I got my re-barreled Remington 700 Sendero back from my gunsmith today (My 458 Lott dies came in today as well after having been backordered forever, must be my lucky day). The Remington started life as a 7mm STW, but I was not really happy with that caliber up here in Alaska. So I ordered a stainless .458 Shilen barrel from Brownell's and had my gunsmith put it on for me. I also got the bottom metal/removable magazine from H-S Precision. And before I get completely flamed here, I know it is not a controlled feed DG rifle and I know a center feed magazine is not the most desirable option out there. But hey, it was fairly cheap, I could do most of the work myself and I have something new and interesting to shoot.
Screwed the bottom metal on and ran off to the range. I didn't have the chrono set up since it was getting late and the range was closing, just wanted to put a couple of rounds through it. The stand-up shooting cage was being used so I set up from one of the benches. I thought for sure I was going to get the s@#t kicked out of me with a 8 1/2 pound rifle. However the recoil was not really that bad. It rocked me back a little and I felt the recoil pretty good in my sholder. The Remington recoil pad has fairly sharp edges that cut in to my shoulder pretty good, will have to get that replaced. But not too bad.
Ended up shooting 14 rounds of factory Hornady 458 Lott ammo and 9 rounds of my own 458 WinMag handloads. Shot a nice three shot group with all bullet holes touching at 50yds. Also tried a three shot group in the offhand and still had a 2 1/2" gruop. The offhand shots were about 3" lower than my shots off the bench. Think I might be anticipating recoil a little . I'll reload a couple of rounds tomorrow and put them through the chrono.
The scope I'm using is an ancient 4x Bushnell ScopeChief. It is my little experiment to see how long it will last. It is sitting in Leupold Rings and QR bases. Not really a good setup, but it will have to do until I figure out what sighting system I want to use on this rifle.

Congratulations on the new rifle!

I find that my 458 lott kicks less than my 458 win mag. It's because of stock design, with respect to my rifles. You must have a good fitting stock for the recoil to feel so mild.

Lucky Guy!!!
have tons of fun. I will suggest a kickeez pad for that. It's easy to tear though. But, they've fixed the compound so you can just grind it on a benchSANDER instead of nearly freezing it.

Get it chrono'ed man.. let's see where you are
jeffe

From my session on the range today:

Factory Hornady 458 Lott 500 gr RN - 2400 fps

My handloads:

79gr IMR 3031, 500 gr Hornady FMJ - 2420 fps

From the same rifle:

458 WinMag,500gr Hornady FMJ, 73 gr H4895 - 2265 fps

efryman,

Those velocities seem very high, especially for teh 458 Win and Lott ornady ammo. Like were chronographed with a Chrony.

Mike

I was using a CED Millenium chronograph. It didn't give me any indications that the velocities could be wrong. All velocities were 5 shot averages. I'll have to find another chrono to compare it against.
Since I'm new to the 458 WinMag/Lott, I really can't say if these volcities are off or not

If the pad's bothering you, try switching to a Pachmyr decelarator, they really work nice.

Congrats on your new toy, and I'm not going to get into the CRF/PF/700 action, debate, use your rifle, and enjoy it, and let those who want something else, spend THEIR money! PS: That Bushnell Scopechief may just supprise you!

Mike375, I don't think the Lott rounds are too high in a tight new barrel. The 458 Win Mag will always regester higher velocities when fired in a Lott chamber, because of the long freebore jump! But I too would like to see a comparison with another Crono! I have a 458 Lott in a Whiteworth action, and a 458 Win Mag Ruger No1, that I'm thinking of rechambering to 458 LOTT. In my 458 Win Mag, I use 450, or 480 gr bullets, it seems to handle them far better than the 500s. With a 480 gr Woodliegh softs, and solids, it is easy to duplicate the 450NE 3 1/4", the cartridge the 458 Win Mag was designed to replace!

[ 09-24-2002, 03:26: Message edited by: MacD37 ]