I had a nice surprise today on the Savage 99C 450 Bushmaster project. I finally got some Bear Creek Ballistics 240 grain HV Bullets for handloads after a very long backorder wait. These have a high BC and lengthen the 450 Bushmaster to a bit under the .308 case overall length (COL). They also completely change the feeding dynamics of the stock .308 99C Magazine over the short-stubby .223 length standard 450 BM COL to my big surprise. With minor feed lip mods, the Savage 99 .308 magazine will hold 3 of these longer 450's and feed the first 2 with 100% reliability and the 3rd round not so smoothly. It looks like a follower with a different contour will solve the 3rd round in the mag feeding issue and I need to spend some time looking into this. For now, 1 in the chamber and 2 rounds in the magazine that feed perfectly is fine with me. The 240 grain bullet at around 2500 fps and 3450 ft lbs makes this more than just a brush gun and extends the range for what I consider useful and practical to 250 yards without significant bullet drop.
Pic of the Bear Creek 240 HV 450 Bushmaster load next to a .308 and Hornady factory 250 grain FTX load. Also, for context, 3 rounds loaded in the Savage 99C magazine.
FS, I've still got to get with Chris and you. My new straight wall is a 429 Hornady 265 gr, Case length is 2.25 and with the bullet seated, it just fits in the 308 mag. The mag snaps right in and the lever pics the shell up smooth as silk. The barrel on the action is a 243, so I need a longer lever to get the leverage to squeeze it in the hole. But, I think it will work, Thanks for your updates.
Parent case is 400 Whelen. Trimmed to 2.25” it’s very close to a 444 Marlin Rimless. But, the 444 Rimless was not available, and the 400 was. Haven’t settled on case length yet, so haven’t checked capacity yet. The folks at Quality Cartridge said I would probably be able to use 444 load data. I still have some 452 Hornady’s to try. Then it would be a 450 BM Long?
