450Bushmaster.net

Hello,

I chose the 450 Bushmaster over the 458 Socom & 500 Beowulf due to cost and availability of factory ammo and reloading components. Hornady and Winchester factory ammo is available for about $1.34 per round. Reloading components: powder Lil'Gun $23.99/lb $.13 per 37 grains, primers CCI #41 $45.99/1000 $.05 per primer, bullets Hornady 250gr FTX $26.99/50 $.54 per bullet or Hornady 230gr FMJ $20.39/100 $.20 per bullet, brass 450 Bushmaster $30.59/50 $.78 per case, factory Hornady ammo $26.99/20 $1.34 per cartridge. Reloading I can produce a 250gr FTX for $1.50 or 230gr FMJ for $1.16, subtracting the cost of the case reloads drop to $.72 for a 250gr FTX and $.38 for a 230gr FMJ reload. For the 25 yrd indoor range I frequent the 250gr and 230gr reloads shoot to the same point of aim.

Cheers,
W-W

In my opinion, use the 225 FTX instead of the 250 FTX. They are alomst half the cost and work very well in just about everything.
Although you mentioned 25yds, so really the FMJ's should be good enough. If you constantly look around you can find 230FMJ for real cheap, just make sure they aren't plated.

I have yet to even find any factory ammo for the 450BM, despite looking locally for two years. Everywhere I go they claim it's either unobtanium or so overpriced they won't order it. I know I could go online but I don't like paying shipping if I don't have to. But while loaded ammo is hard to find, components are both readily available and affordable, to a point. My first reloads were a mix of five bullets, with two powders, and I still like experimenting, but these days Lil Gun is my dedicated powder.



My latest batch of reloads uses the Speer 300-grain flat-point, and shooting them off a bench will get your attention pretty quick! There is a Russ Schuler muzzle brake on the way, which should help moderate things a bit.

IMHO, the recoil associated with launching heavier bullets is not as much from the "rocket effect" that muzzle brakes help reduce. Its from Newton's 3rd Law. When I resized and loaded up some stout 325gr FTX bullet loads, the Schuler 4-Gill brake did not provide much help with my rifle, which is the heaviest 450b in an AR platform, that I know of, from pushing the rifle and my mass around. I'm the only member here with a Stainless Steel Lower, for more weight, not to mention a reciprocating lead weight inside my A1 stock, the rest of which is filled with 2-part fiberglass, again for more weight. Its seriously heavy, but so am I, so its not hard for me to to handle. I can only imagine the recoil if I were launching those 325's or stout 300gr loads from some featherweight platform. The brake helps, don't get me wrong, but it is not the solution for heavy projectile related recoil. Where I really notice the difference between brake vs no brake is when launching lighter, considerably faster loads, especially TSD's hyper-velocity 230 FMJ recipe! Bolt action 450b owners probably chuckle at what we AR 450b reloaders call stout loads. The bolt action experience is and probably will forever be something I just read about. I'm quite happy with my autoloaders.

Hoot

i have a ross brake on my ar as well... full house 300gr XTP loads -you know you're behind a gun. its not awful but i'd compare it to a well made 3" magnum 12 gauge deer slug load.