Opinions on best solid for .458 Lott...

shuter

AH enthusiast
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Messages
365
Reaction score
218
Website
www.roboliveauthor.com
Media
16
Hunted
Oregon, Montana
What's the thinking of those with experience using solids in the Lott? I know about monometal solids, flat point solids, cup point solids, "traditional" Woodleigh-type solids, Hornady DGS, etc. Is monometal the way to go? Do flat points penetrate and kill better?

By the way, this would be to use to work up a load capable of taking on anything up to and including elephant.

Thanks in advance, gents!
 
The solids that I read about, note not having direct experience with, that give the deepest and most straight line penetration on are the CEB and North Fork flat point solids. Being flat point however is not just the only consideration, the shoulder angle is also part of the equation.

This does not mean that round nose solids have never killed anything or that you will most certainly die if you use them. It's simply that what I've read from independent testing is that the those solids mentioned perform the best.
 
So I emailed North Fork tonight to verify that their 500 grain FPS solid is the best choice for the Lott. Their website says its meant for 2,100-2,400 fps and recommends the 450 grain FPS for the .458 win mag. I load the Lott to between 2,150-2,200 (not far above modern .458 WM ballistics) and wondered if the 450 would be better. Lo and behold, ten minutes after I sent the email, at 10:30 PM Kansas time, I received a reply from Franz at North Fork! Very impressive, to say the least. He said that the 500 grain FPS would be perfect for my application and should offer awesome penetration.

North Fork gained a customer tonight!
 
So I emailed North Fork tonight to verify that their 500 grain FPS solid is the best choice for the Lott. Their website says its meant for 2,100-2,400 fps and recommends the 450 grain FPS for the .458 win mag. I load the Lott to between 2,150-2,200 (not far above modern .458 WM ballistics) and wondered if the 450 would be better. Lo and behold, ten minutes after I sent the email, at 10:30 PM Kansas time, I received a reply from Franz at North Fork! Very impressive, to say the least. He said that the 500 grain FPS would be perfect for my application and should offer awesome penetration.

North Fork gained a customer tonight!

Not surprising, Franz and the other gents there are good folks. The guys there are engineers by day at their 'normal' jobs and then work in the evenings at North Fork. It's been awhile now, but when I first started working with their bullets I spent a number of hours on the phone with them discussing bullets. If you ever make your way to DSC, they have a booth there and you can meet them.
 
Not surprising, Franz and the other gents there are good folks. The guys there are engineers by day at their 'normal' jobs and then work in the evenings at North Fork. It's been awhile now, but when I first started working with their bullets I spent a number of hours on the phone with them discussing bullets. If you ever make your way to DSC, they have a booth there and you can meet them.
Wow, so North Fork isn't a full-time gig for them? They sure make great stuff!
 
Wow, so North Fork isn't a full-time gig for them? They sure make great stuff!

The "factory" part of the shop is running during the day manufacturing bullets. But the engineering is done at night. Those guys are also shooters and hunters and decided to combine their mechanical engineering skills with their passion for hunting.

Yep, I do love their bonded core bullets. All of the bullets I've recovered were text book examples of how their advertised to work. I've not worked with the solids yet, but plan to when the time for a DG hunt arises.

I do think the A-Frames from a terminal ballistics point of view are virtually the equal of the NF bonded cores. But even though the A-Frames are shorter, they typically for me have required more powder to achieve the same velocities. I've also found the NF's easier to develop a load for, perhaps just one person's experience however.

The only drawback I find to using the NF bullets is that they're true diameter for the caliber. If you measure say a .308 NF bullet, it is truly .308, whereas another bullet may be .306-.307. Why is this a drawback? It makes the NF bullets less tolerant to uneven neck thickness. When first working with their bullets in my .300WM and my son's .308 Win, I'd find that roughly every 4th shot would be a flyer. Discussed this with Franz in Dallas and he figured it was my brass. The solution was to either turn my necks or buy better brass. I chose the latter and use either Lapua or Norma brass in the medium calibers. Once I made that change, no more flyers.

By the way this problem only seems to be in the smaller calibers. In my .375H&H I've not seen this problem and use Remington brass. So hopefully this won't be an issue in your Lott.
 
The "factory" part of the shop is running during the day manufacturing bullets. But the engineering is done at night. Those guys are also shooters and hunters and decided to combine their mechanical engineering skills with their passion for hunting.

Yep, I do love their bonded core bullets. All of the bullets I've recovered were text book examples of how their advertised to work. I've not worked with the solids yet, but plan to when the time for a DG hunt arises.

I do think the A-Frames from a terminal ballistics point of view are virtually the equal of the NF bonded cores. But even though the A-Frames are shorter, they typically for me have required more powder to achieve the same velocities. I've also found the NF's easier to develop a load for, perhaps just one person's experience however.

The only drawback I find to using the NF bullets is that they're true diameter for the caliber. If you measure say a .308 NF bullet, it is truly .308, whereas another bullet may be .306-.307. Why is this a drawback? It makes the NF bullets less tolerant to uneven neck thickness. When first working with their bullets in my .300WM and my son's .308 Win, I'd find that roughly every 4th shot would be a flyer. Discussed this with Franz in Dallas and he figured it was my brass. The solution was to either turn my necks or buy better brass. I chose the latter and use either Lapua or Norma brass in the medium calibers. Once I made that change, no more flyers.

By the way this problem only seems to be in the smaller calibers. In my .375H&H I've not seen this problem and use Remington brass. So hopefully this won't be an issue in your Lott.
Great info, Phil! Thanks so much for taking the time to respond in such detail.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
50,465
Messages
1,047,952
Members
86,320
Latest member
HortenseWy
 

 

 

Latest profile posts

looking for 300 h & h flanged ammo
Looking for shipping advice. I will be hunting in Limpopo in March, and was wanting to know a general idea of shipping costs to return my mounts to the US when completed. Air or sea? Only plains game hunting.
BLAAUWKRANTZ safaris wrote on gpiccs94's profile.
You are welcome to join our family at Blaauwkrantz in February. We have been hosting international hunters since 1978 and known to be the best kudu hunting in the world! we are based on our 100 000 acre ranch, an hours drive from the Port Elizabeth airport. Please email me on info@blaauwkrantz.com
CrippledEagle wrote on 7MAG's profile.
Good morning 7MAG. I have a NEW, never mounted, Leupold M8-4X Extended Eye Relief scope that I will sell you for $325 shipped to you. I was a Leupold rep for 12 years and this was always our preferred mounting for a lever gun, scout rifle style.
DLSJR wrote on Will Clark's profile.
You’ve got an interesting screen name. Will the Thrill provided lots of great times for me as a lifelong Giants fan. Even though I never met him, a number of buddies either duck hunted or shared a dugout with him. He’s a great guy according to those guys. Cool screen name and if that’s your real name, it’s a great one.
 
Top