.460 Weatherby Magnum

The .460 Weatherby Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked rifle cartridge, developed by Roy Weatherby in 1957. The cartridge is based on the .378 Weatherby Magnum necked up to accept the .458-inch (11.6 mm) bullet. The original .378 Weatherby Magnum parent case was inspired by the .416 Rigby. The .460 Weatherby Magnum was designed as an African dangerous game rifle cartridge for the hunting of heavy, thick skinned dangerous game. The cartridge is billed as the most powerful commercial sporting rifle cartridge available.

The .460 Weatherby Magnum like the rest of the Weatherby line of cartridges is capable of launching a bullet at velocities much higher than its competition, and in doing so it generates higher levels of energy. The .460 Weatherby attempts to provide the ultimate level of insurance against dangerous game. Few cartridges come close to offering the hunter the level of performance offered by the Weatherby Magnum.

The .460 Weatherby Magnum is the world's most powerful commercially available sporting cartridge. The .460 will launch a 500-grain (32 g) bullet at a chronographed velocity of 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) from a 26-inch (660 mm) barrel, measuring 8,100 ft·lbf (11,000 J) of muzzle energy. Prior to the arrival of the .460 Weatherby Magnum on the hunting scene, the .600 Nitro Express had been considered to be the most powerful cartridge in terms of energy.