Recently I posted about the benevolent JudgeG giving me a CZ 458 Lott that had been customized bye Roger Farrell. I have purchased a Leupold 1.5 X 5 and have it mounted and am in the process of sighting it in. For the initial shots I used 458 Win Mag loads, and figured I would fine tune with the full power loads since shooting the Lott from a bench will probably be and enlightening experience. My question is, even though the 458 Lott will "safely" fire the 458 Win Mag, is there any hidden damage to the throat or chamber, or anything else I should know about before I fire anymore 458 Win Mag rounds in this beauty????

My opinion is that the shorter WinMag shells will eventually begin to erode the front of the chamber. I'd say that up to a hundred rounds or so will not matter, but I would not feed them as a steady diet.

I tell you this, but I have been using fire-formed 375 brass (about 0.040 shorter than factory 416 Rem) for practice rounds in my rifle since day one. I use the full-sized brass for hunting.

Thanks Don,

When are you leaving?? Soon isn't it??

Two weeks!

quote:

is there any hidden damage to the throat or chamber, or anything else I should know about before I fire anymore 458 Win Mag rounds in this beauty????

I think this is all poppycock. Why would the foreward end of the chamber be more eroded than the same part of the barrel containing the rifling and leads into same using the standard longer shot.

If it were mine, I'd practice with mild 458 Win Mag loads all I wanted to become proficient with the gun.

Cleaning might be beneficial in removing fouling in the foreward end of the chamber however as this might cause the Lott rounds to be lodged somewhat.

This comes from (I believe) the old tale about shooting .22 shorts in a LR chamber. All that happened was some build up of powder fouling that made folks think the foreward end of the chamber was damaged. A bronze brush and Hoppe's #9 cleaned it nicely.

I had a Ruger 357 Magnum pistol that I had to replace the cylinder on after shooting a steady diet of hot loaded 38 brass. I shot bowling pin matches with it - and probably shot a few thousand rounds. I kept it clean, which was probably a mistake.

It had eroded out the front of the chambers. Hot Magnum loads would expand the mouth of the longer 357 brass and it would get hard to eject the spent cases. No amount of cleaning would "get it out" - it was already out! I quit shooting pins and wanted the pistol to work as a hunting/protection gun, so I replaced the cylinder.

The pistol was stainless and the powders were faster than rifle powders - so it may not crossover at all. But metal erosion is real. The throat of a rifle barrel does erode. The hotter the load the faster the erosion. As you point out, the chamber is the same metal and will also erode.

I don't know how much a rough/pitted slightly belled chamber mouth impedes extraction on a rifle case - but it's no time to run the experiment on a charging buffalo or elephant.

I have an older Swedish 9.3 x 62 that was fed a steady diet of short cases by it's previous owner(s) and it has a real extraction problem from exactly what Don described. The case mouths bell ever so slightly and extraction is very difficult for the first few thousandths of bolt travel (as in use a rubber mallet).

Was there for Harry's 9,3 day,..
it is my opinion that the gases, in a polished chamber cause erosion that eventually makes the chamber rough enough , which means exactly what harry said, surface abalation, that it will grab and hold cases...

The only times *I* would shoot 458 win in a lott is to learn what happens to POI if you do, and then in a pinch in the field. It's just too easy to download the lott to 458 levels.

jeffe

For What it worth, Lex Webernick (Rifles Inc.) told me he did not recommend shooting 458 wm in 458 lott.

From reading the previous posts, it seems I must rethink my position on this.

I've fired 38 specials in .357 Mag cylinders, 44 specials in 44 Mag cylinders and 22 shorts in 22 LR chambers without a problem. Maybe I've just not done this enough to make the difference others are warning of.

I stand corrected, or at least bow to greater experience.