450Bushmaster.net

I made it to the range yesterday with some .293 grainers out of my custom mold loaded over H110, and WC680 in cut down .284 brass. If things slow down at work this afternoon I'll try and get the data posted. The short version is that the H110 loadings show some promise at around 1900 fps. I managed to keep 5 out of ten in .9", unfortunately the second mag opened the group up over 3". Part of it was definately me, part of it may be lube build up. In either case, 33 grains of H110 gave me an ES in the 20s and single digit SDs. That's something I can work with.

The WC680 gave groups of 3" at around 1900 fps as well, but with ES values again around 100 and SDs in the fourties. Also, plenty of unburned powder grains in the barrel after each shot. Higher charges definately blew the groups open, and ES values went up. It's a usable powder, but not my first choice as it just doesn't burn dependably. My early conclusion so far is that H110 is preferable over either LilGun, or 1680 for cast boolits in this cartridge, although I do need to go back and re-try LilGun using the cut down .284 brass as the larger primer may be a real factor here. My lyman "M" die came in and it's expander is a full .001 smaller than the Hornday expander which helped a lot, and allowed me to back off the body crimp somewhat which should help brass life. Accuracy work ups will be from 32.5 to 33.5 grains. I've also ordered a .453 sizer die, which will lead to another round of trials with the more promising loads.

At the end of 60 rounds, all gas checked, the barrel was clean, bright and shiny, a clean dry patch produced some carbon, but no lead. I'm going to leave the bolt and gas system uncleaned for a while to see if the cast boolit rountine is gonna clog up the works or not. My brake was well coated with lube at the end of the session and I'm considering cuting the lube down to one groove for a trial as there's definately plenty on these to make it to the end of the 16' barrel.

BD

Here's the chrony data if I can get it to post. I have tweaked the Quickload program to get the velocities somewhat in order. Some of this stuff is predicted at more than the Saami max psi of 40,000. Don't go there.

The attachments didn't appear in the body of the post this time? I'm certainly no computer whiz.
BD

Interesting stuff. You guys are starting to get me interested in using cast bullets (boolits?)

MudBug wrote:Interesting stuff. You guys are starting to get me interested in using cast bullets (boolits?)

10X

Well, I put another 60 of the .293 grain grain RNFPs downrange yesterday afternoon. I'm narrowing down the load for accuracy in tenth of a grain increments. 32.8 through 33 grains of H110 stayed under 2.25 inches. For now, that's as good as I done with cast. I had another decent group at 33.4 grains, but a tenth either side of it opened up to over 3", so I think the 32.9 grain load is what I'll work with. Sized .453 with a COAL of 2.10. AV of 1866 fps.

I'm going to try seating these out to COAL of 2.160 to get closer to the lands. This will leave 1/2 the forward lube groove exposed, so if it works it means another boolit design is in order. I sized up a bunch at .454, and they chamber just fine. Unfortunately, I have to drop a brass rod down the barrel to get an unfired round to extract if I load them in cut down .284 brass. The heel of the boolit bulges the brass just enough to wedge it in the chamber. This means either I'm limited to the small rifle primer in the Hornady brass, or I'm reaming brass, which is a big PITA.

My rifle is at 120 rounds of cast boolits without a cleaning. Bright shiny bore and no sign of any functioning problems or crud build up of any kind.

My goal is still a 300 grain cast lead load @ 2,000 fps shooting MOA or better. I wish I could talk one of the barrel makers into the tube I'd like to see.

BD

What kind of tube are you talking about?..

If I had my choice, I'd go for an 18" Shilen, 24 twist with .1 throat and .1 ball seat and a bit taller rifling. I asked Shilen, Krieger and both the Harts about a custom barrel for the .450B when I started putting my rifle together, and they all declined. I guess .450 is just not a popular bore dimension in rifle barrels, yet
BD

I have some .452 230 grain casts. Gonna try them this weekend if my dies get delivered. I have loadewd with a 45 colt set about 5 rounds with no problems. Just had to use a RCBS #3 shell holder.

Demo, let us know how that goes. I didn't have much luck with the 230 grainers in my rifle. No chambering or leading problems, but no accuracy either.
BD

Good work BD1,

I've been busy shooting silhouette matches and haven't done much of anything with the 450b lately.

I've been using the RCBS 45-300-FN bullet; it weighs about 318 grains with gas check @ 2.15" COL sized to 0.453" (0.452" die) with 37.5 grains of H110 and CCI400 primers. This is a pretty stiff load and accuracy was about 3 MOA. I don't handle heavy recoil well shooting from the bench but 200 Meter rams get pounded with authority... hard-set rams with clips go down anyway.

I'm still waiting for my custom 345 grain GC mold to arrive.

Keep up the good work,

Boomer