.450 Bushmaster ballistics chart
The .450 Bushmaster trajectory with a 250-grain FTX: drop, wind drift and retained velocity from a 100-yard zero out to 400 yards.
What is the .450 Bushmaster?
The .450 Bushmaster puts a heavy, .452-inch bullet into an AR-15-sized package. A 250-grain bullet leaving the muzzle around 2,200 fps hits with a great deal of energy at short range, and the straight-walled case makes it legal in US states that limit deer hunting to straight-wall cartridges.
The blunt, low-BC bullet sheds velocity quickly and the trajectory falls away steeply past 200 yards, so it is a woods and short-range cartridge rather than an open-country one. Recoil is stout for its size but manageable in a gas gun.
Typical uses: Deer and hog hunting inside 200 yards, especially in straight-wall-only states and dense cover.
Sample load
The trajectory below is calculated for this representative factory load in a standard ICAO atmosphere. The bullet is an entry from the app’s bullet library, so the calculator opens with it already selected. Your rifle will differ — enter your own chronographed velocity and verified BC in the calculator for numbers you can dial.
- Bullet
- Hornady 250 gr FTX
- Muzzle velocity
- 2,200 fps
- Ballistic coefficient
- 0.21 (G1)
- Zero
- 100 yd
.450 Bushmaster key figures
- Muzzle energy
- 2,687 ft⋅lb
- Supersonic to
- About 370 yd
- Point-blank range, 6 in zone
- 200 yd (172 yd zero)
- Point-blank range, 3 in zone
- 157 yd (136 yd zero)
- Drop at 300 yd, 100 yd zero
- 33.6 in
Point-blank range is how far you can hold dead on and still hit a target zone of that height, using the zero shown. Work it out for your own load with the maximum point-blank range calculator , or see how the .450 Bushmaster stacks up in the cartridge comparison chart .
.450 Bushmaster trajectory table
| Range (yd) | Velocity (fps) | Energy (ft⋅lb) | Drop (in) | Elevation (MIL) | Elevation (MOA) | Wind 10 mph (MIL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 2,009 | 2,241 | 0.3 | -0.2 | -0.6 | 0.3 |
| 100 | 1,829 | 1,857 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| 150 | 1,659 | 1,529 | -2.9 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| 200 | 1,504 | 1,256 | -9.0 | 1.3 | 4.3 | 1.4 |
| 250 | 1,364 | 1,033 | -19.0 | 2.1 | 7.3 | 1.9 |
| 300 | 1,242 | 857 | -33.6 | 3.2 | 10.7 | 2.4 |
| 350 | 1,143 | 726 | -53.9 | 4.4 | 14.7 | 2.8 |
| 400 | 1,067 | 632 | -80.8 | 5.7 | 19.3 | 3.3 |
This load passes below the speed of sound at roughly 400 yards in standard conditions. Trajectory predictions become unreliable through and past the transonic zone.
Learn more
New to reading a table like this? These guides explain the numbers: