I spent some time at the range this morning. It was 97F when I started and 101 F when I gave up an hour later.

I have been using H335 and Nobel SP7 in my Lott for 480 and 500 grain bullets. I think I can get better velocities with some other powders. Any suggestions specifically for 450 grain TSX, 500 grain X and 500 grain softpoints?

Dennis , You might try 3031 that's were we found the best speed and accuracy with the 450 gr and 500gr .458 bullet. Good luck Rio7

Thanks, Blue.


How much playing did you do? Did you try TAC, VarGet or 8208 by any chance? I don't think I have any 3031 on hand.

I have found that TAC meters very smoothly and compresses well - also ACCURATELY. This allows very fine load adjustments.
My final load for a 400 grain Woodleigh in my .405 WCF produced the desired velocity of 2076 fps and ZERO deviation for the final five shots. This was +1, -_1 ,0 and such for average of zero.
So good that I took it to kill a cape buff with it.

Dennis, Ed, to many letters and me spent several day's testing different powders and .458 bullets

Tried H-4895

IMR-4895

Benchmark

SR-4759

IMR-4064

3031

With 400 gr Soft

420gr. Hard Cast

450 gr. Soft

500 gr. Soft

500gr. Solid

500 gr. Hard Cast.

WE made up a good reduced load with Accurate 5744 works very well.

I am sure there other powders that will work, none of the above powders were terrible, but 3031 just turned out to work very well in my .450 H Rio7

I had good results with RL 15 with 500 sp. Didn't impress me with the 450 TSX as that bullet takes up so much space I ran out of powder room.

Something faster like RL 10 might do the trick with the 450's. As I recall I tried RL7 but it was a bit too fast with the 450's, thought just right with 350's.

Blue- what kind of velocities did you get with the 500s?

Dennis, The load we settled on 78 gr. 3031 got avg. 2150 fps with 500 gr. Woodleigh, we went to 80 gr. compressed and got a little more speed and a lot more recoil, so we backed it down. I'm happy with this load it clover leafs at 100 yrds out of my rifle and kills the hell out of pigs, I killed a 286# pig at 153 yrds my longest shot so far with this load. Rio7

Yeh, I think a 500 at 2150 will kill pigs. That Woodleigh might not like anymore velocity than that, they are pretty soft.

I am shooting for (pun intended) 2450 with the 450s.

If that's the barnes 450 gr, you'll likely have a hard time reaching your goal. As I recall in comparison the 458 lott with a 500 gr hornady soft had about 0.30" longer powder column than the 450 gr x bullet.

As I recall I didn't get much over 2300 fps with the 450 gr.

Well dang. I was hoping to flatten it out a little. I will see where it takes me. Maybe TAC or Big Game is dense enough to get plenty in the case.

Looks like the best Barnes could get with 2350 with H-335

https://loaddata.com/Cartridge/458-Lott-Barnes-Reloading-Manual-4/4688

If you're looking to flatten it out, I'd drop to a 350 gr and push it 2500 fps.

I don't have any 350s and it kind of defeats the purpose.

Dennis,
There is some interesting 458 Lott load data in the Hornady manual.
For instance Hornady 350 grain bullet at 2700 fps with TAC
Hornady 500 grain bullet at 2200 fps with TAC and 2250 with WIN748.

Without knowing what you plan to hunt, may I suggest the 400 grain Punch bullet? From the Hornady manual , you may be able to push the Punch ( ) out to 2500 and it will shoot through steel plate at less than 2000 fps. They do not show punch loads, but you can guesstimate where to begin.

In mine with a 25” barrel and 500gr Woodleigh RNSP, I was getting 2322fps with 80gr of RE15.
Varget was 79gr @ 2283fps.
Either was minute of buffalo.

Apparently you cannot buy 458 bullets in Arizona. I don't have time mess with them online. My buddy had two boxes of 450 grain Swift A-frames which are now mine. I have 5 or 6 different bullets to try now. Because of the drought we cannot shoot here now. I am driving to my buddy's house to stay for a few days where we can load one and shoot etc. I have a few days in the mountains to get out of the heat and get my guns ready to boot.

I got 2550 with 400s and 2360 with 450 TSXs. I could have put another grain or two of powder in the case. Got my best velocities with TAC and 8208. My scope lasted two shots however.

Put a new scope on today and did my final sight-in. The LabRadar said the 500s were traveling 2200 and I just fired one for my initial shot after bore sighting.

I then made and adjustment and fired three 450 TSXs. They were right at 2310 with 77 grains of TAC. I can fit 2 more grains but didn't try. I couldn't find any 3031 to try (Sorry Blue).

The 450 Swift A-frames hit same POI at 100 yards as the TSX. That was a nice bonus. I shot some 458 Winchesters just to see how they did. 450 grain SAF in Remington Safari ammo were at 2150 and hit 4" high. Federal 350 grain were 2400 roughly and hit the same as the Remington's. If I used 458 Win mag ammo I would have to re-zero for sure.

I feel pretty good out to at least 250 with this ammo and rifle- probably further than they like you to shoot 458s.

Dennis, Sounds like what your doing works, that's what counts. Blue

Blue- I had a great time. Killed a nice eland with my 458 with one shot.

Try AA2230.