement toward incorporation of what, by this time, was called South Woburn was likely precipitated by the rise of the Whig Party in Massachusetts (History of Winchester, Massachusetts by H. S. Chapman and Bruce W. Stone, 1936, 1975).

HM Prison Winchester is a Category B men's prison, located in Winchester, Hampshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

History

There has probably been a prison in Winchester, mainly known as Winchester gaol, since the thirteenth century.

Winchester Prison was built to a Victorian radial design, with five 'spokes' radiating from a central hub. Four of these are used for prisoner accommodation and one for administration.

Between 1900 and 1963, 16 executions took place at the prison. The last was that of Dennis Whitty, convicted of capital murder at Cornwall Assizes, and hanged on 17 December 1963.

In 1995 serial killer Rosemary West, wife of Fred West, was held in Winchester on remand for the duration of her trial in Winchester Crown Court. Each day she was driven from her specially built unit within the male segregation block half a mile down the road to the court.

In December 2001, a convicted murderer escaped from Winchester Prison by scaling the wall. The prisoner went on the run after using a home-made handsaw to saw through the bars of his ground floor cell window. He then used a rope and grappling hook to scale the 30-feet wall of the prison. The prisoner was recaptured days later.