458 Lott and big bullets.

[Balkandom]

Good afternoon all,

I'm relatively new here, and I have to say that this is one of the better groups I have encountered out there in forum land!

Anyway, I'm looking for a bit of guidance. I have acquired a 458 Lott and want to shoot GC'd cast bullets at low-ish velocities, around the 1500-1700 mark. I've found some pretty good info on the smaller bullets with 45/70 data for the 300-400gr range, but I'm having difficulty finding data for the 500-575gr range. Does anyone have any knowledge they can share, or know where I could go to get it? Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Mike

[paul h]

I know somewhere I came across a 458 win mag article in an older issue of handloader or rifle from the 70's or 80's that had just the combo you're looking for, but I'm pretty sure that magazine got purged from my collection.

I had two 458 lotts (I'm a slow learner) and most of my load work was with J bullets. I did find that 458 win mag data is often a good place to start looking for data as there is alot more of it out there, and my theory was you shouldn't be able to hurt a 458 lott by using 458 win mag data as a starting point. You also might want to look at some of the big 45 cal rimmed rounds like the 45-120 or some of the NE rounds.

Final bit of advice is the lighter bullets are much more enjoyable to shoot from the 458 lott! 500's at reduced loads still thump you pretty good, and at near 2300 fps they really gain your attention :O Since I no longer have a steady supply of ww's I try and stick with lighter for caliber bullets to make each pound of lead yield more bullets.

[wiljen]

at the 1500fps mark, you can skip the gascheck and save a few cents. My Ruger #1 tropical works well with the 550gr RN sized to .460 and lubed with felix lube loaded over 38gr of Alliant 2400. That'll put you in the 1550fps range at only about 38k psi so it doesnt break shoulders like 60K loads tend to.

60gr of IMR 4895 is also a good mild load in the 1700s with the same boolit.