Ridge Runner

H335 is ball powder, so yes it is more temp sensitive than single based powder due to it containing nitroglycerine, but to be honest I have never had a most accurate load using varget, every rifle that I have ever messed with varget in, I could find a more accurate load with another powder.
RR

Primitive Weapon

I have a Bushmaster .450. I went with it over the .50 Beowolf & .458 Socom because it's flatter shooting (at 2200fps) and ammo seems to be more available & Hornady makes it. I have stockpiled a little, approx 100rds. Since it only serves as my deer rifle, I don't need to hold onto alot of ammo at any given time.

Last season was my first season to hunt with it and I shot a buck and 2 doe's. All 3 dropped where they stood. One of the doe's was at 160yds....the other 2 were both about 75-80yds.

Here is a pic of the gun and my 100yd 3-shot group from the range this past weekend.

At 100yds I need to be 1.8" high to be dead on at 150.

In Indiana, they increased our legal cartridge size from 1.6" to 1.8" and the bushmaster casing is exactly 1.8".

Ridge Runner

hate to tell ya but with the same weight bullet the socom has a faster MV due to the fatter case having greater powder capacity, I run 300 gr .458 bullets at 2260 fps from my 20" tromix custom 458, the bushy uses a 284 win case cut to 1.8" and runs a .452" pistol bullet, the socom uses a 50 AE magnum case stretched to 1.7" and necked to .458.
RR

Centaur 1

I bought a new Daniel Defense DDM4-V4 a couple of month ago and I love it. I originally wanted either the Daniel Defense or an Ambush, they're the same company except Ambush sells hunting versions of the Daniel Defense rifle, and you can get them camouflage dipped. I can't seem to get on the 300 blackout bandwagon, so that caliber was out. I might have chosen the Remington 30AR if I had found one. The one and only time I saw one was at the 2009 Shot Show, the rifle looked and felt nice but I haven't seen one since. I was stuck on the idea of buying either the DD or Ambush in 6.8 SPC ll. It's extremely hard to find one of those two rifles in this caliber right now, so I spent a lot of time researching my options. I'm 52 years old which means I grew up being told that any caliber under .24 is inadequate for deer, and even the .243 is for women and children who absolutely can't shoot a larger gun. Now forty years ago there was some level of truth to that way of thinking. With the advancements that have been made with bullet design, those old rules can be thrown away. The more I researched I began to realize that buying my rifle in 5.56mm is not a bad idea. I wasn't worried too much about ammo cost since I reload, but even the components are quite a bit cheaper for the 5.56mm. This way I can get in a lot more shooting than I would've with the 6.8spc. I bought 1000 Hornady 55 grain fmj-bt bullets for $88 and a box of 100 Sierra 65 grain game-king psp-bt bullets for deer hunting. Hopefully I'll get an opportunity to kill a deer with it this year.

itsslow98

I just got into a hunting club in a county that allows rifles and although I have a Remington 700 30-06 I will be building an AR15 in .300 Blackout for deer. Uses the exact same parts as a regular 5.56 AR15 execpt you swap the barrel. You even use the same mags and BCG.

DanMorgan

Centaur 1,

Good choice sir. The 5.56 destroys vitals. I am sure you saw the pictures. And now you have a zombie rifle if need be. : )

Centaur 1

Saw the pictures? I shorted out my keyboard drooling over them! Those antelope you guys killed are absolutely awesome. I have pronghorn at the top of my bucket list, hopefully I'll get out west and hunt them one day.

Primitive Weapon

The ballistics I looked up listed the .458 socom at 2150fps for a 250gr load.

Even if that data is wrong, it makes no difference to me as I love the .450 and the fact that Hornady makes the ammo and not having to rely on reloads is very comforting.

Nothing against reloads but they are only has good as the reloader. I don't reload myself so I would have to rely on someone else.

I am sure that someone good at reloading could make the .450 round hotter than the 2200fps Hornady ammo and I say good for them.

Here's another link of a company that manufactuers .458 ammo. Their muzzle velocities are no where near 2200fps....except for their 100gr load.

http://www.sbrammunition.com/458sl.html

Nomercy448

Manufacturers for recently developed, essentially 'factory wildcat' rounds like the SOCOM have a tendency to under-load, better to CYA than get one lawsuit on a low volume, new product.

2200fps happens in the Socom, and it does pretty well exceed the performance of the Bushy. Not a huge lag, not necessarily enough to make it worth selling one for the other FROM A BALLISTICS STANDPOINT...

BUT...

The .452" pistol bullets of the Bushy put it at a huge disadvantage behind the .458" rifle bullets of the Socom. There's only so much that a .452" weakly constructed PISTOL bullet meant to expand at ~700-1000fps MV can handle. Sure, it's going to kill deer, but there's a lot of wasted energy when a bullet essentially fails from weak construction, and in all fairness, a lot of wasted meat.

So, really, if you're buying new off the rack, the .458 S runs away from the .450 as a big game rifle. If you OWN a .450 B, it'll treat you just fine as long as you understand the limitations of the ammo/bullet you're using.

Primitive Weapon

Good luck with that and your hunting season.