I liked the idea of a .450 Marlin in a SA bolt gun the first time I heard about it. If I was chosing between the short .458 and the .450 Marlin in a bolt gun, I'd probably lean toward the .450 Marlin. Cases are good quality and I wouldn't have to spend time with case prep. And, theoretically, the wider belt would have a perceived safety dividend over the std. mag case converted to the short round.
IMHO,
DF
I agree %100 with you, it should be the easy choice. The only issue, and it's a big one, is that Hornady is the only company who makes .450 Marlin brass.
Marlin dropped their own .450 Marlin. The only two other rifles that I'm aware that are chambered in the .450 are the Browning BLR and the Steyr Big Bore. I'm not even sure if they both are still available. The only big company that loads the .450 Marlin is Hornady. All this makes getting .450 Marlin brass in the near future iffy and expensive. The beauty of the .458x2" is that you can take any range pickup magnum brass and chop them at the 2" mark and you now have .458x2" brass. I'm still on the fence but it does make the .458x2" attractive.
I see your point, to avoid being a slave to one companies marketing quirks.
That sorta goes against an earlier poster postulating that the .450 would prevail in the 45-70/.450 competition. And, of course, I took issue with that idea.
I just don't like a lotta case prep. If I was going to build a .450, I'd squirrel away a lifetime cache of brass and not give it second thought. Hornady brass is very good in my experience, although I've never worked with the .450 round.
As a disclaimer, I currently own six 45-70's of various types, not one .450.
DF
