Montana Rifle Co. 458 Lott Stainless Rifle

[TOBY458]

I've been eyeballing a Montana Rifle Co. Exteme V2 in 458 Lott. It's stainless steel with a synthetic stock. It looks like a very nice rifle, but at only 8lbs, I'm a little apprehensive of what the recoil would be like. Thoughts?

 

[BnC 04]

About what my Lott is sitting at. Not sure what to compare it to but it's noticeably more compared to the factory weight M70 Safari wearing a wood skirt.
Handles beautiful and love the setup, off the bench she is a bit rough but not unmanageable.
Brother shot it twice and that was the end of his experience with my light Lott...

 

[TOBY458]

About what my Lott is sitting at. Not sure what to compare it to but it's noticeably more compared to the factory weight M70 Safari wearing a wood skirt.
Handles beautiful and love the setup, off the bench she is a bit rough but not unmanageable.
Brother shot it twice and that was the end of his experience with my light Lott...

I've been reading all of these reports about the 458 and 500 B&M rifles only weighing 6.5lbs-8lbs, firing 500 grain bullets at 2100 fps. I just wondered what the Lott would be like at 8lbs. If loaded to 458 Win Mag ballistics, I feel like it would be manageable, but maybe not very pleasant...
Also, if you added a scope to bring the weight up to 9lbs, that should tame it down a little bit more.

 

[IdaRam]

I imagine full throttle 500’s are attention getters! Probably more than I want to deal with. On the flip side, hot 400 grainers out of the .416 Rigby are pretty punchy too and I have yet to notice the recoil when shooting game. So, there’s that...
Practice and load development might be less than fun. Aw heck, just do it!
And let us know how it works out.

 

[TOBY458]

I was thinking more along the lines of 450 grain Barnes TSX at 2200-2300 FPS for Cape Buffalo. But then again, I already have a couple of 416s in the safe that fill that role.

 

[IdaRam]

.416 for Buff, Lott for Ele. What’s the problem?

 

[TOBY458]

.416 for Buff, Lott for Ele. What’s the problem?

I like the way you think!

 

[IdaRam]

I like the way you think!

Us rational thinkers gotta stick together. Both of my ex wives were unable to grasp these elementary concepts

 

[Royal27]

My Lott is just over 9 lbs with scope. It's about 1.5 lbs lighter than my 375. It definitely gets your attention when the trigger is pulled but it's manageable.

Here is the question that you should ask yourself, and the one I asked myself. Do you want to shoot it or do you want to hunt it? If you want to shoot it get something heavier. If you're buying it to track buffalo or elephant then it's a great weight. And I assure you, when I shot my elephant with it there was no recoil at all.

 

[TOBY458]

My Lott is just over 9 lbs with scope. It's about 1.5 lbs lighter than my 375. It definitely gets your attention when the trigger is pulled but it's manageable.

Here is the question that you should ask yourself, and the one I asked myself. Do you want to shoot it or do you want to hunt it? If you want to shoot it get something heavier. If you're buying it to track buffalo or elephant then it's a great weight. And I assure you, when I shot my elephant with it there was no recoil at all.

This mirrors my thoughts on all hunting guns. To me, a hunting rifle should be light enough to carry comfortably and point quickly. As Phil Shoemaker says....Recoil is only momentary, where as gun weight goes on forever.
What kind of rifle is your Lott?

 

[Royal27]

This mirrors my thoughts on all hunting guns. To me, a hunting rifle should be light enough to carry comfortably and point quickly. As Phil Shoemaker says....Recoil is only momentary, where as gun weight goes on forever.
What kind of rifle is your Lott?

It's a Brockman, with a Montana action. I bought it used and got a great deal on it (left hand). If I hadn't found it I would have ended up with an MRC.

 

[TOBY458]

It's a Brockman, with a Montana action. I bought it used and got a great deal on it (left hand). If I hadn't found it I would have ended up with an MRC.

Good to hear you're happy with the MRC action. I had one in 375 H&H once, but felt it was too heavy for the caliber. Otherwise it was a nice rifle.

 

[Bas]

I've been eyeballing a Montana Rifle Co. Exteme V2 in 458 Lott. It's stainless steel with a synthetic stock. It looks like a very nice rifle, but at only 8lbs, I'm a little apprehensive of what the recoil would be like. Thoughts?

Add weight of your choosing to the stock, do research for recoil pad...don't forget to see some trapshooter sites.

 

[ldmay375]

I've been eyeballing a Montana Rifle Co. Exteme V2 in 458 Lott. It's stainless steel with a synthetic stock. It looks like a very nice rifle, but at only 8lbs, I'm a little apprehensive of what the recoil would be like. Thoughts?

Stainless, with a good synthetic, with basically a M70 Classic action does sound very appealing. My CZ Lott with the factory synthetic stock, 22" barrel and some work by AHR weighs 9lbs 3.3 ozs with Alaska Arms rings and no scope. The 500 grain Hornady factory loads satisfy my fun factor sufficiently.
If that rifle is an honest 8lbs, it would certainly be a lighter carry.

 

[matt85]

first, my experience with montana rifle company has been extremely bad. you can do a search on this forum to find my thread on it.

second, an 8 pound 458 Lott is going to be very uncomfortable to shoot! the 458 Lott has similar recoil to a 500 NE and the standard weight for a 500 NE is 11-12 pounds. i would say the minimum weight for a 458 Lott should be around 10+ pounds with 11 pounds being ideal for regular practice. i would love to see someone with an 8 pound 458 Lott compete in any of the large bore competitions where you are often required to fire 20-30 rounds in rapid succession from a variety of positions.

-matt

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

I had long eyed that same rifle. Especially since a shop less than 2 hours away has one in stock (still does fairly priced). My plan was never to leave it factory though. A NECG banded sight with fiber optic bead and sling swivel as well as a good rear sight first, then Cerekote. A McMillan Safari stock would get duty as the handle and away we would go to the bush. To my mind a practical and personalized tool. In the end I could not get past the spotty performance of Montana rifles and their customer service dept.

While waiting for a response from the new Montana regime about warranty coverage on the gun if I bought it, Europtic had a good deal for a Blaser stock and I was taken off the market.

 

[CTDolan]

MRC is under new ownership and they appear to be righting the ship. The prices have gone up as well so one can only hope that this is an indication of better rifles leaving the factory. I do applaud them for the line of heavy rifles they offer. At one time they were going to be my answer to a poor man's way into a .505 Gibbs. After Matt's experience, though, I wrote that one off.

As for a 8 pound .458 Lott, it'd be a dream to carry but not to shoot. And yeah, the recoil may be of secondary consideration when in the field but if you spend as much time shooting the rifle as I believe one should, you could very well end up with a nasty flinch. You could add weight to the stock, as another has suggested. That'd be an inexpensive and easy way to get nearer the 10 pound mark. I've never been a fan of doing so because it tends to mess with the balance of the rifle, but I'm a bit fussy when it comes to that sort of thing (having handled some really nice rifles has spoiled me for life).

 

[TTundra]

i would love to see someone with an 8 pound 458 Lott compete in any of the large bore competitions where you are often required to fire 20-30 rounds in rapid succession from a variety of positions.

-matt

Matt, no offense as I have a lot of respect for your knowledge...but this statement ties into what @Royal27 said above. When is shooting 20-30 rounds of big bore in rapid succession truly going to assist in hunting for a client? I've shot my 416 Rigby from multiple positions, sticks, branches, dirt mound, etc., but never have I ever though to shoot more than 3-4 rounds as quickly as possible, to then reload and repeat 5-6 times in rapid succession. Granted a CZ550 in 416 Rigby is not a Lott.

I do like how Royal worded it. Frankly, even when I touched off a buddies 577 Trex with full A-square loads, the recoil didn't extraordinarily punish me or at least I didn't think so as I was so enamored with shooting something named "tyrannosaur". Then again, recoil is in the shooter and their experience.

 

[CTDolan]

The question is, how proficient do you want to be with the rifle? If you want to get good with it, damn good, then you will need to shoot it a lot.

 

[Bullthrower338]

I have a V2 in 416 Rem Mag and love it. I like the fact that it is so light for packing. It is pleasant to shoot in that chambering. I have a Kimber Caprivi in 458 Lott that is very light, 8 pounds, 8 oz I believe. It fits me well and is not a brutal rifle to shoot even off of the bench. It is damn sure lively but not something that is hard to manage. My M70 458WM is flat punishment, not sure why but it hurts me and I’m certainly not a stranger to recoil nor a big ole puss. All I can figure is the stock design doesn’t jive with me. That rifle sends a pain into my hip when I shoot it! So I just don’t shoot it! Problem solved