I've recently aquired a Ruger RSM in 458 Lott with an unusally nice piece wood.

This is my first Lott. In the past I've heard 458 Lotts can be a bit finicky, especially with solids.

I was curious as to which 500 grain softs and solids RSM shooter prefer.

I plan to bring it along on an Elephant/Buff hunt this fall.

Thanks for the help!!!

I've owned quite a few of these Ruger RSMs in 458 Lott. I've only used one of them on two safaris however. I shot buffalo with 500 gr. Swift A-Frames and 500 gr. Barnes Banded Solids. They were accurate and worked very well.

I took a RSM to Moz last fall. My load was 500 gr Swift A-frames with 83 grs of Reloader 15 for 2,220 fps from my barrel . The Swift ballistician was very courteous and responded to my phone call for information by shooting new info and providing it to me over the phone. I used a heavy crimp and test fed and chambered each round before leaving home. R-15 was the powder with 500 grain A-frames. I recovered 3 from 2 buffalo, all picture perfect. My rifle did require constant tightening of the action/stock screws. My PH loved Hornady softs in his Lott. He shot them as fast as possible, recovered they looked like a 50 cent piece, but did dump all their energy quickly, his goal. To each his own.

Best results in my 458 Lott was with Barnes TXS and solids.

I use mostly IMR 4320.

No gluing required........


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I have never found the 458 Lott to be finicky at all and I have built and used quite a few of them. Also varmint or bench rest accuracy isn't part of the 458 Lotts menu..
Its basically a 100 yard DGR..Most I have owned shot 2 inches give or take a half inch, and most were in the 1 to 1.5 inch catagory at 100.

None were picky about which bullets I used..

I do believe that the Lott can make a shooter "finicky"

I had a Ruger RSM in .458 Lott for a short time and man, can that magazine ever hold some loooonnnggg OAL cartridges! I had a bunch of 500 grain TSX's loaded up to what fit fine in the RSM and then sold it. I picked up an amazing semi-custom .458 Lott built by SSK industries on a Win M70 action and it would only hold a true OAL cartridge. I found that with my desired powder charge, the Barnes 500 grainer's were just too damn long a bullet, but it would seem they were MADE for the RSM!

Also take a hard look at Cutting Edge Bullets. Michael458 has done a ton of load development with these in the .458 Lott and has a bunch of load info on his great website (B&M cartridges). Good luck loading up that monster and come back with your success stories/photos!

-John

My ruger would not feed flat nose solids both Hornady and Barnes would catch on the extractor groove. Round nose and spitzers fed perfectly. My Ruger in 416 rig by would feed all bullets