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On another post I mentioned that I thought the .458 Lott was was one the most over-hyped cartridges of our time. I threw in most of the 7 mm magnums in that pile as well.

The Lott was announced with a great deal of fanfare. Here was the answer to the .458 Winchester problem. This cartridge was advertised as getting 2400 fps with a 500 grain slug. The author suggested that a load of 85 grains of IMR 4320 would be the prescription for this cartridge. Hornady today loads 73.6 grains of IMR 4320 in their Lott loads. These bullets are not the very long mono metals that would require a lesser powder charge just to allow the bullet to fit into the case. They are of a rather short stature considering their weight, and sectional density. The notion that a .458 Lott is capable of driving a 500 grain bullet out of a 24 inch barrel at 2400 fps is dangerous. A .460 Weatherby will not break 2575 out of a 26 inch barrel.

D'Arcy Echols was one of the first name brand gunsmiths in the USA to make rifles chambered in .458 Lott. As his clientele are very well healed, this was a hell of a boost for this cartridge. No doubt these rifles performed flawlessly, but they cost as much as a very good used car (probably an okay new car). Gun writers started to wax poetic about this cartridge. Eventually several companies jumped on the bandwagon. I can think of CZ USA, Ruger, and Kimber, to name a few. The CZ's were simply .458 Winchesters that had been reamed to .458 Lott. It was found out very quickly that these reamed out .458 Winchesters were not feeding. The custom shop at CZ has to open the feed rails (very carefully I was told by a gunsmith who works at the CZ custom shop) and adjust and polish the feed ramp to make this gun work in .458 Lott. The Ruger had stock splitting issues in .458 Lott. The have since discontinued this line of rifles, and this was (just) one of the reasons. I cannot comment on problems experienced by other brands of rifles in this calibre.

When I was in Zimbabwe, I was with a young, apprentice PH that took a BRNO 602 in .458 Winchester and had it reamed out to .458 Lott. He wanted my .458 Winchester ammo because: His rifle would not feed Lott ammo. He could not make .458 Lott ammo.(I sent him equipment and brass to remedy this). He could not find .458 Lott ammo. Other wanna-be-bwanas of my acquaintance have had the same feeding problems with their reamed out CZ\BRNO's.

I don't dislike the concept of the cartridge. It's an excellent round that represents my limit for shooting in a 9 3\4 pound rifle (fully loaded and what I carry in the field) comfortably a dozen times(or slightly more) off the bench during a shooting session. According to John Barsness, more than one optics company have told him that no adjustable powered scope of their manufacture can withstand the recoil of a fully stoked (2250 with a 500 grain slug). Fixed power it is. How small are the buffalo you are shooting at?

Please remember that Mr. Lott was drunk when he gut shot the Cape buffalo that inspired this plagiarized cartridge. The .458 Watts was out decades prior to the Lott, and was turned down initially by Winchester, who took Mr. Watts other, shorter creation. There are but a few scant thousandths of an inch separating a .458 Lott from a .458 Watts.

In short, I like the cartridge for what it is, a smallish stopper. 500's and 577's are better but at a compromise in weight, cost, recoil, et cetera. 2250 fps with a 500 grain bullet will do anything as long as you keep up your end of the bargain.

Edited by albertan (22/02/15 05:28 AM)