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

[BiscuitsandGravy]

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.

Word. Ours has performed 100% every deer season. The LGS had/has ammo and I could find barrels way back... It hits hard and is accurate. In 2017, after the heavy rains opening Saturday, my Son and I were hunting that Sunday afternoon... An 8 pointer walked in from behind us. My Son ranged him at 156. Put one in just behind his shoulder. He stumbled around like a drunk. My Son said, put another one into him. Bang- plop.

... And Santa is bringing me a set of 450 dies for Christmas! Looking forward to trying some Barnes solid coppers. I'm hoping they are like the Barnes Tac TX 110gr for 300BO on steroids.

 

[ChrisK1977]

I hope Santa brings me dies as well. My farthest was around 170 yards on a buck that weighed close to 300 pounds.

 

[DEC]

I built a 450BM back in 2014 in an AR. It has dropped multiple deer now and none have gone more than about 10 yards. Put it on the shoulder and let it eat. I've not shot the other big bores, but I have no doubt that they would perform equally as well.

Mine did give me a few fits in the beginning that took some experimentation to figure out. Mine has never liked regular AR mags with the 450 specific follower. I don't know why but it just doesn't. I ended up buying the actual Bushmaster mags but even then there were problems. I ended up figuring out through some online research that they put a mile of spring in these mags and it is not needed. I tore my mags apart and cut the springs down so that there is less feed pressure and all my cycling issues went away. Turns out the original springs were putting too much upward pressure and causing feed issues. Since those days mine has run like a Swiss watch. I've never had a hick up.

I'm not a big gun hunter, but if I take a rifle to the field for deer it is still my 450BM even though I have a brand new 270 bolt gun in my safe. Deer hunting with an AR platform is just too much fun.