Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JACK LOTT RIFLE - HELP WANTED FINDING INFO - .458 WM

Hello All.

I just purchased a rifle built by J.P. Lott and I'm looking for help to puzzle its History back together.

As the chain of events goes; this rifle was purchased some years ago at the Vegas Gun Show. We'll call this original purchaser the "Old Timer". Apparently the rifle came with dozens of letters and photos testifying that it was in fact built "by" Jack Lott, "for" Howard French. (another G&A editor) Many of the photos depicted Mr. French with his harvested game, holding this rifle.

Some time during the rifle's ownership by the "Old Timer" he befriended a "Young Man", a fellow shooter. This "Young Man" saw the photos and letters first hand and found them most facinating. So, some time years later the "Old Timer" passes away, and the "Young Man" follows up with the "family" to buy this interesting rifle, which he does. However, he discovers that the "family" has unwittingly discarded (thrown away) all the photos and related materials that originally came with the rifle. And, here I am, the "New Owner" of this most interesting Jack Lott built Safari rifle, having just bought if from the "Young Man" and now trying to research and reconstruct the details of this rifle's fragmented History.

There are 3 photos of this rifle in the 1983 edition of Jack Lott's "Big Bore Rifles". The article mentions only the unique scope mounting via modified Sako rings, but no other specific History of building or ownership.

I'm hoping that many of you might have old issues of G&A publications that might show either Howard French, or Jack Lott with this rifle. It has many distinguishing features which make it easy to recognise. This is the original description from the advetisement offering it for sale.

" .... For sale is a .458 Win Mag built on a 1917 Oberndorf Mauser action by noted gunsmith J. P. Lott. This rifle was previously owned at one time by former Guns and Ammo editor Howard French. Unfortunately, the provenance to support this was lost by the estate of the owner before me. There was a pile of correspondence and pictures of dead African animals, taken by Mr. French. The rifle is however documented on page 80 of “Big Bore Rifles” by Jack Lott. There are three pictures of the rifle and the caption describes the custom, return to zero scope mounts. I have a jpeg copy of the pages from this book that show the rifle.


The rifle is built on a 1917 Oberndorf action chambered in standard .458 Win Mag. The action interior is highly polished and the bolt runs very smoothly. Feeding is exceptionally smooth and it will feed empty cases and loaded ammo with no hesitations. The bolt is fitted with a two position M70 style safety and a custom checkered bolt handle which gives excellent purchase, but is not overly rough like some I’ve seen. The floorplate assembly is a non-hinged military style. The front of the floorplate is finely checked to give a good grip when sliding it back for removal. The trigger looks like the original Mauser unit and is serial numbered to match the action, as are the floorplate and bolt stop. The trigger is quite crisp and breaks at 4.5 lbs. The scope mounts, as described in the “Big Bore Rifle” article are customized Sako units on custom bases. Near as I can tell, the dovetails are parallel on both front and back and the width of the normal wider front Sako. Similar to a Talley mount, but with a wider dovetail. It appears he milled the Sako rings to match the bases. The front base is soldered to the barrel and the tops of both bases are stippled to reduce glare if using the iron sights. The barrel mounted sights consist of a three-leaf express type rear sight on a boss that also has a recoil lug inlet to the stock. This boss appears to be a separate piece soldered to the barrel. There is a mid-barrel band for a sling mount. The front sight is a stippled ramp holding a generous blade with what appears to be a square ivory insert. The front sight hood swivels away and is held in place via a spring loaded plunger. Bore is in great condition. I have not shot the rifle so cannot comment on accuracy but it is obvious that it has been used and taken care of. There is some bluing loss on the barrel near the band, most likely from being held there with the rifle over the shoulder while walking. The stock is a nice but not particularly fancy piece of dense walnut with a pleasing reddish hue. The barreled action is closely fit to the stock and appears to be skim bedded from the front sight base back to the mag box. There are no cracks in the wood I can find. The grip cap appears to be sculpted horn and the fore end tip ebony. It is fitted with a red Pachmayr Old English pad that is still in good shape. LOP is 13 7/8”. Weight of the rifle is unknown but probably between 8.5 – 9.0 lbs. .... "

Please help.









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