450 Bushmaster

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CJP

Bearcat
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Jan 17, 2018
Messages
42
Location
Mid Michigan
Does anyone here have a Ruger rifle in 450 Bushmaster? This is the only Ruger firearm that I own and I really like it. Would like to get together with others who own this caliber rifle in a bolt action or single shot. I don't have anything against the modern sporting rifles but I don't own one in 450 Bushmaster or any caliber for that matter. I'm really cheap and it's too easy to keep pulling the trigger on one of them :) .
 

Snake45

Hawkeye
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Mar 14, 2009
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I just read a report on that rifle in a magazine today. I think it was the current issue of GUNS. The author seemed to like it.
 

mac66

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 27, 2013
Messages
342
A few others here have them. My nephew brought his to deer camp this year in Michigan. It seems like a nice little rifle. They are very popular in Michigan.


http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=260779
 

22/45 Fan

Hunter
Joined
Dec 8, 2001
Messages
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Pittsburgh, PA, USA
mac66 said:
A few others here have them. My nephew brought his to deer camp this year in Michigan. It seems like a nice little rifle. They are very popular in Michigan.
Well, Michigan and Ohio and maybe a couple of states I don't know about, now allow straight wall rifle cartridges meeting a couple of other criteria to be used in formerly shotgun-only hunting areas. The 450 is one of the approved cartridges.
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
The 450 Bushmaster is making inroads somewhere. For those who choose to reload the 450 Bushmaster, Lee has just introduced their best 4 die set for it,#90182. Lee does not just make dies because they can, but to make $$$$$$$. I have to assume there is a demand for these dies and if I had a 450, mine would be ordered. Bob!! :wink:
 

CJP

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
Messages
42
Location
Mid Michigan
They are selling like hotcakes here in Michigan. The hunting regulations changed in what used to be the shotgun only zone. Some straight wall calibers were made legal to use in that zone. A gun dealer in Michigan went to Ruger to see if they would make rifles in 450 Bushmaster since it would legal to hunt with. He had to place a huge order before they would start producing them. They struck a deal and the rest is history. It is the fastest selling caliber rifle in Michigan. Two other large rifle manufacturers, CVA and Savage are now producing them. The Ruger rifles have a faster twist rate than the CVA or Savage so it would be the same as the AR platform rifles. That way there Hornady ammo was already available for the Ruger rifles. Hornady has two different boxes for packaging the 450 Bushmaster rounds. Black for the AR crowd and Custom for the Ruger crowd and now the others. It just so happens to be that they are the same rounds in both of the different packages. Very slick on Hornady's part. The problem that I have is that these rounds are for the lower chamber pressure AR rifles. The bolt and single action rifles can handle much more chamber pressure. No one from a bullet or powder manufacturer has any published loading data for the higher pressure round for the bolt or single shot rifle as far as I have seen. You would think Hornady would have data for the newer higher pressure rifles as they make the components available to us handloaders. Apparently they prefer to sell loaded rounds at a rediculous price rather than provide us with the data we are looking for. The profit margine must be much higher for ammo than for reloading components :shock: .
 

Rei40c

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
976
CJP said:
Does anyone here have a Ruger rifle in 450 Bushmaster? This is the only Ruger firearm that I own and I really like it. Would like to get together with others who own this caliber rifle in a bolt action or single shot. I don't have anything against the modern sporting rifles but I don't own one in 450 Bushmaster or any caliber for that matter. I'm really cheap and it's too easy to keep pulling the trigger on one of them :) .

CJP I ordered Lyman's 50th eddition reloading handbook and can confirm it has the .450 Bushmaster. Here's one at Brownells in stock... and $6 cheaper than what I paid I found out after the fact. Oh well. anyway here is the link.
https://www.brownells.com/reloading/books-amp-videos/books/reloading-books-amp-manuals/50th-edition-reloading-handbook-prod87860.aspx

From the sales page:
"New Cartridges Included: 17 Hornet, 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5-284, 26 Nosler, 28 Nosler, 300 Blackout, 300 RCM, 338 RCM, 450 Bushmaster, 458 SOCOM, 50 Beowulf
New Full Color Edition - The 50th Anniversary edition is our first reloading handbook produced in full color"

I can't comment on my impressions of this manual good or bad as it has not yet arrived.
 

22/45 Fan

Hunter
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Pittsburgh, PA, USA
CJP said:
You would think Hornady would have data for the newer higher pressure rifles as they make the components available to us handloaders. Apparently they prefer to sell loaded rounds at a rediculous price rather than provide us with the data we are looking for. The profit margine must be much higher for ammo than for reloading components :shock: .
Hornady has no incentive to develop or publish the higher performance loading data but Hodgdon and Alliant do. Perhaps a letter or e-mail to then would get the ball rolling. It would have to be clearly earmarked for "bolt and single shot rifles only" the way high pressure loads for the .45 Colt and 45-70 are limited to suitably strong firearms.
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
Gentlemen, I think you are trying to get more out of the 450 than it can deliver. I looked at the data in Hornady's #10, Lyman #50, and Accurate Powder's 6.0. If I were going to load the 450, I'd be looking at AA 1680 or Hodgdon LilGun to start with. AA1680 gives some of the highest velocities, but with a compressed charge, so there is no powder space to go hotter. LilGun works well too, but pressures peak before the case fills up. The data shows pressure near or at 40,00psi with the published data. Now if one wants to take a #1 or American bolt rifle to the next level, you are on your own. I speak with 51 years of reloading experience and developing loads for new and/or wildcat calibers such as a few WSM wildcats that run at 65,000psi. Anyway, a 250 grain bullet @2200fps is nothing to sneeze at. Bob!! 8) :wink:
 

Hunter6657

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jun 13, 2002
Messages
145
Location
Denham Springs, LA.
I bought one in December of 2016 from that gun shop in Michigan and then Ruger started cataloging it themselves.
It shoots great and I bagged a 200lb hog with it at 100 yards.
I put a Silecerco ACR Brake on it and can use it with my Hybrid can that's good for 5.56 to 458 caliber.
 

grobin

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
Messages
846
Rangerbob's comment is righton. Looking at the Hornady and Lyman books Hornady has hotter loads but not up to the factory load levels. I think that they are using a blended powder or a duplex/triplex load. Unless you have a real pressure test system these can be dangerous. Further you need a scale capable of consistent mg. performance-preferably with a NIST standard traceability cert.

Because of historical markets I don't see any hot bolt only Bushmaster loads getting developed. The 450 Bushmaster is essentially turning an AR platform into a 45-70. Great for hunting but tied to the AR! Just like 45-70 is tied to Cowboy Action/lever action. Yes there are a bunch of single break and hysterical replicas out there; even a revolver and bolt action but they are sports.
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
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Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
To add to my previous post, I just acquired the 2018 Hodgdon Annual Manual. It has 450 loading data in it using H110, LilGun and IMR 4227. The first 2 mirror the data in the Hornady #10 with those 2 powders. There are too many variables to recommend higher loading, and that would only be in a #1. Like I stated in another post, both Big Green and W-W have factory loads out or will be out soon, so there are some more options. Bob! :wink:
 

kentdep

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
194
Location
West Michigan, USA
My dad bought one of these this last fall. We live in Michigan and he used it for deer this last November. He did not take a deer with it this year. When sighting it in with Hornady ammo he was getting very good groups off the bench at 100 yards, at 50 yards he was making three shot holes. I have read in a few places online that the Ruger Ranch Rifle and that Hornady Black Box Bushmaster ammo is a really good combination for accuracy and my dad's experience has been the same.

Jay
 

UmpquaCharlie

Buckeye
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
1,384
Location
SW Oregon
Saw a 450 # 1 at the Shot Show and couldn't believe how ugly it looked with their brake.
I shoot the caliber in an AR and I don't have any thing that strange hanging off the end of the barrel.
JMO Charlie
 

gldnrtvr

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 13, 2018
Messages
1
Just sighted in my 450BM yesterday! Shot at 100 yds after zeroing at 50 yds. 3 shots cloverleafed all touching! Do I like it? No I love it!! Great trigger very accurate!! Can't wait for Ohio's next deer season!
 

Coyote Hunter

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
265
Location
6491 feet above sea level
Recommended a 450 Bushmaster to my son-in-law who lives in Iowa. He doesn't handload or I would have considered selling him my Marlin in .375 Winchester, one of the cartridges now allowed in Iowa.
 

gs50401

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Messages
36
I was looking at one of these for cast bullet shooting. Do 45 acp or 45 colt dies with a different shell holder work for 450 BM?
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
gs50401, I don't think one could full length resize the 450 with those, although I think neck sizing would be possible and one would have the seating and taper crimp die backed off a bunch. Lee makes a their 4 die set in 450 and it would make perfect ammo correctly. Bob!! :wink:
 
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