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Ruger has supposedly done well with American rifles in .450 BM, due to arcane rules on allowable rifle cartridges Up Nort.
Think member Bullshooter had a custom a couple years ago, and he related that a Ruger dealer bought a special run of Americans from Ruger, blew them out in no time, then sold out a 2nd special run in no time, and at that point Ruger said to heck with this, we'll catalog them!
But I'm predicting those aren't going to sell very well
I could like a #1S in .480 Ruger, however, even if they made it stainless
While I do question the execution (i.e. muzzlebrake), I am thrilled there is some activity in the No. 1 world! My Ruger rep was in last week and when I quizzed him about the No. 1, he just smirked and said "Stay tuned!" So hopefully this .450 is just the first of many new models to come.
I've known about this rifle for a few hours. The other Yooper Bob from the 2017 Hog Hunt just got a notice from Davisons about the No.1 in 450B.
My first custom 450B was built in 2009 on a M1903 Springfield action, likely the first bolt rifle in the chambering. I carried it on the 2010 'fire hog hunt in Tx at 700 Springs ranch, but saw no shootable hogs. I did use it to kill a barnyard piggy at the 'fire's 2014 hog "hunt" in Tn. In the thread of the 2017 hog hunt, there is a brief account of pig killing with my 450B RAR.
The motivation for Ruger following my lead in building a 450B bolt rifle (cough) is wrapped up in the political complexities and irrationality of white-tail deer hunting regulations in the Midwest.
In the last couple of years, some shotgun-only areas in Indiana and Michigan have been opened to permissible use of pistol cartridges, including rifles shooting such cartridges. The rule-makers defined pistol cartridges by dimensions that included the 450B.
Randy's Hunting Center in Bad Axe thought the prospects for sales of a 450B bolt rifle were good, so they contacted Ruger who made them a couple thousand. The rifles quickly sold out after a bit of publicity in October last year. The store had so many inquiries they had to change the phone answering message to refer to their website, and installed a canned reply to any email message. .
. Ruger apparently took notice of the sales, so there are a couple of 450B bolt rifles in Ruger's 2017 catalog. Samples were shown at the SHOT show.
The introduction of the special issue Ruger No. 1 may indicate that Ruger has caught the 450B bug. It will be interesting to see whether the momentum of 450B sales will continue, and whether it can carry over to support marketing of the No. 1 rifle.
With three rifles in the safe chambered for the cartridge, I doubt that I can convince the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the urgent necessity for a No. 1 as the fourth.
Lets pretend for a moment that I don't know much about the 450BM (which I don't, other than I know that it's a 451-2 and not 458).
What bullets/speeds do you get with in the RAR?
Thanks
Scott- Long answer. The 450B was originally designed to function through an AR with a change of upper. The 450B case is a 284 Win case sawed-off at 1.70" length and slightly reconfigured with a squidge less taper, a small rifle primer, and with the front half of the case having an "internal neck" with little internal taper. If 284 Win cases are shortened for use in a 450, they require substantial internal reaming to prevent a large bulge when a bullet is seated.
SAAMI pressures are held to about 39K psi to prevent functioning issues with the AR platform. Factory ammo and handloads with pressure-tested data will produce 2200 fps MV with 250-grain bullets from 16" barrels. Current sources of tested load data are Hornady, Lyman, and Western Powder.
Handloaders can safely exceed this limit using bolt rifles designed for 65K psi. By how much is a problem.
The 460 S&W revolver round uses the same bullets as the 450BM, and has about the same case capacity. Because its SAAMI max pressure is much higher, load data for that round can provide guidelines for 450B loads to be used in good bolt rifles.
My RAR arrived only three weeks before this year's hog hunt, so I had time between snowstorms to work up only one load: a 260-grain HP Nosler HG Partition at about 2500 fps MV. My max load with W296 was less than that for the 460S&W. Reading the tea leaves of pressure (extraction, primer appearance, head expansion) showed no problems in my rifle. I didn't push it further. The rifle weighs just a bit less than 7 pounds with scope and it was bouncing into my shoulder pretty well. (The shoulder had just gotten a cortisone shot.)
For bullets of 250-260 grains, 2500 fps MV exceeds the 35 Whelen, 350 Rem Mag, and 444 Marlin, for example. Recoil is likewise enhanced.
Here's a video of a 200-grain FTX at 3000 fps into some water jugs out of my 450B bolt rifle with a 26-inch barrel. (Appropriately for this forum the rifle is a single shot.) The 3000 fps velocity is way above design limits of the bullet, which came completely apart in the first jug. .
. Apologies for length. I started explaining stuff to the keyboard. --Bob
Very good info, thanks. I guess it (450) headspaces off the mouth, like a 45ACP then?
Scott- The 450B cartridge does headspace off the mouth. just like many auto pistol cartridges. Not many rifle cartridges do so.
This method of controlling the depth that a cartridge enters the chamber requires some care in reloading. A heavy roll crimp or careless trimming can allow a cartridge to have excess headspace, with the problems that follow, including ignition difficulties. It also can allow the case mouth to move too far into the leade of the chamber, which may effectively wedge the bullet, causing very high pressures when fired.
Bullets are routinely taper crimped to minimize headspacing problems.
Hornady furnishes a taper crimp die with their loading die set. However, the instruction pamphlet provided with the set fails to mention the die or how to set it up. Further, the inserts in the seating die of the set are used also with the 460 S&W, which headspaces on the rim and which can benefit from a heavy roll crimp. The die is capable of applying a healthy roll crimp when seating a cartridge. In fact, the generic seating die instructions include a section on applying a roll crimp, and fail to mention that this should not be done with the 450B.
Some specialized crimping techniques have been developed for the 450B which crimp from the side, thus avoiding altering the ability to headspace on the case mouth.
Again, a long answer, perhaps more detailed than warranted. And if I've made errors, I'll be pleased to learn of them.
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