Has .450 Bushmaster won the big-bore AR competition?

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  • Hohn

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    It seems like it.

    Factory rifles from Savage and Ruger are offered in .450BM but not in .458Socom nor in 50Beowulf. When you see an AR cartridge offered in bolt guns by major players, it has some real legs to it.

    Brass for 450BM is offered by Starline and Hornady. The others? Either the inventor of the round, or Starline (Starline apparently makes everything).



    I'm not saying 450BM is the "best" only that it seems to have won. Sort of like Betamax vs VHS. VHS was technically inferior in almost every way and still won.


    IMO, a big-bore AR is a challenging "tweener" because it's really the worst of two worlds. The pistol caliber .452 bullets are all design for slower speed ranges (in general) typically associated with a 45LC or .454Casull. The .458 bullets are intended for a larger case with a bunch more powder.


    I'm hearing good things about some bullets in 450BM though, especially the Deepcurls and the Barnes bullets, which seem to hold together well at the higher speeds not possible in a revolver.
     

    AmmoManAaron

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    I think the only reason you are seeing 450BM in certain bolt guns is because it is a fairly easy redesign for those particular rifles. 458 SOCOM is bottle necked and wide bodied. 50 Beo is straight, but similarly wide bodied. 450BM is a fair bit skinnier. So I don't think the bolt gun aspect has to do with the popularity of the 450BM caliber; FWIW, I seem to encounter more 458s than either of the other two, but YMMV. From a technical standpoint, 458 SOCOM is the easiest AR conversion - mag commonality, springs, buffers, etc. It also offers the widest variety of projectile options for the reloader. For the 450BM and 50 Beo, their one advantage is the availability of carbide dies (no case lubing) since they are straight wall cases. From a marketing standpoint, the 50 Beo is a 50 :). Mix all this together and a long term stalemate is what I see. And even all 3 put together don't have near the popularity of 300 Blackout.

    Personally, I will have one or two big-bore ARs at some point in the future when I get around to it. What would I choose?
    First would be a 458 SOCOM. No proprietary mags, just a follower at most (optional). Wide variety of projectile types and weights to experiment with. Subsonic semi-auto operation is an option. With supers in the 250gr range, it's only maybe 50 fps slower than the 450BM. Any bullet that gives good terminal performance in the 45-70 will also give good performance in the SOCOM since velocities are similar.
    Second would be a .50 Beo just because it's a 50 :). Projectiles are very limited though and velocity is similar to 458 SOCOM for the same weight of bullet.
    I just don't see myself choosing a 450BM - it doesn't have the pizzazz of a 50, it takes proprietary mags and parts, and somewhat limited projectile options unless you are talking about using pistol bullets for plinking. Subsonic semi-auto operation isn't an option.

    Oh, and the .499 LWR is dead. I remember when it was going to be the winner of the big-bore caliber wars because the US Coast Guard was going to buy a bunch of rifles in that caliber. That fell through, the company went through financial problems, and the round just died off. Just wanted to add that bit of info for perspective.
     

    Hohn

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    Looks like the highest energy load for each caliber is:

    458: 2565 ft-lb
    450: 2722 ft-lb
    50Beo: 2878 ft-lb


    Personally I'm not sold on 450, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

    IMO, I like the huge bullet versatility of the .458 and the ability to use standard mags with reliability. That alone seems to be a huge thing.

    It's interesting to me that Wilson selected .458 for their big bore offering.
     

    AmmoManAaron

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    I'd like to see the .450 BM necked down to .35 cal :)

    Already been done in a round-about way and it never caught on even among wildcatters. It was the .35/284. A .284 Winchester necked up to 35 caliber (.284 Win is the parent case for 450BM). The round basically duplicated the 35 Whelen, but in a shorter, fatter case. It was about 200 to 300fps faster than the 358 Winchester and about 100fps slower than the 350 Rem Mag.
     

    jy951

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    I think the 450 bushmaster won because the ammo is alot cheaper and they can be used for deer hunting in certain states.
     

    BiscuitsandGravy

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    Proprietary mags? We just use a regular 10 or 20 rnd Pmag with a different follower.

    Isn't the 50 Beo stuck because it is still a proprietary design?

    :ingo:
     

    sht4brnz

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    Socom do not need any changes to the magazine, 556 follower works fine. Some have to remove the front plastic nub on the magpul, dependant upon the projectile. 458 has the least amount of modifications needed to function of the 3 being compared, 50 Beowulf, 450 Bushmaster, & 458 SOCOM.

    Saami approved cartridges are typically the only ones considered for mass production by the large manufacturers. I believe the 450 got saami approved simply because the Bushmaster name was acquired by Remington. The same story can be associated to the 300blk. AAC is now a part of Remington. Shortly after the acquisition it was also saami approved.

    The other cartridges, 458 & 50 aren't saami approved and you will not find a LARGE manufacturer producing these cartridges. It may be because they arent associated with or backed by companies with quite the same level of influence.
    At one point in time Corbon was producing 458socom, they have since stepped away. I understand the reason being that there were too many variations in chamber design that they found some barrels produced dangerous & damaging overpressure.

    Don taket this as fact, this is simply my observation.
     
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    Hookeye

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    The Ruger bolt offering was first a limited run for a shop (Randy's) in Michigan (PCR has straight wall case mandate IIRC).
    They sold out quickly.
    Then became a factory offering (they sure did ugly up that #1 version).
    I've thought about one, just for the hell of it.
    But hate the RAR bolt handle.......spindly cheap arsed looking thing.
    Maybe I should build a Savage.
     

    ChrisK1977

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    I have a .450 and it has killed deer by 5 different shooters now. Deer don’t go far after being hit with a 250 grain slug especially if that slug is starting out well over 2000 fps. I would love to reload but haven’t got the dies yet. Some of the reloads people have came up with make the factory stuff look like specials.
     

    spainy79

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    I won't bad mouth the 458 or the 50. I went with the 450 because at the time ammo was easier to come by. I've put 5 deer down with it since purchasing in 2013.
     

    Ggreen

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    I'm still deep in the beowulf camp. It's optimized at 16", it hits like a mack truck and ammo it's on the cheaper end. All good things for an ar thumper
     

    rhino

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    I'm not saying 450BM is the "best" only that it seems to have won. Sort of like Betamax vs VHS. VHS was technically inferior in almost every way and still won.


    So you're saying .450BM won because it was adopted as the standard by the pornography industry?
     

    ChrisK1977

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    I won't bad mouth the 458 or the 50. I went with the 450 because at the time ammo was easier to come by. I've put 5 deer down with it since purchasing in 2013.


    Five separate people have killed deer with mine. I Had one go around 60 yards on a heart shot but most have not made it farther than a few yards. Put in the lung area they don’t go far.
     
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