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JACK LOTT MAUSER - .458 WM

About 7 years ago I saw an Ad offering this rifle for sale. Here is the Ad describing the rifle.

".....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.
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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.
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The top of the bolt shroud has a few scratches in it. There are a few bumps and bruises on the stock, but nothing too deep...."

It is very unfortunate that one of the prior owner's family members unwittingly discarded all the photos and papers that originally came with this rifle when it was sold. Those provided the provenance of this rifle being built by Jack Lott "for" G&A editor Howard French, and all the animals Howard shot with it on several Safari in Africa.

The minute I saw this rifle, I knew it needed to own it. I love rifles with History. It has many of the features reminiscent of the English Safari rifles of the early days. My pictures below, really don't do it justice. Its far more impressive in person.

In liew of the lost provenance photos and letters, the articles I've been finding as references serve as definitive proof that my rifle belonged to Mr. French, and was built by Jack Lott.

These pictures are from an article in the 1986 Gun Digest Hunting Annual. Although the pictures in the article are very dark with low resolution, all the rifle's features match, and there is no doubt this is is the same rifle.

The rifle is topped with the same Weaver scope in "Quick Detachable" Sako rings (modified by Lott) that French had on the rifle when he owned it.

These pictures come from the 1983 G&A book "Big Bore Rifle", by Jack Lott.

Here are more references to this rifle's build in the 1984 Gun Digest.

The first picture shows Jack Lott shooting a 458 model 70. And, right above him is a picture of my rifle. The picture shows the rifle before the scope blocks were fabricated.

The second picture shows my rifle's barrel unfinished, "in the white", during construction.

And here is another reference found.

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"You never pay too much for something, you only buy it too early."

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