Ruger 458 Lott.

[Von Gruff]

I have a Ruger 458 Lott being sent to me along with a Lee 457-450-F mould,(a PB 450gn bore rider with meplated round nose) a lb of Red Dot, Win LR primers and 40 cases. I am to play with it untill I get a load in the 13-1500fps range and expect as I get 1400fps with 20 gn RD in my 404 Jeffery that some where in the 15 - 20 gn should get me there. Alloy will be 50/50 ww/Pb and lube will be my 2/3 bees wax/1/3 vaseline.
Comment welcome although dont go offering load advise for other powders as this is what I will have to work with.

Von Gruff.

[Nobade]

My advice is to slug the barrel and measure the bullets that mould makes. I have never seen one of those Lee moulds that didn't cast out at .456 to .457, and that is too small for most Ruger barrels.

As for loads, 23gr. Red Dot will get you 1400 fps but the pressure is close to 35 KSI so you'll likely get a leaded bore.

[wiljen]

Should be easy to find a good load at that pressure/velocity range. I do think if your Ruger turns out like mine you'll have to beagle that mold or find a 462560. I even had to beagle the lyman 457132 to get it to fit mine.

[Von Gruff]

Picked up the rifle and mould yesterday and there was a boolit left in the mould as cast and it measures at 4595 - 460 depending on where it is measured so looks to be good to go. Have just put the pot of 50/50 on to heat so will see what the afternoon brings.

Von Gruff.

[bigted]

von gruf...do me the favor of assembling and meassuring the coal that this boolit gives...please?

i have a ruger 77 that i had re-barreled to 458wm and im thinking of lott'ing the chamber ...however i need to stay inside the coal of the 458 with 500's as the box mag is only that long...3.340 if memories serves.

thanks.

[Von Gruff]

Loaded to the crimp groove these read 3.535. Would it be practical to have brass trimmed back by .135 or conversley you could load to the front of the front drive band. No crimp was necessary although for testing all were single loaded however recoil did not leave me with any concern for magazine box shortening of the cartridge.
These boolits dropped at .460 and with the die set I used (RCBS) the M die only opened up the brass ab about a thou and that gives me a thou of grip on the boolit. I can just slide an unsized boolit back into the case and as I dip loobed them they were shot un-sized.
I started with 15gn RD and WLR primers going in 1/2 gn increments through to 21gn with velocity ranging from1105fps through to 1335fps. Accuracy at 60 yds with 4x S@B with German no 4 reticle gave me the 15gn load at 1 1/2 for 3 shots and 1 3/8 for the 18.5gn load at 1235fps. Accuracy went from the 1 3/8 up to nearly 5 in with leading just starting to show.
The thing that might lead to an improvement is that the bore riding nose was a good thou shy of bore dia so a bit of lamenting may improve things. The owner is going to come over for a visit in the next week or so and we will discuss his needs as I did a 4 in 9 shot group at 60 yds so for a few pigs it will sufice as is for now.

Von Gruff.

[wiljen]

BigTed, if you can get a replacement mag box and follower from Brownells for the 375 H&H in the 77 Mk1 it should allow a longer OAL than the 458 WM box.

The factory Ruger 458 Lott magazine wont fit as the 458 lott in the 77 is made on the Safari Magnum Mk3 action instead of the Mk1 action of the 458 WM and the dimensions are different.

[Euan]

I have a Ruger 458 Lott being sent to me along with a Lee 457-450-F mould,(a PB 450gn bore rider with meplated round nose) a lb of Red Dot, Win LR primers and 40 cases. I am to play with it untill I get a load in the 13-1500fps range and expect as I get 1400fps with 20 gn RD in my 404 Jeffery that some where in the 15 - 20 gn should get me there. Alloy will be 50/50 ww/Pb and lube will be my 2/3 bees wax/1/3 vaseline.
Comment welcome although dont go offering load advise for other powders as this is what I will have to work with.

Von Gruff.

Mr Gruff, If you need some more molds to try, let us know as I have a few. From approx 320 gn to approx 560gn.
Cheers Euan

[Four Fingers of Death]

Unless you are off to Africa and are going to shoot Elephant and Cape Buffalo, there doesn't seem to me to be much point in Lotting the gun, but it seems to be a popular conversion. I had a 458 in the past and it was a lot of fun. Shooting No1s in 338WM and 416Rigby and a Remington 700 in 375H&H. There is a Remington 798 on the shelf of the local gunshop in 458, nice rifle (Serbian made MkX mauser action, wood stock, proper safari rifle set up, very nice, very tempting).

[JeffinNZ]

Red Dot is a big ask for that round I would think. A sack of Strongman coal might be a better choice!

[Von Gruff]

Red Dot is a big ask for that round I would think. A sack of Strongman coal might be a better choice!

Can you expand on that Jeff.

It wasn't straight velocity that was the main object of this exercise, if that is what you mean. Something suitable for a pig that was suficient for the job and I thought I got a rather good outcome ( considering the undersized nose of the bore rider was always going to be a limiting factor accuracy wise) with 18.5gn giving me 1235fps and 1 3/8 for 3 shots at 60 yds. I went with RD because the 404 gives really good accuracy at 1400fps for 350gn GC plinkers. I have seen how effective the 350gn 404 CB is on meat, so a 450gn 458 at 1235 should certainly be efective.

Von Gruff.

[Von Gruff]

Mr Gruff, If you need some more molds to try, let us know as I have a few. From approx 320 gn to approx 560gn.
Cheers Euan

Thanks Euan, I will give you a ring tonight.

Von Gruff.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Sounds like a job for a bit more lube and a case full of ffg, lol.

[JeffinNZ]

I was thinking that due to the volume of case you are working with a slower powder would likely produce better results. Don't you run Blue Dot?

[Von Gruff]

Yes I have BD and going by the "recipe" for BD I filled the case to the mouth and got 80 gns so 20%min to 50%max would have been 16gn to 40gn range, rather than the 15 to 21gn of RD. Because it is only a low velocity plain base load suitable for plinking and the odd up close pig I didn't think the higher volume of slower powder (and consequently higher cost) was needful in this instance.
Have other suitable powders as well, but initially, lowest cost effectivness ratio was the target (pun intended)

If I was looking for something a little better(or more hunt oriented) than the RD- Lee combo I think the next step might be a better fitting boolit probably with a GC in the 400gn range that I could run a bit faster where I might jump over BD and look to ADI 2207 (H4198) but then something like that would run arround 50gn at a time and so the powder cost starts to rise if just for plinking.

Von Gruff.