Feedback for Ruger .450BM Scout Rifle

[shuvelrider]

As the title states, I'm looking for feedback about this rifle. Been reading various reports online, to include limited factory ammo options, gonna reload for it anyhow. Hence my interest in the bolt action rather than the AR platform, plus the Scout offers iron/peep sights as a standard feature. An itch to scratch, is it worthwhile? Anyone own this rifle that cares to comment?

 

[mcb]

I am a big fan of the 450 Bushmaster cartridge. Unfortunately I don't own a Ruger bolt gun in 450 BM but everything I have read about the Ruger 450BM bolt guns have been pretty positive. Not much help there... 450Bushmaster.net has a pretty knowledge and avid group of guys using the Ruger 450BM bolt guns.

Curious why your desire to reload is pushing you to a bolt gun over an AR? To me the 450 Bushmaster cartridge sort of screams AR to me? I am running 20-inch 450 BM AR and my AR has never seen a factory loaded round of ammo. I only shoot my reloads and have been having lot of fun with the cartridge. I have loaded everything from 200gr to 405gr bullets. My personal favorite right now is Barnes 275gr TSX bullet.

 

[Gtscotty]

I have loaded everything from 200gr to 405gr bullets.

Not too derail, but were the 405s resized .458 bullets? Were they loaded to subsonic velocities?

 

[mcb]

Not too derail, but were the 405s resized .458 bullets? Were they loaded to subsonic velocities?

Yes Remington 405 gr Soft Point bullets initial designed for traditional 45/70 loads. I used a pair of Lee sizing dies and resized the .458 diameter bullets down in two steps on a closed arch RCBS press. The first step was a .454 die and the second step was using a .451 die. The bullets "sprung back" to ~.4515-.4520. I worked up two sub-sonic loads, one using Hodgdon/IMR Trailboss and one using Vihtavuori N32C Tin Star. The Tin Star worked better letting me get to ~1050 fps. It would not cycle my AR without a suppressor mounted. With a borrowed suppressor it ran well. A 45 rifle suppressor is on my wish list.





~2.4 inch group at 100 yards. Point of impact was over a foot below my point of impact for my 275gr TSX going ~1900 fps.

 

[shuvelrider]

MCB---- Something I read was talking about COAL with the AR magazines which limited the type of bullet you could use in reloading. I was not seeing much available in commercial ammo either as an aside, since I reload as a hobby it seems like a new project to get into with this cartridge. I do own an M4 carbine, so buying a complete upper would not be a problem. What bullet type are you using, ie SJHP, fp, polymer tip and the grain weight? I lean towards wood and blued steel, been looking at AR type rifles for 28 years with the army.

 

[mcb]

MCB---- Something I read was talking about COAL with the AR magazines which limited the type of bullet you could use in reloading. I was not seeing much available in commercial ammo either as an aside, since I reload as a hobby it seems like a new project to get into with this cartridge. I do own an M4 carbine, so buying a complete upper would not be a problem. What bullet type are you using, ie SJHP, fp, polymer tip and the grain weight? I lean towards wood and blued steel, been looking at AR type rifles for 28 years with the army.

That is one advantage most of the bolt guns have is having a longer magazine box. An AR is limited to 2.26 inch but a Ruger Bolt gun would allow a fair bit longer cartridge. For most bullet weights probably not an issue but definitely could come in handy with really heavy bullets. As you can see in my earlier post a 405gr bullet was no problem in a standard AR magazine.

Commercial ammo from the big loaders is pretty limited. Hornday and Winchester both offer a very similar if not the same 250gr ballistic tipped bullet load. Remington offers a slightly heavier 260gr Accutip bullet. I believe in both of these cases the bullet started life as a saboted bullet. Hornady/Winchester bullet was originally the SST used in a muzzle loader sabot Hornady offered. The Accutip bullet Remington uses I believe started life in a saboted shotgun slug. There are a couple other smaller boutique loaders loading 450 Bushmaster. I have not bought any but they are out there. There three I have found.

https://www.blackbutterflyammunition.com/
http://www.doubletapammo.net/
https://www.buffalobore.com

I have loaded everything from 200gr to 405 gr so far.



Left to Right: Barnes, 200gr XPB, Barnes 275gr TSX, Hornady 240gr XTP/MAG, Hornady 300gr XTP/MAG, Hornady, 225gr FTX, Hornady 250gr FTX, Remington 405gr SP (resized). I have also loaded 230gr FMJ 45 ACP bullets and the 300gr version of the FTX/SST

My favorite hunting round so far is the Barnes 275gr TSX. I have not shot a deer with it yet but so far this season I have dispatched a Raccoon and two Armadillos with it and it has done really bad things to them. I got lucky and recovered the bullet from about 3 feet of dirt after it went through the raccoon and I was impressed. 100% weight retention and beautiful expansion.

 

[shuvelrider]

Thanks, info from real-time use is what I was looking for. Professional articles are too scripted.

 

[gotboostvr]

@mcb

That TSX looks like some ad copy from a magazine. It opened up like that and maintained perfectly intact in dirt?!

If they'll open up properly on deer sized game as well, that's one though bullet.

 

[redneck]

I have the ruger ranch rifle and have used it for 2 deer seasons. I really like the rifle, it will put 3 shots touching at 50yds with hornady ammo, and groups well out to 100. I haven't tried stretching out much farther than that yet. It's very easy to carry, short and light but still doesn't kick all that bad. The shrouded bolt has a very smooth travel, and cycles quickly. The muzzle brake is a blessing and a curse. I haven't tried shooting without it, but have a feeling the gun will kick a lot worse. With it on, the gun is very loud and if anybody is standing next to you they about get their hat knocked off with the muzzle blast. I wear electronic muffs when hunting now.

I am a little disappointed in the hornady ammo for hunting. I had a bullet blow up on a doe this year. Doing a little research I was happy to find that there are more choices for ammo now than when I bought the gun. I will have to get it online, but federal, remington and winchester all load this cartridge now. If you're able to handload you have quite a few options, but for those of us that don't there are getting to be more choices on the market.

 

[Gtscotty]

Yes Remington 405 gr Soft Point bullets initial designed for traditional 45/70 loads. I used a pair of Lee sizing dies and resized the .458 diameter bullets down in two steps on a closed arch RCBS press. The first step was a .454 die and the second step was using a .451 die. The bullets "sprung back" to ~.4515-.4520. I worked up two sub-sonic loads, one using Hodgdon/IMR Trailboss and one using Vihtavuori N32C Tin Star. The Tin Star worked better letting me get to ~1050 fps. It would not cycle my AR without a suppressor mounted. With a borrowed suppressor it ran well. A 45 rifle suppressor is on my wish list.

View attachment 817149

View attachment 817150

~2.4 inch group at 100 yards. Point of impact was over a foot below my point of impact for my 275gr TSX going ~1900 fps.

If you're looking at picking up a .45 can that can be used on .450 BM, you've still got 10 days left to get in on the Rugged Obsidian promotion ($350 worth of free mounts etc).

That's why I'm considering the .450 BM, I just picked up an Obsidian .45 with the main goal of making a quiet big bore thumper. There are lots of cast bullets going up to 360gr that could be used for good sub loads in the Ruger bolt guns, which come pre-threaded and twisted fast. The problem seems to be finding good load data for subsonic .450 BM. Where did you come across your starting point for those 405gr loads? I'd probably shoot cheaper .452 pistol bullets most of the time, but the possibility of using resized .458 heavies is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mcb]

@mcb

That TSX looks like some ad copy from a magazine. It opened up like that and maintained perfectly intact in dirt?!

If they'll open up properly on deer sized game as well, that's one though bullet.

Just so you don't over estimate that bullet, though I am impressed with it and think it performs excellently. The bullet passed through a raccoon (moderate in size) and appears to have opened in the raccoon which surprised me for a bullet that slow and heavy. Went in the size of my thumb and out the size of a softball removing much of the internal organs, not pretty. The bullet then hit nice soft very loamy forest floor and because of the angles (I was in a tree stand shooting down a hill side falling away from me so a pretty flat angle at ground impact) the bullet went into the ground about 4-inches and then turned to run parallel to the surface. That was why I could find it so easily. There was a very clear tract of disturbed forest floor were it had traveled. I took a stick an simply followed the trough in the soft ground to the bullet. It luckily did not hit any rocks or roots bigger than finger size. Given how rocky most of our hunting property is there was a lot of luck involved in that bullet recovery and it being in such perfect shape. It expanded to just shy of .9 inches at it largest.

If you're looking at picking up a .45 can that can be used on .450 BM, you've still got 10 days left to get in on the Rugged Obsidian promotion ($350 worth of free mounts etc).

That's why I'm considering the .450 BM, I just picked up an Obsidian .45 with the main goal of making a quiet big bore thumper. There are lots of cast bullets going up to 360gr that could be used for good sub loads in the Ruger bolt guns, which come pre-threaded and twisted fast. The problem seems to be finding good load data for subsonic .450 BM. Where did you come across your starting point for those 405gr loads? I'd probably shoot cheaper .452 pistol bullets most of the time, but the possibility of using resized .458 heavies is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I started with Trailoss and in a rifle it is pretty hard to over pressure a cartridge as long as you don't attempt to compress the charge. Hodgdon has a nice little reduce recoil information PDF using Trail-Boss.

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/trail-boss-reduced-loads-2018.pdf

I used that PDF along with Quickloads to work up the Trail Boss load. When I topped out at about 900 fps due to the case being full I switch to Vihtavuori N32C Tin Star as it has similar characteristics but has a higher bulk density (not so fluffy) The Tin Star load (at some small risk) I worked up from complete scratch using all the information I had gained from all my other reloading of 450 Bushmaster to tweak Quickloads to create a model I trusted for 450 Bushmaster. Rather than go through all the gory details here I hope you don't mind a link to my write-up over at 450Bushmaster.net. Great forum by the way if your reloading 450 Bushmaster. Lot of 450 Bushmaster experience over there.

http://450bushmaster.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15365