New member, and hopefully soon a new 450BM owner

[Fear58]

Hey all,

So I've been browsing your corner of the inter-webs for about a week now, and I have to comment on how great this community seems to be. Great information, respectful... how forums should/used to be. Big props! The fine fella's at calguns.net pointed me in this direction for 450 Bushmaster questions.

Anywho, I've been after a big bore AR variant upper for about two months now. For the first month, I was drawn to the .50 beowulf (probably just from their PR compared to bushy's). After sorting through all the murkyness of what would be best for me, I decided the 450 BM was the way to go. Mostly, a big emphasis was placed on market support for the 450 BM round online.

So I come here with a couple general questions...

I've had my eye on this particular 450 BM upper... http://www.thegunsource.com/item/190078__Bushmaster_Rifles_Shotguns_Upper_Receiver_Barrel_Ass.aspx?SR=1
I notice the gas block is different from the majority of the ones with picatinny rails. Is there anything to say about this particular model compared to the picatinny gas blocked models?

Also, I see that ammo generally ranges from $25-30/box. Of course this is steep, but have online retailers ever been known to throw any of the 450 rounds on a sale? That's usually when I scoop up some bulk ammo.

In terms of ballistics, I've heard that the 450 BM is great at 100-200 yard kills, then limits out in force. Where i typically hunt deer annually, there's a prime spot I have taken a couple of deer from a tree stand that usually average to about a 275 yard kill, give or take. How does the 450 BM do when taking it out of the comfort zone beyond 200yards?

Thanks!

[wildcatter]

Hey all,

So I've been browsing your corner of the inter-webs for about a week now, and I have to comment on how great this community seems to be. Great information, respectful... how forums should/used to be. Big props! The fine fella's at calguns.net pointed me in this direction for 450 Bushmaster questions.

Anywho, I've been after a big bore AR variant upper for about two months now. For the first month, I was drawn to the .50 beowulf (probably just from their PR compared to bushy's). After sorting through all the murkyness of what would be best for me, I decided the 450 BM was the way to go. Mostly, a big emphasis was placed on market support for the 450 BM round online.

So I come here with a couple general questions...

I've had my eye on this particular 450 BM upper... http://www.thegunsource.com/item/190078__Bushmaster_Rifles_Shotguns_Upper_Receiver_Barrel_Ass.aspx?SR=1
I notice the gas block is different from the majority of the ones with picatinny rails. Is there anything to say about this particular model compared to the picatinny gas blocked models?

Also, I see that ammo generally ranges from $25-30/box. Of course this is steep, but have online retailers ever been known to throw any of the 450 rounds on a sale? That's usually when I scoop up some bulk ammo.

In terms of ballistics, I've heard that the 450 BM is great at 100-200 yard kills, then limits out in force. Where i typically hunt deer annually, there's a prime spot I have taken a couple of deer from a tree stand that usually average to about a 275 yard kill, give or take. How does the 450 BM do when taking it out of the comfort zone beyond 200yards?

Thanks!

Sorry for the late reply, I only just found your post.

You ask many questions, let me try to tackle some of them.

The gas system you are interested in is on a 20" model. The barrels that sport the Picatinny rail system on the gas block are the 16" barrel.

275yd shots are a walk in the park, on deer, for the 450b, assuming the shooter is up to the task. If you've been killing them with any of the 30cal magnums, at that range, you are in for a VERY noticeable treat..

..t

[Jeepejeep]

Welcome! You are correct in that there are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people here.
For deer, the 450 will have plenty of balls for a quick kill at 275 yards but it drops a lot at that range! Dope that out and if you are skilled enough go for it.

[Hoot]

Your profile doesn't say where home is, so here's an estimate:
From a 16ft Tree Stand, at sea level, at a comfortable 40 Deg (a gift where I hunt):



Mind the wind. You don't want it to turn into a spray and pray.

Hoot

[BillytheKid]

Welcome aboard! I have that upper myself, and I love how it shoots. I wish they had put a picitinny gas block on it, just to give me more options, but, it is what it is, and it shoots great!

[BD1]

There are a couple of scopes available with BDC reticles matched to the Hornady factory load for the .450B. Just happens to be the 250 grain FTX at 2,000 fps which was the basis for the BDC reticle on both the Leupold Ultimate Slams and the Nikon Omega muzzleloader scopes. I have the Leupy and with a range finder consistent hits out to 300 yards are easy if you do your part. As Hoot's table shows the trajectory is really falling off beyond 225 yards or so, so accurate ranging is important.
BD

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Welcome to our electronic campfire! I too have the 20". There are actually 2 gas blocks on the 20". One closest to the receiver is the active gas block, the one you see outside the handguard is just there so you can maybe mount a BMAS BUIS I guess. It can be removed or replaced by a different configuration if you want.
WC will correct me but I think the gas block DIA. Is 0.75"? I'm not sure though so if you have intentions of swapping for something else, jump in and we can find out for sure. But there are quite a few threads on the gas block here if you do a search for the topic. As for kills with the Thumper out to 275, if you can do that shot with a 300 or a 7mm, you, should have the skill to do it with the 450B.

[Jim in Houston]

Also, I see that ammo generally ranges from $25-30/box. Of course this is steep, but have online retailers ever been known to throw any of the 450 rounds on a sale? That's usually when I scoop up some bulk ammo.

Right now, Palmetto Armory http://palmettostatearmory.com/1686.php has 20 round boxes on sale for under $20, which is the cheapest I've seen. There is another thread on ammo availability, which usually has info on prices and suppliers. In addition to the "national names" (Midway, Brownells, Cheaper than Dirt, Sportsmans Guide), some of the local gun shops may have special offers, which get posted here. The price of the ammo pushed me to get into reloading, which - after a $500 investment in high-end equipment (you could do it for less) - brings the cost down to less than half of retail and pays out after reloading 300 to 400 rounds. There is a thread on reloading, with a lot of good info on getting started and how to do it - also a lot of YouTube videos.