and it looks like it's gonna be fun to shoot WHEN I get some ammo for it (should be in early next week). Geesh, new gun and NOBODY has any ammo.

Finally after a couple of tries got hold of a warm body at Hornady and they said they'd shipped some to Ellet Bros. (wholesale only), so I called my dealer and sure enough, they had it and I'm going to have some by Mon or Tues. Damndest thing I've ever seen, big promo, guns are out and no one's got any ammo, there are NO published case dimensions that I can find, there are certainly no dies available yet but I'm plunging on.......

I'll try to give an initial shooting report next week.

Good luck with it! Should be a great gun!

Just like when Ruger came out with the .375 Ruger, the ammo from Hornady was out weeks/months after the guns were being sold...

Found some info for you



Based on a Shortened .284 Winchester, the case has a beautiful taper from the .500 head down to its .478 outside neck. It throws a 250-grain SST with the same .452 diameter as the .460 S&W Magnums 200 grainer but with only 38,000psi to avoid excessive bolt thrust. Depending on barrel length, its advertised at around 2,150 city, 2,250 highway. Your velocity may vary.

^ from the 2007 book of the AR-15

Well, Charles, you know how I am about computers and pics plus there really isn't much to show, it's just a 15 with a slightly chunkier barrel than most with a picatinny rail but if you really insist I'll try to take a pic for you.......assuming it functions well, I plan on using it to dispatch some local sus scrofa.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Well, Charles, you know how I am about computers and pics plus there really isn't much to show, it's just a 15 with a slightly chunkier barrel than most with a picatinny rail but if you really insist I'll try to take a pic for you.......assuming it functions well, I plan on using it to dispatch some local sus scrofa.

Should be a perfect pig rifle. Of course, I say that about my 9.3x62, 9.3x74, .375, .458...those pigs give us a great excuse to buy things we otherwise would have no "reason" to buy!

Well, I got some ammo in factory Hornady 225s which is all that is currently made or available, supposed to produce 2200 fps muzzle. As far as I know dies are not being manufactured yet.

At any rate, took it out and shot it today. First of all, let me say that the .450 Bushmaster as it came from the factory may not have the worst trigger pull I've ever had to deal with, but it is certainly in the top ten at a slightly creepy 8 or 9 pounds. Temporarily (which for me might be forever) I mounted a Nikon 2-7x on it and bore sighted it while doing so. I treated the barrel with colloidal graphite, which might or might not help, but I usually do it on new barrels anyway, so the first shot usually has a lower POI. Hit the black at 25 yds, adjusted, shot 1 at 50, adjusted and shot 3 that went into about 2/10s inch CTC. I was thrilled. Due to time constraints and the fact that I'm hunting pigs in what is usually tight cover, not to mention the $1.50/shot factory ammo cost, I didn't shoot it at 100. I'm ordering a drop in McCormick trigger Monday.

Recoil is there, but certainly not a real issue. This is with the hard "military" buttplate. It would be helpful to and I may tape a layer of polysorbathane on it.

I'll try to explore the arcane (to me) world of posting pics tomorrow and post some of the gun and group.

As an addendum, later today near dark, for the first time, I shot my new .50 Beowulf upper that I put on a lower I had with a decent trigger. Recoil was somewhat more than the .450, shooting factory 325s at about 1950mv, but not unbearable by any means. Accuracy was somewhat disappointing, especially after the stellar .450 performance, but well within minute of pig. I had a couple of friends there so I kind of shot, adjusted, shot etc while letting them shoot a few. I didn't shoot a formal group, but I make it at about 1 1/2 to 2 inches at 50 yards, not as good as I'd like, but not so bad at to make me throw up either. I just received dies and brass so I'll fiddle with loads and bullet wts when I find the time.

Sounds like a very fun outing and an excellent pig gun indeed. Did you have any cycling problems or was it nice and reliable?

If you run into picture posting trouble let me know. If you set up a free Photobucket account and upload the pictures it gives you a window with the IMG code for posting -- just copy the code into your post and the pictures show up.

lol

I still want to go the AR big bore route for pigs. But first the 9.3 has to be blooded. Packy

Charles:

So far both guns have cycled flawlessly, but we're only talking about roughly 10 rounds each, hardly a torture test.

So far so good!

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
lol

Glad you like it