So....I have a brand new beautiful Radical Arms 458 SOCOM upper with a 16" melonite barrel and wicked muzzle break in my safe, all scoped out with a Burris e1 2-7x32mm.....and I haven't shot it. Ever. I love the IDEA of the gun--I absolutely love my 45-70 and think the SOCOM would also be a blast (so to speak). But I haven't shot it. I haven't even loaded rounds for it yet. I trimmed half my brass and gave up or got busy with other projects.

While I LOVE the IDEA of the SOCOM, I'm not sure I can justify it. It's kinda like most Busses I've owned--love them, but can't bring myself to use them. Part of the problem is ammo. Loaded rounds are still about $40-60/box, which I figured "No problem! I reload and already have ton of 45-70 bullets, so I can do this one on the cheap!" But I'm finding life and time gets in the way.

Awesome tree stand gun, right? That and a great anti-personnel round if needed. BUT....I have a Blackout that shoots great and has the same effective range as the 458 (about 200 ydrds, give or take)! I've got a 6.5 Grendel that I can't wait to finish sighting in so I can snipe deer off out to 500 yards. And of course I have my trusty 223--stainless match grade 16" barrel with a 1:7 twist. Right bullet and it becomes a great deer round as well! That's my problem, I think. Too many calibers, not enough time. I'm also getting shoulder problems and worry the recoil on the SOCOM might be more than I want at this point. I already have a Guide Gun to slam my shoulder

So I am thinking I should sell the upper, keep the lower (or maybe sell the whole thing and buy a new lower...), and add an 18-20" 223 to the mix, be down one less caliber to load for, and put a few hundred dollars back in the bank AND make my wife happy (which really is the FIRST consideration).

I LOVE big bore guns and WANT an ultimate big bore AR, but does it really fill a niche I need filling? Does it give me more manliness; manliness I will lose if I sell it?

I think the answer is "sell--pass this on to someone with more time to reload (or money for ammo) and who will use it more often." I have the entire set up ready to go--just add a press, powder, and primers.

Or maybe wait until November and sell in the panic buying likely to accompany this election cycle I'm not in this for arbitrage, but selling for 3x the original price ...

Would love to hear pros and cons I'm not considering

I helped a coworker buy a RA 458 upper. Sounds identical to the one you have. He had zero reliability with gun show purchased ammo ("newly manufactured"), but 100% reliability with known name ammo. He was impressed with the cartridge's performance against wood (dead trees at 10 yards). His testing showed a lot of bullet drop over 100 yards. I think he ended up zero'g at 75 yards.

He bought it for hog hunting.

I'd view a 458 SOCOM upper as I would any other specialized HUNTING gun. Personally I don't hunt so I don't have any dedicated hunting guns. I don't see any other reason to own a 458 SOCOM.

Your 300BO negates the need for the 458.

EDITED: I'm not a wildcat person since I don't reload. I want to have common ammo availability. As such, I think there are better defensive options than the 458. 12 gauge, 5.56 and 7.62x51.

It's a cool round but I'd think the .300BLK has you covered for what that socom can do. At the price per round I'd probably pass it on.

Thats about where i come down on it now too.... and I think the 300 can probably drop hogs just fine. Now if I were in Alaska and wanted bear protection.....

I agree with both comments by GD and DT.

When the round was first introduced I heard a lot of interest in gun stores, and read a lot of positive comments on forums. However, like most fads it died quickly. The round has a definitive hunting purpose, but outside of hog hunting I just don't see a need. If you deer hunt in a handgun cartridge only state the 458 might comply with OAL requirements, but again ... its a highly specialized hunting round.

Personally, I like more versatility in my gun selections. I could have easily chosen a S&W 629 44Mag for my hiking animal projection needs, but I went with a Glock 20 10MM because it is easier to conceal, can be carried for 2 legged defense during the 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of my life not spent on the trail, etc. Versatility. The 458 lacks it.

What ever happened to .450 bushmaster?

Exactly.

458 SOCOM lasted longer because people (for whatever reason) want what our Special Forces use. I've read the use of the 458 was a very limited / specialized experiment.

I wonder if SOCOM will replace the insanely overused term "tactical".

They sell tactical bacon for Pete's sake.

Hahahaha yep

I don't have a a monkey in this circus, but sounds to me (from just reading y'alls posts that the 300BlK Out will work for you just fine DT. It's NICE to have all this hardware available, but WILL we ever use it? And being working stiffs, can we REALLY afford them? I want a lot of stuff, but can't afford it. That's why I am sorta picky (unless we're talking about stuff for Patty)

Randy makes a good point...

"Pick your hill to die on". I'm blessed with a large fun budget, but still like common (re: cheap) "calibers" (yet another incorrectly used term as "cartridge" would be more accurate).

Yeah well price per round ain't the issue since I COULD load it cheap. It's more the time and thinking what else the cash can be used for.