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Back in the early-mid '80's I corresponded with Jack Lott and he offered to build me a .458 Lott for almost nothing. IIRC the total was $300 if I bought a Whitworth rifle in .375 H&H Mag {so he could use the opened action} and paid the shipping to/from. He would swap out the barrel and then load the stock with some lead weight as he considered the Whitworth way too light a gun for the .458 Win or Lott round either one. He also taught me how to bed machine screws in the action to prevent splitting, something new to me at the time. I've done it since and always think of him when I am doing the stock work.

The downside to this story is that I had no real need for the rifle and declined {...chastisement from the audience deserved...} and wound up buying a .375 H&H SAKO Finnbear which I have used since. THAT was no mistake of course and in fact, I shot my elk with it this year. That old gun was worn silver and I had it reblued some years ago and just this year finally switched out the old repaired 4x Leupold for a Leupold 3.5-10. A great tool it has been.

Anyway, Lott sang the praises of the interchangeability of the rounds. I remember no concern ever mentioned about chamber erosion being a consideration in hunting rifles tho it makes sense it could be with a gun shot thousands of times. Also, he seemed to discount changes in zero for close-range open sight hunting. He had nothing but good to say about the Lott round AND the concept; back and forth switching of rounds.

A true POI & accuracy comparison between Lott and Win would be interesting for the guy that cares to have a go at it.

I am STILL searching for the article Lott wrote about a friend of his who lived in Thailand and had both .458 Lott and .458 Win rifle setups for local buffalo hunting, and by that I mean, poaching. My memory is a little fuzzy on the details but I do remember it was a very interesting piece. The fellow had his main rifle set up for heavy loads of Lott while his local Thai friend/tracker had the second gun loaded with .458 Win and heavy cast bullets, done so as factory 500's were simply extremely expensive and very difficult to get in any quantity. Evidently the fellow had a cobbled-together loading setup that included a drill press and seemed to know as much about practical applications of gun lore as Jack...

It was a fascinating article as much for the gun lore as for the fact that it was a cited example of a poacher using something other than an AK, FNFAL or some sewer-tubed old milsurp castaway for his hunting. Quarry by the way as mentioned was indigenous buffalo. I want that article and can't even remember which gun rag printed it, but it was not G&A IIRC. I think more like GUNS. Anyway, the hero of the story there would have been a very early user of the Lott cartridge and somehow I am not entirely certain it was not Jack himself! one has reason to consider the CIA rumours, etc...

"Well, it's like this...I have this friend..."

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Great story..thx for posting..

and YES, you should have let him build the rifle..