The long awaited 450 B&M Test work……….. In the beginning of this 450 BM adventure, I had absolutely NO PLANS of going much further than plinking with the thing, but things change, and with the addition of CEB Raptors and Maximus and some others, this has turned into a very serious little “Big Bore” cartridge, and the test work here is impressive to say the least.
We will start with the 160 CEB Raptors, and they are just wicked……… It has been a very long time since I have seen such massive, extreme, trauma in this test medium. These 160s are devastating at 2770 fps. Penetration of the base to 12 inches was right on par with what I had thought it would do, but I was not expecting such massive destruction of material………
I would not hesitate to use the 160s on animals up to 300 lbs or more. Zombies? Splattered……… Deer/pigs/bear, end of story………
Moving to the 250 gr CEB Raptors Trauma is somewhat less, still substantial, far in excess of anything conventional of course, but some less than the 160 Raptors simply because of velocity, penetration is deeper with the larger remaining full diameter slug. For really big fat Zombies, this is the bullet, and of course animals bigger than standard deer/pigs/bear. Perhaps if I was on a bear mission, I would go with the 250 Raptors. This would also be suitable for much larger game in Alaska as well.
The 250 CEB Maximus is similar to all 1st Generation Copper Hollow Point Bullets, those early ones from Lehigh I used, and the current Hammer bullets. These blades peel and shear about the same as the Raptors, but instead of radiating away from center, these stay closer to center wound channel, and even then they are very devastating as well, I would say slightly less than the Raptors, but way more than anything else you can imagine. These are ready for the heaviest animals you would want to hunt with a 450 BM………..
Sam had some of those “Maker Bullets”, we tested a load with the 275 gr Version, we probably could up the velocity by a 100 fps or even more, but we tested at the first step with 2114 fps. These things are just wicked as well, I assume the copper has to be annealed since the petals/blades all stayed intact and did not shear….. reminds me of an octopus all stretched out. It produced extreme trauma as well ripping and tearing the medium to shreds. Penetration not as deep as the 250 Raptor or 250 Maximus, but would not expect it to be with the massive expansion…… This would be a Zombie ripper for sure……
Sam had some 395 Hornady Sub X loaded that we tested too, and result were interesting to say the least.. I would class these as a success for sub sonic.
And that is what we have so far………… I might try some standard Hornady bullets this coming week, and maybe even a Lehigh or two just to round things out………. But first I have to get some work done………….
Just found the big bore section a few days ago. Don’t know how I missed it! Anyway, here’s my 450 build. It sports an 18” BCA barrel, Kaw Valley linear comp, Aero upper, Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40 scope with PEPR mount.
