anybody hunt with a 450 bushmaster?

[roadrunner681]

i am interested in hunting with a ar15, how does the 450 bushmaster work, what bullets are available do i have to use different magazines? could i get a barrel with suppressor threads for the 450? hunting with a suppressor would be very fun. where i hunt is very open and i could shoot quiet far how does it do down range? i figured i ask on here some one will know or has one.

 

[DocIndy]

I hunt with a 458 SOCOM in an AR. With the 450, you will need specific mags, 458 uses standard 223 mags. Both have factory threaded barrels and you can add a suppressor to either. Neither is a 500 yard deer gun. I wouldn't hesitate on a 150-200 yard shot with the SOCOM. It just depends on the person behind the trigger being comfortable with the rifle and knowing the capabilities of the caliber. Both are good for deer. I went with the SOCOM because I can use heavier weight and heavier constructed bullets for hogs and black bear.

 

[digitalrebel80]

The 458 is the better choice to used suppressed(lots of ammo choices). There is less ammo choices the 450 only has 2 or 3 and none are subs. The 450 mags suck I ended up modding some pmags to fit (not fun). Both have threaded barrels. Like DocIndy said about 200 yards max less with subs. I hunted with the 450 last year didn't like it and sold it. This year I am going to try a 300blk pistol AR with a can of course.

 

[roadrunner681]

I hunt with a 458 SOCOM in an AR. With the 450, you will need specific mags, 458 uses standard 223 mags. Both have factory threaded barrels and you can add a suppressor to either. Neither is a 500 yard deer gun. I wouldn't hesitate on a 150-200 yard shot with the SOCOM. It just depends on the person behind the trigger being comfortable with the rifle and knowing the capabilities of the caliber. Both are good for deer. I went with the SOCOM because I can use heavier weight and heavier constructed bullets for hogs and black bear.

do they use the same bullets that 45/70s use? i heard that today not sure if true. and having to buy mags just for 450 kinda kills it for me. the 458 looks like a better choice.

 

[DocIndy]

Yep...45/70 bullets for the SOCOM. You can go as light as a 100 gr. aluminum HP all the way up to 700 gr. in sub sonics. I run 300 gr. JHPs for hunting and took two deer last season with the Hornady 325 gr. FTX. Andrew at Profire has a Bowers suppressor on his 458. Check it out in the class III section. He posted videos of shooting it with the suppressor.

 

[BKExpress]

Go with the .458...I was in your situation a year ago and did a whole lot of research. .458 is the way to go.

 

[ryanbr]

My 450 works just fine. See dear. then hear a bang and watch them flop over dead. Good to 250 yds. with the Hornady rounds.

 

[nickman54]

I have a 450

It is a excellent gun for deer. If you buy a complete upper it will usually come with one mag. If you are handy you can easily modify a PMAG to work as well. The reason i went with the 450 was availabilty of factory ammo and cost of ammo. You can get more options as far as bullets go with the 458 but it is also harder to find brass. Either are GTG, have fun. 450bushmaster.net is a good place to find out about the 450

 

[10mmfan]

I am also a .458 socom hunter as well. I like the 325 grain FTX from Hornady. The big ammo companies don't load this one but if you hand load its a good load. I think Profire loads that bullet in Nickel plated cases and is a fairly priced source of quality ammo. 450 bushmaster and 458 socom are both ballistically similar to 45-70 with 300 -350 grain bullets. Barnes makes a ttsx bullet in 458 cal. A friend of mine swears on that bullet for deer and is planning on pig hunting down south with it this fall.

 

[RGriff69]

My son and I are headed to Tennessee to hog hunt this summer and we'll be using a 458 loaded with the Barnes 300 grain TTSX.

 

[kedie]

Here's the 8 pointer I killed with my .450 on opening day last year.



He was at approx 175 yards moving at a slow walk from my left to right. Hit him about 10 inches behind his right shoulder. He walked another 25 yards and dropped dead.

I chose the .450 over .458 due to the availability of factory ammo. I don't have the space in my house to reload. I have a Leupold VX-R Patrol 3x9x40 TMR scope on it.

Modifying 20 round Pmags for .450 isn't all that hard either.

 

[digitalrebel80]

magpul straight body 20s were the easy ones to modify but I think they quit making them

 

[BuckCreek]

How much does the 458 and 450 ammo go for off the shelf? I would love to have an AR I could switch between 5.56 and either 458 or 450, so it could be used for deer hunting. I have a pretty good idea of how much 5.56 goes for, but I haven't seen 458 or 450 around here to know how much it is and how hard it is to find.

 

[Chondro788]

Love my .450 Bushmaster, like everyone else, came down to the price per round. From what I've seen 458 SOCOM rounds are about $3.00+ while Hornady .450 bushmaster is about $1.50 a round.

 

[DocIndy]

.458 ammo gets a lot cheaper than factory if you reload. If you don't...just save the brass and Profire will reload your brass at considerable savings with bullets you choose. I had Andrew load for me before I got my dies. My 325 gr. lead cast gas checked rounds shoot same point of impact as 325 ftx at huge cost savings. You won't be shooting 300 rounds at a range session unless you are running a full auto... And I want to be there for that! I heard a rumor that Profire has a HK 416 dealer sample lower.......let the fun begin!

 

[JLL101]

As the original poster asked "anybody hunt with a .450 bushmaster? - I too would like like to have comments about your experiences with the .450 bushmaster round and it's strengths and weaknesses, in your view. I would be especially interested in any hog hunting or additional deer hunting experiences. Thanks to the poster who pointed out the 450bushmaster.net website. I am not interested in the .458 round.
[h=1][/h]

 

[kludge]

With the .450 Bushmaster you can reload using the excellent 240gr and 300gr .452" XTP-Mag bullets from Hornady which are relatively inexpensive, and the 275gr Barnes for slightly better ballistics. They will work on deer, hogs, black bear, or anything else you want to hunt - these bullets were designed for the .454 Casull and the .460 Mag which will take any game in North America. And obviously the 250gr FTX that Hornady designed for the .450 Bushmaster. With either round though, reloading is the best bet for ammo availability.

The only deer hunting experience I have with the 300gr .452" XTP bullet is in the .454 Casull at 1600fps. It was my first doe. The bullet went in pinky size and came out thumb size. It passed through the right lung and then turned the liver inside out. She went on here death run (downhill of course) and fell over after 40 yards

That load from a 9.5" barrel will go 150 yards before gravity starts to take over (MPBR +/-3"). At 200 yards there is still more energy than a .357 Mag at the muzzle and a bullet that weighs twice as much. I imagine that in a rifle barrel, although you can't match the pressure of the .454 Casull, you should be able to hit 1800fps quite easily. With a 240gr or 250gr bullet you should be able to hit ~2200fps with the same kintetic energy (Hornady's 250gr numbers) at 200 yards as the .44 Mag at the muzzle. Sighted 3" high @100yds you should be ~3" low at 200-205 yards.

Cons compared to the .458 is that bullets over 300gr are pretty slim pickings, unless you want to load lead. BUT, IMO anyone wanting a rifle for deer hunting should be looking at one of the .35 caliber offerings.