tridentarmory wrote:There is a large market for subsonic suppressed firearms.... is there a market for the 450 if it can be done easily?
Can a 450 run with little to no modification, subsonic?
Why is the subsonic concept so popular, and what is its major reason for purchase on the american market(self defence, Law Enf., or plinking and fun)?
what is the range desires of the average suppressed purchaser? are we talking 100' or 100 yards?
It seems to me with the number of pre-existing projectiles in the right caliber are available... designed to expand reliably at the right velocities, and cheap to purchase.
Do you care about ballistic coeffecient at subsonic levels?
In the .45 caliber, it appears that a lot of the interest is for relatively close range suppressed weapons. In that realm, the .45 ACP has some merit and according to some suppressor manufacturers, is one of the cans they have trouble keeping in supply. So I think the demand for a .450 BM from that group will be limited because of the relative size of a handgun to a carbine. There are some local LE entry teams that have recently acquired several variants of .45 ACP suppressed weapons for entry teams and they seem to be pretty happy with the initial training.
Then you have a flip over to the longer range suppressed weapons, and the carbines walk right in. Here accuracy and BC are important because the stand-off distance helps to mitigate action noise. Competing with the .300 Whisper is easy, competing with the 300AAC, not so much. The larger whisper calibers never gained much traction as compared to the .300. If the company was not so (you know) they would OWN the mid-range suppressed marketplace. At this time, going head to head with the 300AAC, I would not go to a .450 BM in a carbine. The .30 caliber 240 grain slugs hold their velocity so well at range, past 100 yards, they will pass the heavier slugs of the .450 BM that would be need to be suppressed. I'm not seeing any high BC slugs in .45 caliber that are in the 500 grain range that will be effective at the 100 to 300 yard ranges.
To me, a .450 SS and Suppressed won't give me anything over the competitive cartrdiges. For plinking, I use .22 and 9mm, for short range, the .45 ACP, for mid-range, the .300 (something) in an AR-15 platform. For hunting and actual long range, suppressed is still good, but I shed the subsonic requirement because ultimate performance is my goal.
While I might be able to see some credence to the guy with only "one gun", the folks who buy suppressors typically are not one gun folks.