450 Bushmaster

PappyHoel

Senior Member

grif

Senior Member
I have taken only 1, a 200+ pound buck. He ran about 50 yards. Good blood trail.
In my experience, with a lung shot, the 450 bushmaster, 450 Marlin, and 444 Marlin don't really "knock them over" like everyone expects them to. They don't go far though.
 

grif

Senior Member
Not sure about the Ruger, but my 450 Bushmaster semi auto is surprisingly accurate.
 

PappyHoel

Senior Member
I have taken only 1, a 200+ pound buck. He ran about 50 yards. Good blood trail.
In my experience, with a lung shot, the 450 bushmaster, 450 Marlin, and 444 Marlin don't really "knock them over" like everyone expects them to. They don't go far though.

Thats sort of what i expected to hear. I think the same thing about my .35 Marlin. Every deer i ever shot with my .35 got knocked down hard and then jumped up. I found them all, but never DRT. With my .270 they are DRT.
 

jmoser

Senior Member
These are insanely popular in MI where legal now in 'shotgun zone.' Decent 200 yard ballistics but IMHO made specifically for AR platforms and not the best choice where other rifle cartridges are an option.

OH has changed from shotgun to 'any straight walled case' which makes the .444 and 45-70 A-OK. Expect MI to follow in a few years time.

I might succumb someday and get an upper in .450 or .458 SOCOM someday; just hunted TX pigs and the .450 would make a good night hunt option with rail mounted varmint light. .300 Blackout is an option too with 150 gr bullets.
 

IIICrkRepr

Senior Member
Had a 458 SOCOM for awhile, once I burnt through the 200+ rounds of ammo that came in the trade, I sold it off. Rounds were expensive. Always left a great blood trail.
 

jmoser

Senior Member
Had a 458 SOCOM for awhile, once I burnt through the 200+ rounds of ammo that came in the trade, I sold it off. Rounds were expensive. Always left a great blood trail.

Good point - probably deals on used ones out there.
This would never be an everyday shooter / plinker; just a bada** platform for 300-405 gr hog medicine. Close to a semiauto slug gun with much better accuracy and flexibility.
 
The short barreled Ruger American so chambered seems to be a nice rifle, but I'll just stick with my 1895G and BLR/.450. I do like the Ruger's light weight and very short barrel, however.

I took a nice boar of about 250 with the BLR on Saturday night at about 120 yards using a VRL-1 red light. I was shooting the LE 325gr ammo and was quite surprised not to see him lying there when I came out of recoil. It took a while to find blood in the pitch dark, but once we got on the blood found him pretty quickly afterwards.

Full pass thru double lung, but I'd have been better off with a shoulder shot. He went at least 75 yards, very surprising to me. The shield was a good 1.5+ " thick and the onside ribs looked more like an offside wound. The exit hole on the offside ribs was actually smaller.
 

Klondike

Senior Member
My 458 Rock River SOCOM upper shoots great.

With spire point bullets I think all of the big bore calibers are capable of really nice accuracy
 

shdw633

Senior Member
I have the Ruger Bushmaster 450 that the OP is referring to. I bought it to hunt in Southern Michigan as another hunter pointed out and shot a big doe with it. Actually seen the bullet blow throw the other side of the deer through the scope. Left a nice hole in her and she didn't go but about 50 yards before piling up. I dead centered her at 150 yards and I do believe if I had went high shoulder she would have piled up right there. What I really like about the gun is it's compact size and weight. I liked it so much in Michigan I plan on using the gun in Georgia when I am hunting in ladder stands next season.
 

Bobby Bigtime

Senior Member
I have taken three whitetail bucks and a cow elk with the 450 bushmaster. All shots were inside 75 yards. Performance was excellent but all shot placements were as well. My ar15 and bolt gun are both great shooters. It is a great cartridge on the river bottoms, coulees, and timbered ridges where shots aren't very long. The elk was dropped in her tracks the bucks bulldozed leaves for a few yards. All were taken with hornady custom factory ammo.
 

transfixer

Senior Member
A 450 bushmaster upper will be my next purchase, but I don't intend on using it for deer hunting, I had a .458socom AR for a while, shot one deer with it that I never recovered, not real sure what happened, no blood trail, pretty sure the bullet didn't expand, Barnes ttsx . Bullet selection is critical with rounds like the .450bm and .458socom, they just don't go fast enough for a lot of the bullets to expand much, shouldn't have a problem with going completely through though . So bullet placement is critical, But unless you hit the spine I don't think you'll ever have one DRT ,

I think those rounds are fun to shoot, and the 450bm rounds are a lot cheaper if you're buying factory ammo, unless you're in a state limited to straight walled cartridges most any other bottle neck cartridge is a better choice for deer hunting imho.
 

Bobby Bigtime

Senior Member
I have more hunting rifles than a sensible man really needs, so its more about likes and wants. Whenever I head out for a hunt I think about the particular quarry and application and landscape then I grab what I think is best. I am always concerned with ethics and respect for the animal I'm hunting. We are fortunate to have so many options. The 450 bushmaster is a good choice if shots are reasonably close. Yes given that... A bunch of cartridges will work equally well. Shot placement and energy kill game first and foremost. Whitetail buck here in Montana can run pretty large and losing one would weigh heavy on me. so big holes in the boiler room can prevent one from crossing the river or getting away in thick brush. I have confidence right now in the 450 bushmaster. I will be loading for it soon and am excited to see what loads I can create.
 

Bobby Bigtime

Senior Member
Hey trans, I have seen some reviews of folks loading the ttsx in the 450 with mixed results. What are your loading plans for the 450 based on your 458 experience? I know most 458 bullets are designed for higher velocity
 

woods&water

Senior Member
Have been using a 450BM AR15 for over 4 years on deer, hog, and coyote. I almost always shoot for high shoulder regardless of what caliber i am using. 450BM puts the critter down immediately with some being flipped over. It hits noticably harder than any bottleneck cartridge I have used 30 caliber or under including belted magnums. If you dont put the bullet thru muscle and bone you will not get this effect.
One thing that i was surprised by is the lack of bloodshot meat around the bullet hole with the 450BM. You only lose about an inch around the bullet hole instead of up to a foot with belted mags.
I switched to the 450BM after being charged by a large hog. I wanted something that was short, fast handling, and hit like a sledgehammer. I found it in the 450BM. It also will shoot cloverleaf groups at 100 yds with factory ammo or handloads.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
I loaded some Hornady 245gr Spire Points and they shoot 3 shot 1" groups at 100yds out of a BCA upper.
I have not had a chance to shoot any game with them and it may be a while because Pennsylvania does not allow semi-autos for deer yet.

That being said, bullet placement is key, bullet design is next. No bullet fired from anything hand held or shoulder fired for hunting can or will lift, pick up or drive 50+lb animals in a direction from impact.
The bullets "hit" about as hard as the recoil the shooter feels. Equal/Opposite reaction. If a bullet will drive a 150lb animal upon impact the shooter would be driven back with equal force.
The "energy" allows a bullet to do it's work.
I have said this hundreds of times.
Take a 5gal bucket and fill it with dirt or sand. It will weigh 55lb to 80lb depending on water content in the fill. Place it on two flat 2X4s on level ground so it can slide. Shoot it with a 450BM, your favorite centerfire rifle, a 12ga with slugs or whatever you want.
The bullet will be stopped inside so the bucket will absorb all the energy. It should fly backwards butt over teacup but it won't. 2000ft lb of energy is supposed to move 2,000lbs One Foot. Most of the big game cartridges have much more energy than that but the limiting factor is the diameter and expanded diameter of the bullet .it just does not get wide enough or weigh enough to move game merely from its impact.
What flings game sideways, or backwards is the nerve and muscle reaction. Shots that the brain, spine even close to each, and or major bones will drop something in its tracks for sure, but there is no magic bullet or caliber that will drop an animal no matter where it is hit.

On youtube there is a man that invented Second Chance Body Armor.
He shoots himself at point blank range with full house 44mag loads and then he shoots a reporter wearing another vest from maybe 3ft away with a .308 win. The reporter even stands on one foot and at impact he puts his other foot down. He isnt knocked backwards. It doesn't even knock the wind out of him. Something like 2600ft lb of energy.
Bullets just do not impart some magical energy that propels medium + sized animals in any direction. The energy allows the bullet to do its job.
A bullet that stays inside an animal does no more destruction or kills anything any more dead than one that passes through. It is the damage done along the way from entrance to where the bullet stops or exits that kills.
 

transfixer

Senior Member
Hey trans, I have seen some reviews of folks loading the ttsx in the 450 with mixed results. What are your loading plans for the 450 based on your 458 experience? I know most 458 bullets are designed for higher velocity

I'll have to figure that out, I'll likely just use the Hornady ftx 250gr that the factory uses, but I'd like to try one of the soft points that are designed for pistol velocities, probably in the 225 to 300 gr range, I'll just have to experiment with it, I was reluctant to experiement much with the .458socom because there were no saami specs on loads that I could find, normally I don't mind loading cartridges hot, but didn't want to try that on an AR platform, in fairness to the ttsx round that I loaded for that rifle, I probably didn't have the velocity up high enough for the bullet to expand, that was my first time using ttsx bullets, and I've learned since then you need to go to the upper limits on velocity to get them to expand correctly.
 
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