Sporting Usage
The .458 Lott was designed to be an African dangerous game rifle cartridge particularly for use against heavy, thick skinned dangerous game such as elephant, Cape buffalo and rhinoceros. It is considered an ideal cartridge for hunting African dangerous game and is capable of taking game from elephant to the duiker. Acceptable bullet weights for the .458 Lott range from 300-to-600-grain (19 to 39 g). The range of available bullets provides the flexibility to customize loads for specific game species.
Elephant require a bullet of a tough construction which will not deform easily. The bullet must be able to penetrate heavy bone and exit from all possible angles. These requirement reduce the useful choices to solid bullets. This is especially true if the classic brain shot is contemplated when hunting elephant where the bullet must penetrate through the honeycombed bone structure of the frontal area of the elephant's skull. Bullets which are chosen must have sectional densities of over .300 while a sectional densities of .330 are preferred so as to provide the necessary penetration on these, the largest of the terrestrial mammals. Premium solid bullets from A-square, Barnes, Hornady, North Fork or Woodleigh weighting in the range of 450–550 gr (29–36 g) are all capable of holding together without much deformation and penetrating to the brain. With lesser FMJ bullets only heart, lung or shoulder shots should be considered.
Cape buffalo and rhinoceros, though heavily boned and tough are mostly hunted with soft point bullets although FMJ and solid bullets are chosen by some hunters. Again as with elephants, premium bullets of a sturdy construction should be chosen. The bullet chosen must be able to break through bone and penetrate to the vitals. Soft points similar to the A-Square Dead Tough, Barnes TSX, Hornady DGX and the Woodleigh Weldcore Soft Nose are examples of these bullets. The .458 Lott has ample power to spare on these species.
While the .458 Lott is capable of taking lion and leopard, it is considered overly powerful for the big cats. Lighter, soft point bullets which rapidly expand or fragment at higher velocities are usually recommended for the big cats. A-Square Lion Load bullet or soft points manufactured for the .45-70 Government fills this niche for the .458 Lott.
The manufacture of spitzer style bullets in the .45 caliber has generally been a recent trend. These bullets provide better ballistic coefficients than the more common round nose or flat nosed bullets available in this caliber. The better ballistic coefficients translate to better longer range performance. Loaded with lighter bullets with better ballistic coefficients at higher velocities the .458 Lott can be used as a medium range plains game rifle cartridge.
In North America it would make a fine big bear and bison rifle. However apart from these species, North American big game does not require cartridges similar to the .458 Lott. Those who reload ammunition are able to take advantage of the .458 Lott's performance flexibility to tailor their ammunition to the species of game they wish to hunt.
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