I have had this rifle for quite a while now and it's just wonderful. I was tinkering with some things this winter that I wanted to share.

First since it's a "dangerous game" rifle I thought that the most likely dangerous form of life I see are snakes. I don't see them often but more frequently then threats from other large mammals.

I bought myself a bag of 100 410 shotgun wads and guessed with a powder charge and then filled up the wads with #7.5 shot. I caulked over the top with silicone tub and tile sealant. My first shot was interesting. The discharge was almost silent and not at all like a gun shot. I had set up an 8.5" X 11" sheet of paper to count the holes at 25 feet. It ripped a hole through the center of the paper.

I have been tinkering with this when I have time and now use #4 shot which seems to spread across the paper better and definately penetrates better. I shot the #7.5 shot and had it bounce back at me off a chunk of fire wood. The #4 shot penetrates so deep I cannot see it in the wood.

The #4 shot will kill grouse at 25 feet every time, I know this first hand! I'm sure snakes will be in a bad way with this 458lott 410 guage shotgun. I think it could be made more powerful then the 410 actually. However there seems to be a point of diminishing return with the patterns if pushed too fast. The rifling may be spinning the shot to the sides when going at high velocity?

What loads have you guys used for tinkering with the rifle? 400 grain lead hardcast or 350 grain bullets with a light load just for plinking?

JJ, post some pictures of your shot loads. Rifling, will open up bird shot patterns at any speed. The higher the velocity the worse it gets. 1150fps, should be plenty. A round nosed plastic cap that would hold up to crimping would be a great thing to add. A little larger pay load, and could feed from the mag.

The first thing I killed with my Lott, was a copperhead. Used a 350gr Hornady RN. Took his head off.

My plinking load is, 405gr Remington, 68gr IMR-4895, get 2112fps/24" barrel. I have tried some cast bullets and 5744, was not impressed. The Remmy bullets are cheap and will knock the .... out of a hog.

Is shooting shot out of a rifle dtrimental to the rifling?

Jim,

I bet you had mild ADD when you were a kid, eh? You are always onto something, my friend. Glad to see you spending more time here lately.

I have heard of guys shooting 410 cartridges out of their 45/70's, but I haven't heard of anyone messing wtih 410 wads, shot and 458 Lott cases. Bet it would easily kill a snake though.

Hey, I have nothing to contribute to your query about tinkering with a Lott, but your post has reminded me of an outstanding item on my to-do list. I have been meaning to post up a couple video clips for you and the rest of the members here. The first is of a couple of us shooting your Lott in RSA last June, and the other is of the black mamba getting whacked by Henk (shooting my 375). I'll see if I can get those up tonite or tomorrow.

Cheers,
Canuck

With some of the rif raf missing in action the entertainment value of this site has gone way up. I give it time, and we may degrade again but for now it's almost like the old days when people came to share ideas and fun conversation rather then try to drag every topic down with the typical "one ups manship"

Several of the folks who know everything as fact even though what they posted was clearly and absolutely wrong are not here now. It's as if a cloud has been lifted from the AR site!

It's fun again for everyone now, I really hope it lasts cause this is the best Africa site on the net!

I have shot 410 loads in my 45-70. The rifling makes the shot spread real quick. I have thought about making a shot shell like that for my 500 Linebaugh.

How many grains of shot are you shooting?

I'm not sure Roger, I just fill the shell. It's certainly less the 500 grains I don't think it's even 300 grains because the airspace around the shot is to great. There is zero recoil and almost no sound. It's kinda wierd shooting them because with that rifle squeezing the trigger is an attention getter. WIth this load it feels bizzare that there is no recoil. I think I'll fill them with melted wax before I seal the tops with silicone. That might keep them together better?

These shells will absolutley hold more shot and powder then a 410 shell will. I'm thinking it's closer to a 28 guage shell? I don't know about shot shell reloading so I can't say what the volume is.

JJ,

A standard 410 load is 1/2 Oz (app 220 grains)
A standard 28 ga load is 3/4 oz (app 328 grains)
When fire forming Lott cases from .375's I used to use sealing wax and just push the rectangular wax sheet down on the case mouth like an inverted cookie cutter. I'm thinking that if you use melted wax it would permeate the shot and you'd end up with a rapidly fragmenting slug. Like a Glazer Bullet.


Rich Elliott

Yeah Rich I think your right. I'll likely stick with this plan and not use the wax.

Thanks for the info on the 28 guage. The Lott is much closer to the 28 in this case.

JJ, like it when I see some one making snake loads,,,, The ole man started me on them back in the 60's in my 45colt New service using gas checks and shot,, one trick we used to help the shot hold together is mix a little flour with the shot,,, NOt good for long term storage tho

JJ does it hurt your barrel in any way.................I would have thought it would be bad for the rifleing or throat ??

Well I'm no gunsmith but I cannot see those soft lead pellets doing any harm to the barrel compared to the Monolithic barnes X bullets I normally shoot with probably 10 times the powder charge and pressure to force through the rifling.