Can anyone provide perspective on this - I'd like to get a lott and would plan to shoot 500gr bullets at 2150, but am curious if I could load it with lighter bullets and have an effective hunting rifle with much lower recoil?

Thanks

You could load lighter bullets with Trail Boss and get significantly less recoil. As for it being an effective hunting rifle with said loads; it would depend on what you were hunting. It should be fine for deer.

Why is it so common for shooters to get a big rifle and then want to know about reduced loads? Seems about like castrating your prime breeding bull.

If you loaded the Lott with 350 Grain Barnes X's at 2150fps, the recoil would be lighter than the 500's by a noticeable amount. Outside elephant, hippo and perhaps cape buffalo. You would be in good shape for about anything else you wanted to shoot with proper bullet placement.

You can load your Lott with Cast bullets in the 400 grain range at 1500-1900 FPS and have a much lighter recoiling rifle that works well on NA game at reasonable ranges. I am sure the Barnes X 350 recommendation would be great as well.

I have a O/U double rifle in 458 Lott,I shoot 350's,400's,450's & 500 gr bullets,the rifle is well regulated by one of our very own here on AR,on my last hunt,I used the NF 450 gr FN solid on elephant @2250 fps,it did a great job & I much prefer the recoil of this load than a 500 gr bullet going at that speed.

I shoot mine with 400 gr cast bullets and Trail Boss for "fun" shooting, haven't shot any game with it but I'm sure it would work fine for deer or pigs, though. I've also loaded 350 gr jacketed bullets to 2700 fps, which is way too fast for the bullets used, and the recoil is not bad at all. They are really just good for plinking, I'm sure they would kill a deer but expand way too violently. I shot one pig that weighed about 100 lbs with this load at about 60 yards and it pretty much destroyed the pig.

I see little point in it, the Lott is designed to kill big mean animals at close range, I see loading them down a trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear...If its fear of the hanious recoil of the Lott, one might be thinking .375 or what he can shoot comfortably..I don't see short light bullets with no SD and they drop velocity pronto, and penetration goes South, the 45 is designed for big heavy bullets otherwise a .416 or 404 is a better killer, much the same as the .338 Win shooting 200 gr. bullets, if I wanted less metal Id opt for a 300 win with 200 gr. bullets and take advantange of its ballistics SD ranging ability or whatever you want to call it.

But, that's just my take on the subject, Im sure others feel differently...I see a lot of make my gun kick less these days..Loading down does not make one accept recoil, quite the opposite as a matter of fact. If I spend time shooting a full throatle Lott, a 375 or 416 is a pussycat when I take to the field to play with...That's how I learned to handle recoil many moons ago..then age turns that around for sure and I Have no desire to shoot anything larger than a .338 or 375, and you start looking at those dang funny things with holes in them that are attached to the end of your barrel, noise?, hell you can't hear anyway, so no problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill73:
I have a O/U double rifle in 458 Lott,I shoot 350's,400's,450's & 500 gr bullets,the rifle is well regulated by one of our very own here on AR,on my last hunt,I used the NF 450 gr FN solid on elephant @2250 fps,it did a great job & I much prefer the recoil of this load than a 500 gr bullet going at that speed.

Yep!

Do it. You will never look back
I had Gs Custom 450 GR FN Solids at 2450 and GS Custom 315 Gr HV at 3150.
POI was 6 inches above the 450 at 100m
You cant ask for a more versatile combination. Basically gives you buffalo chest penetration out to 300m.
I used it in conjunction with the Trijicon RMR.
That gives you quick shooting from 5m to 300m on most targets that would require a 458
On plains game I can make a shoulder shot on springbok out to 150m and on Kudu out to 300m

rem 405s at 2200 are pretty amazing - i found the woodleigh 400s to be less accurate than the rem 405s, but great and much tougher on game.

of course, the 405rem is not a long range bullet, the woody is more aero

350s/300 hornadys are really a waste of time in the lott, unless loaded pretty slow

Despite Grum..s Freudian fears, there is a point to loading a rifle with lighter than maximum bullets. Townsend Whelen had specific loads for his 270s and 30-06s that provided use for the rifle on less than big game. Same with a 458. Woodleigh makes a 350 gr designed to duplicate turn of the century (1900) loads. Provided that you load them into their designed velocities and limit yourself to the reduced distances, they will work fine for deer and such, possibly even elk, and give you increased field time with your rifle.

If it's any help, I loaded 350 grain TSXs up to
2650 or so in the .458 Win for the purpose of making it fit the .375 H&H niche. It basically worked in trajectory and recoil, while not giving up
Much in killing on Buffalo. It even worked with the same scope settings. There's no
reason why it wouldn't work just as well on the .458
Lott; I just haven't gotten around doing it yet.

I agree with Dogleg. The 350 X bullets were the trick in my 458 for reduced recoil and flatter trajectory. I expect the 350 TSX would be more of the same and even better in the Lott.

Mark

Mark when i hunted with terry last i used my lott with 325gr hornady ftx to harvest a sable and zebra along with a baboon. i cant remember the loads but can get them for you if you would like to try them. best regards Tom

In my CZ 550 458 Lott. I developed a load with 350 gr Speer Hot Core and Barnes TSX going 2700 fps. The recoil was substantially less than the 500 gr load at 2300 fps. . On brown bear at any reasonably range it would be IMO the ultimate stopping load with the TSX.

quote:

Originally posted by Cold Trigger Finger:
In my CZ 550 458 Lott. I developed a load with 350 gr Speer Hot Core and Barnes TSX going 2700 fps. The recoil was substantially less than the 500 gr load at 2300 fps. . On brown bear at any reasonably range it would be IMO the ultimate stopping load with the TSX.

I also loaded 350 grain Hot Cores in my CZ 550 Safari Magnum in 458 Lott. I don't know how fast they were going but they worked well on rabbit.

You can read the hunt report here:

Rabbit Hunt Report

Thanks very much guys.

I've thought about loading down a lott because I like the idea of having a rifle I can start using with a lower load and work up my recoil tolerance over time.

Already have a .375 and am looking for another one, have thought about a .404 or .416, but if I could buy a lott and load it similar to .375 and work my way up from there, seems like a lot of optionality in one rifle?

I agree with Ray mostly. I'd go with a 416 Rigby, you can start it out at traditional 404 Jeffrey power (400g at 2150 fps), then work up to 400g at 2400 fps. It will kill anything on the planet (as will your 375). If you really want to jump up take the leap to a 505 Gibbs, 500 Jeffery or 500 A2

Chuck brings up a good point. But, the Lott can be loaded to 2150 fps with a 400 also. For some reason I really like 400 gr bullets in the 2150-2200 fps range. Whether in my 416s or 458s. I did build a load in my Lott with 400 gr bullets at close to 2600 fps. And even it was easier shooting than the 500 gr bullets at 2300. That was 10 years ago and I no longer have that rifle. This winter I plan on making a 400 gr load at 2150 for my Win mag. I wish Berry's made a 400 gr rsfp plated bullet similar to their 350 gr.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
I agree with Ray mostly. I'd go with a 416 Rigby, you can start it out at traditional 404 Jeffrey power (400g at 2150 fps), then work up to 400g at 2400 fps. It will kill anything on the planet (as will your 375). If you really want to jump up take the leap to a 505 Gibbs, 500 Jeffery or 500 A2

If you go the 416 route, don't stop with 5000 ftlb. loads. You can easily load a 350 grain bullet to 2800+fps, which is 6000ft# plus (that is, more than the Lott, and in the 505Gibbs factory power niche). Then you have flat, flat, plus smack smack.

:-)

When I had one, I used the 350-grain Speers as a general purpose bullet, and it worked great. I loaded them at about 2,500 fps from a 24-inch barrel.

My Friend has a 458 Lott and uses 400 gn Woodleigh PPSN at 2500fps. It is very effective on pigs. He also tried the 400gn Woodleigh Hydro, which was also highly effective on pigs. He drilled one end for end, so he plans to use 400gn PPSN for plains game and 400gn Hydros for buff. I am sure it will work fine. They both shoot to the same point.

So my conclusion from reading this thread is that the Lott is pretty versatile with different bullet weights. What I was wondering - thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by 10generation:
So my conclusion from reading this thread is that the Lott is pretty versatile with different bullet weights. What I was wondering - thanks.

I'm a bit late to this thread. But I have a .458B&M that I have used with the .458 SOCOM 260gr bullet from CEB on plains game. My load pushes that bullet out at 2900fps. Devastating on plains game.

You give up a lot ( no pun intended )when you start shooting light weight bullets in big bores if your hunting anything..They don't range well as they have no SD or bullet coefficient, be it a 222 or a 577 N.E., they are fast to start with and can be claimed to be great in thick bush, but I can't count the number of times I had to make a cross canyon shot in the "thick stuff" both in Africa or the USA. Just an opposing view on the subject for thought,

For practice sessions with my Lott, I use Rem 405gr JSP's at 2200fps. Hits to point of aim, cost much less than good 500 grainers, much easier on the shoulder. My practice shots are 20-75yd at milk jugs full of water, set into a dirt bank. It's good explosive fun! I end the session with a magazine full of 500 grainers.

Baker 458

Good thinking.

Am I crazy to think I could invest in a very high quality M70 458 Lott from a simillion or echols, start loading it with 350 TSX (have seen many references to this being a great load as I have researched more) and have the headroom to move up to forty caliber power eg 404/416 and 458 win mag over time? No interest in full power lott loads but seems like the lott gives more optionality than doing the same thing with a win mag.

Just thinking that rather than buying a .375, a .40 caliber, and maybe a 458 in a few years, one rifle could do it all?

Seems too simple to work, curious what the wise men of AR think......

I could live nicely with a Lott if I didn't already have hand-loaded 416Rigbys.

However, the 350gn TSX would be on the light side for all-around in Africa.

A 400GSC or 450gnGSC or 450gnTSX would be better when a buffalo wanders into the sights.

My thinking was that if a 300 gr .375 is the classic "one-gun" in africa, a 350 TSX could qualify as well. Agree that 400 grains is better for buff.

I had a riot working up Trailboss (read: filling the case until brimming full) loads in my .458 Lott with 350's and 405 grain Remington HP's and soft points. Zero, and I mean absolutely zero recoil! Velocity was about like my .480 Ruger shooting 420 grain cast bullets. Think of the Trailboss load in the .458 Lott like a shoulder-fired Ruger Super Blackhawk revolver in .480 Ruger. So much fun!!!

-John

All this tells me is the Lott has too much recoil for most folks, everyone wants to load it down, even to hunt buffalo etc...Makes no since to this old cowboy but hey I ain't the caliber cop..to each his own.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
All this tells me is the Lott has too much recoil for most folks, everyone wants to load it down...

I don't drive my Corvette at 150 mph everywhere I go either. I've had a lot of fun developing loads for my Lott, up and down the scale. A very useful cartridge.

My latest - .457 round ball for squirrel...

300 TTSX at 2800 zeroed for 200 yards is 10" low at 300 yards.

I was just playing around with the JBM ballistics calculator and the 300 and 350 TSX looked like they had a pretty flat trajectory.

quote:

Originally posted by dr.475:
Mark when i hunted with terry last i used my lott with 325gr hornady ftx to harvest a sable and zebra along with a baboon. i cant remember the loads but can get them for you if you would like to try them. best regards Tom

I'd be keen to hear what the loads are and what velocity you obtained. Consensus here in another thread was that the FTX turned itself into a donut if run at high velocity

quote:

Originally posted by Baker458:
For practice sessions with my Lott, I use Rem 405gr JSP's at 2200fps. Hits to point of aim, cost much less than good 500 grainers, much easier on the shoulder. My practice shots are 20-75yd at milk jugs full of water, set into a dirt bank. It's good explosive fun! I end the session with a magazine full of 500 grainers.

Where are you guys getting your 405g Rems from? I'd like a cheaper alternative to 400g PPs but cant find the Rems as a component out here in Australia

IMHO,the lighter mono metal bullets work very well. I prefer 350 TSX in my 416's and there is no reason that the lighter than standard weight TSXs won't work very well in the 458.

When you shoot a 300 gr. bullet or even a 350 gr. your practically in the round ball category and have tossed sectional density to the winds IMO..but hey Im not the caliber cop, just a hunter with a different opinion of the use of a big bore rifle if your a DG hunter..If one is enjoying his big bore at the range or whatever then that's a different story all together and more power to you...If I had a corvette, Id drive the sucker as fast as I could!