Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 458 Lott, 350 gr TSX or 500 gr FMJ

I picked up my 458 earlier this week and have been looking online for brass/bullets. Both of these bullets are about the cheapest available, without using HPs, lead or other light construction bullets. Which would you choose to start loading and why? Would you feel that either bullet limits the capabilities of the cartridge? I am not planning on going to Africa, but I'll take it out hunting eventually. This is my first BB besides a 45/70 and I plan on starting with 458WM loads. If you have any other suggestions I'm all ears.

TIA

I'd start with the 350's. They will easily take anything in NA and if you launch them 2400-2500 fps the recoil is no big deal. I'd also suggest the speer or hornadies, much less expensive than barnes. I never took game with them but a friend took a few moose and never had any problems with the cup core bullets. I found them to be very accurate.

500's are a completely different ball game. The recoil is such that each and every shot is a mental game of, this won't hurt me, and squeeze off the shot. I could never manage more than 10 shots of full patch 500 gr loads in a range session.

For powders I found RL-15 and Varget to be superb.

I have one, only ever loaded 500gr Bullets in mine.
I don't see how the light bullets in ANY cartridge are an option, but, if that's what you want to use.
I hunt deer here with mine with the same 500gr loads. Big hole in, big hole out.

Cheers.

The 350's will put a big hole in and out. Years ago a friend had has gong set up at the 50 yd line, 1" thick steel plate. I was shooting 350 gr speers at ~2500 fps out of my Lott. Darn near punched a hole through the plate.

For those who can shoot a Lott from any field position with 500's and ignore recoil, more power to you. I could never ignore the recoil from the 500's. The 350's on the other hand you could shoot from any position and ignore the recoil. I'd also expect better terminal performance on game from the 350's due to the higher impact velocity.

I have a 458 Win Mag in a Whitworth and a 458 Lott in a CZ, that AHR worked over prior to me. The Lott has a 22" barrel and synthetic stock. Why, only because I wanted them. I had a a 458 Win prior to this current one.
I avoided 500 grain bullets in my Win, loved shooting the 400 grainers. I did shoot some 450's in the Win Mag, not too bad, but as much fun as the 400's.

The factory 500's in the Lott, put recoil in perspective for me. They also redefined "fun." A little bit of their fun and my fun-meter is pegged. Though after a round or three of the Lott, the 416's recoil seem very light and 375's almost non-existent.

I totally agree, my hat is off to anyone that shoots 500gr Lott's and can ignore the recoil. My experience is that if I get careless or sloppy with rifle hold, it lets me know Quickly.

If Barnes would only make the 458 in a 400 grain TSX, I would be very happy. And would probably actually use the Win & Lott for hunting at times.
As Eastwood said, a man has got to his limitations; and 500 grains in the Lott exceeds mine for field position shooting. But that is me and not everyone for sure.

Shooting my 505 Gibbs with a 600gr Woodleigh at 2350fps makes the 458 Lott feel like a 338!
I have never found the Lott offensive in recoil in shooting field positions, BUT, off the bench is a different kettle of fish.
The 416 Rigby and 404 Jeffery feel about the same to me in recoil, maybe a slight edge to the 404 if truth be told, it does feel less 'snappy'.

I just use the bullets I will be hunting DG with for practice on deer and other game so I become accustomed to the recoil.
A big hole in and out with a heavy kills just as well as a light one, in my experience.

Cheers.

I think we all should know by now that there are many other factors that affect recoil besides bullet weight: MV, amount of powder used, rifle weight, stock fit and shape. Also, as to "felt recoil", it is mostly an individual thing. And size and weight of an individual is only a fraction of it because amount of experience and mind set is difficult to measure.

I'm within a couple of months of age 81 and have experienced recoil equivalent in numbers to a .458 Lott frequently from the age of 60 to the present. Shape and fit of stock, weight of rifle and mindset are the most important factors involved in "felt recoil". However, .458-cal. being my favorite among many others for big game, you can cleanly kill anything in North America with a 350gr .458 of the right construction and within an effective range, to somewhere around 400 yds depending on MV and nose shape.

I have a significant number of the Barnes' 350 TSX's that from experience tells me they should be reserved for larger-tougher game. But the 350gr Speer is a very good one when pushed to around 2500 and at a range that doesn't drop velocity below about 1800 fps. However, any well constructed .458 with a flat tip will work well much below that. So, I also have used a 465gr semi-hardcast lead bullet at 1900 fps that has worked very well. That from a single-shot .45-70.

Enjoy your new .458. They are a lot of fun and a great hunting caliber.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

I don't mind the recoil of my Lott- it is a Safari grade Mod 70. I have loaded 430 cast bullets, 480 DGX and 500 grain Hornady FMJs.

I killed a bull elk with the 430 grain cast bullets. Also with the 480 DGX but the DGX came to pieces and went off at a weird angle. I wouldn't hunt with that bullet again. Cast bullets are the cheapest and don't seem to foul at all.

I would say play with both. Either will work for even the smallest game. Both are fun to shoot.

I will say I've used the 350gn speer to take a deer with mixed results. My first shot, I hit high on the spine and the bullet actually splashed instead of putting a hole through the spine. my 2nd shot was high through the lungs and it put a fist size hole through and the shock severed the spine and almost ruined the tenderloins.

I was very surprized the see a 350gn bullet splash on the spine of a deer but with the TSX, you won't have that problem. I pushed it to 2550fps.

For the cheapest plinking go with the 350gn speers or a 400-500 gn cast