Recent from talks
.458 Lott
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
.458 Lott
The .458 Lott is a .458 caliber rifle cartridge designed for the purpose of hunting large, thick-skinned dangerous game animals in Africa. It is based on the full length .375 H&H Magnum case blown out and shortened to 2.800 inches (71.1 mm).
The .458 Lott was designed in response to perceived inadequacies and problems encountered with the .458 Winchester Magnum. The cartridge provides a distinct step up in performance over the .458 Winchester Magnum.[citation needed] A-Square, Česká Zbrojovka/Brno, Hornady, and Ruger have been instrumental in the cartridge's rise in popularity.
The .458 Winchester Magnum was designed in 1956 and was an immediate commercial success. It was a more economical alternative to the English double rifles that were considered the standard rifle type for dangerous game hunting in Africa. The .458 Winchester Magnum was designed to emulate the performance of the .450 Nitro Express in a standard-length bolt-action rifle. However, it soon became apparent that the .458 Winchester Magnum was not performing as anticipated. Several factors contributing to its less than stellar performance in Africa: clumping of its compressed powder charge and use in 20–22 in (510–560 mm) barrel rifles.
Jack Lott, a big-game hunter and writer from the US, had an adverse encounter with a Cape buffalo in Mozambique in 1959 in which he sustained injuries. He had been hunting with the then new .458 Winchester Magnum. This experience convinced him that a cartridge more powerful than the .458 Winchester Magnum was required when hunting dangerous game in Africa. After the encounter he began a search for a big-bore cartridge which would suit his needs perfectly.
Not finding a cartridge that would fit his needs, he designed a cartridge which he felt would meet his requirements in a dangerous-game cartridge. Jack Lott's original drawings of the cartridge were done on a napkin at a diner. The first cases for the new rifle cartridge were fireformed from .375 H&H Magnum brass into a chamber by using .458 caliber (11.6 mm) bullets which had their bases re-sized .375-inch (9.5 mm) so as to fit in the mouth of the .375 H&H Magnum. This method of fireforming left the newly formed cases slightly shorter than the parent cases. The resulting cartridge is named the .458 Lott in his honor. A similar method was used by David Miller and Curt Crum to create cases for their early custom .458 Lott rifles. The creation of the cases began with the casting of a .458 in (11.6 mm) bullet with a .375 in (9.5 mm) shank and which weighed around 260 gr. This bullet was seated on a .375 H&H Magnum case containing 30.0 gr (1.94 g) of Hercules 2400 powder with some polyester material used as a wadding to hold the powder charge against the primer. This set-up was then fire-formed in rifle with a .458 Lott chamber. The fire-formed cases were then run through a .458 Winchester Magnum full length re-sizing die with a set off of .125 in (3.2 mm). Once this was accomplished cases were trimmed to 2.790 in (70.9 mm) tumbled clean. Unfortunately for Miller and Crum, this method of fire-forming of brass led to severe gas cutting into the neck area of the .458 Lott fire-forming rifle after only 200 rounds.
In 1989 A-Square became the first company to offer the .458 Lott as a commercial cartridge. At present, the 465-grain (30.1 g) Triad (Monolithic Solid, Dead Tough and the Lion Load) for the .458 Lott cartridge is available from the company. A-Square also championed the successful SAAMI standardization of the .458 Lott cartridge which took place in 1995. They currently offer the A-Square Hannibal and Caesar rifles chambered for this cartridge.
The objective behind the design of the .458 Lott was to provide a greater case capacity over the .458 Winchester Magnum so as to provide better performance and less compression of the powder charge. The .458 Lott achieved both these objectives by its lengthened cartridge. Furthermore, as the Lott cartridge is in essence a lengthened .458 Winchester Magnum, converting a .458 Winchester Magnum to .458 Lott involves in many cases a simple re-boring of the chamber and if required, a lengthening of the magazine.
The .458 Lott was standardized by SAAMI in 1995 based on specification provided by Arthur Alphin and A-Square LLC. According to Arthur Alphin, the cartridge length was standardized at 2.800-inch (71.1 mm) and the chamber length at 2.810-inch (71.4 mm) because there were many converted rifles in the field that were chambered for the original Jack Lott length. The specifications published by SAAMI reflect this fact.
Hub AI
.458 Lott AI simulator
(@.458 Lott_simulator)
.458 Lott
The .458 Lott is a .458 caliber rifle cartridge designed for the purpose of hunting large, thick-skinned dangerous game animals in Africa. It is based on the full length .375 H&H Magnum case blown out and shortened to 2.800 inches (71.1 mm).
The .458 Lott was designed in response to perceived inadequacies and problems encountered with the .458 Winchester Magnum. The cartridge provides a distinct step up in performance over the .458 Winchester Magnum.[citation needed] A-Square, Česká Zbrojovka/Brno, Hornady, and Ruger have been instrumental in the cartridge's rise in popularity.
The .458 Winchester Magnum was designed in 1956 and was an immediate commercial success. It was a more economical alternative to the English double rifles that were considered the standard rifle type for dangerous game hunting in Africa. The .458 Winchester Magnum was designed to emulate the performance of the .450 Nitro Express in a standard-length bolt-action rifle. However, it soon became apparent that the .458 Winchester Magnum was not performing as anticipated. Several factors contributing to its less than stellar performance in Africa: clumping of its compressed powder charge and use in 20–22 in (510–560 mm) barrel rifles.
Jack Lott, a big-game hunter and writer from the US, had an adverse encounter with a Cape buffalo in Mozambique in 1959 in which he sustained injuries. He had been hunting with the then new .458 Winchester Magnum. This experience convinced him that a cartridge more powerful than the .458 Winchester Magnum was required when hunting dangerous game in Africa. After the encounter he began a search for a big-bore cartridge which would suit his needs perfectly.
Not finding a cartridge that would fit his needs, he designed a cartridge which he felt would meet his requirements in a dangerous-game cartridge. Jack Lott's original drawings of the cartridge were done on a napkin at a diner. The first cases for the new rifle cartridge were fireformed from .375 H&H Magnum brass into a chamber by using .458 caliber (11.6 mm) bullets which had their bases re-sized .375-inch (9.5 mm) so as to fit in the mouth of the .375 H&H Magnum. This method of fireforming left the newly formed cases slightly shorter than the parent cases. The resulting cartridge is named the .458 Lott in his honor. A similar method was used by David Miller and Curt Crum to create cases for their early custom .458 Lott rifles. The creation of the cases began with the casting of a .458 in (11.6 mm) bullet with a .375 in (9.5 mm) shank and which weighed around 260 gr. This bullet was seated on a .375 H&H Magnum case containing 30.0 gr (1.94 g) of Hercules 2400 powder with some polyester material used as a wadding to hold the powder charge against the primer. This set-up was then fire-formed in rifle with a .458 Lott chamber. The fire-formed cases were then run through a .458 Winchester Magnum full length re-sizing die with a set off of .125 in (3.2 mm). Once this was accomplished cases were trimmed to 2.790 in (70.9 mm) tumbled clean. Unfortunately for Miller and Crum, this method of fire-forming of brass led to severe gas cutting into the neck area of the .458 Lott fire-forming rifle after only 200 rounds.
In 1989 A-Square became the first company to offer the .458 Lott as a commercial cartridge. At present, the 465-grain (30.1 g) Triad (Monolithic Solid, Dead Tough and the Lion Load) for the .458 Lott cartridge is available from the company. A-Square also championed the successful SAAMI standardization of the .458 Lott cartridge which took place in 1995. They currently offer the A-Square Hannibal and Caesar rifles chambered for this cartridge.
The objective behind the design of the .458 Lott was to provide a greater case capacity over the .458 Winchester Magnum so as to provide better performance and less compression of the powder charge. The .458 Lott achieved both these objectives by its lengthened cartridge. Furthermore, as the Lott cartridge is in essence a lengthened .458 Winchester Magnum, converting a .458 Winchester Magnum to .458 Lott involves in many cases a simple re-boring of the chamber and if required, a lengthening of the magazine.
The .458 Lott was standardized by SAAMI in 1995 based on specification provided by Arthur Alphin and A-Square LLC. According to Arthur Alphin, the cartridge length was standardized at 2.800-inch (71.1 mm) and the chamber length at 2.810-inch (71.4 mm) because there were many converted rifles in the field that were chambered for the original Jack Lott length. The specifications published by SAAMI reflect this fact.
Recent media