Too Extreme. why not S&W500?

Its rimmed!!!

Those bullets be mine!  The solid coppers are a whole lot easier to size than the new Hornady 325s or the Speer 400's.  300's and 405's are a piece of cake.   Like BN says, do them in steps.  The only bullet I have not shot out of my 450B is a 500 gr.

The 250 gr Hornady FXT, by the way, is not a pistol bullet.  It actually started its life as a muzzle loader sabot bullet to replace the use of pistol bullets in sabots and to turn the old smoke pole into a 200 yard deer rifle (flatter shooting).  It is built for speed and hunting big game (deer, black bear, piggys).  Look over the muzzle loader boards and you'll find that most if not all of them use 250 gr. bullets in 50 caliber sabots.  Very few 300's and nothing heavier.  300's exhibit twice the drop at 200 yards as the 250's.  Sighted in at 150 yards, the 250's drop about 5 inches at 200 yards.  The 300's drop 9 to 13 inches depending on bullet nose style (actual field measurements, not paper ballistics).  Also, I have found that the 300's are not as accurate at 200 yards as the 250's.  MY theory is the bullet (300's) have dropped from supersonic into transonic speeds and are getting buffeted around.  

Of all the testing and playing around I have done with the 450B, I come back to the 250 gr Hornady.  They did their homework, great accuracy and great terminal performance.  

It is a whole lot of fun playing around with these big bores on a AR15 chassis.  Whether is be a 450B, 458S or 50B –– go have fun!

i knew one of you'd be around sooner or later.

You don't see much about the 50 GI on the board either...

Last few times we spoke with the folks making that one, they were not interested in making ARs in their caliber (or wanted to keep it in house).  The .475 Wildey would be a good candidate too....  Part of the challenge is that many of the other large bore options have limited availability of brass or dies - case in point the .44 Auto Mag (if you don't want to make your own brass)

Actually they are "Ours"

Top pic is yours, bottom pic is mine.


I think all of the big bores are cool.

There can be no doubt that the 50 Beo is just a monster bullet launcher, the biggest down side is the scarcity of anything related to the product. Ammo, brass, rifles, parts, they are just scarce.

The 458S was always the winner in my eyes for versatility and really my only interest in Big Bores at all, but I just wasn't interested enough to get into them. I felt I had no need for a Big Bore. Still, I thought the idea of the 458s was cool.

The 450b was just a moment of weakness for me during one of their first big sales. I still had no idea why I would want one. but by reflex I bought one solely because of the price. At first I started to have some regrets. No brass, only one kind of ammo, no info at all about reloading or anything else. Then the big thread at Calguns started and people really started experimenting and coming up with cool stuff. I started 450bushmaster.net simply because I had the web space and so that I had access to all the experimenting that was going on, and boy am I glad I did. So many things have happened to really make me glad I chose the 450b.

Still, all of them are cool. All of them have strong points and weak points, but in the end I'm really happy with my choice.

Well I'll wait on it as it seems to be truly extreme.  I have to start reloading anyway for 6.8, so I may as well go all in on reloading.  I doubt I'll actually shoot the 500 that much, so 200 rounds should be plenty to have on hand.

I am just not a Bushmaster fan at all.

Care to elaborate? Why is headspacing on the shoulder better? It's more work to reload after all.

Because headspacing on the case mouth (450b, 50B) is a bad idea, look at how much trouble it has been for everything that does that, well other than 45 ACP, that seems to do it just fine, oh and 9mm, that seems to have no problems from it, but 40 S&W has been a wreck... wait, no, it hasn't had any problems with it either.

Well, other that the millions of rounds fired every year though auto pistols in various calibers headspacing on the case mouth has been a complete disaster. There are thousands of stories about how dangerous it is... too bad I just can't think of any right now.

it has yet to be produced and since you need WSSM oly uppers I doubt it ever will be to be honest....

Ive chambered more than a few AR15s in 50GI 45win mag brass is cheap.

How many others can say they own all three and if could only own one would not pick the socom??
point being, its easy to argue why the thing you spent your hard earned cash on is the best choice after you bought it.
If somebody has bought and shot extensively all three I value that opinion over one who has bought the cheapest thing they can get their hands on.

Why? I have yet to see an argument why the 458S is clearly the better choice.

I have owned/used (a lot) both the 458 Socom and the 50 Beo, I really had no interest in the 450 Bush as I was unfamiliar with it and the low cap magazine capacity didn't work for me. BTW are there any higher cap mags made for it at this time ?
I used the 405 grain Remington in the SoCom which is a very good bullet at SoCom velocities for this area ( this bullet at 458 X 2 velocities act like a Blitz King) . In the 50 Beo I tried several bullets but would probably use the 500 grain XTP. A local kid hit a large Brown broadside with a perfect shoulder shot (within 50 yards) it shattered both shoulders and stopped on the offside against the hide, it expanded to around the size of a silver dollar but pretty much held together. I used standard GI mags in both and had no issues with either once I worked with them for a while and figured them out. I think there both good.
I don't really see the handgun bullets as being a problem, there are a lot of very good bullets for any of the three at the velocities they are capable of reaching. The 50 Beo is a 50 with a lot of frontal area.

Choices choices. I'm starting up casting, so the commercial projectile options is of lesser importance for me.

I guess that considered I'd go with the most reliable build in which ever choice the manf. chose. What kind of reputation does Alexander Arms have in that regard concerning it's uppers, even 6.5 Grendel uppers?


Kinds of reminds me of the medium-action 6.5mm rifle situation. Several options, no dominant choice (though I like the .260 myself).

Now that is a sweet rifle.

Casemouth VS shoulder debate. Makes no diference to me. I think its more the brl/twist/load/shooter. Here is the 50AE, 458RMW(short) & the 50GI. All 5 shot groups @ 50yds. I sent Marty a pic of a group that I recorded with the 458Socom with one of the first 3 prototype brls from Tony @ Tromix. Cant find it but mabe Marty still has it?

50AE


458RMW(short)


50GI

There are some who would argue that the 45 ACP does not headspace on the case mouth, but rather on the extractor groove - the extractor holding the case against the bolt/slide face.  Easiest way to prove or disprove this theory would be to stick a 40S&W round in a 10mm mag and rack the slide.  I am currently withholding judgment on this theory until I can do some testing.  But I digress.

Headspacing on the case mouth is not "bad" and certainly not dangerous but it does affect what you can and cannot do in terms of reloading.  The type and amount of crimp that can be applied on a cartridge that headspaces on the case mouth is different than that of a shouldered cartridge.  It also affects the ability to seal the case mouth.  There are also those who contend that a shouldered cartridge lends itself to greater accuracy potential versus one that headspaces on the mouth, but I am not aware of any scientific study that has been performed to prove or disprove this theory.  It does appear that a bottleneck cartridge facilitates feeding in an autoloading rifle or at least allows for a slightly tighter chamber.

As to the picture Ron took, it is prominently featured on our website and here it is in all its glory

Thats it She was a mild load but that brl loved it. If I remember corectly that group was fired @ 100yds with a 2x pistol scope in the scout position. Everyone thought it looked odd but this was before the red dot craze

I have both a 458 and a 450. The 450 is the rifle that rides in the truck and log skidder, not too mention the rifle that I also use for deer and bear hunting. If I had it too do all over again I would have waited and just bought the 450 only.

I do not reload, which is probably why the 458 sits in the rifle rack at the house, that thing will break the bank in a short time if you are not reloading.