I just got in some 458 TSX and banded solids to load in my 458 Lott. In looking at the load data in the Barnes #3 manual compared to the Barnes #4 manual, the #4 manual looks very conservative. Does anybody have anybody have experience loading the Barnes banded solids or TSX in the 458 Lott?

quote:

the #4 manual looks very conservative.

That's not a bad thing. There were quite a few changes between the manuals with most charge weights going down not up. This has been a trend with most loading manuals. I believe it is generally attributable to better pressure measurements. Simply a refinement.

LWD

I understand the manuals reducing load data but in this case the velocities listed are sub-458WM velocities. In the #3 manual the max loads were well below other bullets of the same weight but velocities listed were in the right range for the Lott. I would like to save powder, time and my shoulder if I can. I had the same issue with the Hornady manual with the Hornady bullets. Other powder companies listed better load data than Hornady with their own bullets. A technician at Hornady explained that they just had not done enough testing of the Lott data when they published the loading manual. I have read reviews of the banded solids on Cape Buffalo with velocities in excess of 2250fps. In the Barnes #3 manual the velocities are up to 2300fps. In the Barnes #4 manual, only a few loads exceed 2200fps.

I called Barnes bullets and talked with one of their technicians about loading for the Lott. He advised that I would probably run out of capacity before I ran into pressure problems and he was right. With the 500gr TSX and Banded solids, I ran out of powder capacity before getting velocities much over 2200fps seating to their recommended length. I am going back to the Hornady bullets and work with h4895 and IMR4320 with the soilds to see if I can get them to shoot to the same POI as the softnose using AA2520. I slowed the loads down with AA2520 and the solids still shot 3-4" below the softnose.

The Barnes bullets are much longer for weight due to copper's being less dense than lead. I've wondered why they didn't make a 400 grain .458 bullet.

LWD

LWD, They did make a 400 grn. X bullet prior to the TSX, but in their misguided wisdom chose to discontinue it. That said, the 450 grn. TSX shoots lights out for me!