Ruger's Scout Rifle 450 Bushmaster Part II

10/11/2020
Someone called me a Fudder the other day. Interesting, as I have been shooting firearms for sixty seven years. Sixty two years of handloading, hunting and shooting rifles, shotguns and handguns. Then there was military service and many years of designing numerous wildcat cartridges and making rifles that require a machine shop rather than a wrench and mouse click at an online parts dealer. And, of course, the expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars for firearm related political donations, writing endless letters of petition and actively campaigning for political candidates in support of the Second Amendment.

I find it an honor to be called a Fudder by adults suffering from arrested development. People who spend their lives playing video games and obsessing only over ARs, as though mere possession would enhance their chances for breeding. God forbid. These dumb asses play with guns for a year or two, find a gun board populated with the same to live on, and spread their cumulative “wisdom” as the second coming of John Moses Browning. After their big mouths and crap attitudes have destroyed the reputation of long term, dedicated gun owners, they will move on to whatever bright, shiny object grabs their attention next and all of the other gun owners will be stuck trying to clean up their mess.

Want me to enlist in your army and support your firearm interests? Stop doing your best to alienate people who are firearm enthusiasts, but just do not share your interest. We are all entitled to enjoy what we like, however different, and still support one another. Thank you. I feel much better.

No, you’re at the right place and this is about the Ruger Scout Rifle

The Ruger Scout Rifle reminds me of every WWI and WWII military Mauser, 1903 Springfield, 1917 Enfield that had been reworked, enhanced, accurized, and sporterized by a highly skilled gunsmith. At least every one that I have ever seen and wished I could own.

The Scout is short, but not stubby. It is robust, but not heavy. It has useful sight system redundancy, but it is also blued and has a walnut stock. Put me in a shack in the middle of a North American wilderness with this rifle and I could survive in comfort.

The Ruger Scout Rifle deserved more than a review with factory ammo or wearing a 20x scope for shooting groups. It deserved handloads it might like and to be shot with the factory ghost sight as the good Lord and Ruger intended.

The obligatory cartridge line up. Number 2, step forward

The history of the 450 Bushmaster, and other cartridge specifics, were covered in the Part II prequel, which was creatively defined as Part I. However, for the sake of contextual continuity – Left to right: 454 Casull, 450 Bushmaster, 460 S&W, and 45-70 Gov’t.

What’s with all the dies?

The Hornady 450 Bushmaster die set L-R: full length sizer, expander, bullet seater, taper crimp die. The 450 Bushmaster headspaces on its case mouth, so a taper rather than rolled crimp is utilized. Bullet cannelures are ignored with the Hornady FTX 200 grain taper crimped just below the cannelure and the Hornady XTP/Mag bullet seated to put the case mouth on solid footing between the upper and lower cannelures.

The Ruger Scout, by magazine length and rifling leade position can take significantly longer than specification overall length, ogive position restricts assembled overall length well inside of spec. In some cases, the presence of a boat tail further limits bullet positioning within the case. At the end, all of the components were placed in a box, shaken vigorously, and they came out like this.

The revolver bullet was selected for the subsonic loads. Sometimes it is difficult to get good accuracy from large bore subsonic loads. The longer the bullet, the more revolutions per second a bullet must make to stabilize. At standard velocity, the 1:16″ twist works well, but I thought the subsonic would be more accurate if bullet length was shortened when bullet weight remained high.

During initial check out of subsonic loads, this 3 shot, 50 yard group was shot with the factory ghost sight; just under 1/2″ center to center on a 1″ bullseye. This load was 875 fps, but the same at both 972 fps and 1007 fps. Very quiet loads.

Handload performance

Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet length will alter net case capacity,  pressure and velocity. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These are maximum loads in my firearms and may be excessive in others. All loads should be reduced by 5% as a starting point for development where cartridges have greater than 40 grains in capacity and 10% for cartridges with less than 40 grain capacity following safe handloading practices as represented in established mainstream reloading manuals. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.