450Bushmaster.net

Could someone with QL check to see if this powder is feasible for the 450 please? You could check whatever parameters you like. Got some of this to try in my 7.62-39 and 6.8. Did ok in the 6.8, but not so much in the 7.62. Just wondering if its worth a try in the 450 cause I didn't see it anywhere in a search. Thanks in advance.

As you probably know, it's slow for the 450b. So slow that 15% of it blows out the end of the barrel unburned. That having been said, given its slowness, it is best served with heavy bullets. Using a jacketed bullet such as the Hornady 300gr XTP Mag, fill the case to capacity (~42gr) with the bullet seated to allow a taper crimp into the cannelure and it should shoot for you.

Hoot

I thought it might from what I read about the 1680. Sometimes a powder can surprise you though. I've got to get QL so I can check this stuff for myself and not waste reloading supplies. Thanks.

I thought about getting Quickload. Is it really worth the money? Is it simple to use? My BD is coming up and that may be a great gift!

QuickLoad is a wonderful thing. BUT, you must measure all of your components very precisely including water weight. Do not assume that any of the preloaded values are correct, not even the bullet lengths. If you do this and follow all of the standard reloading safety practices, you will be very pleased. If you don't, I'm sure you have heard the phrase garbage in garbage out? In this case its garbage in Kaboom out. With that said, never rely on QuickLoad as your only source of data for developing a load. Check to see if it makes sense against published data. I realize that the 450b doesn't have as much published data as other rounds. But, you can take your measurements and enter them for powders and loads that are published to see if the velocities predicted are close before you go running the data with new powders. I have been able to predict velocities within 7 fps of what others have posted as actual measured.

What everyone else said...

I myself have gotten the price of the software in entertainment alone. Of course, not everyone is entertained by such things as playing "What If?" with different powders and calibers. Keep in mind, It'll be 7 months until comfortable shooting weather comes around again up here, so you look for things to entertain yourself. Ever wonder "Why not H4895 or CFE223 in my 450b? QL answers those and many more at the click of a drop-down box. "What if I seat that bullet to 2.26 COL instead of 2.10?" One thing it has yet to include, is what the different primers do for a load. That one is left up to you to discover through range visits.

Its not hard to use and you can delve as deep into the fine points as you choose. It does err on the side of caution as I suspect that the author does not want to rely too heavily upon every person using it, exercising good judgement. I've used countless loads across 5 calibers with it and they always come in lower in velocity and presumably lower in pressure also since one contributes to the other. I don't have 5 pressure barrels for testing so I take that latter statement on faith. That conservative approach is not a bad thing as once you calibrate your result to what was predicted, you can tweak some of the parameters to get the predicted result darn close, as BW460 said.

Hoot