-- On a Ruger No. 1 and so the breech is accessible. Midway or some such sells the reamer, but it's sold "no instructions included."

This is a "take the barrel off the gun and have the work done by a smith" thing, isn't it?

The 458 Lott will get 2320 FPS with a 500 gr bullet. I own one.

Zedo, I would most likely run the Lott reamer through it. There are reamers available specifically for this mod as they do not cut where the belt is in the chamber but simply lengthen the chamber. An advantage with singles and doubles is the bullets can be seated much further out increasing overall length and powder volume. If you need more the watts reamer should clean up a Lott chamber. Rodney.

quote:

Originally posted by Rodney H.{500Jeffery}:
Zedo, I would most likely run the Lott reamer through it. There are reamers available specifically for this mod as they do not cut where the belt is in the chamber but simply lengthen the chamber. An advantage with singles and doubles is the bullets can be seated much further out increasing overall length and powder volume. If you need more the watts reamer should clean up a Lott chamber. Rodney.

If you are going to change it, I would go Watts, which is what the Lott should have been to start with, but you know, ego's got in the way

I would stick with the Lott as its a factory chambering, and the difference in the Lott and the Watts is miniscule..If you have them stick a long throat in your Lott, and thats a snap in a Ruger No.1, then it will give you another couple of hundred FPS if you need it, but why would you! 2350 FPS with a 500 gr. bullet is easily doable in the Lott with IMR-4320 and pressures are reasonable, thats more than you will ever need, and even at that recoil is pretty grim..

IMO the best 458 Big bore ever is the 3" version of the Lott being produced by some African gunsmiths, and it can fire Factory 458 Win. ammo, 458 Lott ammo also. but the bottom line is the Lott is a factory round and is your best bet and your ammo will be stamped properly and that may become an issue at some point in foriegn countries...

Your conversion can be accomplished with a hand reamer or on a lathe..The lathe being the way I would go and Inasmuch as you have to ask "how", you might be smart to let a competent gunsmith do the first one and watch him do it, before jumping in feet first.

Just curious -- I don't use the gun for hunting. There's no game here (No. Oregon Coast) that can't be had with the 45-70 Govt.

The Ruger in .458 Win. Mag. was sitting on the display table at the gun show, and I have a soft spot in my heart head for large bore Ruger No. 1.

The reaming tool, from what I can see, is intended for a conversion, hand driven -- to extend the chamber length without making any changes to the rest of the breech.

Seems like it wouldn't be much more involved than tapping threads. (And yeah, I've done some machine work here and there.)

There are two types of .458 Lott reamer. One with a belt cutter and the other without a belt cutter. You want the one without the belt cutting edge. Either that or use the belt cutting reamer with DYECHEM on your .458 Win belt and stop turning when the belt cutter just TOUCHES the dyechem. IF you screw this up and cut too deep your headspace will be ruined( ONLY FIX IS NEW BARREL). You avoid this with the non-belt cutting reamer. The reamer must have a handle extension and a close fitting pilot. WITH THE GUN IN A SOLID VISE,lube THE REAMER WITH hIGH SULPER CONTENT cutting OIL( BROWNELLS SELL SOME GOOD STUFF! You THEN TURN the reamer CLOCKWISE ONLY (never ever counterclockwise and check the depth with a dummy .458Lott( NOT A LOADED ROUND) with the bullet your going to use seated to the cannelure. GO SLOWLY and check the depth with the dummy every two turns. REAMERS are sharp and cut steel very easily. DONT GO TOO DEEP but the worst that happens is you get excessive freebore. Make absolutely sure the gun will close easily on the dummy round and it will also extract freely. Better to go a little too deep than not deep enough
Next you need to polish the chamber with 400 grit emery cloth glued to a wooden stick in a electric drill. JUST POLISH THE CHAMBER. Finally inspect the new chamber with a strong light for any evidence of rings. If you see any polish some more till you cant see the ring. Hopefully you wont see any if you bought a GOOD REAMER not some cheap POS. I did a double rifle conversion from .458win to .458Lott this way with a Dave Kiff reamer and it worked fantastically and took maybe 15 minutes.-Rob

Zedo,

I have the same soft spot in my head.
But I decided to rechamber to the 450 3 1/4" NE.
My gunsmith already had the reamer, and the 450 removed all traces of the 458 Win Mag chamber.
This is a nice low pressure (Low recoil) option.
Of course you can crank it up if you want and get 300 grainers really humping.
This is a really classic on a modern action inspired by an old classic.
Just another thought.

You'll need a lathe and other tooling to do the job, plus some machining experience. Cutting the chamber exactly concentric is crucial - and you can't pull that off by hand.

I'd say "see a smith" is the best advice here.

Sorry but you dont need a lathe to rechamber a Ruger No1 to a .458 Lott. DGR chambers by defin ition should be sloppy. This aint a target rifle. I used to believe the same thing and I have 5 lathes here, two CNC. Ive re3chambered in the Lathe and without. YOU CAN NOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE! Trust me it works just fine as I've described.-Rob

RobGunBuilder --

OK, that's the discussion I was looking for. I have a Smith & Wesson Mod. 10 heavy frame that's chambered for 38 Spl. and I think about reaming the cylinder out for .357 Mag.

What I'm hearing (reading) is that it's "machine shop" stuff.

I've been around enough machine shops to realize that what I have in the garage is just about one step beyond working at the kitchen table.

Gawd! I've seen some screwed up "kitchen table gunsmith" work --

I always ask out loud: "What were they thinking?"

And the answer I usually get is: "It probably seemed like a good idea at the time."

-- The last one was an antique Remington Rolling Block with about 2" missing off the end of the barrel . . . 2.225" maybe, depending on which corner of the muzzle you measure -- if you catch my drift.

If your handy and have done some machine work the hand reamer will do a fine job..I have done a number of 22 hornet Imp with them, but never tackled a 458, but can't see much difference..Get after it if your handy.