Ok, I learned a lot from you folks on a similar post regarding 300 WM for plains game. I will also be hunting buffalo this fall in SA. I am bringing a customized CZ 550 458 Lott. The stock is designed very well and the rifle is fairly heavy so recoil with 500 grain factory ammunition is "manageable". That said, I wouldn't mind a lighter recoiling round that shoots well. From what I have read and heard, the old 450 NE delivers a 480 grain pill at about 2150 and stops whatever it hits and recoils quite politely for its size and power. That sounds like a nice prescription to me, if reproducible in an accurate 458 Lott reload. I am thinking of making up a batch of 480 grain Woodleighs at 2150ish and seeing how they shoot form my rifle. Any suggestions on powders/loads?
Also, has anyone experience with the Northfork 450 grain rounds out of a 458 Lott on buffalo? Is there a load that is popular with this bullet from a 458 Lott that could be recommended?
I am planning to lug the 458 Lott because I want something that hits buff harder than a 375 H&H. I don't want to lighten it up to the point where it looses what it brings to the table, but I am not sure that I need more hitting power than the old 45 cal intros either.
Thanks all, Mike
Hi Mike,
I only load my .458 Lott (also a custom rifle made up on a CZ 550 action - great minds think alike) to the old .450 NE ballistics, as you are thinking of doing.
Recoil, although not "light", is less punishing than the factory ballistics are.
If you find the 500 grainers tolerable at a bit over 2100+ fps, then I would stick with that load, as Paw Print Safaris already mentioned.
However, if you still want to reduce recoil further, Swift A-Frame .458 bullets are available in 450 grain.
HOWEVER, I would only plan to use them for buffalo after discussing it thoroughly with the specific PH you plan to hunt buffalo with.
Last but not least, I used to own a .450 No2 NE double that regulated extremely well with 480 gr Hornady DGX and DGS bullets at only 2050 fps (shot through a chronograph).
So, that is what I used to shoot the only buffalo that I have taken so far (shown in my avatar and in my photos on this forum).
It worked extremely well (recovered bullet shown in my photos / photo section of this forum).
Incidentally and surprisingly, Woodleighs did not regulate near as well as the mentioned Hornady bullets did but in a bolt rifle, that should not be an issue as they are usually waaaay easier to make shoot straight than doubles are.
Woodleighs were what I expected to use in that 100 year old double but the rifle just did not agree with me, no matter what primer, powder weights and brands I tried under the Woodleighs.
Kind of a shame because the Woodleighs are an excellent bonded design that reportedly perform extremely well on game, within the old fashioned / days of early Cordite/Axite/Rifleite powder velocities that they were designed around.
I am just a relative beginner to Africa so, take what I say with a pinch of salt.
With the salt - even though the Swift A-Frame is a much tougher soft than the Woodleigh, nonetheless I would not hesitate to use Woodleighs in Africa, provided appropriate calibers and weights for the game I was after, and at the velocities that Woodleigh intended for their bullets.
The .458 Lott is about the only cartridge introduced over about the last 40 years or so that made any sense to me, and it is both puzzling and a shame that, Winchester did not introduce something like it, instead of their short version in the first place.
The shorty Winchester version is "up to speed" now, due to recent powder advancements in performance but, even with these newer powders, the Lott version is probably a better rifle to own for Africa, because you can use either cartridge in a Lott chamber if you absolutely had to.
Cheers,
Paul (V. Dog).