Testing 450 Bushmaster loads

I picked up some Scorpion 240gr HP muzzle loader bullets to try out in the 450B. They only come in packs of 20 rounds with sabots....but the price was cheap enough for experimental purposes.


They measured out to the correct diameter of .452" for the use in the 450B so I loaded up all twenty on top of 38gr charge or Lil' Gun. I also loaded 20 more with various different weights and types of bullets I swaged myself.

Fist bad news:
While trying center a case in the shellholder(midstroke) I managed to press the decapping pin into the knuckle on my left index finger. Proof that one needs to keep things slow and safe or sh*t is going to happen.

On to the range!(or my brothers back yard)

At first we wanted to have a little fun, so we loaded the mag with some of the oddballs I homes waged and shot at some pumpkins, tomatoes, and other garden veggies that didn't look good enough to eat. The we settled into filming some water jugs being destroyed.....well I didn't happen as we planned.

Second bad news:
The Veggies exploded just fine...but when we got around to the milk jugs, I missed,missed again and kept missing... wth?!?!?

3rd and 4th bad news:

I decided to stop waisting ammo and put up a large target to see where I'm actually hitting....the poi was about 10" left of the poa(at only 30 yards)....so I adjusted the scope. 2 more rounds got it close enough for jazz but I noticed the cross hair had broke on the left wire..grrrrr Back to the water jugs...as I went to charge a round into the chamber,the bolt would only move back about an inch. A quick inspection found the buffer's rubber ended had exploded into small granules, allowing the buffer weights to fall loose and this was causing the bolt not to cycle. Another wth?!?! and a quick "give me the buffer out of your AR" got us back on track.

We exploded many 2 liter bottles and milk jugs. We decided to do a penetration test and put a row of about 10 chunks of 2x6 up to see how many we could penetrate. I still had most of the box of the rounds loaded with the 240gr scorpions and only one left of my home swaged and it was just a flat point made from a 308 case and I think it was originally about 237gr. The 240gr scorpians penetrated about 5 or 6 boards and ended up being a large wad of lead and the home swaged penetrated about 8 boards, left a huge dent in the ninth. The point rolled back exposing the lead core and it still retained about 70% of the jacket walls.

I have pics of two recovered bullets, but my internet was down all weekend due to a storm that I couldn't get them uploaded yet. My brother also has video footage I'll share if he ever gets it uploaded.

By the end of the shooting session, the lower crosshair had also broken....so the scope was stripped from the gun and donated to the scrap pile before I packed up. Scope rhymes with footwell if that tells you anything.

My brother snagged the junk scope off the scrap pile and made a short vid....

Well, while doing a little investigating today...I found out the Harvester 240gr Scorpion bullets I shot though my bushy are only copper plated, not jacketed. No wonder they turned into a gob of lead on impact. The 450b is supposed to require a magnum rated heavy jacketed bullet to handle the high velocities they are being pushed at...funny, I know I pushed them copper plated scorpions at 2200+fps and never had a problem and I pushed all 20 I loaded down the pipe, not just a couple.

....I'll have to do more testing on this matter.

They must have a healthly dose of copper on them to hold up to that velocity--
Sounds like more R & D is called for

I wonder how the Hornady XTP's that they put out for ml would work? The last time I measured one, they measure around .452 in diameter??

Another thought here, what if you purchased a Lee push through sizer die .452, you think you could push some powerbelts through it and size it down to be used in the bushy? I know for the beowulf, they have load data for powerbelts, but they don't have to be resized as they are already .500 in diameter. Then again, .500 to .452 prob would require a couple push through dies to size down in steps which might not be worth it.... I dunno man.. just thinking here...

The XTP's work fabulous....and Hornady actually has a load developed for them in their newest manual. Some guys are starting to resize .458 bullets down to .452 an getting decent results....some guys are getting good results with certain .451 bullets.

I am trying to find a happy medium between performance and affordability....so far the XTP's are a out in front. For plinking, I am finding that it really doesn't matter how thick or thin the jacket is....it's all fun

That is very cool, now if we could figure a way to sabot some .429's to shoot from your bushy, then you will be another notch up on everyone else!!! LOL...

I have sabots that allowed me to shoot my swaged .429 through my ML. But that was to take .429 up to .500..........

I have thought of sabots before and may have even posted my interest in them. After some research I found a fellow that goes by Siringo on a few different other sites has done some testing with them. I'm not positive on the accuracy outcome, but they do function in the rifle. He noted the sabots get a small burned/melted spot on the tail end while passing the gas port. not extremely bad...but after a few rounds I can see how that might start to build up plastic residue in the gas system. The other downfall is the price. Just under $10 per 50. Heck, that's not much less than what bullets would cost.

dont you have a set of ch4d? why dont you just bump find bulk and bump them up in your dies? or am I all wet?

Reload3006 wrote:dont you have a set of ch4d? why dont you just bump find bulk and bump them up in your dies? or am I all wet?

My CH4D's are .429's for the 44mag.

I have been home swaging my own in my 243 dies....it works but it's time consuming.

But....since I now have to find a new scope for the Bushy, I might as well swage some bullets out for it until i can get one. Thanks for the reminder Reload

With that reminder, and thinking about what Reload typed..... is it possible to take one of your swaged 44's and run that up into your 243 die that is adjusted way down with the home made punch and see if you can bump it on up to the size you want?

I would imagine it would take an untrimmed 44 mag case with the 175 grain cast in order to get the weight you want....

Just a thought and in my teeny tiny head, and pea size brain, it ALMOST sounds like a plan???

Of course, I probably just repeated what you and reload just said, but in different words...... hmmmm I am slow today....

Some of that you just said kinda makes me think you want me to put a 44 mag bullet into a trimmed case and swage it together to get the desired .452"....is that what you are saying?

Or are you saying I need to make some brass 45 cal sabots out of used cases that use .429" bullets?....now that's an interesting thought.

well I thought you had 45 ch4d and i Figured you could bump up some 44 bullets or actually get some 9mm lead and swage them in 40s&w cases

I was kinda thinking along the lines of making 44 swaged bullets and then bumping them up in your 243 die to make it .452. Maybe less work than just swaging 45s??? I could be wrong in my thinking tho...I prob should stop while I am ahead LOL

Which is along the lines that Reload is talking about. But since you don't have the ch4d dies for 45, that 243 die your using to make your 45's might work the same?

I managed to get my 250gr .429" ch4d bullets to swage out to .452" last night with out too much effort. With a little modifications on the top punch, it will work even better. But at least it works...

DW, does the CH4D 44 and 45 dies use the same HP top punch? If so I might eventually order at least a 45 die body and use the guts out of my 44 dies.

Yes, both HP punches are the same size. You could use the 44 HP for the 45 die.....

Daywalker wrote:Yes, both HP punches are the same size. You could use the 44 HP for the 45 die.....

That's some good, need to know info right there...

Thanks DW