This is a nice rifle!
My friend left his newish Ruger American in 450BM with me to develop some blunt nosed cast bullet loads with. I really like this rifle. It is light, has a short barrel with a very effective muzzle brake. The accu-trigger is sweet. The darn thing shoots very well.
What is most surprising is the effectiveness of the muzzle brake in taming recoil. There is a noticeable reduction in recoil over the much heavier AR platform 450BM's I have, one with a 16"tube the other a 20" tube.
If you are looking for a modern rifle to hunt with that does not weigh much you would be hard pressed to beat the Ruger American.
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The .450 bm is a legal cartridge for deer hunting here in Indiana for public lands. So a lot of folks have started using it here. Of course that is what it was designed for, midwest states with retrictions. 0 -
Excellent mid-range cartridge. Also a excellent , affordable and highly accurate platform Ruger has come up with in the American series. 0 -
Some states require a straight wall cartridge with certain dimensions like overall length and Dia. 0 -
savage-Interesting, Didn't know that. 0 -
Some states limit rifle deer hunters to use a cartridge with a straight case wall.Flying Clay Disk said:SCOUT5 said:The .450 bm is a legal cartridge for deer hunting here in Indiana for public lands. So a lot of folks have started using it here. Of course that is what it was designed for, midwest states with retrictions.
Why is it legal, when others are not? (serious question).
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Usually this is in states where only shotguns were allowed for deer hunting. A lot of those states have eased restrictions to allow low to moderate range rifle cartridges. This straight walled and normally 35 caliber or larger criteria is an attempt to reduce the range of the cartridge in more heavily populated states/areas. Michigan actually has two zones - southern half of the lower peninsula is restricted like that.and the rest of the state you can use rifle or shotgun. BobFlying Clay Disk said:SCOUT5 said:The .450 bm is a legal cartridge for deer hunting here in Indiana for public lands. So a lot of folks have started using it here. Of course that is what it was designed for, midwest states with retrictions.
Why is it legal, when others are not? (serious question).
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Flying Clay Disk said:SCOUT5 said:The .450 bm is a legal cartridge for deer hunting here in Indiana for public lands. So a lot of folks have started using it here. Of course that is what it was designed for, midwest states with retrictions.
Why is it legal, when others are not? (serious question).
Equipment on Public Land
Rifle cartridges for Public Lands (state and federal property) must meet the following requirements:- Fire a bullet of .357-inch diameter or larger,
- Have a minimum case length of 1.16 inches, and
- Have a maximum case length of 1.8 inches
These cartridges are legal to use only during the deer firearms, youth, reduction zones from Nov. 16, 2019 -Jan. 31, 2020 (in zones where local ordinances allow the use of a firearm), and special antlerless seasons (where open).
Some cartridges legal for deer hunting on public include the .350 Legend, .357 Magnum, .38-.40 Winchester, .41 Magnum, .41 Special, .44 Magnum, .44 Special, .44-.40 Winchester, .45 Colt, .454 Casull, .458 SOCOM, .475 Linebaugh, .480 Ruger, .50 Action Express, .500 S&W, .460 Smith & Wesson, .450 Bushmaster, and .50 Beowulf. Full metal jacketed bullets are illegal.
The rifle rules here are convoluted. There is a different rules for private land in that there are more legal cartridges for private land than public land.
Equipment on Private Lands
State law (Indiana Code 14-22-2-8) allows some additional rifle cartridges to be used on private land during the deer firearms season.
A summary of the rifle requirements for deer hunting on private land are as follows:
- The rifle cartridges must have a cartridge case length of least 1.16 inches and have a maximum case length of 3 inches
- The cartridge must fire a bullet with a diameter that is .243 inches (same as 6mm) or larger
- A hunter may not possess more than 10 such cartridges for each of these rifles while hunting deer
- These new rifle cartridges may only be used on private land
- Full metal jacketed bullets are illegal
- These new rifle cartridges may be used during the youth deer season, deer firearms season, special antlerless firearm season (where open), and deer reduction season from November 16, 2019 through January 31, 2020 (in deer reduction zones where local ordinances allow the use of a firearm)
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Then there is the hand gun laws. I have a .270 win Encore with a 14" barrel that is legal for deer hunting on public land but my .270 win rifle isn't. 0 -
The combination of Hornaday 250gr FTX bullets (designed for this cartridge) allows it to use in straight walled case only states, like Ohio where I live. In the past my go-to gun for deer, staying legal, was an Encore with 45-70 loads.
Now with the 450BM upper and a simple change of the magazine follower you can shoot this deer slaying round with phenomenal bullet performance out to about 250 yards. My friend lives in western Maryland swamp hunting deer from tree stands with short ranges being the rule of thumb. A flat nosed 300 grain bullet cast of wheel weights with a gas check will make awesome deer and bear medicine.I took two deer this year with the 450BM in AR platform rifles, one at 160 yards. Previously it was the 45-70. Both did the job quite well, it is accurate. The bullets for the 450BM are cheaper and using .452 diameter 45ACP type bullets also work well. The 230 FMJ hits hard at over 200 yards, I would use it on deer if the opportunity presented itself.The Lyman book calls for 29 grains of IMR 4227 as max to keep leading down. I went to 29.2 and loved the results. YMMV!
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The Ruger American and the Savage Axis are by far the best budget rifles out there. See them at the range and they perform just as good as the 1K priced stuff. 3
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