Anyone else loading for a 450 Bushmaster?

[Boomer Mikey]

I got my first black rifle this month, a 16" 450 Bushmaster. I've been running the numbers in Quickload for several reloading options. I'm really surprised at how versatile this cartridge is.

230 grain FMJ ball at 2500 fps
250 grain factory loads at 2100 fps
320 grain RCBS 45-300-FN GC's at 1900 fps
415 grain RCBS 45-405-FN GC's at 1550 fps

I've been lubing and sizing 45-70 bullets to 0.457" and re-sizing them to 0.452" with no problems. Little Gun, H110, 4227, and 296 are the most suitable powders for full power loads.

I haven't had the time or energy to shoot up enough of the factory loads to get enough brass to work with yet and I'm surprised at how little felt recoil there is with a 250 grain bullet at 2100 fps. I shot a few 320's and 415's at full power and they were about the same as a Marlin 1895 45-70's loads in felt recoil at equal velocities but more of a push than a jab at my shoulder as the action absorbs some of the energy.

The FMJ full power loads will go through a telephone pole!

Boomer

[Lloyd Smale]

very cool gun. I debated between a 450 and a 50 beowulf but i guess ive just got a thing for .50 calibers. Neat thing about the 450 is all the bullets there are to shoot out of it!

[Boomer Mikey]

very cool gun. I debated between a 450 and a 50 beowulf but i guess ive just got a thing for .50 calibers. Neat thing about the 450 is all the bullets there are to shoot out of it!

Hi Lloyd,

I was going to get a Beowulf until I discovered the barrel wasn't chrome lined and the muzzle brake was extra making the two equal in my eyes. I also like the way Alexander Arms does business by providing everything you need including brass, ammo, dies, and load data directly from them. The Beowulf's engineering is first rate with it's faster twist rate for the shorter barrel and slower twist rate for the long barrel. I think either one is a good choice.

As a guy who prefers to use cast bullets I feel the 450 Bushmaster's 0.450" groove diameter and the variety of my existing 45 Colt, ACP and 45-70 bullet/molds provided more options. The ability to make brass from 284 Winchester cases if Hornaday decides to stop making brass in the future is another plus. The only thing I don't like about the 450 is that I had to purchase loaded ammo to get factory cases but the Hornaday ammo is excellent and reasonable at $23.00 for a box of 20.

I'm putting a Timney trigger in my lower this week and hope to get to the range this weekend for some fun,

Boomer

[Johnch]

Is the 450 a 284 case blown out ?

If so I would think buying 284 brass might be the way to go

I am thinking of the 450 as I already have a ton of moulds that would work and jacketed

So all I have to do is buy the upper and dies

John

[BD]

Hey Boomer,
How have your results been? I'm waiting on the group buy lower to put my .450 together.

I had a couple of questions:

Any advice on breaking in the chrome barrel for cast?

How has accuracy been with cast boolits?

How is the crimp working? Are you using the hornady die set? I'm thinking that boolits may move forward into the lands when the bolt slams home. I'm considering a boolit designed to headspace the round on the boolit similar to the way I load .45 acp

Have you added a recoil pad? I shoot my DCM with my nose right on the charging handle. I'm thinking this would not be such a good idea with the .450, so I'm considering the fat 1 1/8" recoil pad to get my nose back out of the way a bit.

BD

[Ole]

I wanted to get a .450 when they first came out, but the price/availability of ammo scared me off the idea.

Casting might make this a feasible idea again.

[BD]

I'm thinking the .450 B might become to cast rifle shootin' what the .45 acp is to cast pistola shootin'.

Correct volume for smokeless powder, straight wall case at relatively low pressure in combination with a slow twist barrel shouldn't be too picky about primers, powder or boolits, and give long case life.

And capable of anything I'd need to do inside of 200 yards.

BD

[the_mad_rshn]

Is the 450 a 284 case blown out ?

If so I would think buying 284 brass might be the way to go

I am thinking of the 450 as I already have a ton of moulds that would work and jacketed

So all I have to do is buy the upper and dies

John

Hey John,

I know it has been a while since you posted, but the 284 is not a blown out case. The dimensions are exactly the same except it is cut to the lenght of the 450BM.

Cheers,
Mad

[Skeeter58]

Does anyone have any load information for a 325 grain gas checked bullet for the 450 Bushmaster?

[BD]

Skeeter,

There's a lot of info at the site below. In general think H110, 296 or LilGun for about 1,800 fps.
You'd be in the 32 to 33 grains of powder neighborhood.



http://450bushmaster.net/

BD

[jblee10]

My first outing with a 16 inch 450 Bushmaster consisted of an RCBS 45-270 SAA, 33grains of Lil Gun and a Fed SR primer. Mainly I wanted to see if a SWC design would feed. Loaded at 2.155 inches it feed them well with out a failure in 20 rounds. This was taper crimped below the crimp groove. Accuracy was dismal but I expected nothing else. I really feel you need a gascheck at 1927 fps. My only gascheck mould in 45 is the Lee C452-300-rf. Has anyone found a load for this one?

[BD]

I have that mold in the garage waiting for me to get my reloading room put back together. After about 1,000 rounds I've learned a few things that you will discover:
-You will want a gas check design as otherwise the gas port takes a little bite out of the boolit heel as it passes and deposits it on the rear of the bolt. I've had pretty poor accuracy with plain base boolits.
-you will want to modify a lee 45/70 factory crimp die to use for a "waist" crimp just behind the rim. boolit pull as the cartridge is slammed into the chamber is a real issue. Without a real good crimp SDs can be in the 100's
- cut down .284 cases are thicker than the hornady factory brass. This makes them more suitable for condoms in the .452 - .452 range as if you seat a .453 cast boolit heavier than about 230 grains, the boolit heel will bulge the case sides wedging the round in the chamber. They do give much better case neck tension with the jacketed stuff. The Hornady factory brass being thinner, it allows seating fatter cast boolits deeper with fewer problems.

If you measure the boolit length and actual weight of that Lee 300 grain FP, then load a dummy round that will chamber and tell me the dimensions, I'll run the numbers on quickload.
BD

[jblee10]

Finally had a chance to work some more with the Thumper and cast boolits. Got to thinking how much I liked Unique in my 45 Colt Blackhawk and Puma 92. Looked up some data for the 45/70 in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and found loads with Unique. Started low and have so far worked up to 15.5 grs Unique. This isn't as much as the manual list for the 45/70 Ruger #1 loads but the 450 BM has less case capacity. This will not cycle the action (16inch BushMaster Arms 450BM) and will only occasionally eject the last round in the mag. To bad it won't cycle because I'm getting good initial results. Right at 1.5 inch at 50 yard with a red dot sight. Load seems real mild but I will probably switch to a slower powder to keep working up. Here's the load FYI.

Hornady case
Wolf small rifle primer
15.5 grs. Unique
Lee C452-300-rf, weighing 324grs checked and lubed
OAL 1.964
Average Velocity for only 5 shots, 1436 fps
ES 16 fps
SD 6 fps

With that kind of SD it's really tempting to work up to just cycle the action.

[IraqVet1982]

I got my first black rifle this month, a 16" 450 Bushmaster. I've been running the numbers in Quickload for several reloading options. I'm really surprised at how versatile this cartridge is.

230 grain FMJ ball at 2500 fps
250 grain factory loads at 2100 fps
320 grain RCBS 45-300-FN GC's at 1900 fps
415 grain RCBS 45-405-FN GC's at 1550 fps

I've been lubing and sizing 45-70 bullets to 0.457" and re-sizing them to 0.452" with no problems. Little Gun, H110, 4227, and 296 are the most suitable powders for full power loads.

I haven't had the time or energy to shoot up enough of the factory loads to get enough brass to work with yet and I'm surprised at how little felt recoil there is with a 250 grain bullet at 2100 fps. I shot a few 320's and 415's at full power and they were about the same as a Marlin 1895 45-70's loads in felt recoil at equal velocities but more of a push than a jab at my shoulder as the action absorbs some of the energy.

The FMJ full power loads will go through a telephone pole!

Boomer

What recipe are you using for the 320s and 415s?

[milsurpcollector1970]

I had a 450 bushmaster couldn't handle the recoil to me it was worse than a 870 pump with slugs and I like shooting 8mm Mauser military rifles.

that being said I learned a few things
284 win brass needs to be reamed out to .451 the rim needs to have about .006 removed from the diameter
The gun liked .452 diameter bullets but they bulged the cases and would not chamber even with factory brass

i liked it but it was a hard gun to load for

[45 2.1]

A new AR-10 base cartridge is out..... the 45 RAPTOR. It will out do the 450 Bushmaster quite a bit and it quite user friendly.

[Colohunter]

I don't know much about the 45 Raptor, but the same guy that developed the 450 has an AR-10 based version called the 45 Professional.

I have tried some Lee 200gr SWC TL bullets that I had on hand for my 45 ACP. The loads I tried had absolutely horrible accuracy. I thought about trying them loaded down lighter, but haven't gotten around to it. A few that I shot were powder coated, but that didn't seem to make a difference over the LLA. I may have to try some other molds, but I'm new to casting so I don't have any others on hand to try. My factory shoots so well with the Hornady FTX bullets that I would love to have a cheaper cast option that shoots as well.

[JReaper9178]

Has any one tried less than 200 grain bullets with lighter load in the 450 bushmaster for plinking

[JReaper9178]

Here is some information I found on the 450 bm
https://www.realguns.com/articles/882.htm/