Hi Guys:

Well I done did it. After looking at many, many options I decided to order a custom rifle from American Huinting Rifles, Ed Plummer, in 458 Lott.

I finally saw a Ruger 77 in 458 Lott, a lot of rifle for the money, no pun intended. But I all ready have a Ruger 458 Win Mag, and no you can't change it to a 458 Lott.

I think what AHR offers for the price is a very good value. Goes something like this..

CZ Action, blued and trued, Mod70 type safety, custom trigger, Pac Nor barrel, steel pistol grip cap, 22LPI checkering, new detachabel X break, two cross bolts, barrel double lugged, ebony forearm tip, extra fancy walnutstock, deceleraator pad.... and more for around $3500.00

When it is finished I will post pics....

If you are interested I will post his web site here later.

Regards..

Jim P.

Congratulations! I know a guy that owns an AHR rifle and he likes it a lot. I hope you are happy with yours too!

American Hunting Rifles website is:

www.hunting-rifles.com

Axel

Axel,

I thought that you had a 500 AHR built by AHR.

I am sure that AHR can build good rifles but I cannot see myself shelling out $3500 for a CZ 550 in 458 Lott. Well whatever flows your boat that is all matter. Please keep us posted. Thanks.

PAHunter,
Well, I think you did good. I think they are a great value for a custom rifle. I've had thoughts about ordering a 416Rigby from them.
Keep us posted.......I'd like to know how it turns out,shoots etc.
Regards,
Terry

Congrats and you made a good choice! AHR does very nice stockwork and the gal who does their checkering is absolutely first rate. The 458 Lott on a CZ550 is worth every penny of a $3000 price. Show me a better custom gun for the price!You can spend alot more money and not get anything appreciably better. Make Ed give you a good piece of wood!-Rob

Mingo:

The CZ action is only one part of the rile, granted the most important part. It is a Very Strong Action. Ed adds the all the goodies, squareing and trueing the bolt, the three position safety, and the custom trigger. I easily had this much into my custom 416 Rem Mag.

Terry P:

I gave this a lot of thought. Had a pre64 action, but by the time I had it reworked to 458 Lott, the stock I wanted, the custom barrel I wanted, the sights I wanted, the checkering, ebony tip, all the rest, the break, yada yada yada... I was over the 3 grand mark.

Looked at Pre64 Lott sale, English Walnut beautiful, no break but ported, Douglas custom barrel, cross bolts and so on. I am sure it was worth the price @ $3200.00 But I am not crazy about porting, and the drop of an English stocks seems to kick more.

Looked at another Custom 458 Lott, $2500.00 called Dragon Slayer, search this thread. Am skeptical of military Mauser action. Gunsmith showed me how much the bolt has to be opened up for the Lott and how it could weeken the locking lugs.

I will keep you guys posted. This is my stopping rifle. Next year Leopard and Plains game, then Lion and maybe another Buff. The Buff & Lion is where the 458 Lott comes in. Especially those damn Buff, sometimes it takes way to many shots to stop those buggers...LOL

Regards.... Jim P.

Hi Rob:

Thanks for the help. Yeah Ed said he will personally hand pick my stock.

I saw all your pics on his Hunting Pic Section, man you had one hell of a hunt. Your heavy rifle with the Eland looks like a Ruger 77 was it?

Now the waiting begins.

Regards... Jim P

PAHunter,

I too would be sceptical of a Lott on an m98 opened to the front. This is why they should be opened to the rear.

Do post those updates and pics when they come in.

Hi Roger:

You are correct, BUT when you open them that far just in the rear, you run into the trigger set up.

Anyway I looked at alot of actions, Pre64's, Current Mod70's, the new Ruger Lott, CZ, commercial Mauser Ineter Arms X, did not see the new Montanna Action. Even a Dakota action, that was priced like over $2K... I was impressed with the CZ. We shall see

Regards.. Jim P

PAHUNTER-The Lott conversion is a good one on the CZ550. You'll love AHR's stocks. If you can spare the cash, have ED do a deluxe checkering job on the gun. It will really be worth it. He has a girl who does some of the best checkering I've ever seen!!!
Yes, that Rifle is my trusty much modified Ruger 77, in .416 Rigby! She's been to Africa 4 times with me and shot about 40 critters including 4 Buff. Damn fine Rifle!
The only downside in using a CZ for a Lott,is the CZ is a magnum Mauser design and thus it's a large action. IMHO the ideal action for a Lott is a pre-64 Winchester magnum. I like this approach as it allows the gun to be more slender and a little easier to carry when your tracking Buff for 8 hrs a day!!! I have a Montanna action that I plan to build one around one of these days. By the way, it's really easy to properly open up any M98 or fN to a .375 length action, without cutting more than a little bit into the lower locking recess. I've had absolutely no problems with this in the past. However, ypu'll need a $400 mag box so why bother when a CZ550 can be had complete for $525.

In the case of a Lott on a CZ550, You get lots of cartridge capacity and it's a snap to get it to feed flawllessly. IMHO the CZ550 action is a absolute steal in comparison to a Vektor, Granite Mountain or Johansen action. The ONLY time the others are superior is when one needs to build a really big Rifle like a 505 Gibbs, 500 Jeffery, 600 OK. The problem with the CZ550 is that the maximum mag box dimensions are limited by the inner rail relief. Thus, the feeding of a 500 Jeffery for example becomes very difficult to achieve. The box dimensions are maximal with cartridges like the 416 rigby, 450 rigby, 460 wby and my favorite the 500 A2. This is the genre where the CZ550 shines. A little mill work to remove the laser engraved CZ logo and you have an action as good as anything out there for 1/4 of the price.-Rob

FWIW,

If it is not too late, have the bolt knob checkered. I find it too small and slippery when hunting.

Will

Jim,
You made a GREAT choice. Have a ball!!
jeffe

I hope you can post some photos when the rifle is completed.

Good luck,
R. Kehr

PAHunter,
Congratulations on your new rifle. Looking forward to photos and some feed back from your range results. Have fun.
470 Mbogo

Hi Guys:

As always thank you for the advice and the congrats.

When the rifle is finished I will post some pics on here.

There really is no web site as good as AR when it comes to African Hunting and Big Bore info.

I was just on the American Hunting Rifle site for the 100th time. The new engraving they offer seems awsome. I am trying hard to resist..... check it out..... LOL

Regards.....

Jim P.

I've read that you can use 458 Win ammo in a Lott in a pinch or for cheaper practice ammo. Is this really true? Has anybody tried it and didn't have feeding trouble?

Action strength is only part of the story. I looked at several different options when I had my work rifle built. One look at the trigger assembly between the CZ and the Winchester made up my mind!

Why is that CZ trigger mechanism so complicated? What the heck were they thinking? All that "fluff" and little parts. I hate taking my stock off the rifle but I would sure do it with that design to be certain no crap and dirt was building up in there.

I don't care for the additional weight either. I carry it 10 hours a day for months. I do like the additional magazine capacity of the CZ though.

Either way if you can learn to shoot it well one shot is all you need! I have been using the 450 grain X bullet which feeds like a dream and never gets deformed in the magazine under recoil. The 450 swift Aframe and the the 500 grain Hornies also shoot very well.

John Ricks built my rifle and used a specially made laminated walnut stock with the Model 70 action. Since my rifle is for my job I have a stock designed for open sights only and use a solid one piece machined peep sight. It has a 22" pacnor match grade barrel.

I doubt you can find a more accurate or functional designed bolt rifle for a professional hunter. The cartridge is outstanding as well. I have yet to recover a single X bullet!

JJHack- I certainly agree with you on the CZ trigger. I've become quiite expert at taking them apart and tuning them and they certainly need to be cleaned regularly. The best thing to be said about them is that there are replacements made to work with decent three position safeties!. It usually takes me a half hour to re-assemble a CZ trigger. I really like that little steel BB they use.Nice touch ( Not)-Rob

Mingo and 500grains, no I do not own an AHR rifle. I am not the guy that was "exposed" a while back. I know that guy, but he isn't me.

Axel

Hi JJ....

I believe that is why Ed Plummer of AHR, replaces the factory trigger with a custom trigger.

He also replaces the safety with a custom three position safety like the Mod70 safety...

Hey Rob.... do you know who makes the custom triggers and safetys for AHR...??

Regards... Jim P.