Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Any Reason for a 458 Lott ?

With a Lott, there is no issue regarding compressed powder charges.

While in South Africa last summer, I was hunting mountain reedbuck. My PH brought me to a 200 year old farm owned by a friend of his who had mountain reedbuck that were eating his crops. They only came out at dusk.To make a long story short, one finally appeared and I missed the shot with my .30/06. Too dark, really.

The next morning, the farmer brought out his prized DWM Mauser which had been made into a gorgeous .458 Lott built with old world craftsmanship by a riflesmith who obviously knew what he was about. I was invited to shoot it and found it to be quite accurate.. Recoil was tolerable and the iron sights were dead on.

I was so impressed that when I returned home, I decided I wanted one. I happened to have a Winchester custom shop Model 70 .375 H&H that IMO was a bit too heavy for a .375. It would have been perfect for a .458 Lott, however. I was going to send it to JES to be rebored. Shoulder surgery intervened and the project was scrapped. No more heavy recoiling rifles for me. iI is now on consignment at our local gunsmiths, still a .375.

It seems at least very difficult if not impossible for some people (including shooters) to understand the basics of physics. A .458 Win Mag in any rifle that can be loaded with any bullet to 3.6" COL has the same cartridge capacity of a .458 Lott. That includes the CZ550 I owned, an M70 Winchester, a 700 Remington and my current Ruger #1. The point that has been made already that the .458 Win Mag can exceed the COL of the Lott's 3.6" in using the long 450s and 500s of Barnes TSX's. In my CZ I could seat them to a COL of 3.78". Not so in the Lott because it has a relatively short throat, regardless of the box length. I can also seat those bullets to 3.68" for the 450 TSX and 3.8" for the 500 TSX with still plenty in the case when crimped into the bottom cannelure. The 350 TSX would shoot 3/4", 3-shot groups at 100 yards leaving the muzzle of my CZ at 2750 fps/5876 ft-lbs, and 2760 fps from my current Ruger #1 at 2760 fps/5919 ft-lbs into MOA. The Ruger will also fire the 450 A-Frame at 2400 fps and a 500gr Speer or Hornady at 2300+fps.

Just the facts.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca