Long time lurker, 1st time poster!
Bring from SE MI, I was ecstatic when they changed the law to allow straight-walled cartridges last year for deer. The 450 Bushmaster sounded too good to be true so I went ahead and bought a 20" upper for my AR. Well, the round was not only pleasant to shoot, but exceeded my expectations for accuracy. I soon realized though, that hunting with an AR was not my game. I am a bolt guy through and through. I began researching bolts and found nearly all of my information on here. I talked with several builders and decided to go the economical route with a Savage Hog Hunter with an Accutrigger as a donor. Savages are not the prettiest machines, but they are more than suitable workhorses for the relatively short ranges the 450 BM is capable of.
A friend of mine did the grunt work installing the heavy recoil lug and barrel on the action. He also modified the magazine to flawlessly feed the 450 rounds, making the gun a 3+1. The 20" heavy varmint barrel was made by Apache Gunworks in a 1/16" twist, which my friend media-blasted and finished in a matte gun coating. Atop the action is a DNZ one piece Game Reaper scope mount (those things are AWESOME) and a simple Nikon Prostaff 3x9. I free floated the barrel and glass bedded the action into a Boyds Thumbhole stock with a Limbsaver recoil pad and finished it with a sling:
Was able to get out and shoot for the first time a few weeks ago and after 6 shots to get zeroed in, I settled down and shot this sub MOA 3 shot group @ 100 yards:
Needless to say I was very pleased! Recoil in the bolt actually felt less than that of the AR.
Total investment into the build, including all accessories was under 950.00
I'm hooked and am already thinking about version 2.0!