450 Bushmaster benchrest??

R

reynolds357

New member
Anyone ever thought about building a 450 Bushmaster heavy b.r. rifle. I dont shoot anymore except 1000 yard on occasion, but am thinking about building a 450 for 100 and 200 yd. I have an AR light barrel 450 B.M. that will shoot 1/2 " 5 shot groups at 100 with a 6 power scope. The cartridge has potential. .45 would be a wide hole in the target shooting for score. I know that it wouldnt be in the small group game. The 6mm owns that. I think the Bushmaster would be legitimate in a full benchrest rifle.
 
AR light barrel 450 B.M. that will shoot 1/2 " 5 shot groups at 100 with a 6 power scope.
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Not that I don't believe you--but what you're saying is essentially every shot goes through the same hole! :eek::) I've shot one-hole groups with my 458 socom--but the over-all group was still just under MOA cause, well, .45's make big holes. :D
 
stagpanther said:
Not that I don't believe you--but what you're saying is essentially every shot goes through the same hole! :eek::) I've shot one-hole groups with my 458 socom--but the over-all group was still just under MOA cause, well, .45's make big holes. :D
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You dont measure outside to outside. You measure center to center. You do that by measuring inside to outside. You can technically shoot a 1/4" group with 70 caliber bullets.
 
Benchrest shooters are not about to try the 450 Bushmaster.
I've been hanging out with a bunch this year.
Their outlook on things is "shoot what is winnning matches".
I had brought up the newish 6GT cartridge.
Was immediately shot down because "it's a PRS cartridge, and it's not already winning benchrest matches".

Myself, i like different. If i wanted to believe that what everyone else has is the only way to go we'd be driving Ford Model T's still.

I say build it!

I'm catching a lot of flak from BR guys with my 7mm-08AI build.
But i'm not only after the short range game.
I really want to try 1 mile.

Oh, and Stag,
I've seen a 0.132" group from a 30BR this year.
 
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std7mag said:
Benchrest shooters are not about to try the 450 Bushmaster.
I've been hanging out with a bunch this year.
Their outlook on things is "shoot what is winnning matches".
I had brought up the newish 6GT cartridge.
Was immediately shot down because "it's a PRS cartridge, and it's not already winning benchrest matches".

Myself, i like different. If i wanted to believe that what everyone else has is the only way to go we'd be driving Ford Model T's still.

I say build it!

I'm catching a lot of flak from BR guys with my 7mm-08AI build.
But i'm not only after the short range game.
I really want to try 1 mile.

Oh, and Stag,
I've seen a 0.132" group from a 30BR this year.
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I am seriously thinking about re-barreling my 284 Winchester to 450 BM. I would actually make the 450 brass from 284 Winchester so I would not have to change bolts. It would actually be a non-rebated 450 bm.
 
I like the idea of showing up with a "less than .6 BC" bullet to compete in precision match--go for it!:D:D--why would you go in reverse buy using a long action?

Anything BR and spawned from it are generally pretty competitive cartridges.

BTW--I've found that for the rifles I put together that use pistol cartridges and bullets--Lehigh bullets generally produce very good results. Why? Dunno, just do. :)

My CVA paramount muzzleloader that shoots 45 cal powerbelts is amazingly accurate--now I wonder what if.......:D:D
 
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stagpanther said:
I like the idea of showing up with a "less than .6 BC" bullet to compete in precision match--go for it!:D:D--why would you go in reverse buy using a long action?

Anything BR and spawned from it are generally pretty competitive cartridges.

BTW--I've found that for the rifles I put together that use pistol cartridges and bullets--Lehigh bullets generally produce very good results. Why? Dunno, just do. :)

My CVA paramount muzzleloader that shoots 45 cal powerbelts is amazingly accurate--now I wonder what if.......:D:D
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My 284 Winchester is not a long action. Its one of my 1000 yard benchrest rifles and is short action since it doesnt have a magazine. All I would have to do is re-barrel and be ready to go.
 
I think that if the OP wants to try it, and he does know there are limitations, he should build it. Challenges will include:

- finding bullets with <1/4 moa capability
- recoil will effect how the rifle rides the bags
- long barrel time will make gun handling even more important
- wind drift at 200 yards will be a challenge

Personally I think it would be a lot of fun.



.
 
TX Nimrod said:
I think that if the OP wants to try it, and he does know there are limitations, he should build it. Challenges will include:

- finding bullets with <1/4 moa capability
- recoil will effect how the rifle rides the bags
- long barrel time will make gun handling even more important
- wind drift at 200 yards will be a challenge

Personally I think it would be a lot of fun.



.
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Believe it or not, the flex tip hornadays are 1/4 moa capable at 100 yards. Not sure about 200. You would not have to shoot 1/4 moa. Just a shade shy of 1/2 would hit every x.
 
So, you know from experience that the FlexTip .452 bullets will shoot 1/4 moa groups? Well, “1/4 moa capable” and the ability to agg 1/4 moa on demand are two very different things. Just because you can shoot a few random 1/4 moa groups doesn’t mean the bullet/load will shoot aggregates at that level on demand. But then, BR shooters already know that....



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TX Nimrod said:
So, you know from experience that the FlexTip .452 bullets will shoot 1/4 moa groups? Well, “1/4 moa capable” and the ability to agg 1/4 moa on demand are two very different things. Just because you can shoot a few random 1/4 moa groups doesn’t mean the bullet/load will shoot aggregates at that level on demand. But then, BR shooters already know that....



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Since my 6PPC and My .30 BR dont always shoot 1/4 moa I guess that they fall in the same category.
 
I do like the “dare to be different” caliber choice for benchrest shooting. I took on that challenge years ago with a Savage MK2 in .22LR. It would regularly shoot a hair over 1/2” groups. It also took me close to a year to find the right combo to make it do that.
 
Or just shoot the paper once and fire the other rounds off paper and brag about how good you really are?/?

I say go for it, a heavy barrel target 450 would likely be fun.
 
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