bushmaster reloading for the ruger bolt gun

[Jbiker]

here's a question !! I'm loading barnes 275 gr tsx copper bullets for the ruger BUSHMASTER BOLT GUN.

So far in the prep work , starling cases ,all trimmed to 1.691. +/- .001, cci 400 sr primers and 4227 powder @35 grains . The coal @2.228 +/_ .005.
I'VE BEEN GETTING A VELOCITY BETWEEN 1400 AND 1600 FPS and the best grouping at 100 yds for 1.8" X.8 ".

Has anyone got or found load data or results using this bullet with H335 OR H322 ?
If one seats the bullet at the 2nd cannula (closest to the ogive) these bullets seem to be long at 2.330 COAL . also it appears that anything over 45 grains of H335 would be getting into a compressed load area.
The hogddon 2023 basic reloading Manuel lists the loading for a 300 gr SFT af/hp at 52.0 grs of h335 with a COAL OF 2.065, this appears to be a compressed load with no warning as such.....

So before I go and try anything ,I figured I'd kick the question out there for comment's ..
No I'm not rookie, been reloading for the last 5 decades. But there doesn't seem to be a lot of data out there that I've found to date .! Comments ? please !

[405grain]

I'm just starting work on building a 93 Mauser in 450 Bushmaster. The accurate mold 45-280D looks like it would be a good match for the 450BM. Any recommendations for cast loads in this caliber?

[mnewcomb59]

I can't help you too much for the data, but I saw on another site where guys were using higher pressure loads for bolt guns, maybe using 460 data. There was even a company that was selling special bolt action loads with copper bullets at long OAL and high pressure. So basically what I'm getting at is if it is close to listed data it has to be safe in a bolt gun since there is a dedicated group of people who load it up to 60k PSI and they still have all their fingers.

But that does seem like an awful lot of powder to get that kind of speed. A really inefficient load. I load 21.8 gr Lil' Gun with a 452 315gr in the 45 colt rifle and it goes 1650 at 30k PSI. You are shooting 1.75x the amount of powder and getting less velocity with a lighter bullet, so thats gotta be like 15k PSI. You could probably shoot about 12 grains of Unique or something and get the same speed and safe pressure. Powder probably won't ever go down in price and that seems like such a waste. Future-you might be kicking present-you in the butt one day. If you can use 12 grains of the correct powder vs 35 grains of sub-optimal powder for the same speed and both loads are safe pressure, you could be saving the second powder for a role where it shines or just blow it out the muzzle mostly unburnt.