Rechambering Model 70 Safari Express in .458 Win Mag to .458 Lott

[michael458]

HI Micael..Tom in New Orleans...Hope your well..

Peachy Tom......... Good to hear of you. Yes I saw recently you had a 16 inch 458 Winchester done....Nice.... I would like to get my hands on one of those sometime to run some tests.......

 

[AZDAVE]

@michael458 I just read through this post, thank you for also putting up data on the lehigh bullets, I shot some in the 458B&M you made me before Chris talked me out of it I have been loading them in my 450Marlin bolt gun and they are shooting well along with the CEB solids. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and data with all of us here on AH!

 

[michael458]

@michael458 I just read through this post, thank you for also putting up data on the lehigh bullets, I shot some in the 458B&M you made me before Chris talked me out of it I have been loading them in my 450Marlin bolt gun and they are shooting well along with the CEB solids. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and data with all of us here on AH!

No worries....... No thanks needed, my pleasure........... I am very excited about the potential the Lehigh Extremes present. I just finished a post on BadBoy Melvins thread, some of it included the Lehighs.

The Lehighs origins go back to 2007. JD and I were working on some things for the .500s at that point and JD had this Fluid Moving bullet that he wanted me to try out. At the time, it was exactly a "Limited Penetration Solid" very similar to the North Fork CPS bullets, except it did indeed transfer more trauma to tissue because of the fluid moving action that occurs with it. This bullet was no where close as radical as todays Lehighs, but it was a beginning..........

Later in 2007 I took it and used it on buffalo in Zimbabwe with great success............

Today's Lehigh Extremes are far more radical, and in my opinion better at what they were designed to do, sling fluid, increased surface area, and inflicting trauma, and more than adequate penetration for buffalo.......

I would most certainly put these bullets in the new high end of Bullet Tech available, and for your 450 Marlin and others 45/70s, they are able to enhance the cartridges immensely in my opinion. If I were still hunting today, I would have to try them on buffalo, even if shooting higher capacity cartridges. These bullets are velocity hogs, the more velocity, the more trauma........ Penetration is great for their mission.

I am a believer in these as well........ I have loaded ammo on the shelf in various different cartridges. These bullets also have a home in all my 9mm and 45 ACP Handguns for defense as well.......

Here in 458 B&M along with the 260 Copper Raptors.........

45/70........

458 Super Short.....

 

[Daga Boy]

Your observations match my own . When I first went hunting in Africa in 1974 ( a mixed bag Safari in Kenya ) , I observed that most White Hunters had a .458 Winchester Magnum in their camp ( mine had a BSA Majestic in this caliber ) . Until 1983 , a .458 Winchester Magnum or a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum were just about the only heavy caliber rifles which one could see in the white hunter camp . Most of the .458 Winchester Magnums were either BRNO ZKK602s or BSA Majestics . And most White Hunters used a. 458 Winchester Magnum for backing us up , as well .

Fast forward to 1994 , and the .458 Winchester Magnum was rapidly losing favor . Fast forward to 2019 ( when I went in my most recent African mixed bag safari ) , and I don't recall seeing any .458 Winchester Magnums being either in the Outfitter's camp or being used by any white hunter at all .

Most popular big game calibers offered by outfitters for use now , would have to be the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum and the .458 Lott . Usually CZ550 rifles , but often new Winchester Safari Expresses too .

Can't beat a brno/cz

 

[Riflecrank]

Old thread back to life.
Many friends and acquaintances here on this thread, sadly one of the more heroic has passed on,
fondly remembered, R.I.P.
Great forum since it hosts pics directly.
I might get bored and start posting some .458 WIN MAG rifle and ammo pics here instead of elsewhere.
I never long-throated a SAAMI .458 WIN MAG since it is perfect as is.
A SAAMI .458 Lott can certainly stand some improvement of the throat, however.
And how about this funny: Lengthen a cartridge case by 0.3" and then shoe-horn it into a rifle with magazine that is only 0.2" longer. Hahahah.
The .458 Lott-Tight is for Lottite cult members who ironically think they are the opposite of Luddites.
I keep one SAAMI .458 Lott on hand just so my thirteen .458 WIN MAGs can laugh at it.

OK, I won't post that picture here again.

 

[Riflecrank]

It is a sin to re-chamber a perfectly good Winchester M70 SAAMI .458 WIN MAG to SAAMI .458 Lott.
I did that once but I have repented.
It is much better, if you just cannot contain the urge for a .458 Lott, to re-bore or re-barrel a .375 H&H or .416 RemMag.
Even better still is to have it chambered for SAAMI .458 WIN MAG on the longer action, and try that before going ahead and violating the rifle with a SAAMI .458 Lott reamer,
that way you get a .458 Lott+ with a longer throat.

For the unrepentant sinners who would transition a Winchester M70 Classic action from standard length to H&H length, here is the one little part you need to do it:

The M70 Classic bolt-stop/ejector pictured above can also be arrived at by filing and stoning your original, longer part to the shape above. Alas, I once did that filing and stoning and it worked great.
Never again.
If you have the newer FN-made M70, you will need a different shape with a different hole location on the bolt-stop/ejector.
Also the old Connecticut Classic M70 and the South Carolina FN M70 have different magazine boxes.
You need to remove the block at the back of the sheetmetal box on both of those makes,
and get the proper follower and magazine spring.
Easier to re-barrel or re-bore a .375 H&H or .416 RemMag.

 

[Riflecrank]

Here is a 2012-year FN M70 .375 H&H Alaskan rifle
compared to a 2011-year FN M70 .458 WIN MAG:

If you hand load, all of the parts switcheroos are moot.

 

[PaulT]

Hmmmmm.
Can't remember what the rest of your post was about Ron,
but I'd love to get my hand on some of those cookies

 

[Riflecrank]

Doing good has no end.
All .458 WIN MAGs matter.
If I can save one more from being reamed out to .458 Lott,
that's good.

It is also good to build a .458 WIN MAG on an action with 3.6" or 3.8" mag box.
Re-bore a .375 H&H to .458 WIN MAG.
Re-barrel a .416 RemMag to .458 WIN MAG.
I am blessed with M70 Classic rifles made each way.

If you are stuck with a .458 Lott-Tight (SAAMI .458 Lott),
then run a SAAMI .458 WIN MAG reamer into it to correct the handicap.
The crippled will be healed.
That is another way to do good.

Close-ups of the above three are shown below:

If there was any difference between the 2011-2012 USA-assembled versus the 2014 Portuguese-assembled SC/FN M70 Alaskan .375 H&Hs,
the Portuguese wood was better finished.

Below are two SC/FN M70 short mags, both with same 3.4" blocked magazine box lengths and different rear bridge lengths,
causing a long ejection port on the .458 WIN MAG, same as on the .375 H&H with 3.6" mag box,
and a shorter ejection port on the .338 WIN MAG:

Fear not the shorter ejection port on the .338 WIN MAG rifle (above) for a conversion to Long-Box .458 WIN MAG.
It will eject a 3.6" COL unfired cartridge just fine.
Not hard to load it either, backing the cartridges into the magazine with belted end angled down.
Just shorten the bolt-stop/ejector and unblock the rear of the magazine box.
Good to go.
Very interesting for re-barreling to SAAMI .458 WIN MAG too, even with 3.4" mag box.

Finally a 1990s M70 Classic .416 RemMag re-barreled to .458 WIN MAG with 3.6" Mag Box as OEM:

The short extractors and 3-screw/two-piece bottom metal were a feature of the M70 Classics.
The newer SC/FN M70s have longer extractors and 2-screw/one-piece bottom metal.
I just wish they had left the triggers as original on the Classics and Pre-'64s.

 

[Riflecrank]

23" slender barrel and B&C stock on this Long-Boxed .458 WIN MAG that used to be a .416 Rem Mag and now is a more powerful rifle, 7# 10 oz. when naked and 9# 12 oz. when field-readiest.

I did that, and proud of it.

The M70 Classic .375 H&H re-bored to .458 WIN MAG was built by a friend, and I hornswoggled him out of it. He used a stainless factory .375 H&H barrel and a blued .375 H&H action, M70 Classic parts,
custom walnut stock, Re-boring by JES ...

... I call her Hammerella.

He killed cape buffalo at 30 yards and all manner of plains game out to 200 yards with that rifle and the 404-gr Shock Hammer bullet at +2500 fps MV (same bullet now called "Stone Hammer").
That soft point passed through both shoulders of the big buffalo bull, exited and he dropped dead.

I took same rifle to game farm in Tennessee this May and brought home 1000 pounds of pork and water buffalo meat. I eat like a king.

Or stated differently, .458 WIN MAGA handloads are not safe in a SAAMI .458 Lott.