Bolt Action 458 Lott

kaleh01

kaleh01

Regular
Rating - 100%
50   0   0
Location
Calgary
Anyone know of anywhere a guy could find a new 458 Lott in preferably the CZ 550? Trying to track one down for a buddy for our safari. Even US sales are fair game thanks to our friendly neighbourhood Gun Runner.

Thanks for any help CGN
 
Accuracy Plus had a Brno ZKK 602 in .458 Winchester for like 700 bucks. I see its gone now though. That would have been a great rifle for conversion to the Lott.
 
Im converting my CZ 550 in 458 Win Mag to the 458 Lott. I couldnt find a 458 Lott at the time, so I figured it would be a fun project. I also have an NECG barrel band to install aswell. The reamer and Gauges were a out $400 shipped from Pacific Tool and Gauge. I have a Remington 798 in 375 H&H which uses the Zastava action. The action should be long enough, but reliable feeding of 500gr round nose bullets would be hard to achieve. It took me a while modifing the feed ramp on my 375H&H to get it to feed 300gr round nose bullets smoothly.
 
jbmauser said:
Accuracy Plus had a Brno ZKK 602 in .458 Winchester for like 700 bucks. I see its gone now though. That would have been a great rifle for conversion to the Lott.
Click to expand...

If it wasn't for the bass-ackwards safety that's the way I would go. Alternately you could pick up a M70 Safari and run the Lott reamer into it. All that needs to be done is swap out the mag box and follower and modify the ejector and the last 1/8" of the feed rails. I did the ejector mod on my 300 WM when I swapped the box out for the H&H-length box to shoot long VLDs. The ejector mod and feed rail tweak were both simple and it was a rewarding project to do. Of course, you could have the 'smith who re-chambers the rifle do it for you. Shouldn't be more than a couple of hours of shop time extra. And you'll probably want the action bedded for strength at the same time.

I own 3 M70s and a Ruger M77 RSM so keeping things the same with regard to safeties across platforms is big for me...especially with safeties on DG rifles.
 
I'd get the Model 70 in .458 Win Mag, then try it with a case-full of A2230 before converting it. That's what I did with mine, and I'm reasonably sure I'll never re-chamber it now. For one, I can get 2350 fps with 450 A-Frames and 2200 fps with 500s. For two, its got eleven buffalo under its belt and none of them asked for a refund. For three, I've got a couple CZ 550 Magnums and I wouldn't trade the M70 for ten of them.
 
Dogleg said:
I'd get the Model 70 in .458 Win Mag, then try it with a case-full of A2230 before converting it. That's what I did with mine, and I'm reasonably sure I'll never re-chamber it now. For one, I can get 2350 fps with 450 A-Frames and 2200 fps with 500s. For two, its got eleven buffalo under its belt and none of them asked for a refund. For three, I've got a couple CZ 550 Magnums and I wouldn't trade the M70 for ten of them.
Click to expand...

I packed around a Brno 602 for quite a while and developed a level of comfort with it. Frankly the M-70 is slicker and has a better trigger. The downside is the limited magazine capacity of the M-70, but after market bottom metal from Sunny Hill or Blackburn can fix that. If you can't do it with a .458 loaded properly as above, then you probably can't do it with a Lott either. Factory .458s don't cut it. I acquired a box of 500 gr Federal Premium when I got my M-70, and the chronograph said 1900 fps! If I wanted a .45/70, I'd of bought a .45/70. A 500 gr Interlock over 76 grs of H-335 gives me 2100 from a 21" barrel. Hornady DGXs are best left on the shelf according to Dogleg's experience of buffalo, but the old round nose Interlocks seem to hold together. When those don't work, I've got a box of Swift A-Frames collecting dust on my bench, waiting for that special occasion.
 
I wonder if the Win Super Express in 458 Win has room too be take the length of the Lott ? I would imagine it would as it was offered in the Custom Safari Express.
And a CZ 550 Magnum in 458 Win has plenty of room, the 458 Lott is factory available CZ 550 Safari Magnum.
A friend just rechambered a Tropical Ruger #1 to the Lott, he's a big man and 2 shots out it was enough for one session :)

Good luck to all the Big Bore Nutz like me!!

Dale Z
 
I prefer the Ackley in a 602, still holds 5 under and getting the most bang for the buck........easy 2450 fps with 500 gnrs. Might want to consider a good glass and Kevlar stock though as they are a SOB to keep in wood...........The Ackley will also shoot Lott and Win mag ammo if necessary, and does it surprisingly well too.
I shot hundreds of full bore loads from my Ackley and even developed loads from the bench, never found it too unmanageable, a little obnoxious after 40 or so rounds. You definitely have to be in the right headspace though, or you most certainly can develop a flinch. The Lott and WM are not any better from the bench IME.
The CZ and Mod 70 are probably the 2 most available in 458 at this time. There was a fairly well used Mod 70 on the EE a while back for a reasonable price, not sure if it's still there or not.
I just picked up a 700 from the EE in an old Custom Shop model to Bubba into my 458 Ruger. They are out there for sure.........

The Lott will run through any modern magnum action just fine, except Ruger of course. My new Mod 70 Supergrade in 338 had a magazine block in it which I just drilled the spot welds and removed, then cut back the bolt stop and ejector blade. Plenty long enough for the Lott at this point with a total of about an hours work. Getting the Lott to feed may be another issue though, and an extremely important one for a DG rifle going after "THE EVIL ONE"

I spent probably close to 20 hours on my 602 polishing and tweaking until it fed like a David Miller rifle..........Important stuff in my opinion !!!!

One more bit of advice if you're going to load for your buddy either in the Lott or Win mag, trim all cases to equal lengths and CRIMP, heavily into the cannelure !!!!! This is important.
 
Last edited:
What is wrong with the original .458 WM ? kind of like saying you need a 30-06 to hunt coyote because a .308 won't do the job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom