450 Bushmaster

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TinMan
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Re: 450 Bushmaster

Post by TinMan »

Been hearing of the 450 BM on another forum.......it sounds like a decent round. But my 45/70 (Marlin Guide Gun) has never failed to fill a tag.......and I can find "decently priced" ammo for it almost anywhere. :)
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Re: 450 Bushmaster

Post by Archer »

I honestly think I'm in the .45-70 camp since I've got a couple of them and have no real intent of getting a .450 Bushmaster in any format.
However, I'm told depending on the state/area .45-70 although it is straight walled may exceed the length limit to be on the approved list of cartridges.

I choose to go with .50 Beowulf in a MSR in part because when I was looking I could get ammo for it as well as components. (I did go with a 12.7x42 barrel rather than the trademarked Alexander Arms proprietary parts.) I understand that in areas where it is legal to hunt with .450 Bushmaster ammo can be had rather easily. I have a bud across the country who has one but I don't think he's gotten it out yet to try since he picked it up recently.

We had a discussion about the relative differences between the .458 SOCOM, .450 Bushmaster and .50 Beowulf in this forum some time late last year. It was of course in the context of MSRs but a good portion of the discussion still holds true. The two downsides of the .50 Beowulf IMO are that it is a .50 caliber rather than a .458 and that it is still proprietary. The .450 downside is that it uses pistol bullets and when I was looking ammo availability even on line was light. The .458 downside is that it was designed around suppressors and is difficult to get it up to velocities that make use of the heavy weight bullets construction and some don't like the fact that it is bottlenecked. NONE of the reloading dies for the cartridges, straight walled or not, are available in carbide so case lubrication is required.

I don't think the .450 cartridge is a replacement for your .308 but it may be that for your intended purpose of 100 to maybe 150 yard hunting it does the job you want it to. I haven't looked at the Ruger bolt so I can't comment on the rifle itself. If you want to go there I see no reason not to given your stated goals. If you do give us an update with some pictures.
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Re: 450 Bushmaster

Post by Archer »

HarryAlonzo wrote:Yup, I understood that you were asking about the Ruger bolt action. Here's a good read about AR-15 cartridges in general:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/modern_sporting_rifle.html
Decent article although IME the .338 Federal is hard to find actually for sale either in terms of rifles or rifle components when I was looking last year. It was actually easier to find in a bolt action although at that point I think I'd be looking at the Winchester or Weatherby round. The 6.5 Creedmore is currently easy to find both rifles, uppers and build components. The 7mm08 is possible but so far seems to require a custom barrel. .243s seem to come and go on the market over the past 5 years although the build components have pretty much remained available. With all of these calibers the major item of interest is the barrel. Most if not all of the other parts are simply standard .308 AR components including the magazine. Modifications to the AR-15 are similar although different bolts are required to match the chamberings and the magazines can be much more problematical. In either case an adjustable gas block can be a good idea as most of the barrels are manufactured with larger than necessary gas ports.
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