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The .450 Bushmaster is a newer cartridge that has come around for a couple of reasons. First off people wanted a “thumper” cartridge that could fit inside an AR-15 platform. During the same time period some states were going to a straight wall cartridge season alongside muzzle loaders and this style of case became popular.

Originally LeGrendre developed what was called the .45 Professional and had an AR-15 Built by Bushmaster. Bushmaster felt the cartridge was a great design and use. They approached Hornady to produce ammunition for the .45 Professional however Hornady made a few design changes to it. This allowed it to run the 0.452in 250gr SST Flex tip bullet.

The changes from the .45 Professional to the 450 Bushmaster was to shorten the case and OAL. The case went from 1.772in down to 1.700in. The OAL went from 2.362in down to 2.260in. This allowed for more reliable use in the AR-15 platform instead of having to go into the larger AR-10 platform.

The cartridge was originally designed in 2007 but wouldn’t see production and wide spread use until 2009.

As far as trajectory goes the .450 Bushmaster is fairly flat out to about 200 yards. However due to its smaller case and large projectiles it starts to drop off rather rapidly. When shooting the 250gr FTX projectile from Hornady with a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps. In a rifle zeroed at 100 yards you get the following.

200 Yards: 9 inches of drop.

300 Yards: 33.3 inches of drop.

500 Yards: 156.1 inches of drop.

(Please note the above trajectory information was pulled from https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ballistic-calculators/#!/ )

A really good resources on the .450 Bushmaster is the Hornady Podcast. If I’m not mistaken its episode 59.

Short Notes.

Official Name: .450 Bushmaster

Year Designed: 2007-2009

Designed by: LeMag Furearms, Bushmaster & Hornady.

Parent Case: .45 Professional / .284 Winchester.

Rifling Twist Rate: 1 in 16 or 1 in 24

Maximum Point-Blank Range: 250 Yards when zeroed at 171 yards.

I hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the .450 Bushmaster and will return next week for our Cartridge of the Week series.

Please remember to always practice safe muzzle control when dealing with firearms and happy shooting.

B