Have been wanting a big bore for some time, so I broke down and ordered a Ruger RSM .458 Lott a while ago. Well, it seems Ruger has problems delivering, because the rifle didn’t arrive. (in retrospect, not that it was entirely unexpected as a friend also ordered one in 416 and he waited over a year and no gun.)
So I changed to a Mauser M03 Africa instead. And it arrived about a month later.
Went straight to our cabin got the reloading equipment ready. I bought some Rem. 300gr bullets for practice rounds and started with low powered loads as my experience with bigbores are limited to 3-4 rounds of the bench with a friends CZ 416 rigby some years ago. (plus a Wby 340 I owned though it isn’t a bigbore).
I found that the 300gr at approx 2650fps made for nice practice rounds for now. Next came a few Barnes 450gr TSX. With those I stopped at 2242fps. With Hornady 500gr FMJ, I stopped at 2026fps.
Recoil wasn’t as much as I expected. I wouldn’t like fire a lot of these rounds in one afternoon at this time, but a few rounds at short-moderate range shouldn’t be a problem. Will probably try some more powerful loads the next time I get the chance.
All in all, I shot 39 rounds that day.

My impressions of the M03 so far:
The rifle including mount and a leupold VX-III 1.5-5x weighs 4832grams or 10.65lbs. Rifle alone is 4396grams or 9.7 lbs. Stock length was just right for me and excellent balance. The pistolgrip have a slight swelling on the right side to better fit the palm of the hand. Easy take down allows one to carry it in an inconspicuous case if you choose.
It has a 4 round detachable magazine which you can secure to rifle with a supplied Allen wrench for situations you don’t want to risk it dropping out.
The sling mounts have integral loops and not the often used Uncle Mike’s. But they are perhaps more quiet as they don’t rattle as much. The downside is that not every sling can be used.
I also looks like Mauser has used the standard recoilpad they use for all rifles. It has a 4mm spacer and a 8-9mm pad. I might change that to a 1" Pachmayer Deccelerator , but the stock will probably have to be shortened. And I’m not sure how that will work with the Kick Stop in the stock.

All in all, I’m very happy with the rifle. And the caliber changing feature is VERY nice to have in countries like Norway where buying extra guns isn’t as easy.


One question here at the end.
Has anyone done any penetration tests with 300/350gr TSX (or 350 North Fork) at moderate speeds (2500-2600fps)?
I’m considering getting some for use on elk/small moose but are not sure I get the chance to test them any time soon...

nice rifle. i handled one and was impressed with the fit. the lott turns into a beast when you get up to around 2300 fps with 500 grain loads. makes the back side of my shoulder hurt off the bench. have fun.

Thanks for the post and congratulations on very nice rifle. I would definitely swap out that recoil pad. A little longer length of pull might keep you back off the scope when shooting full power loads. I put a limbsaver pad on my .458 Lott, works great.

Scott Hayman

Shit, I want my 458 Lott fast, I love it. Beautiful rifle.

Oscar.

I've been oogling an Mauser '03 for some time now. Thanks for pushing me closer to the edge!

Rusty, do yourself a favour and save yourself some grief and just give in right now!
You know you will eventually anyway!


Just to help you along...
The bolt is extremely smooth and only 60 degrees lift is needed to open it.
I also like safety system. It does take some getting used to but its a very safe system.
Trigger is very nice out of the box.
Scope is very easy to take of. Downside is cost.
Switching to a different caliber is very fast. Takes only seconds to remove the barrel and install the new one.
I plan on getting another in .338 Win mag at a later date for plainsgame.

So, give in and buy it.

Those are very nice rifles. I did not know they were in 458 lott, but that is good news. Personally I am not used to the safety system, but it seems top notch.

Look what I found at Cabelas. I think it it is a used rifle, price looks good.

Mauser 03 458 Lott

Nice ! can you put a ''mini'' barrel, 222 or 223 on your rifle ? its good you can get a 338 the Sauer 202 does not offer it

yes, you can change to any caliber listed in this chart: http://www.mauser.com/Specifications.144.0.html?&L=1
You may have to change bolt head and magazine in addition to the barrel depending on what caliber you have and what you want.

WOW...... that’s a beautiful rifle…
I dream of heaving one someday in 416 rem. !

quote:

Originally posted by ovny:
Shit, I want my 458 Lott fast, I love it. Beautiful rifle.

Oscar.

Oscar, your English is coming ahead in leaps & bounds.
I'm not familiar with this rifle, they look fabulous, are they CRF or PF?
Steve

Technically, I guess its PF.


But in its defense it seems to be a very reliable PF. The cartridges aren't released from the magazine until the bolt is halfway closed.

Only at this point is the cartridge released and unless you mistakenly retract the bolt again, there is no chance of the cartridge dropping out.
Naturally CRF would have been preferable, but I'm not going to worry about it.

Sure but, if you did retract the bolt at the half-way with a crf, you wouldn't have to worry about the round falling out. . . it would eject out.

And if you realised what you'd done with a PF, and how would you not know, lowering the muzzle would chamber the round and then you close the bolt while holding the round in the mag. down.
Or tip the part loaded round out if you can spare it and your in a hurry.

Cardinal, many thanks for the pics, interesting looking beast, very handsome rifle. Other than being up against DG I guess lack of CRF isn't too big a deal & if you go up against DG with it then Hell, thats what you have a PH for, isn't it?
Steve

Rusty,

That's a helluva of a deal on the Lott. Even comes with the base and rings (which if bought separately run $300-400). The base and rings are an amazingly simple and fast quick detach set up. If you decide to pay more, let me know and I can sell you my .404 Jeffery.

Beauty is that the barrels on these can be swapped out in less than 5 minutes by loosening two Torx screws. Barrels in other calibers are around $900 as I recall. Some calibers require that you replace the bolt head and magazine too, which is also a piece of cake.

Shinzo,
Thats more or less how I look at it. CRF would preferable but for my use the other advantages outweigh the "minus" of being a PF. This won't be a rifle for only DG use, but rather a general purpose hunting rifle. I doubt I'll shoot more than one or two buffalo with it, and the rest will probably be plainsgame and deer/elk. The vast majority of targets will be paper

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Beauty is that the barrels on these can be swapped out in less than 5 minutes by loosening two Torx screws. Barrels in other calibers are around $900 as I recall. Some calibers require that you replace the bolt head and magazine too, which is also a piece of cake.

It won't take you five minutes unless you screw up!
Just did a test and removing scope, opening bolt, removing barrel and mounting everything again, took 45 seconds. If you change to a different caliber group you will as you say, have to change bolt head and magazine but you should still able to do it 60-90 seconds.


I also found one more advantage to a switch barrel system as a DG rifle. I might buy an extra barrel in 6.5x55 (components are cheap here in Norway). then with the kickstop still in, I'll end up with a 10lbs 6.5... Doesnt sound very practical, you say? Well, for hunting no. Too heavy.
But it will be great for training. I'll end up with virtually no recoil, which means I can shoot it a lot. Its also cheap to shoot. However, the trigger, feel of the rifle, operating mechanism, etc will be the same as with the Lott barrel. Which means I can train with it a lot and really get to know it intimately. You can start a training session with a 100-200 rounds of 6.5x55 and finish with some in Lott. With "the same rifle".


Edit: Spelling

I know Mike, I know!