SAAMI allows the .338 Winchester Magnum to have a MAP of 64,000 PSI. The .416 RemMag has a SAAMI MAP of 65,000 PSI. The .458 WinMag has a SAAMI MAP of only 60,000 PSI. The .458 Lott has a SAAMI MAP of 62,500 PSI.
The standard SAAMI .458 WinMag is only 50 fps behind the SAAMI .458 Lott, when both are kept on their respective SAAMI leashes. Easy to see how the .458 WM+ "unleashed" is more powerful than the SAAMI .458 Lott.
CZ550 explained this to me years ago.
Before my first Zambezi safari I obtained a .458 Winchester and asked about handloads on the 24HCF Africa site. Several of the replies recommended I should immediately get a gunsmith to ream it out to .458 Lott. Instead I loaded the .458 with AA2230 to 2250 fps with North Fork 450 grain flat nosed solids and 450grain TSXs. With this I killed an elephant, a buffalo, and a hippo. good to see that North forks are now available again.
IMHO Jack Lott was an idiot. He claimed he needed to invent the Lott because he had failed to kill a buffalo with 14 shots (I believe it was) from a .458 Winchester. That was just lousy shooting in my opinion. Yet a whole bunch of hunters became convinced that only the Lott was powerful enough for dangerous game. Good salesman, that Jack.
I don't understand why Winchester reduced the velocity of its factory loads. Powder clumping due to compressed loads and heat? I think that's a joke. I used to shoot matches at Camp Perry. All loads were compressed. And it's at least as hot at Camp Perry in August as it is in Africa during the hunting months. After all we don't use cordite any more, and the .458 Winchester never did.
Another red herring (in my opinion) was all the badmouthing of push feed. My rifle was push feed. Posters claimed it would not cycle upside down (false) and it was bad because of Remington's 700 extractor (irrelevant). It never occurred to these guys that every military rifle designed in the last 120 years has been push feed.
The recent posts about 400 grain bullets are interesting. I experimented a lot with 350 grain TSXs. I could easily get 2750 fps. The computer claimed it hit with 3000 foot pounds of energy, at 300 yards. A 30-06 on steroids. The only problem was it shot about 6" lower at 100 yards than the heavier 450 grain bullets. This was because (I think) that the 450s stayed in the barrel longer and thus the muzzle rose higher. I didn't take any 350s to Africa because I didn't want to be changing elevation all the time. But I think it would be a danged fine load for elk or moose.
Don't blame me. I voted for Trump.
Democrats would burn this country to the ground, if they could rule over the ashes.
