458 Lott light loads

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Freyr_255

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What sparked this was looking into getting a 375 H&H (for wood buffalo) and noticing that the Ruger No. 1 also comes in 458 Lott which I knew little about before this. I've been doing some reading up on this cartridge and it seems like it's possible to make light loads for this caliber with out too many problems relating to hang fires etc. from an under powdered case.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with light 458 Lott loads that fall into the realm of a 45-70 or so? Is there issues with loading this low? I'm curious as it would seem if I could load this low it would be an excellent all around cartridge for everything from caribou to wood buffalo at a reasonable price(given that one could track down some brass...).
 
Trail Boss should be fun in a .458 Lott.
I load 28 grains of Trail Boss in .460 Weatherby behind 350 grain Hornady soft points and they are actually really nice to shoot. Very moderate recoil, although I really should get a chronograph to check the speed...
 
Excellent. The downside is I now have to add this to the list of calibers I'm bouncing in between. :D

*Edit*

Next question...how hard is brass for this to find in Canada?
 
Freyr_255 said:
Excellent. The downside is I now have to add this to the list of calibers I'm bouncing in between. :D

*Edit*

Next question...how hard is brass for this to find in Canada?
Click to expand...

Not any harder to find than .375 would be. Since you have access to the internet brass shouldn't be any issue.
 
I have a Ruger #1 in .458 Lott.

I also have some bullets from a couple of .45-70s that are no longer here, some 325 gr Hornady "leverevolution" bullets and some 300 gr Nosler Ballistic Silvertips. There does not seem to be much information on the net about loading lighter bullets for the Lott.

I have sent pm's to a couple of knowledgeable folks about this one, but would welcome additional ACTUAL DATA if anybody has some...........

Doug
 
Using 4198 you can load a 458 Lott from mild "Springfield Trapdoor" loads up to bone-jarring full-house 458 Lott loads. Start at max Trapdoor loads and work up to suit.
 
Andy said:
Using 4198 you can load a 458 Lott from mild "Springfield Trapdoor" loads up to bone-jarring full-house 458 Lott loads. Start at max Trapdoor loads and work up to suit.
Click to expand...


Thanks Andy.

Would you use a filler with some of those smaller loads of powder? If yes, what would you use?

DOug
 
Trail Boss has been really hit or miss for me (literally). In some rifles I can get 1.5-2 MoA accuracy and in others I'm lucky to get minute of (paper) dinner plate at 100yds.
I find H4198 and H4895 to be much better reduced recoil powders in terms of accuracy.

The Lyman cast bullet handbook is your friend for reduced loads. I've swapped out cast bullets for jacketed bullets of equal weight and not had any issues.

Personally I've never used fillers with reduced loads but find going below 50-60% case volume really drops accuracy. Dacron filler may help in those cases but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It's the synthetic stuffing used in throw cushions and teddy bears you can get at fabric stores.
 
I have used fillers, including Dacron, a lifetime ago when I was shooting a lot of cast bullets. I have not shot cast bullets in many years (or more accurately have not LOADED any cast bullets for many years) but cannot recall using fillers for jacketed bullets - hence my question.

Doug
 
It's the same principal with the same effect. You want the powder against the flash hole for proper ignition. Whether it's a cast bullet or a jacket doesn't really matter.
 
Dogleg said:
On reduced loads, SR4750 is your friend. With 350 grain TSXs available you could conceivably skip the .375.
Click to expand...

I am thinking that is a typo, as in SR 4759? I use that in my smokeless muzzle-loader, and did use it in duplex loads for a .577 Snider. But there is no published data that I could find for the Lott, and frankly, even though I have loaded tens of thousands of rounds in many dozens of different chamberings, I have no earthly idea what powder and what bullet make what good (or bad/dangerous) combination. If I don't have a recipe, or at least a pretty good idea what should work, it is very much uncharted territory for me.

And I am old enough to know that I don't know!

(If you have a suggested load with SR 4759, please send me a pm. Thanks!)

Doug
 
Here's a few with both SR-4759 and IMR-4198. These are loads for the 45-110 that has just a bit less case capacity than the 458 Lott - pressures vary between 14K and 27K CUP:

405 gr

SR-4759 - 34.0 to 43.0 grs (1500 to 1800 fps)
IMR-4198 - 40.0 to 53.0 grs (1600 to 1950 fps)

500 gr

SR-4759 - 38.0 to 42.0 grs (1500 to 1600 fps)
IMR-4198 - 43.0 to 53.0 grs (1500 to 1800 fps)
 
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