Why doesn't this rifle cartridge exist?

[ADB]

Looking through this thread, it seems to me that the .450 Bushmaster is almost exactly what I was thinking about, albeit lighter/faster. I thought I'd looked though all the ~45 cal rifle rounds on Wikipedia, but this one wasn't listed in the category I'd looked at.

It's nice. The price is painful, which makes me wish it were more popular and in mass production, but oh well. I'll add it to my list of "eventually" purchases.

 

[FrankenMauser]

.416 Rigby?

.450 Nitro 3.25"?


Just because common factory loads include round nose projectiles, doesn't mean that's what has to be used.

ask myself that question a while back and i started workin on it... have the 450 bushmaster already and was thinking 308 but wanted something in between, it might do the trick.....

I had a similar thought a few years ago, and almost had Quality Cartridge run 500 cases for me... Mine was a .45-06 1 3/4" (roughly -- exact length was a little different, to avoid issues with a certain company that makes nothing but proprietary cartridges). It was essentially a lengthened .45 Win Mag, but with a .458" projectile and straight-walled '06 brass (rather than .451" projectiles and lengthened .45 Auto brass).

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Bolt action fast twist 45-70 with a deep throat... maybe something like this ???

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=190256307

or this...

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=189455250

cases stuffed with these... 300 grainers

 

[Kreyzhorse]

I could be wrong, but isn't the 444 Marlin an updated hot loaded version of the 45-70 Govt?

Additionally, the 45-70 can be hot loaded for modern guns. Buffalo Bore mades some great rounds for the 45-70 that put it in the lower realms of the 458 Winchester.

 

[Technosavant]

The price is painful, which makes me wish it were more popular and in mass production, but oh well.

The .450 Bushmaster is the closest thing to a full production thumper round- uppers are available from Bushmaster, and full rifles are available from Remington and Bushmaster. Ammo is currently being produced by Remington and Hornady, but as you said, it isn't cheap- it's still cheaper than its main competitor (.458 SOCOM). Being a straight walled cartridge, it should reload very easily (but then, if you want to reload, the .458 gives you far more options when it comes to bullet weights). I do not believe that there is much difference in terminal ballistics between .450 BM, .458 SOCOM, and .50 Beowulf. They all hit like a freight train within 150 yards and fall off fast outside that distance.

 

[HiBC]

The old 44 Automag round was a cutoff ,straight wall .308 brass.If you cut off 30-06 brass at the shoulder,you could put 300 gr .44 bullets in it and it would likely work in rifles that use the 308.Headspace on the case mouth.

 

[Technosavant]

The old 44 Automag round was a cutoff ,straight wall .308 brass.If you cut off 30-06 brass at the shoulder,you could put 300 gr .44 bullets in it and it would likely work in rifles that use the 308.Headspace on the case mouth.

The only problem might be in expecting a .44 caliber bullet to swage down to .308 so it can pass through the bore.

 

[natman]

I could be wrong, but isn't the 444 Marlin an updated hot loaded version of the 45-70 Govt?

Sort of. The 444 Marlin is a different caliber, .429 vs .458. It is loaded hotter in factory loadings.

I suspect what you are thinking of is the 450 Marlin. That is the same caliber as the 45-70 and is loaded considerably hotter.

 

[mapsjanhere]

A true spitzer type bullet for a .458 caliber weighs between 450 and 500 grains. You could get into your weight range using a copper solid bullet, but you're losing out on the sectional density at that point. Barnes makes one 300 gr Tipped Triple-Shock X Bullets for the 458 SOCOM, use it in the 450 Marlin and you got your cartridge.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Barnes makes one 300 gr Tipped Triple-Shock X Bullets for the 458 SOCOM, use it in the 450 Marlin and you got your cartridge.

that is the bullet I pictured above, which I load in 45-70... ( but not in tube mag guns, as it is not a lever evolution bullet, the nose piece is hard enough to chain fire in a tub mag under recoil )

 

[mapsjanhere]

What powder do you use for that? I have a 450 Marlin BLR with a vertical magazine, so the usual limitation don't apply.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

UMM... got a total brain fart ( been loading handgun cartridges lately, & making holsters ) too many numbers & powders to guess... I'll remember later & post it...