I was leaning towards the 450 Bushmaster, and this seals it. I work for Black Rain Ordinance and we produce the 450 BM and the 458 SOCOM, but of the 2 I'm getting a 450 BM. The video was kind of amateur-ish which actually was refreshing because you seem like a real guy doing a real test. Very relatable.
bushmaster is solid they are are in the 45-70 class of cartridges, the big difference is bullet weight the 450 bushmaster is a .451 cartridge so you are limited to a 300gr projectile while the 458 can get well over 400gr and the 50 can manage a 500gr projectile.
Yeah, literally the perfect video for what I searched - I have my 450BM rig and I love it. I knew that I prefer it over SOCOM but I was considering making a Beowulf upper and I kept talking myself in and out of it bc of the bushmaster being so great and like… I could just make a spare 450BM upper instead just in case I have a bad malfunction. Whelp… I searched to see what (if any) situational stuff the Beowulf might be better for than the 450BM and your video has convinced me that I was right to ignore the Beowulf and just build a spare bushmaster upper in case I have a bad malfunction. If I want less penetration and more of a thumper I can always use the subsonic bushmaster ammo coming in at 480gn/1060fps (I think that would knock over a wooly mammoth and knock it unconscious for a few minutes even if it didn’t penetrate the fur and hide! Lol…) but tbh with the bushmaster I really like the versatility of ammo choices. You have everything from this round to the hornady match, black, subsonic… you really have virtually the perfect Jack of all trades platform for any situation requiring a big bore. Plus you have a straight walled cartridge for all the states whose hunting laws require it.
This is very helpful and good for letting me know which is more effective, and I'm glad I found this because I thought it'd be .50Beowulf not .450 Bushmaster. Overall 10/10 video
I'm glad i bought a 450 bushmaster considering that neither of the other calibers penetrated the steel after the 4 vests slowed them down. its definitely interesting that the 450 did.
not a super fair test the 450 was a super light projectile and the 458 and 50 had projectile that are really on the heavy slow side considering they both have there most common bullet weights around 300-350grs
speed is typically how you defeat armor. so since the .50 is the slowest... makes sense. .50 is for power. if you hit armor shit going to hurt like hell, maybe break a rib or two. but if it hits an arm or something....
Great video, It's clear that the 450 Bushmaster performed best but the energy of the 50 Beowulf is impressive. I was undecided on my next build, your video helped me decide to go with the 450 Bushmaster! It was very pleasurable watching you take out the iPhone, something I have wanting to do for years now!!! Thank you Sir!
Thank You! I appreciate you watching and glad I could help you choose your next build. I would have recommended the 450 just because the ammo is or was more available.
That is the best use of an I-phone that I have ever seen! That is also a nice collection. The bill to feed them can't be cheap but I bet they are all a hell of a lot of fun to shoot. I was faced the dilemma of which big bore to choose and I went with Bushmaster. The main reasons are because I can use cheap .452" bullets to reload them and the cases will fit through a normal sized ejection port. The others need a larger port.
I just bought a BCA 12.7x42 side charging 16in and the moral to all this is, you definitely don’t want to get hit by any of these!!!!!! 🤣! Good Video!!!
Pow-pow-pow! "Stupid phone." LMAO! Thanks for doing this comparison. I've wondered about the comaprative penetrating power of these 3 rounds for a while.
Great video and info. . . . . as the old saying goes "speed kills" my next build is a 450 bushmaster and as an added; the 450 ammo is cheaper and more readily available
I cant decide between a 458 socom or the 450 bushmaster but im leaning towards the bushmaster just due to ammo availablity. Since its used alot for hunting almost all sporting good stores near me have it.
This felt like I was doing experiments with an old friend. Super mellow vibe my dude I really enjoyed it. I have serious interest in the performance of all three calibers so this was also very useful. Many thanks brother. I'm sticking around 🙏
I figured the 50 beowulf wouldnt pnch through cos its like 120 more grain than the other one and its moving a lot slower but the kinetic energy it produces is OP. Seen a video that uses 350gr 50 beowulf that killed a grizzly with one shoot.
I have one as well as the other three it shoots like a dream but ammo is extremely expensive and hard to come by. Shot at a deer with it yesterday and it is heavy as Hell
My God! I did not expect that level of penetration. I knew it was going to be impressive, but not this impressive. Perfect comparison. I too have been waiting for such a good comparison video like this. Subscribed!
I expected .450 Bushmaster would be the loser due to low weight of a bullet. I am so wrong, and this is an eye opener. It's only 25 yds, but these would be shot at close distances only. So the result is valid. Thank U very much for this video.
What i liked is the .450 bushmaster ammo at time of writing this is often around 60% of the cost of .50 Beowulf without much of a difference in performance. You're still hittin with around the same energy of a .308 with .450 and I dont think Id honestly want to step up much more in power on an ar15 lower anyways. At that point I think its realistically just get an ar10 time. I got mine to kinda fill the same role as a 45/70 "brushgun" or even a 12 gauge slugger as expensive as quality rounds for those are getting. And you can still drop anything in North America with it including buffalo. Just a goodround
You have an impressive array of ARs. All would be highly effective on hogs, and I doubt you'd notice any difference among the three rounds. You could not go wrong with any of them. I have the 450 BM, the 458 SoCom, and a completed lower awaiting a 50 BW! All my loads are handloads.
Thank You! I really want to reload for mines too, but finding primers has been impossible. But I still have adout 200 rounds or so for each one of them.
not true comparison, shoot same caliber size side by side. not 250 grain and 300 grain another . you can get 400 grain 450 bushmaster etc, etc. of course they will all bring down most animals in the world...if you are a good shot.
Potential primaries today the video is pretty good To any one of them Platforms but I do happen to own a 450 Bushmaster with a 20 inch barrel and it's a thumper😊
A thing to ponder to all considering purchasing big bore calibers is 1000 rounds will cost around 2500 to 3000 dollars 223 cost about 300 I have the big bores and I haven't put 100 round s through any of them
Thanks for the vid, these tests are always hard to do 'right' because there is such a difference in so many variables. the .50Beowulf for example is a pistol cartridge iirc (based on the .50AE, like the Desert Eagle uses). The .458SOCOM is more like a 45-70 in a AR Carbine and the 450 Bushmaster is a long gun all the way, works better at range and shoot flatter. My own experiences (with different ammo, Barnes Expanders) I prefered the .458SOCOM in a AR Carbine for most of my shooting (under 150-200m).
Something is not right about that 50 Beowulf. It has within about 200 fps of the 450 Bushmaster and 20% more momentum. Momentum tells you the ability of one object to displace another, which in projectile ballistics, equates to penetration. It makes me think that 420 grain bullet was not doing the advertised 1650 fps. It should have outpenetrated the 450 Bushmaster. It is the cartridge designed to stop vehicles at road blocks in Iraq and Afghanistan because the 5.56 green tip and 7.62 Nato black tip rounds were not sufficient. The 50 Beowulf will penetrate from fender to engine block without being deflected and once it contacts the engine block will knock a crack in it thus disabling the engine. It was known to do this out to 200 yds and especially well out to 150 yds. Also, it was good for blasting through barricades.
Also, the round initially used by Alexander Arms and the military was a 334 grain bullet at 1900 fps. I called Alexander Arms about it and they said there was nothing special about the bullet to make it reach and crack engine blocks, and I believe they said it was either a Speer or Sierra bullet with a lead core.
They are the same bullet material. Finding the same bullet weights is supper heard unless you reload, and even doing that is extremely hard to do because the bullets won't be the same design.
I would also look at availability of each. For me the 50 BW I've only found at 2 stores, the 458 SC 1 store, and the 450 BM I find / used to find at mom and pop stores must of the time.
@@308c I bought an FAL from a doctor who was moving out of state to a communist state. I got it for a song. It's dang heavy for a woman but that is what I carry out on the tundra when berry picking. I live in Southwest, Alaska a long the Kuskokwim River. I used to live in Ketchikan many moons past. Is the shotgun range still there off to the left?
@@jeanettewest nice I've been wanting an FAL for a long time. Yes the shotgun range is still there but it not used as much by the public any more, it's mostly used by the high school trap team now.
I enjoyed watching your video, but I have one question. If I wanted to use those bullets for automatic firing, which bullet would be the most suitable? Would it be the bottlenecked .458? I live in a country with strict gun control, so my access to this kind of knowledge is quite limited.
Thank you I appreciate it! Well if you're going to do automatic firing they all will work as long as you firearm is turned properly. I would recommend the 450 Bushmaster just do to the ammo availability.
Am curious what kind of spring/buffer setup you use in the a1/a2 style receiver extension for heavier rounds? Building a 16inch a1 style stocked .450 bushy right now and keep hearing different things to watch out for or may be bad advice.
I have standard A2 buffer and springs in all of mine. If you are the one putting the gas block on make sure it's lined up over the gas port. If its misaligned it may cause you to think is a buffer problem.
@@308c I think you'll like it. Mines is a CVA Hunter. The hunter is discontinued. But the Scout is basically identical. It's nice because for bullet designs that are odd this doesn't have feeding issues. Shooting some cool rounds at fruit and bottles is fun.
The 50 Beowulf was developed for the military to shoot car engines that tryed to run check points. The 458 Socom was for developed because the 5.56 wasn't had a hard time stopping people that was druge up during war. The 450 Bushmaster was developed for state that only allowed straight wall cartridges for hunting. Nowadays they are mostly for fun but some people do still hunt with them.
So... did he drop the mags on all three, but not empty any of the chambers? I'm not sure what that accomplishes... Or did he only have one round in each mag?
How do you like the 2 ASR style muzzle breaks you have? I just got the Ruger AR in .450 Bushmaster and want to swap out the factory flash protector with holes in it, and get the SilencerCo ASR brake. I'm afraid the blast or concussion will be too much and make the rifle obnoxious like other brakes I've bought in the past. That is a damn fine collection of cannons you have 🤤
Thanks! I don't feel they are as bad ass a 5.56 or 30 cal break because of the hole size is so big. It still may feel the same to shooters beside you lol.
Great information. Thanks for testing and sharing. I’m currently building a 450 Bushmaster. I’ll reload to keep costs down. Do you have a favorite out of those three calibers?
Ok, from what I’ve read bullet weight has a huge amount impact on penetration. Honestly, I don’t trust your tests. I’m not sure bullet proof tests are a good way to determine how well a bullet will perform in hunting conditions. The big five have been taken by 300 grain 44mag bullets at 1400 FPS.
This was just a backyard test to see the bullet differences from the same manufacturer, utilizing the same style of bullet. These bullets and tests will never be 100% equal, something will always be different to make one better or worse than the other.
Nice! Thanks You so much for helping get me there. I'll have to come up with a 1000 subscribers video of some sort. If you got any ideas let me know. And Thank you again!!
I love that Gucci Glock, do you have a reddit/Insta/Facebook with a build and parts thread? I was surprised by the .50 Beowulf’s performance but even more surprised by the .458... I thought for sure the .458 would have performed the best.. but that 450 is insane. The only thing that surprised me with the 50 was how much energy it lost to the vests, I was expecting more along the lines of it not penetrating half of them but still hitting hard enough to dent the plate at the end. I guess if I ever need to shoot through a car door and two people the .450 is the bullet to use lol
Thanks! I don't have any of those accounts with a parts list but I have a video here on YT that shows what companys I got the parts from. Except the slide that came from eBay.
just a suggestion guys but I see quite a few of these and maybe you should mark the rounds as they go through with a colored circle. Easier and a little more scientific
@@308c Fair enough. And the yardage in your test are marginal. Their personalities change the further you sling em out there. I just like debated and talking about this subject. No harm...rock on.
@@308c appreciate the response, I've got a 18" & 16" Beowulf that I love. Been thinking about grabbing a 458 Socom upper to switch between one of them.
