Exclusive model in stainless/laminate with 20" barrel, no sights and, ugggh, a muzzle brake...

Why?

Got to be a late April Fool joke

[quote=tex_n_cal]Got to be a late April Fool joke [/quote

Nope, it's for real, "Retailer Exclusive".

Isn't that then Wisconsin legal? (*might be wrong on the state but isn't there a state that requires straightwall cartridges no longer than x.xx"?)

Be legal in the southern part of Michigan! but I thought they quit makeing the stainless ones!

<sigh>

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.

IF I bought one...IF...it would be at a close out price and even then, it would only be to have the stainless action for a future build.

But even then I am pretty sure I would have to unscrew the brake and throw it away on the sake of principle.

yuck

tex_n_cal-

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.
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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.

--Bob
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BullShooter,

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

Not Bullshooter, but it's close to the .460 S&W

co-incidentally there's a .460 S&W auction just ending in a 1/2 hour. I have no use for it, but it is better looking.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/633292628

Sweet, don't know jack all about the 460 either.

250's at 2100-2200 fps, or in that general ballpark. Also takes .451-.452 bullets.

FWIW, my 20" .450 Bushmaster AR gets 1900 fps from a 300gr XTP and ragged 1.25" groups. That's getting into original .45-70 trapdoor territory.

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.
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Apologies for length. I started explaining stuff to the keyboard.
--Bob

So you could buy one of these Rugers and experiment to load something much hotter than a typical .450 BM. No magazine to limit OAL, either. Sweet!

I think one of those heavy hardcast slugs from Cast Performance or Beartooth would be pretty interesting.

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.

--Bob

Pat-
One certainly could experiment with cast bullets.

Here's a photo from some brief tests I fired in 2010.
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The slug shooters were having real problems with accuracy in their AR 450B rifles. They asked me to help using my bolt rifle. Unfortunately, I think we ran them too fast, with resultant stripping in the relatively shallow rifling of my barrel. I ran out of time then for further testing.

Some bolt rifle users are now reporting good results. The ARs apparently were losing chunks out of gas checks when the bullets passed the gas ports. Attempts to get tall gas checks didn't work out at the time.

Last summer I fired some trial cast bullet loads with black powder in my long-barreled bolt rifle, and got some very tight groups at 50 yards. The tentative explanation is low velocity helps a lot. More experimentation will follow with the Ruger just as soon as the snow melts on the access road to the range.

Some discussions of cast bullet trials can be found here: [color:#0000ff]cast bullets on 450bushmaster.net[/color]

Here's an image of a black powder-cast bullet shot with my single-shot 450B bolt rifle.
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--Bob

I think I might have to find a RAR in 450BM now.

Cabelas carry the Ruger factory offering with a 16" barrel and muzzle brake. Randys Hunting Center has their version with 22" or 16" barrels plus stainless and left hand models.

I've lately messed with .218 Bee, .300 Blackout, and 7.62x39 - which all take similar, fairly new powders.

Lil'Gun, 300MP, and 1680 are all suitable for these rounds. And Hodgdon just announced a new CFE-BLK. It's intended for the .300 Blackout, but also is in this same burn rate range, and may be interesting in the .450.

The BM isn't on the list of legal cartriges for Ohio.

.444 Marlin is best bet for OH

Moving would be the best of best bets...

Pappy348-

It's baffling that the 450B was excluded from Ohio's list of permissible deer rifle cartridges. Ohio was mimicking Indiana in permitting use of rifles shooting straight-walled pistol cartridges. However, Ohio opted to list approved cartridges by name rather than by dimensional limits as did Michigan and Indiana.

Granted, there's much senseless inanity in deer hunting regulations, but omitting the 450B is exceptionally notable.

Ohio's approved list: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .450 Marlin, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110, and .500 Smith & Wesson.
From [color:#0000FF]Ohio list pdf[/color]

The 450B cannot have been excluded due to its being rimless, because the 45 Win Mag and 45 ACP are included. And its exclusion cannot be due to its being a rifle round originally, given the listing of the 45-70, 45-90, etc.

Perhaps the Ohio regulators feared their woods would be invaded by legions of hunters carrying evil-looking ARs chambered in 450B. (A note to Ohio: ARs have been set up to shoot 45 WIn Mag.)

--Bob

That is fairly peculiar, even for politicians. Years ago I was talking to a Ohio hunter and was told, yeah these are the approved rounds because they're worried about bullets flying too far in crowded areas. Then it was pretty much just revolver cartridges, like the .44 mag.

A .50-90 can shoot an awful long way, as an Indian at Adobe Walls found out

FWIW, Hodgdon has data for the .460 S&W, and CFE-BLK with heavy hard cast. No data for the .450 Bushmaster, though. I left Hodgdon a contact form suggesting that they should add data for the .450, as Ruger Americans are apparently selling like hot cakes

Very close, gentlemen.
I spoke with the ODNR law dept in person.
What they did was allow rifle in calibers already allowed for handgun hunting.
They are adding new options slowly, as rifle proceeds with no issues.
There is constant political opposition to any changes.
.450Bushmaster and .50beowolf were on the list for appoval last year, but has not happened yet. I keep after them to get it appoved.
I have a .450Bushmaster AR-15 built for ohio hunting, waiting for appoval. There is an open meeting coming up, for more public input.

Ohio has a proposal expected to pass to change the wording to any straight walled cartridge 35-50 cal

Since this model comes with a threaded barrel, you could remove the brake and attach a suppressor like the Silencerco Hybrid. Just saying.

They started putting the brakes on the rifles because they were getting feedback that the recoil was killing scopes on the lightweight rifles.

After building myself a slightly heavier repeater 450BM on a savage action, I just can't justify another one, especially a single shot.

Indiana was a slug gun state, then went PCR.
They then icnreased the cartridge length allowance of PCR to 1.8 (which allowed the .460 S&W).

There is no straight wall mandate.

.35 Remington trimmed is popular under the PCR 1.8" law.

Last yr they also allowed reg rifle cartridges (no max case length) in .24 and .30 cal.

That is for private ground only. PCR is still usable on state ground.

There are (and never were) slug gun only areas. When PCR passed it was allowed on public and private ground.

New bill to "correct" the HP rifle las of last yr (still test period) hasn't become law yet.........might make 1.16" min and no max on case length, .24 cal and up.......private ground.

Yeah, the prev law seems silly, but it got passed.........because it gave the appearance of limits. Think politics and not ballistics. They tried before and it didn't pass. Then the next go around there was some really stupid stuff the libs added to the proposal, and that crap got cut off...........and we have the HP rifle law we have now.

Legislators and the public are often idiots, gotta work with them unfortunately.

We gt PCR's a while back, have some HP rifle now........it's a decent progression IMHO.

But I don't own a .270 so am not in limbo under current regs.

I also am not such a cheap arse that I can't go and buy a rifle to fit the current regs.

.450 Bushmaster...........wouldn't shoot that cartridge outside of an AR.

.460 Smith in a #1 would be my choice.

Not to shoot .45 Colt or .454 Casull either.

Tried to find one a while back, no luck. Am content to run my little RSI .243 under the new HP rifle law.

Everything works out

If the regs change again this year, just makes me want a #1 rebarreled to .35 rem even more.

I have a .450Bushmaster AR-15 built for ohio hunting, waiting for appoval.

There's a three shot limit, mag and chamber combined, according to a DNR web page.

Straight-walled cartridge rifles in the following calibers: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .450 Marlin, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110, and .500 Smith & Wesson. Shotguns and straight-walled cartridge rifles can be loaded with no more than three shells in the chamber and magazine combined.

They don't say your rifle can't be capable of holding more, only that you're limited in hiw many you can load.

http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/hunting...-regulations/allowable-hunting-equipment

I'm thinking that, provided they turn out to be solid, Henry is gonna sell a bunch of their new single-shots in .44 and especially .45/70.

Correct, three shot limit. And now on the honor system. No more plugs needed in shotguns, either.
When rifle was added, there was no easy way to "plug" a rifle, so the shotgun requirement was changed to match.
(It is also why I have an order in for a 5 round mag, just for hunting, since the 10 round standard mag is much larger than i could legally hunt deer with.)

It's amazing how complicated some states make sheit.

Where do you get your 10 round mags, or do you modify 5.56 mags? All I find are the 5 round (BartZ & Bushmaster).

I order them from the same supplier as my upper. Walsh gun and tackle. It came with a choice of 5 or 10 round.

Thanks. I'll have to call them, they don't show up on their website.