450 Bushmaster or 45-70

[tcl632]

Ok guys Im comeing into a little extra money and have a new gun in mind. I hunt some thick woods and was looking at a big bore rifle in case a small limb catches my bullet.( I dont plan on shooting threw the brush) So I have a ar-15 and i read good reviews on the 450 bushmaster from what ive seen between the two bullet avalability is bout the same in East Texas going to have to order both so what do yall think 450 or 45-70

[redgreen]

45 70. It will stop anything that you are ever chasing with authority. If you handload, you can increase it's performance considerably. Marlin guide or XLR is an excellent choice.

[thatguybme]

I recently bought a 450 Bushmaster upper and love it so far. I got my first kill with it yesterday and the doe dropped right in her tracks..

IIRC - They 450 B was built to try and match the 45-70 load..But the cartridge had to be shortened it so it would fit in the standard AR magazine.

Bushmaster has/had the uppers on sale for $560ish this month - which is a much better deal that I got when I ordered in October from Cabales..

The standard commercial (and only at this time) is a 250 gr Hornady FTX/Leverevolution/SST-ML bullet pushing 2200 fps. Remington is suppose to be offering a 250gr Core-Lokt sometime soon (or say they keep saying).. Others are reloading everything from 200 to 300 gr bullets

check out www.450bushmaster.net - a forum entirely dedicated to the 450B.. If you reload this is the place to go as well.

Here is a couple pics of my rifle, ammo, and the accuracy i got at 75 yds

Brian

[thatguybme]

FYI - the 450 Upper is still on sale (probably thru 11/30) for $590 - about $200 off normal retail..

here is link

http://www.bushmaster.com/products.a...t=BURVMB+20-45

brian

[Nomercy448]

The 450B is proving to be a worthy cartridge, but it's still a one trick pony. I.e. there are only about 2 factory loads available, and there's only one rifle chambered for it. Unless things go surprisingly well for the round, you may find yourself up creek without a paddle in a few years. The .45-70 is a time proven workhorse, she's been around the block a time or two, and she's not planning on giving up the ghost any time soon! If you're looking for big bore deer guns, you might also consider a .45 colt or .44mag or .444 Marlin, or the .450 M. The pistol cartridges are dirt cheap and the rifles are incredibly light, and the Marlin levergun can be handloaded to stretch the capabilities of these pistol cartridges to impressive levels. The .444 and .450 are tried and true levergun workhorses also. I've dropped a lot of deer with a Marlin 1895 guide gun in .45-70, but probably twice that many with a Marlin 1894 .44mag.

That said, when you're considering these two rounds, performance on deer at short ranges through brush will be about the same, so it's really a moot discussion. The REAL difference for these two, is the rifle you'll be carrying. Carrying an AR-15 has a totally different feel for your hunting experience than carrying a leveraction .45-70.

So, consider what gun style you're going to prefer first. Then, if you think you'd prefer the modern black rifle, carefully consider whether you want to risk having a rifle chambered for an obsolete round in a few years, or whether you'd rather change your rifle style to have a safer availability in the future. There are other AR-15 calibers you could choose from also that would be more likely to be around, or you could step up to an AR-10.