Thread: 450 bm

Originally Posted by Avopik

So did u have to buy 2 sizing dies for your cast bullets? .458 for the 45/70 & .453 for the 450 bushmaster? How do the cast look after the smaller sizing die?

i would have gone 45/70 but really wanted a bolt action so got a sweet little ruger

Are they Hornady subsonics the 395 gr? I’ve found & heard that Hornady seem to run their subsonics slightly over the speed of sound to provide back pressure to cycle the semi autos they are so fond of… for instance the 45/70 subs I initially bought were running at approx 1140 fps through my 18” barrelled rifle. I pulled the bullets & reduced the powder charge from 18.8 gr to 16.5 gr to get the 1,030 fps I was looking for .. Good Luck

Originally Posted by Avopik

Are they Hornady subsonics the 395 gr? I’ve found & heard that Hornady seem to run their subsonics slightly over the speed of sound to provide back pressure to cycle the semi autos they are so fond of… for instance the 45/70 subs I initially bought were running at approx 1140 fps through my 18” barrelled rifle. I pulled the bullets & reduced the powder charge from 18.8 gr to 16.5 gr to get the 1,030 fps I was looking for .. Good Luck

@Avopik Do you know what powder Hornady used for those sub loads ?

I see the Hornady subs come in small and large rifle primers , the few box’s I have brought have been one or the other.

Hi Moa Hunter; I couldn’t identify the powder that were in the factory rounds. One of the Hornady podcasts ( listened on Spotify) ; the hornady guy said the powder they use for the subsonics wasnt a available for general public purchase. Alliant Red dot seemed to have reasonably close to the same bulk in the case where as Hodgdon titegroup seemed to take up very little case for the same weight ( around 11 grains) Of course there is a abit of variation in powder weight to get around 1,030 fps between jacketed bullets & hard cast … & Regular Large rifle primers & Magnum rifle primers ( run out of regular primers) Magnum primers gave an extra 30 fps for same powder load which equated to .5 gr less powder to get back to 1,030 fps
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