.450 Bushmaster ammo buying guide
.450 Bushmaster exists for straight-wall deer seasons, and the factory menu is short enough to memorise. The right load is usually the middle one.
By TAS6 min read
.450 Bushmaster was built for one regulatory moment: the spread of straight-wall deer seasons across the Midwest, where a rifle cartridge has to be a straight-walled case of a given calibre and still put a heavy bullet inside 150 yards. It does that job with a short, blunt factory menu – essentially a 250-grain polymer tip, a 260-grain soft point, and a couple of copper variants – and it does it from both a bolt gun and an AR-15. Choosing ammunition means choosing which of those platforms you have, and reading your state’s case-length rules before you buy.
Straight-wall rules decide the purchase
Most straight-wall states cap the cartridge at .50 calibre and limit case length – commonly two and a half inches – and require a straight-walled (not bottleneck) case. The .450 Bushmaster case is about 2.26 inches long and .458 calibre, which clears those caps in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and similar jurisdictions. If you hunt across state lines, check each state’s wording; a load that is legal in one season is not automatically legal in the next one over.
The practical consequence: the cartridge is deliberately limited in range. A 250-grain polymer-tipped load leaves the muzzle near 2,200 fps from a 20-inch barrel and drops hard after 150 yards. This is a 100-to-200-yard deer cartridge, and the ammunition you buy should be chosen for that window, not for a ballistic chart that assumes 400.
The load menu
| Load | Velocity | Energy | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 gr polymer tip | ~2,200 fps | ~2,650 ft-lb | Default deer load, flatter trajectory |
| 260 gr soft point | ~2,100 fps | ~2,550 ft-lb | Deeper expansion, timber ranges |
| Copper 260 gr | ~2,150 fps | ~2,600 ft-lb | Weight-retention penetration |
The 250-grain polymer tip – Hornady’s FTX is the reference load – is the one to buy first. The tip gives a usable ballistic coefficient for the caliber and keeps the trajectory relatively flat inside 150 yards, which is the entire game in a straight-wall season. Federal and Winchester load 260-grain soft points that are a little slower and expand a little deeper; both are fine deer loads at timber distances. Copper solids retain weight almost perfectly and are the choice for hunters who want maximum penetration through shoulder bone.
AR-15 and bolt gun are different setups
A bolt gun or single shot in .450 Bushmaster is the cheap entry: one rifle, one chamber, no magazine or gas tuning to worry about. If your straight-wall season is the only reason you own the rifle, this is the honest answer. Put a 250-grain polymer tip in it, zero at 100 yards with a couple of inches of rise, and practise inside 150 until the hold is automatic.
An AR-15 in .450 Bushmaster needs a dedicated upper and barrel, a heavier buffer than a 5.56 rifle typically runs, and a magazine sized for the fat case – standard AR-15 magazines will not feed it reliably. The platform gives you a semi-automatic follow-up and a familiar manual of arms, which is a real advantage in thick cover. It also gives you a gun that will chamber and fire nothing else; keep .450 ammunition clearly separated from your 5.56 supply. The chamber mix-up that can happen between .300 Blackout and 5.56 is a different caliber, but the same discipline of labelling and storage applies – see storing ammunition properly.
Whatever the platform, the zero is the same discipline: 100 yards, two to three inches high at that distance, and practised until the hold is automatic out to 150. A 250-grain polymer tip drops something like eight inches between 150 and 200, which is why the cartridge is sold as a 150-yard tool and why the ammunition you buy should be the load you can shoot well at those distances rather than the one with the most impressive number on the box.
What to practise with
The load menu is short enough that practice and hunt weights usually match by default: buy the same 250-grain polymer tip you will hunt with for both zero and practice, and accept the cost. There is no cheap ballistics-equivalent practice round in .450 Bushmaster the way there is in .223; the caliber is a hunting tool, and the ammunition is priced accordingly. The .450 Bushmaster caliber page shows current stock, with $1.62 a round at the low end for budgeting. Compare that figure against the straight-wall alternative with price per round, and see the full straight-wall discussion against the older lever action in .45-70 Government ammo if you have not bought a rifle yet.
A sensible first order
- Two boxes of 250-grain polymer tip – one for zero and one to keep loaded for the season. This is the load to standardise on.
- One box of 260-grain soft point if your hunting is mostly inside 75 yards in timber, where the deeper expansion is worth the slightly rainbow trajectory.
- One box of copper only if you specifically want maximum weight retention; otherwise the soft points are the better value.
.450 Bushmaster ammunition is a short list on purpose. Pick the 250-grain polymer tip unless you have a reason not to, verify it at 100 yards in the rifle you will carry, and stop optimising. The season is 150 yards long; the right load does not need to be complicated.
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