The biggest bore I haver shot is a 375 H&H. If I contemplate a bigger gun, I lean towards the 458 WM. Many posts tell how the Lott can be a pain on recoil. I know you can shoot 458 WM from the Lott rifle. My question is, if shooting the WM in the Lott, is there any accuracy issues?
thanks

I don't understand why you would care. You can shoot WM in a Lott but why bother? If done in an emergency, accuracy is secondary?

There is all the talk about if your Lott ammo got lost then you could shoot the WM. This is all theoretical mumbo jumbo. I would like to see the list of those that actually had to do this overseas!

hikerbum,

I shoot .458 Winchester Magnum ammo in my .458 Lott. I do not have accuracy issues or soot build-up in the neck area of the chamber issues. My Lott has a more massive barrel and is heavier than my Win Mag and I have several Norma Win Mag brass so I at times enjoy loading the Win Mag for the intention of shooting in the Lott. The Lott chamber allows the bullet to be seated out further in the Win Mag.

Maybe why I care, is of my concern. I just asked a simple question.

thanks for the feedback.

hikerbum,

Good question and now you know the answer. Go with the Lott and you will never look back and say "I wonder if..."

I have shot 458 WM in two Lotts and haven't seen any noticeable drop off in velocity or accuracy when compared to firing them in a 458 WM chambered rifle. I haven't shot a whole lot of them but the chambers cleaned up easily after 20 rounds of WM ammo in both Lotts.

465H&H

Hikerbum,

Don't worry about Will. He is a highly experienced hunter and a major league ASSHOLE. But what he says is true if you can get past his personality and his mannerisms he does have some pearls of wisdom to share.

If you can shoot a .458 WM you can also just as effectively shoot a .458Lott they are about the same weight about the same barrel contour and they use the same action in most cases as the majority of the .458's are built on an over sized action anyway.

And just like having a .357 mag which will shoot .38 specials for practice the .458lott will handle .458 Wm's no problem. Better yet simply down load your .458 Lott to about 2000 FPS and have a nice low pressure practice round.

Whoever says the Lott has to come in a more massive rifle is uninformed to say the least.

If you are dealing with recoil issues, just load it to .450 3 1/4" spec. 480grn. at 2150fps.
Lower pressure, and a time tested combination that has been working for more than a century.
Forget the win mag crap. Lott brass is easy to get now, and cheap.
Then, after you get used to recoil, load her up to Lott-2300fps with the 500grn., and you'll never go back. You may want BIGGER after this, but you'll never want anything smaller.
Well, maybe you will, but I never did.
Just my opinion.
As far as the win-mag stuff you here on here, forget it, because it's not needed. Lott ammo is easier to find in some areas than win-mag is. It's not something to be concerned about.

I do not think it is a good idea to fire the Win. rounds in the Lott chamber, except as needed in exigent circumstances. It can be done, but I don't do it in my Lott and wouldn't recommend it. Too much potential for erosion of the chamber to suit me.

As to which to buy, FWIW, I would not buy a new rifle in .458 Win. Mag. The Win. Mag. has been eclipsed by the Lott. And the Lott is not that big a kicker in a rifle of proper weight for caliber (i.e., 10.5 lbs. or so), at least not for me.

That said, if I were in the market for a .45 bore, and happened to find a really nice used rifle in .458 Win. Mag. that really rang my bell, I would buy it in a minute.

mrlexma,
Do you think erosion is a problem with a bullet at 2150 FPS, I would think not as most erosion I have seen was from very high velocity, but that does not mean I am right..Your right its possible, but it would surely take a lot of .458 ammo would it not?

I have shot a lot of .458 ammo in a Lott chamber and I always cleaned the gun afterwards,but I don't suppose I shot enough to make any difference..

Keep in mind that I understand that any round shot in any chamber sets up some degree of erosion, that is how we wear out barrels.

The real question is at what point does the erosion (I have heard a theory about a flame cut ring at the 458 case mouth as a real possibility) pose a possible thread to extraction with full house Lott rounds fired at DG.

Best answer is to take the safe route as Mrlexma does and just load the Lott to the level you want.

JPK