Anyone shooting 185= 200 gr in the 450 bushmaster

[brstevns]

Was wondering if anyone is shooting light weight cast say 185-200gr or even lighted in the 450 bushmaster. Looking for some loads to use in a 93 mauser . Even bullets like the collar botton bullet. Maybe with a powder like Bullseye or Unique. All I want to kill is paper targets around 100=200 yards.

[brstevns]

Was hoping someone had tried Bullseye for a plinking load.

[hporter]

If I can ever get some time off from work, I will have something to share.

I bought a Ruger RAR in 450BM last year specifically to fool around with these types of loads for fun. I enjoy shooting my 45-70 trapdoor rifle with collar buttons over a pinch of Bullseye, and I thought that it might be fun to shoot those types of loads through the Ruger. I have a Ruger RAR in 300 BO and .223, and have enjoyed shooting sub's through them immensely. Saves a lot on powder - and puts a smile on my face.

I have a bunch of .45 caliber molds for my LC and ACP handguns, and I picked up the Ranch Dog TL 295gr mold from NOE over the summer as well.

I used Gordon's Reloading Tool (GRT) to develop some starting loads for the Lee 255 RNFP and the RD 295gr bullets. For the Lee 255 I created loads designed to achieve around 1000fps using Bullseye, Tite Group, AutoComp, Power Pistol and Unique. I know you were looking for lighter weight bullets, but I have a ton of the 255 RNFP already cast up and so I will start with it.

But I still haven't even shot the rifle once - been too busy. I am hoping to do so over the Christmas holiday.

[G W Wade]

Hoping to learn something too. Son has theRuger 450 BM and I have been wanting to try some Lyman 225 TC reduced loads for my grandson. GW

[brstevns]

If I can ever get some time off from work, I will have something to share.

I bought a Ruger RAR in 450BM last year specifically to fool around with these types of loads for fun. I enjoy shooting my 45-70 trapdoor rifle with collar buttons over a pinch of Bullseye, and I thought that it might be fun to shoot those types of loads through the Ruger. I have a Ruger RAR in 300 BO and .223, and have enjoyed shooting sub's through them immensely. Saves a lot on powder - and puts a smile on my face.

I have a bunch of .45 caliber molds for my LC and ACP handguns, and I picked up the Ranch Dog TL 295gr mold from NOE over the summer as well.

I used Gordon's Reloading Tool (GRT) to develop some starting loads for the Lee 255 RNFP and the RD 295gr bullets. For the Lee 255 I created loads designed to achieve around 1000fps using Bullseye, Tite Group, AutoComp, Power Pistol and Unique. I know you were looking for lighter weight bullets, but I have a ton of the 255 RNFP already cast up and so I will start with it.

But I still haven't even shot the rifle once - been too busy. I am hoping to do so over the Christmas holiday.

I do have the Lee 255gr mold. Will be lookimg forward to seeing how you do.
Been building a 450 on a 93 Mauser action. Looking for some light loads because I have some eye surgery coming up thru the winter months. Once I heal enough and the doctors give me the go ahead I want to shoot it.

[brstevns]

If I can ever get some time off from work, I will have something to share.

I bought a Ruger RAR in 450BM last year specifically to fool around with these types of loads for fun. I enjoy shooting my 45-70 trapdoor rifle with collar buttons over a pinch of Bullseye, and I thought that it might be fun to shoot those types of loads through the Ruger. I have a Ruger RAR in 300 BO and .223, and have enjoyed shooting sub's through them immensely. Saves a lot on powder - and puts a smile on my face.

I have a bunch of .45 caliber molds for my LC and ACP handguns, and I picked up the Ranch Dog TL 295gr mold from NOE over the summer as well.

I used Gordon's Reloading Tool (GRT) to develop some starting loads for the Lee 255 RNFP and the RD 295gr bullets. For the Lee 255 I created loads designed to achieve around 1000fps using Bullseye, Tite Group, AutoComp, Power Pistol and Unique. I know you were looking for lighter weight bullets, but I have a ton of the 255 RNFP already cast up and so I will start with it.

But I still haven't even shot the rifle once - been too busy. I am hoping to do so over the Christmas holiday.

Could you share those Bullseye Powder loads you were using that gave around 1000fps with the Lee 255 gr bullet?

[hporter]

Could you share those Bullseye Powder loads

I worked them up in Gordon's Reloading Tool, and although they are in line with Bullseye loads I have shot in the past, I wanted to test them before sharing to make sure they function as expected and the velocities were somewhere near the predicted levels.

My buddy and I are taking a day off from work next week to go shooting. So I should have something to report back soon.

If I have time this weekend, I want to load some up with Titegroup and Unique as well. I received my NOE .453 sizer bushing last week, and I wanted to size some down from the .454 I loaded previously. I started at .454 as member CW Longshot had reported that he had very good results sizing his 450 BM at that size.

I ran some of my 500gr and 405gr 45-70 bullets through the .454 sizer and they went through great and with little effort. At some point in the future I want to load these up with BP. I have the greatest time with my 1859 .54 Sharps carbine with 35-40 grains of BP and a 400gr bullet, and I assume the little Ruger would be fun in that role too.

My NOE order that I threw the sizer bushing in on was for the .460 Ranch Dog 350gr bullet. I want to play with that one too. I wish I had more time shoot. Work keeps the roof over the head, but leaves little time to play at the range.

[Jedman]

Loading large capacity cases with a fast burning powder works OK for light plinking loads. A friend of mine experimented with a single shot 45-70 and 700 X powder and got down to 7 grs. and it was still reliable enough that that he didn’t have any bullets that were stuck in the barrel. It had a very rainbow like trajectory but was fun to shoot as you could see the bullet arch thru the air and reminded me of shooting a sling shot.
Jedman

[brstevns]

Loading large capacity cases with a fast burning powder works OK for light plinking loads. A friend of mine experimented with a single shot 45-70 and 700 X powder and got down to 7 grs. and it was still reliable enough that that he didn’t have any bullets that were stuck in the barrel. It had a very rainbow like trajectory but was fun to shoot as you could see the bullet arch thru the air and reminded me of shooting a sling shot.
Jedman

I am really looking forward to see how all these work

[hporter]

Haven't gotten out to shoot, it rained too hard last week.

But I did load 2 different loads with the Lee 200gr SWC sized .452 with different charges of Bullseye to get a feel for where to start.

I even got a chance to try my new Lee bullet feeder on my Dillon 650. Worked a charm with the 450BM and the little Lee 200gr SWC.

Hopefully this afternoon I can try casting some of the Ranch Dog 350gr bullets from my new NOE mold.

[brstevns]

Any bullseye load up dates?

[hporter]

Got them loaded, now I need work to slow down so I can take a day off to give them a go.

[Lar5]

I've been sticking with a 250 grain RNFP hard cast. 10 grains of Unique for 1,150 fps or 10 grains of 20/28 for 1,210 fps. Just started playing with 200 grain lead truncated cone and 8.5 grains of 20/28 for 1,055 fps. Nice soft shooting and quiet round. Just using the 20/28 because I have 8 pounds and not much use for it. Because it's good and works in my Ruger American and my bullets, does not mean it will work for you.

[hporter]

Thanks for the tip. I've got a 4lb jug of 20/28 that I was playing with 44 special rounds with. I might have to give that a try too.

[hporter]

OK - I got out and shot my Ruger RAR for the first time yesterday. I didn't have too many rounds loaded, just a few to see what velocities I would get with Bullseye.



First Comment - These are not published loads, nor are they safe loads, nor am I recommending you try them. I am just posting the results of loads I tried out.

Second Comment - My iPhone would not cooperate with the chronograph. It worked with the headphone jack on the iPhone that I had when I first bought it. Then it worked with my next iPhone with the lightning port adapter. For some reason, this newest iPhone I had to buy when I switched carriers would not record the shots. The Caldwell software on the phone could see the chronograph, but it wouldn't record the shots. So I had to write them all down in a notebook.

Third Comment - I had previously read that a member had good results (accuracy) sizing his cast bullets to .454. The bullets sized .454 shot fine, but were very hard to chamber in my rifle. They were seated fully to the crimp groove, and it took a lot of force to close the bolt on. The other loads were all sized to .452 and they chambered with no extra effort needed. I loaded some dummies with no powder or primer to check the chambering before loading them, and they worked. So perhaps my cast bullets "grew" a bit since I loaded them to the point that they were not easy to close the bolt on. I need to experiment with the sizing more on the next outing.

Fourth Comment - I only had the target at 15 yards. This was primarily a scope sighting in trip (get it on paper), and a velocity verification effort.

Fifth Comment - I also wanted to mention that the Ruger single shot magazine adapter is a must with these short little bullets. I couldn't get any of them to feed with the 3 round magazine. But they chamber easily with the adapter just by dropping them onto the adapter.

Here are the results for the 295gr Ranch Dog plain based bullets with 6.5gr Bullseye:





Here are the results for the 255gr Lee RNFP bullets with 6.9gr Bullseye:





Here are the results for the Lee 200gr SWC bullets with 5.5gr Bullseye:





I couldn't get the 200gr Lee's to compute in Gordon's Reloading Tool with a subsonic load.

But the 295gr Ranch Dog and the 255gr Lee did.

GRT predicted 1114 fps with the 255gr Lee with 6.9gr of Bullseye. I got around 60fps less than that.

GRT predicted 957 fps with the 295gr Ranch Dog with 6.4 grains of Bullseye, I got about that with 6.5gr of Bullseye.

Not scientific, but interesting none the less.

I am looking forward to experimenting more and trying these out at longer ranges to see what kind of accuracy to expect. I have a AR500 pig silhouette that we put out around 50 yards away and I could hit it anywhere I aimed with all these loads. A good indication that this is going to be a fun little rifle to shoot.

[G W Wade]

Excellant! Been hoping for some encouraging info. My grandson will love something like this. GW

[brstevns]

Glad to see this load data. Was looking for a Lee 255gr load using Bullseye giving around 1000fps or just a little over.
Thanks