450 BM

I use the 300gr Mag XTP.

The Barnes 275gr TSX is an awesome 450 Bushmaster bullet.

mcb said:

The Barnes 275gr TSX is an awesome 450 Bushmaster bullet.

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The 250FTX is a little fragile. I've used it on hogs from a 454 Casull carbine - same ballistics as the 450 BM - and they do come apart. The 275 Barnes on the other hand will do the needful to anything you dare shoot with the 450 BM.

FTX and Barnes have good BC to get a few more yds of range. IMO, this is a good reason to use one or the other since the 450 is not exactly a long range cartridge. Still though, if your good at long range shooting then you can probably make a lot of different bullets work out to the relatively short max range of the 450.

I use 300 gr Nosler Partition Protected point. Don’t think they make these anymore since Midway has them as discontinued. That’s ok though because I think I like the 275 Barnes for my next bullet anyway.

I was going to bed last night and was on my phone hence my short post. More rambling and pictures now that I am at a keyboard.


The Barnes 275gr TSX has worked very well for me in 450 Bushmaster.

The 450 Bushmaster is not a Creedmoor so sub-MOA is not typical of most 450 Bushmaster rifle/ammo combos. The TSX shoots decent from my gun, typically doing about 2-MOA for me. Here is the last 5-shot group @ 100 yards I shot late last summer getting ready for deer season. There are few places I can shoot more than about 120 yards where I hunt so this is more than sufficient for my use.



The terminal performance has been impressive. Two years (3-seasons) ago I shot a raccoon opening morning with it. Raccoon did not fair well. The bullet then went through the raccoon then about 2.5 - 3 ft of forest floor. It was one of those flat hits where the bullet looks like it creates a mole tunnel. I dug down at the end of the tunnel just a few inches and recovered this:


Nearly perfect expansion and 100% weight retention after gutting a raccoon and penetrating that much dirt.

I killed several armadillos with it that year also. Texas heart shot a big armadillo, bullet went in just above the tail and exited the at the neck creasing the left side of the head, and it split all nine bands of that 9-banded armadillo.

This year I finally took a deer with my 450. I really wanted to recover a bullet in a deer, something I have never done. So when a large doe gave me a head on shot I took it. Her head was down and the bullet hit the back of her neck, traveling the length of the neck and most of the length of the body. Entrance was about 4-5 inches behind the ears and the exit was about 4-5 inches in front of the rear legs. Broke the neck and took out two ribs and the heart going into the body cavity. Red arrows indicate entrance and exit:


She weighed 140 lbs live weight.

At the time I was bummed the bullet exited but since she dropped right in her tracks I knew exactly where to look for the bullet. With the help of my metal detector I recovered this bullet two weeks later:

The bullet had penetrated about a foot of dirt at an angle and was down about 6 inches below the surface. I had shot her head-on but from a slightly higher position in a deer stand. The bullet retained 95% of its weight loosing one petal. I believe the petal was lost breaking the neck I did not find it in the body or in the ground.

I am only pushing them to ~1850 fps, using a load near the bottom of Hodgdon's published data. The recoil in mild and the performance has been awesome. I have killed a raccoon, three armadillos, and nice doe with them so far and nothing has moved a step from where it was hit.

There are lots of other good bullets for 450 Bushmaster so don't think this is the only good bullet. It is just the one I have been using the last three years and it has not let me down. It is pricey though, typically costing ~$1 a bullet. It is not a plinking round for sure.

-rambling

@mcb

Your excellent posts on the 275 TSX are the reason I am switching to it in the AR.

The tubular mag if the impending 336 conversion will force me to rethink it again. Probably a 270gr deep curl or 265 or 300 A Frame.

earlthegoat2 said:

@mcb

Your excellent posts on the 275 TSX are the reason I am switching to it in the AR.

The tubular mag if the impending 336 conversion will force me to rethink it again. Probably a 270gr deep curl or 265 or 300 A Frame.

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I look forward to reading about you 336 conversion to 450 Bushmaster when you get it. I know some guys over at 450bushmaster.net forum have been playing with large metplat hard cast polymer coated lead bullets in 450 Bushmaster. Those might be cool to try in your 336 too. The Deep Curl or A Frame will definitely work well for sure though.

I have used the 240g hornady xtp mag bullet in 450 bushmaster for a cheaper alternative to the 250g FTX. I use the FTX to hunt with and the XTP to target shoot, they have a very close POI in my rifle.

I took a large bodied buck with the 250g FTX this past fall, it did not disappoint. Full pass through with excellent wounding. Blood trail was like a highway for the 20 yards it ran.

My boys and I all shoot the 450 BM through AR's. At the time there were few options from manufacturers, we went with Hornady Black (250 grain) and found them to be quite accurate and effective. When you find something good, stick with it. Got a hold of the recipe Hornady uses for those factory rounds and began reloading my own. It is so close that mixing reloads and factory rounds you can't see any difference at all. Sure there are other fine options that others can steer you to.

Been using 230gr .451" fmj with AA#9 for a nice, mild recoiling blasting round.

Killed a doe last season with a 300gr .452" XTP MAG over a stout load of Lil Gun. This load is not for the recoil sensitive from a light AR.

JCSC said:

Thank you for the detailed posts and information.
Looks like the Barnes is the hands down terminal option. 1$ a bullet won’t fair well for target shooting, but I will definitely make a load for these for deer season.

Beeenbag. Are you using those XTP in a gas gun or bolt? I wondered if the would cause feeding issues. I have the single feed tromix mag and I had about two rounds give me issues out of 40, so it’s semi dependable. This was with the 250 FTX.

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I’m running it in an 18” barrel AR, carbine length gas tube. I haven’t had any feeding issues with it. I’m using an AR stoner 450 bushmaster, 5 round magazine.

The problem with trimming 450BM is the brass gets shorter not longer with each firing. Eventually it gets too short to headspace correctly.

JCSC said:

Even though I messed with it a few times, it wanted to skip back rather than deprime.

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The weak point. Be sure the rod is straight. An off center punch will hit the web of the brass and be forced back. I use a dedicated de-capping die also.

JCSC said:

I was also surprised that it only sizes the first 1/2” of the case. Hopefully this will provide adequate service in my AR. I figured I would get more of a full case size job.

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The Bushmaster does not operate at quite so high a pressure. It could only appear to size that far, because it doesn’t get walloped as hard as other cases.

JCSC said:

I didn’t feel I would get a consistent crimp with that much length variation.

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I don’t crimp mine. Are you using the FCD that makes the stab crimp in the side?
A moot point as you’ve trimmed them already, but that is a small variation. I haven’t trimmed mine.

I see @mcb has already illustrated why.

If you flare the correct amount, there is no need to crimp the 450BM.

It headspaces on the case mouth just like an autoloading pistol round. Crimping would produce excessive headspace.

I don’t crimp or flare my 450 loads, I haven’t played with them as much as others but have used the 240 gn FTX mag and 225 gn FTX in 16 & 10.5” barreled AR’s.

Both feed fine out of .223 mags with a 3D printed insert on top of the follower. 450 on the left.

I think this is it.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2933498