G/Day Folks, Jacko signing in for my first Post. I live in Queensland Australia.
A quick background why the .450 Bushmaster Ruger American Ranch Rifle has peaked my attention. We can not have Semi Automatic Firearm's but Bolt, Lever and Pump Rifles are OK at this stage. In Australia you must be licenced to own a Firearm and Firearms are grouped into classifications. You must be able to prove a genuine reason to own each Firearm.
Category A - Rimfires and Shotguns.
Category B - Centrefire Rifles not including semi auto's.
Category C / D Lever Shotgun with greater than 5 Round Magazine, all Semi Auto's and Pump Action Shotgun's - zero chance of being issued a Licence to own these Firearms unless your a Proffesional Shooter. Even then ongoing need to prove genuine reason for ownership and more stringent stargae condition's
Recently there's been plenty of noise from the Anti's to further restrict Law Abiding Firearms Owners and sadly Government is listening to their emotive illogical fear mongering dribble and my 45.70 Lever is under serious threat of being reclassified as a Category C/D Firearms due to Magazine Capacity. It only holds 5 but after their win with greater than 5 Shot Lever Shotguns reclassified to Cat C/D it's a matter of time before they to come after all Firearms with a Magazine Capacity greater than 5. We may well have to surrender non compliant Firearm's with zero compensation. Firearms are registered so there is no hiding or miss placing them without threat of significant Jail time and Fines. Makes no sense to punish Law Abiding Citizens for the Action's of Nutjob's and Criminal's but that's what the Bastards are doing
Enter the .450 Bushmaster Ruger American Ranch Rifle. It ticks any number of Boxes for my idea of what a Hunting Rifle should be ! Lightweight, affordable, limited Magazine Capacity so the Anti's might leave it alone for a while [ Grrrrr ] The .450 Ranch Rifle will not be hitting our Shores for some month's yet, perhaps mid Year but that's fine as it gives me time to save my Pennies for the Rifle and associated goodness such as Reloading Dies, Cases, Cast Bullet Moulds, Scopes, Ring's etc. The main use will be Hunting Pig's Goats and Deer.
Plan at this stage is to fit a Skinner Ruger American Rear Peep http://www.skinnersights.com/ruger_firearms_22.html and fit a Front Sight Blade, what type and how yet to be decided, that swell to enable the Barrel Thread is unusual. I have a Remington 700 Long Action Weaver Rail I'd like to have modified into a Scout Scope Mount. I had this done with another Rifle I have and it worked out a treat. The Ranch Rifle is screaming out to be given the Scout Rifle treatment. If it pans out I can not modify the Remington 700 Rail due to Barrel Profile, no worries I will fit a Leupold 2.5x20 Scope to keep it as light and well balanced as possible. 200 Yards is a long Shot where and how I Hunt so I'm not worried about being under Scoped.
I plan to shoot mostly 300 grain Cast Bullet's to keep cost's down as we pay at least double what you Folks do for Projectiles. The Bushmasters Case Capacity / Ballistics appear to make for a very good Match with 300 gr Cast Projectiles driven at full noise. I already load another Rifle with Cast Bullets to 2150 fps so I have the right Alloy and Lube on hand. Just need to buy the right diameter Sizing Die and a suitable Mould. I have a Projectile along these lines in mind http://leeprecision.com/mold-6-cav-c452-300-rf.html . It won't be any longer than a 250 gr FTX so I will be able to push it reasonably hard. I need to find out if it will feed from the Magazine and if not, what does ? There's bound to be someone who has tried it, if not I'm sure someone will soon.
I have been scouring this Forum and the Web looking for any and all information and advice. I'm sure I'll be put straight with any fanciful idea's I have
regards Jacko