Wish you the Best & look forward to your reports afterward.
Be safe & Wise ! Jumbo out

 

I've heard great things about MGM, and Hornady 450BM ammo is really good. That will be a fantastic rifle. I think you'll be very pleased.

 

I will do a full report on it when I run a few rounds through it

 

I'm doing the same but I haven't decided on barrel diameter yet. Hope to order mine in a week or 2. Looking forward to your reports!

 

The barrel came via ups today. Can't say enough good things about match grade machine. This thing was packaged awesome and even came with its own case/gun sleeve. I may have went overboard with the 4 warne maxima rings but I wanted to make certain that vortex scope wasn't going anywhere. I will more than likely be purchasing a leupold vx-2 by next year.
Barrel specs as followed:
24"
Full bull barrel
1-16" twist
Tapped for 6 hole scope base
Tapped for the shotgun forearm due to the bulkiness of the full bull barrel.
Polished stainless steel.

Will be breaking in the barrel Christmas Eve morning and report back.

 

Be sure to give us a range report!

 

Just out of curiosity why did you go with the full bull 1" barrel? The only reason I ask is because thats the last decision i have to make before ordering mine. Beautiful rifle by the way.

 

I went with the full bull in hopes of keeping the recoil down. However the recoil of this gun is about the same as a 20gauge. So in reality I guess I chose the bull barrel as a personal preference and hopes that my wife will be able to shoot it without worrying about recoil.

 

Ok thanks. I'm leaning towards the 7/8" for the weight of it. Right now I lug around a H&R ultra slug so I would like to lighten the load a bit.

 

I have a full bull in 45-70 caliber that is set up as a smokeless muzzleloader. The extra weight tames the recoil down since I don't have a muzzlebrake on it.

 

That's what I was hoping for with the bull barrell

 

I went with the .810. Balance is good, no issue with recoil, shoots one ragged hole at 100 yards...truly a pleasure to carry and shoot.

 

I don't have a pic at 100yds but I would say 3 shots 2" groups with the 250grain ftx. Breaking in the barrel took a long time because u have to clean the barrel well every single shot for the first 15 shots. I felt that the gun shot better when it was dirty instead of being shiny clean.

This was at 207yds. Crosshairs dead center. Not holding over. The one far left was with a clean barrel. Second shot was 3" low good left to right. The 4 shots that are grouped pretty decent were shots 3,4,5,6 without cleaning the barrel at all. I didn't have much time today to get very picky on sighting it in so I will report back again when I have time to dial it in a little closer.

Not too bad for a straight walled cartridge but I will have it dialed in a lot better before next season. This was more of a break in session to break the barrel in.

 

II felt that the gun shot better when it was dirty instead of being shiny clean. .

I have read on internet about this, without an answer. Lyman manual has an article where the guys says it is better to shoot a wet barrel. Dry barrel is hard on gun. But then internet people talk about how it is not as accurate and say that the bench rest shooters fire a few before competition.

I don't know what I believe. I do have a concern for barrel life, I am not shooting far. Need to do a test. I hose my barrel down after deer season, and again in summer. Then I kill deer at 30 yards. I probably should run a wet patch through to keep it wet, but not as wet.

Though I wonder why a dry barrel is different then a dirty barrel for the life of it. There are people on the internet who say they fire one before the season and don't clean.

 

This pic shows the importance of knowing your rifle..i have a .338 mag that will put it's first shot a good 5 inches left of the poa from a clean barrel, then shoots well after that. I wonder how many deer are poorly hit because the shooter sighted in their gun, then cleaned it before hunting. May be best to always hunt with a fouled bore...

 

Any more targets to show? I'm thinking of the same weapon so I'm watching you're thread.

 

For anyone who may be thinking about a 357 Maximum barrel for their break action firearm, here's a couple of 100 and 200 yard, 3 shot groups from David White. He uses a 24 1/2" barrel with a 1:20 twist (will NOT stabilize any bullet longer than most 160 grainers) since the slower twist gives him an improvement in velocity. He's getting just over 2700 FPS with a 140 gr FTX and an XTP. He refers to the 110 gr bullet (200 yard target) as his "Coyote Load" and drops a BB in the nose cavity to prevent disintegration at velocities over 3000 FPS. Oh, and he picked up an across the board average increase in velocity just by de-burring the flash holes. Pretty interesting stuff ...

 

Any idea why Match Grade Machine went with a 1:16 twist on this barrel? I tried to contact someone at MGM today, but that person was not in the office to answer that question. Also, are these guns designed to be 300yd guns for whitetail like the Bohman Thumper and Ultimate Game Breaker?

I've got a Savage 220 and if the performance of the MGM 450 Bushmaster isn't going to surpass it by a wide margin, the MGM 450 won't be an option...

 

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/index.php?threads/552164/
Zone 3 rifle "build"

This is a thread I started when I first got the idea to put one together. I had the same question about the twist rate(post #39) but came to the conclusion that for what im making it for it would not bother me. As far as range I'm hoping to get comfortable at 200 or 250 yards. I'm sure the gun is capable of 250.....just hoping I am too.

 

I will update this post when I actually have more time to spend with this gun the photo that I posted was more of a "break in" session for the barrel. Mgm gives complete instructions on how to properly break in the barrel. I'm not 100% sold on the optic that I have on here. Vortex diamondback 3-9x40. There may be a change in plans shortly and upgrade to a leupold vx-2 or vx-3.

 

I will update this post when I actually have more time to spend with this gun the photo that I posted was more of a "break in" session for the barrel. Mgm gives complete instructions on how to properly break in the barrel. I'm not 100% sold on the optic that I have on here. Vortex diamondback 3-9x40. There may be a change in plans shortly and upgrade to a leupold vx-2 or vx-3.

Did MGM make any mention of what the performance of this barrel should be? Or did you know of any other reports on this setup prior to ordering?

Also, do you plan on checking your muzzle velocity with a chrono?

 

There was very little info about the 450bm barrel for a tc prohunter. I more or less was trying to be different. Everyone owns a .460s&w. I plan on checking muzzle velocity in the spring or summer.

Very little time right now. Busy busy. Building my house.

 

Incredible targets from that 357 Max

 

Any updates on the encore? Thinking about getting a .450, but not sure which way I want to go.
All the options look like fun.
Just add an encore barrel, do an AR build, or do the ultimate rifle.
Decisions...

 

Get a 45-70 barrel. Send it out to be fitted with a breach plug and gain 400-500fps over the 450. Shoot smokeless powder during firearms season and Blackhorn 209 for muzzleloading season. No more need for two barrels.

 

I was not familar with 450BM, so I googled it. I don't have an AR, but that does sound interesting. I have wanted one just for common ammo, .223. But would also like something with more power. So I was thinking about AR10.


Did you build this to use in shotgun zones, or just thought it would be fun? Either way it sure does like a nice gun and capable round.