.458Win. to .458 Lott..?

[Pondoro]

Okay....so I bought a ZKK 602 in .458Win. last spring and due to government harassment in registrating my .475 NE doble I ended up bringing it to Africa and shot two elephant with it.

I yearn for the extra horsepower of the Lott for nasty situations, read attacks...but is the Lotts performance that much better to justify the extra recoil..??

If done I will add extra weight in the foretree and a recoil reduser in the buttstock..

 

[matt85]

I yearn for the extra horsepower of the Lott for nasty situations, read attacks...but is the Lotts performance that much better to justify the extra recoil..??

depends on the load your using in you 458 WM. the 458 Lott will get better penetration on "going away" shots for situations such as fleeing animals. if you want to push a 550gr Woodleigh or a 500gr brass/copper bullet at around 2100-2150fps then the 458 Lott is the better choice.
when it comes to stopping a charge i dont see how the 458 Lott would be much better then a 458 WM (other then using heavy mono-metal bullets). but there are more experienced people on this forum to anwser that question.

personally, i like options when hand loading. this means the 458 Lott would be my first choice over the two since the larger case capacity gives you room to do different things.

-matt

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Plus, if you go to the Lott, you can always fire the .458Win ammo in it, should the recoil be too heavy for you. Not sure how this affects your accuracy though. Anybody ever fire .458Win ammo in their Lott?

 

[matt85]

Plus, if you go to the Lott, you can always fire the .458Win ammo in it, should the recoil be too heavy for you. Not sure how this affects your accuracy though. Anybody ever fire .458Win ammo in their Lott?

would probably be more accurate and cost effective to just load down your 458 Lott ammunition. my 505 Gibbs will shoot some inexpensive light loads very accurately (cant afford to only shoot premium bullets). using 458 WM in a 458 Lott would be a last ditch thing if youve lost your ammunition and cant find any locally.

-matt

 

[Bruce]

Do any of you big bore experts know the ins and outs of the 458 Express? The Botswana PH that hunted with us in Tanzania had a 458 WM that had been "chambered out" to an extra length cartridge... In my limited knowledge of these things, I understood it to be different to the 458 Lott, so guess somewhere in between the Lott and 458WM??
This rifle was a killing machine and prompted me to eventually buy my 458WM that I had been deciding over for YEARS!! My idea was to get the 458 WM also converted to the Express, but I am very happy with it as it is!! Elephant and buff... no hassle so far!!

 

[Pondoro]

That is the dilemma Bruce, stay .458Win. or go .458Lott/Express...

OR ripp out that barrel and build a .500 Jeffery or .505 Gibbs....

Decisions....always decisions....

Small wonder that we occasionally

 

[Bruce]

I'm staying 458 WM.. 500gr PREMIUM bullets.
If I want/ decide to go bigger.. DEFINITELY a double!!!

 

[Pondoro]

Yep...I used 500 grain Woodleighs myself......will use 480 grain Woodies in my double...

I am very eager to try out the double rifle on elephant..

 

[matt85]

Yep...I used 500 grain Woodleighs myself......will use 480 grain Woodies in my double...

I am very eager to try out the double rifle on elephant..

im curious why you dont use 480gr bullets in both cartridges? it would mean the two rifles could share bullets AND the 458 WM can get a little more speed out of the 480gr bullets.

-matt

 

[Pondoro]

Matt, my .475 NE use 0.483 bullets so not interchangeable..

That said, my buddy is loading up some 480 grain Hornadys for me for the .458Win....I agree that the 458 should benefit from whatever extra speed gained..

 

[Grumulkin]

Okay....so I bought a ZKK 602 in .458Win. last spring and due to government harassment in registrating my .475 NE doble I ended up bringing it to Africa and shot two elephant with it.

I yearn for the extra horsepower of the Lott for nasty situations, read attacks...but is the Lotts performance that much better to justify the extra recoil..??

If done I will add extra weight in the foretree and a recoil reduser in the buttstock..

In my opinion there is little need for a 458 WM when a 458 Lott is so much better. I have a CZ 550 Safari Magnum in 458 Lott; it has a fairly cushy factory recoil pad but no abominable brake or other recoil reducing paraphenalia.

I say, if you're Norwegian, you can handle the recoil without whining. Go with the Lott.

 

[matt85]

Matt, my .475 NE use 0.483 bullets so not interchangeable..

my bad, when you said 480gr the first cartridge that came to mind was the 450 NE 3.25".

-matt

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Plus, if you go to the Lott, you can always fire the .458Win ammo in it, should the recoil be too heavy for you. Not sure how this affects your accuracy though. Anybody ever fire .458Win ammo in their Lott?

I've seen this done, but only once. That one time was at a shoot where we were shooting 25 rounds at various targets. The gent who had the Lott decided the .458 Win ammo would be a less expensive choice and obviously he didn't need the extra power to put down the targets. A few of the stations required full magazines. He had trouble when cycling rounds.

Was it his rifle? Perhaps. But I'm inclined to agree with Matt, load down and use the Lott sized brass that was intended to be in this chamber.

 

[Say Man]

I've seen this done, but only once. That one time was at a shoot where we were shooting 25 rounds at various targets. The gent who had the Lott decided the .458 Win ammo would be a less expensive choice and obviously he didn't need the extra power to put down the targets. A few of the stations required full magazines. He had trouble when cycling rounds.

Was it his rifle? Perhaps. But I'm inclined to agree with Matt, load down and use the Lott sized brass that was intended to be in this chamber.

I agree with Phil on this one. I have a Lott and have shot the Win ammo for plinking(if you can call shooting a 480 plinking). Accuracy suffers slightly but for the range doesn't seem to affect things too much. For hunting though would definitely use Lott cartridges and practice with those for hunting purposes. I would not use Win ammo in a Lott for hunting unless I had no other choice and make sure to practice with it before trying to shoot an animal to see how it affects aiming point.

 

[JacquesVR]

Do any of you big bore experts know the ins and outs of the 458 Express? The Botswana PH that hunted with us in Tanzania had a 458 WM that had been "chambered out" to an extra length cartridge... In my limited knowledge of these things, I understood it to be different to the 458 Lott, so guess somewhere in between the Lott and 458WM??
This rifle was a killing machine and prompted me to eventually buy my 458WM that I had been deciding over for YEARS!! My idea was to get the 458 WM also converted to the Express, but I am very happy with it as it is!! Elephant and buff... no hassle so far!!

The 458 Express is basically a stretched Lott (The Lott being a stretched 458 Win (3" case on the Express) ) , it is great in that it allows you to push the 458 faster and at lower pressures but brass is fully custom only.

As to the original question - Yes IMO - A Lott is a lot of really good rifle but I am very biased ;-). Honestly if you load the 458WM is very capable but the Lott's extra case capacity makes it even more so - Recoil , well yes it is a step up but not unmanageable , permitting your rifle fits you well (Would be wary of just adding weight as you will be carrying a lot more than shooting)