458 Lott
 

If I have a rifle built in 458 Lott for hunting water buffalo in Australia, what could I reasonable use it on in the US? Could I hunt whitetail deer with it? . . .or would I need to limit it to Moose or larger?

RE: 458 Lott
 

I guess you could probably hunt squirrels with it, if you wanted to. Surely you are kidding....but if not, yes, you could hunt deer with it. Shouldn't do much more damage than a stoked 45/70, I would think..... just a tad overgunned for the game... Probably best suited for African big game, and the largest of the bear world. Gonna be a bit of a bear to sight in, too. I'm sure you would be the talk of the camp if you show up with that cannon for deer hunting. You might check with your gunsmith to see if it comes with wheels...most artillery pieces do......My only other advice would be to stock up on Aleve for the aching shoulder and head that will be forthcoming. By all means, have at it !!

RE: 458 Lott
 

If you are entertaining a custom-built rifle, and have the ability to hunt Australia and the US, then surely you aren't worried about buying another gun more suited to deer or even moose.

The big gun would be an OK choice for brown and grizzly bear.

RE: 458 Lott
 

Just like many say you can use a .375H&H on deer, causing less meat damage than a .270....I'm sure a .458 soft point would do the job rather well.

I'm sure you can load it down from 500grs as well.

RE: 458 Lott
 

I am entertaining the idea of a custom built rifle based on the 458 Lott. Basically, I am a regular working stiff. I have the opportunity to make some additional monies for a couple of years at the expense of my sanity and regular shooting. So as a reward, I want to build a real Dangerous Game Rifle, or as close as I can for like $4500. Then I would like to use it either on safari in Africa or in Austrailia. Depends which I can get my wife roped into! Unfortunately, when I return from either hunt, it will probably be MANY years before I can return to this kind of hunt. Other than blowing my shoulder off load testing, I'm wondering if I can do something else locally with it. maybe a nice squirrel hunt! Actually, I was wondering if anyone has shot a medioum sized deer with something like this and what was the result? At the end of the day I would like something to eat most importantly!

RE: 458 Lott
 

instead of spending all the money on 1 cannon,id buy like a 416 mag and a 7mm mag then you would have 2 guns to kill everythain in the world

RE: 458 Lott
 

I hear ya, and agree!

I want the same thing, though it'll be a few years yet before I can afford or have a reason to have one. I really want to take a cape buffalo with a .458 Lott 500gr bullet.

Check out "Empire Rifles" for a custom dangerous game rifle... and there's always a Dakota...

I really like the new .416 Ruger from what I know of it, but still think .375 and .458 rounds will always be more popular than any .416, also much more readily found either of those two... my first choice .416 would be the Ruger, followed by .416 Rigby.

RE: 458 Lott
 

Yea, I drool over the Empire Rifles site regularly. They are a little spendy. I think I would rather put the money into the metalwork and function at this time. So, my initial image is to have this built on a Montana 1999 PH action(seems to be some wait time), Lilja or Montana 20" barrel, NECG3 leaf rear sight on a quarter riband barrel band hooded front sight.Then throw all that in a laminate stock with merc recoil reducers and a good fast(to the shoulder)recoil pad. I would like the metal blued, but in the interest of utility, would probably choose Black T or similar. I think this is roughly $3500, where putting it in a walnut stock with high gloss blue, is probably like $10,000.

I prefer 458 Lott to the other's mentioned because it has a magnum belt for sure headspace and a tapered case for sure feeding andsure bolt closing. It also gives you and extra round over the larger cases. Do I need all this? Probably not, but it is nice to know you have done the design work right.

I can see myself hunting with it once and then hanging it on the wall in a shadowbox, except to bring it out and scare people at the range with it annually!

RE: 458 Lott
 

Handloading for it would let you develop a load for almost any size game you wanted to use it for. .45-caliber rifle rounds are quite versatile, starting with the .45 COLT all the way up to that .458 Lott.

With that big, slow slug, old Elmer Keith would have told you, "you can eat right up to the hole." I once shot a sea gull with the 375 H&H using a 300-grain Win Silvertip factory load. All it did was make a .38-cal. hole in one side & out the other.

RE: 458 Lott
 

i have a cz 550 safari in 458 lott,the lott is a jump up from the 458 win mag ,it is a serious stopping rifle for the big 5 in africa.with an impressive 6000 + lbs in energy its serious iron.also rifles in that caliber are heavy 10 lbs or more,and dont make good deer rifles, not to mention they are NOT cheap to shoot.a cz550safari will run you around $1000 for the lott.thats a great price.you cannot find any serious gun man who has something bad to say about that rifle either,if your set on having one made,you will not be sorry.if you want to go way big,cz also offers there safari classics rifles in the 404 jeffery,500 jeffery,450 rigby and the giant 505 gibbs.it will set you back $2700 or better but once fired most game bow down.LOL http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=505gibbs.flv