I have had this ugly little Ruger American 450 BM for 3-4 yrs now. Played with .45 auto bullets, the Horn flex tips and squeezed down .458 bullets.
I got some Hawk 300 grn spritzers, made for the 460 S&W in contenders they say.
I seated them out, as the Ruger has a 2.8 mag length. But they could be seated and used in an AR platform by the looks.
One thing I found, as there is only .275 of the bullet seated in the case, is more ES.
I then, after much carefull thought ( about 2 seconds) grabbed a stainless bore brush. I put it into a cordless drill and spun it in the case mouths. It cleaned any carbon out, and made little circular scratches. The bullets retried with the same amount of taper crimp as the factory loads .474
Velocity went up, and ES went way down, from 40+ to 16 fps.
I fired one 5 shot group at 100 yds. They shot 1" higher, but in line with factory Horn ammo. 1 3/8" with 4 in one ragged hole and one out at 2 o'clock. An ever so slight chance I pulled it.
I still don't see any high pressure signs at 2140 fps, but stopped there.
I tested them in a box made of 3/4 plywood made from some left over concrete forms, packed with catalogs, well soaked and a piece of 1/2 rubber mat in front.
5 shots scattered around the recovery box.
Interestingly, it pushed the screws through the wood and left the back ply gaped out almost 2"
I took the box apart to recover bullets and see damage. They went 11 to 12" of the 16" deep box. The bullets all expanded to within a quarter inch of their base, and measure just under or over 1" The cores were with the jackets, but I could pop them out by slipping a knife blade between jacket and core with ease.
I shot a decent buck with that load, it, fully cleaned out, weighed 176 lbs. It was in mixed hard and softwoods about 80 yds. Angled a little more then I thought when I shot. Deer made one jump and piled up.
I skinned the deer and used a rod to measure from where it hit a rib, angled through and out the front of the chest, right of center. 14" of penetration. Exit was large through the carcass, but not real big where it went through the hide ( very common) the skin is elastic.
All in all I like the bullet and load. I may see if Hawk will make me some 350 grn spitzers with the same point shape and .035 jackets of the 300's. They would be slower, maybe less expansion that it doesn't need as much of anyway.
It's a but ugly thing, but it's light weight, 16" barrel makes it a joy to carry.
It kind of grows on you after a time.

Thanks for sharing your results.
I am going elk hunting today with an AR in .458 SOCOM and the Barnes 300 TTSX. Will report, if there is anything to report.

I have had terrible luck with the whole line of Barnes mono's, so have not tried their 450 BM bullets. Yes everyone, I know they are wonderful, but we are just bad ju-ju for each other.

I'll send you guys some pictures of my 450 BushMauser. Yes, it's marked like that.
Feeds 450 Bushmaster ammo slicker than snot, on a 98 Mauser action.

Bill,
My son has a .458 Socom and has taken hogs and Nilgai with it. Bang flop on all. Shoot throughs on all.

You hit your target, it will go down.

Plus, the TTSX is a good bullet. I took a Nilgai with my .405 double and the 300 grain TTSX shot through for a one shot kill.

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:
I took a Nilgai with my .405 double and the 300 grain TTSX shot through for a one shot kill.

That is a story I'd love to hear around a camp fire