450 Bushmaster?

[LarryL]

Hornady has been posting adds and has a promo page on their website for the 450 Bushmaster.  In theory, it is likely to have 45-70 to 460 S&W ballistics and might be a great brush gun for deer and bear and maybe moose.   I'd love to pull the varmint top end off my Bushmaster and put this on for deer season.  However, it has been 6 months, and they still don't have any ballistics posted, and the gun and ammo are still not available.

Has anyone out there heard anything more about this one?  It sounds like it might be great for up here in the north woods.

[quickdtoo]

Here's a video I found on it a while back.

Tim

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=390843

[LarryL]

Hi Tim,

Thanks!  I will check it out when I get home.  I can visit this forum at work, but the yahoo video site is blocked at work by the software police.

Larry

[papajohn428]

I picked up the new Hornady catalog at the NRA convention, and while they have a full page on the 450 Bushmaster, they said it's not going to be available until "Mid 2007".  Hornady is usually pretty good about delivering the goods on time, so I guess it's just a matter of a month or two.  But I found it odd they still haven't provided any exterior ballistics for the round.   Nevertheless, I still want one!

Papajohn

[LarryL]

I did check out the video in Tim's post.  In the video they indicate velocity will be over 2000 fps.  250Gr bullet at over 2000 fps will be a great deer, bear, and maybe even moose round for the typical North woods hunting where ranges rarely exceed 100-150 yds.  I will definitely want to have one of these uppers to throw on my Bushmaster, with a red dot sight mounted.

[jasonprox700]

I am also very interested in it as a brush and drive gun for deer.  I just wonder how it will stack up against the .458 SOCOM.

[LarryL]

I guess we will have to wait and see.  I did get an email back from Bushmaster indicating it would be later this year before they release any ballistics.  The biggest benefit I see with the Bushmaster 450 is that it will have Bushmaster and Hornady behind it.  Hopefully that means we will be able to get ammo and components more easily.

[Cheesehead]

Anybody have one of these yet?

Cheese

[teddy12b]

There is one store in my town that has one.  They actually had ammo on the shelf for it too.  The ammo was $30 for a box of 20 rounds.  I don't remember what the rifle costed. 

[sneekyhunter]

I have the 16 inch barrel model and i love it,its really accurate at 100 yards,the only thing i would recommend,is a recoil pad,that plastic but pad is a little rough on the shoulder when shooting with only a tee shirt on.Ammo around here for the 450 bushmaster runs me $24.00 a box for 20 rounds.Rifle cost me $1,060..
My groundhog AR picture.

[Cheesehead]

Sneekyhunter,

Ever shoot the 450 at 150 or 200 yards?

Cheese

[sneekyhunter]

Im sighted in 3 inches high at 100 yards im right on at 150 and about 2 inches low at 200.It definitly good for a 200 yard gun,i bought this because i love to hunt in the thick swamps and its perfect for it.

[LarryL]

Since you have clearly fired it at 100, 150, and 200yds... 

What sort of groups are you getting with it at those ranges?

Thanks!

[sneekyhunter]

off the bench they cloverleaf at 100 yards,three shot groups,i dont care about five shot groups because this is for hunting not target shooting,the groups at 150 and 200 yards go from around an inch to inch and a half maybe two inches maximum.Like i said these are three shot groups not five,i really only care where my first shot goes..

[LarryL]

I think three shot groups are pretty typical for rifles.  I usually only see 5 shot groups on handguns.  Cloverleaf groups at 100yds and <2" groups at 200yds are damn fine groups and damn fine shooting.  I'd say the gun, the round, and the shooter are all doing their jobs!!

This confirms that at least in the accuracy column, the 450 Bushmaster should be a good deer, bear, hog gun out to 200yds.  So far, this is definitely going on my Christmas list.  I would get the barrel and upper, and swap it on and off my existing V-Match.  I won't be shooting them both at the same time, so I might as well save the extra $500 for a full gun.

The next data that will be nice to hear is how the bullet performs on real game in the field.  I sure hope you will let us know how it works when you have a chance to take some game at various distances!!   

[sneekyhunter]

I will let you know as soon as deer season gets here.Those groups are from a bench not free hand..