Can any of you give me an opinion about this action? Is it a strong/durable action that is sufficient for the 458 Lott. I have never paid too much attention to custom firearms but I have an opportunity to purchase a 458 Lott built on this action. Thanks in advance for any info you may have.

sodak,
The p-17 will handle the .458 quite nicely. They even put the .460 Weatherby and larger on it. The thing you have to be concerned about is who made the Enfield that you are interested in. Winchester or Remingtons are OK. I have been told to stay away from the Eddystone Enfields. My P-17 is made by Winchester and I was told by Fred Zeglin it would be good for a custom rifle. I think he was the one who said to stay away from the Eddystones.

These are generally very strong and well made actions made by Remington ,Winchester, and Eddystone.As with any custom gun built on a military action check it over well.If memory serves me the Eddystone P17s were prone to cracked receiver rings inspect it well.I have a Remington P17 with a shilen barrel that is a very nice rifle indeed. Other things you may want to check is the ejecter spring (early ones were prone to breaking) and converted to cock on closing. Hope this helps! Reloader 1

[ 03-19-2003, 06:36: Message edited by: Reloader 1 ]

I have two of them, one is a completed 458 Lott, not yet back from the 'smith. The other is still just an action, but will become a 416 something or other. The completed one is built on an Eddystone action -- there is nothing wrong with them, just check the receiver well (or have a gunsmith look it over) to make sure the front ring isn't cracked. Make that a condition of the sale.

It takes a fair bit of work, but they can be made into nice rifles ('fair bit' = 100's of $$). As long as it was done well, i.e. check the feeding, buying someone else's money pit is the way to go. The P-14 extractor grabs about 1/3 as much rim as a P-17 extractor, so if the person who did it neglected to switch over, you might consider that bit of work - unfortunately it would require removing the barrel to widen the extractor relief.

If you can get it for something less than the cost of a CZ-550 in 458 win, then I would buy it. If it looks like it will need work, or is at the same price level as a CZ, then buy the CZ and have it rechambered.

Good luck,
Todd

The lott is a relatively simple conversion on a 1917 Enfield. I've done a few of them now and they certainly have some distinct advantages in my book over some very costly alternative actions. The Enfield action can take anything a CZ550 can and probably more. The Eddystone actions were reportedly inadequately heat treated and thus prone to catastrophic failures, but I am told even this can be corrected. I suspect that A-square had all of their Enfields re-heat treated before conversion to their line of cartridges. If it feeds properly and extracts and has not been abused, you probably are OK. The best of these actions were the Remington model 30's that had all the proper bells and whistles. You can often find non-colector grade model 30's for sale at Gun shows and they make a superb basis for a custom DGR.-Rob

sodak - I have a rem 30 action p17 converted to 450 ackley and it works just fine - the above advice about the cost comparison to a cz550 is a good note, the cz is one heck of a deal for a big bore conversion - KMule

In the late 60's, early 70's (when I was a wee Saskatchewan Canuck) I also had a .450 Ackley Mag built on a P-14. Worked just fine.

I was not too hep to the degree Ackley's books listed overloads for that cartridge, so actually tried the 90 grs. 3031, 500 gr. bullet load he listed. Destroyed the brass with one shot, but didn't hurt the rifle. (Loosened primers)

I worked DOWN to about 75 grs. 3031, if memory serves correctly, and found it a much better all-around load. Wish I had the old P-14 back....Herter's muzzle brake and all...