Projects anyone? .458 Lott reciever work.

[charlief1]

As some of you know I used to have a machine/gunsmithing shop until my idiot partner ran us into the ground. I've got quite a few projects that I never got around to finish and something gave me the bug to pull one of them out the other day. What I've been playing with is an Enfield P-14 reciever that was hacked up before I got it. Had to do a lot of work to do what I wanted with it. It's partially set up for the .458 Lott cartridged but I had a few issues with the magazine. I'm using .458 mag shells to check feeding ect but always had an issue with the feeding ect because of the mag.

I did a little searching the other night and found a great forum that wasn't just for a specific model or design and that's what got me started up again. Here's a few pics of what I've got right now. The original P-14 reciver and trigger guard and the now modified one are together so you can see how much work really goes into this type of work. I made the jig to straighten the bottom part myself so that the stock would be more trim. The stock bolt handle was replaced with a little nicer one as well. There's a hole in the rear of the reciver where the big ears are that had to be filled and then the ears come off and the rear of the reciever is reshaped. The big thing when working with one of these is to get the feed ramp and magazine well worked out so everything does like it's supposed to. I should be cutting the new magazine box out tomorrow and bend it so that it fits and give me at least 1/2" more room and maybe 5/8" more.

I've put this off and in storage for over 5 years now so it's time to at least get the reciver to the point where I can send it to E.R. Shaw and get the barrel installed as well as a few other things done. I miss not having the ability to install barrels myself but as you can see there's lots that you can do to make your own custom yourself. I might even do a thread later about how to inlet a stock for the lightweight 308 that's been sitting in the cabinet about as long as this one has been. It needs a little more fine tuning as well but not a whole lot.

 

[~JM~]

How heavy is that projectile?

Looks like a big project you have on your hands there.

~JM~

 

[SGRIM]

.458 Lott, Awesome ride!

 

[dynoman]

I heard everything is BIG in Texas , but 458 Lott for prairie dogs !!!! 500gr bullet @ 2300fps , with over 5000ft/lbs of energy, so who's going to be the lucky guy to shoulder that beast first ? Sounds like a cool project , take a video when you go to the range. Good luck with the build. Sam

 

[charlief1]

The nice thing about the Lott is that it's just a longer version of the .458 win mag so you can use the mag in it if you can't find the right ammo. Total length is 3.7" OAL and the slugs you see in the pics are 405 grain. Those are 45/70 bullets that I load for my Marlin and Guess can tell you what it kicks like. LOL Most common slug is a 500 grain but I've see some as high as 800 grain, just not cheap or easy to get. What I wanted to have is a rifle that would do just about anything I wanted and still have enough power to shoot long range. Most guys don't believe that a bullet designed like this will go that far easily but it's not uncommon to get a 1000 yard shot with the right combo of parts. I don't want to put a scope on it though, I want to have the traditional express sights mounted on the barrel as well as a reciever mounted set that I can take on and off for more accurate work.

The Enfield P series reciever is quite heavy and very long so it's easily modified for the bigger cartridges like this, plus this is the fifth one I've had over the years. I've got 1 P-17 long range rifle, 1 incomplete modified 30/06 that I still need to get the 03 springfield trigger guard finished on and then I can put it in wood, and the 2 you see in the pics. They're a little hard to get these days unless you are willing to pay for them but I've had these for around 15 years or so now. The pic below shows the .458 Lott, .375 H&H, and the .458 win mag side by side to give you an idea of how long they really are.

The barrel will be 26" long and get magna ported as well as a traditional African stalker stock. It should be a good rifle but heavy to help cut down on the recoil some.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.458_Lott

 

[Guess]

Those are 45/70 bullets that I load for my Marlin and Guess can tell you what it kicks like.
View attachment 154423

I want a 45/70 now! The kick was surprising, but not painful at all. Charlie has all kinds of cool stuff.

 

[charlief1]

You've only seen a very small part of what I've got Don. Maybe next time you can see a few more of the toys I've got stashed.

 

[charlief1]

Thought I'd update this a little. The templet got cut out and it's just about perfect but it only gives you a basic idea of the shape. What I had to do is cut the rough part out first and then bend it over a mandrel. The mandrel is the right size but the bends just don't seem to be coming out right. I havn't taken a pic of the boxes but I did take a pic of the template. Here it is.