Any one hunt with .450 Bushmaster?

I love my RAR 450 for its light weight & ergonomics. No gripes for accuracy either with my hardcast loads using 250-360 gr boolits at speeds in the 13 to 1500 fps range. Fitted a Timney trigger to the bugger and its a nice improvement for me over the factory one. T'aint hunted with 'er yet, but will do if/when the occasion allows. The scope is a 1-4x Bushnell Prime with G4 reticle that's perfect for my use.

View attachment 516033

Gotta commend you for great taste in scopes, I bought that one for a .35 Whelen "brush gun" and I am thoroughly impressed with it. And I don't feel under-scoped for longer shots. That's a great pairing with the RAR in .450.
 
This looks ideal. How do you like shooting it without the brake?

Are you resizing .452 boolits in that weight class, or are they available to purchase somewheres?

I'm using .452" hardcast boolits in 200 & 250 gr from my stash of original Bullet Barn projectiles as well as 360 gr Cast Performance bombs that I got from Rusty Wood Trading. They all shoot fine for me. The 360's loaded to 1500 fps are snappy from these rifles, but not painful from the bench and just peachy for off hand use. I ditched the brake before I even took the 1st shot with the RAR & will never use it. My RAR is fast becoming a favorite fer me.
 
I love my RAR 450 for its light weight & ergonomics. No gripes for accuracy either with my hardcast loads using 250-360 gr boolits at speeds in the 13 to 1500 fps range. Fitted a Timney trigger to the bugger and its a nice improvement for me over the factory one. T'aint hunted with 'er yet, but will do if/when the occasion allows. The scope is a 1-4x Bushnell Prime with G4 reticle that's perfect for my use.

View attachment 516033

that scope is steal at the price they were a while ago. 225$ shipped and nothing bad to say about the light dot or clarity for sure.
 
Dead straight on that. For us folks with astigmatism, that dot is super nice compared to reflex type units. .:)

Same boat here, that's why I picked it over a red dot! True 1x, great field of view! 30mm tube, good light transmission, low enough mag that the glass shows clear, no aberrations at full power, and the dot on 3 or 4 is plenty for most hunting. Maybe 5 or 6 at high noon (or just turn it off completely). I can't stop heaping superlatives on it for the cost (mine was $250 but I got 25% off and a $40 rebate).

It's so good it has me rethinking my 2-7 and 2.5-8 scopes. That combo plus big bullets out of handy rifles is just so good.
 
im doing my hunting with a .450 bushmaster this fall... the ruger *spit* American fits the bill.
balistically its 200m with a single point zero. with a .250gr its putting down nearly as much powe as a 250gr 45/70 at 200m.
i will be reloading 230gr .45auto projectile s once the .250 Hornady are used up. Aparently you can get those shooting even flater and the options are endless.

it deals with shala a lot better then the 7.62 x39 i was planning on using.
 
I'm using .452" hardcast boolits in 200 & 250 gr from my stash of original Bullet Barn projectiles as well as 360 gr Cast Performance bombs that I got from Rusty Wood Trading. ...

Decent accuracy with those 360s? I would have thought the slow twist in those barrels would be trouble - Isn't it 1-16"? I'd really like it if they would group at subsonic speeds.
 
im doing my hunting with a .450 bushmaster this fall... the ruger *spit* American fits the bill.
balistically its 200m with a single point zero. with a .250gr its putting down nearly as much powe as a 250gr 45/70 at 200m.
i will be reloading 230gr .45auto projectile s once the .250 Hornady are used up. Aparently you can get those shooting even flater and the options are endless.

it deals with shala a lot better then the 7.62 x39 i was planning on using.

I would test the pistol bullets for proper expansion and weight retention before using on game. There was a reason why Remington specifically designed a new projectile for the Caliber to optimise performance at rifle velocity on game vs using pistol bullets
 
Sounds excellent - Where was this deal?

Doesn't look like the mail-in is still available. This: https://www.precisionoptics.net/Bushnell_PRIME_1_4x24mm_SFP_G4_RP1424BS9_p/rp1424bs9.htm plus this:
2021-BUSH-15MORE.png

will get you under the $250 mark.
 
I've had far to many Bushnell scopes fail on me over the years = I will never buy another.

I have a Leupold VX 2 2-7x36mm long range reticle on my Ruger American in 450 BM
 
Decent accuracy with those 360s? I would have thought the slow twist in those barrels would be trouble - Isn't it 1-16"? I'd really like it if they would group at subsonic speeds.

No worries, as 1 in 16" is an ideal twist rate for 45 cal bullets up past 400 gr at subsonic speeds. Hell, for years the standard twist rates in 44 magnum & 45 Colt rifles ran from 1 in 34 to 1 in 38". The slow twist rates worked fine for the factory loaded 240 & 250 gr ammo back then. Thank fook for the factory makers like Ruger etc that listened to all the demands from folks wanting heavyweight boolit performance in their rifles.
 
I purchased an MDT LSS and skeleton stock chassis setup for my Ruger American on MDT's black Friday sale last year.

The setup refused to allow me to chamber wide flat meplet bullets or XTP'Mags.

Finally got around to checking it over last night did some cleanup on the feed ramp etc still no go for feeding these bullets so I swapped back to the factory stock.

I can now feed everything again.

Guess I have a chassis to sell now.
 
No worries, as 1 in 16" is an ideal twist rate for 45 cal bullets up past 400 gr at subsonic speeds. Hell, for years the standard twist rates in 44 magnum & 45 Colt rifles ran from 1 in 34 to 1 in 38". The slow twist rates worked fine for the factory loaded 240 & 250 gr ammo back then. Thank fook for the factory makers like Ruger etc that listened to all the demands from folks wanting heavyweight boolit performance in their rifles.

That's great, thanks. Just comparing manufacturers, and I see some actually spec a 24-twist. Do you think that would still work for heavy slow bullets?

It's hard to argue with the lighter weight and price point of the Ruger, but I think the Howa Mini is pretty similar but with that 24-twist.
 
That's great, thanks. Just comparing manufacturers, and I see some actually spec a 24-twist. Do you think that would still work for heavy slow bullets?

It's hard to argue with the lighter weight and price point of the Ruger, but I think the Howa Mini is pretty similar but with that 24-twist.

I'd reckon the 1 in 24 should be ok with boolits to 325 gr at 1050 fps. Not sure if the 360's would do well at sub-sonic speeds in the Howa.
 
I've had far to many Bushnell scopes fail on me over the years = I will never buy another.

I have a Leupold VX 2 2-7x36mm long range reticle on my Ruger American in 450 BM

i had more failures from leupold than bushnell. as a matter of fact never had a failure on any elite scopes. i sent in the last 4 years 4 scopes to korth and 3 to leupold usa. leupold oregon was not able to fix 2 of the scopes.

and no im not eating scopes for breakfast but i discovered that having the scoped rifle on a sled is taking a big toll on scope or loaning a 4x and 1.5-5x20 to friends for bison hunting again proving that sled beating is worse than anything else.
 
Back
Top Bottom