.458 Lott to .450 Ackley magnum conversion?

[Jim Golden]

The difference in case body geometry of a 50-90 Sharps and a 500 NE, other than length, is negligible however the rim is quite different, the Sharps being more robust .... but that is not the focus of this thread and I apologize for that.

I happen to have a 45-90 Rolling Block. That is that longest 45cal I could fit in that rifle because of the large hammer inline with the chamber; obviously the Ruger No 1 doesn't have that problem. On my first bison hunt I mistakenly handloaded it to 458WM equivalent and shot through the bison 4-times before it realized it was dead. On my next bison hunt I loaded it with a black powder substitute tipped with a 500gr paper patch bullet with much, much better results.

That is certainly a serious issue with your No 1, never heard of that before. I'm a bit surprised that you haven't had that addressed in 20-years.

Back to 458 Lott' 450 Ackley thing. I personally don't see the point of doing it but each to their own. By Jarrah's own admission he's just aren't gaining that much.

I called Ruger about it, way back. And they were mortified, and said "Mail it back to us NOW!" I bought it new, and it's been like that since day one. Call me dumb, but I was afraid of losing it in the mail. If you had the safety on when you shut the lever, there was never an issue. But with the safety off, if you shut the lever, about one in three would go off. Never had it happen to a live round....discovered it just in the gunroom. But, it does need to be looked at. I have a really good 'smith I work with and he's probably better than the factory. I need to let him look at it. I've never shot an animal with it. Maybe I'll have him rebarrel it to 45-something bigger than 70 and fix the action while he's at it. It's been basically a wall hanger for a long time

 

[Jim Golden]

When I was deciding on a cartridge for my next Enfield project, I looked really hard at the .450 Ackley. It's a great cartridge. It's basically ballistically equivalent to the .458 Lott. But, it has a neck. There's this micro shoulder that it has, and then it's a straight neck. Whereas, the Lott is tapered right to the cannelure. With a .458 Lott, you can (in a scrape) shoot .458 Winchester Magnum out of it. But the .450 Ackley can shoot both .458 Win Mag and .458 Lott out of it. I drew it in AutoCAD to confirm, and it is. The Ackley's chamber can accomodate either of the other two. So it might be the best of the best. The only reason I didn't go with it was the thing about headstamped brass. I'd read that you must have properly headstamped brass in Africa, or the Customs guys will get you. So I went with the Lott. I'd also looked very hard at .460 Weatherby, and even got a set of dies for it. I think it's a real rock and roll machine. But, you guys on here convinced me a Lott was all I'd need, so that's what I'm building. Finally got the MPI stock and just ordered my third recoil pad. So between them, we'll find one I like. Got two Kick-Eez and a Limbsaver.

 

[Rafiki]

I called Ruger about it, way back. And they were mortified, and said "Mail it back to us NOW!" I bought it new, and it's been like that since day one. Call me dumb, but I was afraid of losing it in the mail. If you had the safety on when you shut the lever, there was never an issue. But with the safety off, if you shut the lever, about one in three would go off. Never had it happen to a live round....discovered it just in the gunroom. But, it does need to be looked at. I have a really good 'smith I work with and he's probably better than the factory. I need to let him look at it. I've never shot an animal with it. Maybe I'll have him rebarrel it to 45-something bigger than 70 and fix the action while he's at it. It's been basically a wall hanger for a long time

Send it to Ruger, they will either fix it right or send you a new one, probably the latter. I've had several dealings with Ruger and all were very positive experiences.

When you get your now working rifle back and still want to rebarrel it or whatever, take it to you favorite gunsmith for that work.

 

[John P.]

Yea sometimes our hobby is not practical but just for fun. I have a 458 Win, and 458 Lott in the safe. But I have this rough and tough BBK action that is just begging for an ugly unusual chambering. Being an old Ackley fan (actually met the man once) I have a hankering to build his version. Have the reamer, cases, dies, 458 barrel and of all rare things, a McMillan BBK stock. Time to get this thing off the cold back burner.

 

[Boone66]

Yea sometimes our hobby is not practical but just for fun. I have a 458 Win, and 458 Lott in the safe. But I have this rough and tough BBK action that is just begging for an ugly unusual chambering. Being an old Ackley fan (actually met the man once) I have a hankering to build his version. Have the reamer, cases, dies, 458 barrel and of all rare things, a McMillan BBK stock. Time to get this thing off the cold back burner.

I'm a Ackley fan also, let us know how it turns out.