MikeD's 450 Bushmaster build thread!!

[MikeD]

Well I went ahead and orderred a barrel and bolt!!

This will be my next AR upper project. This should be interesting, I saved some bucks by not buying receiver with an enlarged ejection port so I will be breaking out the dremmel on this one.

Power tools and guns does it get any better than that?!?!?!

As usuall this is starting out as a budget minded build for use primarily as a deer gun in our "shotgun zone". They expanded the rules to allow certain straight walled cartridges and this is about the biggest to meet the criteria.

I already hit up the bargain bin at Joe Bob Outfitters to get some essentials. Opted for the free shipping so it may take a while.

Teaser stock photo:

 

[John A.]

You could easily use it for whitetail too.

Do you have an x/y vise for your drill press? That may be a better alternative than a dremel.

 

[dieselmudder]

Following

 

[ripjack13]

 

[Rossignol]

Ooooh, I'm interested!

 

[MikeD]

You could easily use it for whitetail too.

Do you have an x/y vise for your drill press? That may be a better alternative than a dremel.

Whitetail is tbe intended useage. Maybe bear or even hogs if an opportunity presented itself.

No vise. I've looked by they all seemed sketchy until I looked at some above my pay grade. If anyone could suggest a decent one I'm all ears.

I already have a lower or I may mill an 80%'er. I also already have bolt carrier, scope, charging handle and dust cover. I think I may even have a set of scope rings in a box here somewhere.

I want to do something different with this one. Ive always just done the plain EBR build and think I may break out the Krylon or Cerekote with this one. I found a place that does some awesome custom handguards but that makes it not so much a budget build. I'll play it by ear.

 

[John A.]

How much/where do you have to mill the ejection port?

 

[MikeD]

How much/where do you have to mill the ejection port?

Based on the video I found looks like about 1/16" or so along the bottom maybe a little along the top towards the rear of the receiver. I still need to do a little more research.

A custom 450 receiver was $135. I thought that was too much when I can buy an Anderson for $44. I'm not scared of removing a little metal.

The barrel, bolt and thread protector are all coming from Tromix Lead Delivery Solutions. I kept seeing their name come up when looming into this and decided to give them a shot.

 

[John A.]

See if you can find specifics and let me know.

blueprint with numbers would be even better.

 

[nitesite]

This is going to be a great thread.

How pricey is the ammo Mike?

 

[MikeD]

This is going to be a great thread.

How pricey is the ammo Mike?

Been seeing for $25-$35/box.

Plan is to reload but only dies are by RCBS Hornady and are in the $70+ range. I think others will do them by custom order but then you are back in the same price range. Midway had brass for around $45/50. Its not an economical gun by any stretch but it fills a specific need. My goal once done is just to find a load she likes and stick with it. Shoot it enough to learn the balistics and then pretty much just use it for hunting until the ammo componant prices drop.

Ruger has has an American rifle chambered in it that has only been available from Randys Guns here in MI. We have a high demand because of the rule change for deer hunting. I hear Ohio may be making a similar change ausing even more demand. They only sell first come first served and sell out quick whenever new ones come in, which always seems to be a day when I have to work. Thats why I opted to just build one, besides its more fun.

Ruger is now rolling it out as a full production model. Once that happens I hope to see prices on ammo and availability on componants come down a little as demand levels off.



Correction, I misstated the dies were RCBS when they were Hornady.

 

[MikeD]

My parts arrived Saturday. I'll start getting pics up tomorrow and get this build going.

 

[CaddmannQ]

. . . I will be breaking out the dremmel on this one. . .

Power tools and guns does it get any better than that?!?!?!

Not under normal circumstances.

 

[MikeD]

OK Here are some pics:



All the parts laid out. Some I just bought, some I already had. I reserve the right to change up any of these as I go. ;D

The gun in the background is my 300BLK that I built a while back.



Matrix Arms Keymod Handguard. This is a friction fit free floating tube. The barrel nut that comes with it is different than any I gave seen. I will have to find some other way to torque this one down. It has flats on four sides, I have not determined size yet.



Barrel stamp. I was impressed that this barrel already has a detent hole under the gas port. I will add a second but this is the first I have seen to come with one. I will expand on this later in the build.

Edit: Uploaded images to fix bad FailBucket links -MikeD

 

[MikeD]

Looks like they took a std M4 barrel extension and ground it down to make the 450 feed ramp.



Here I just laid everything together to give you an idea how it will look when it is done. Not really assembled but enough to see what it will look like.



Closer look.

I am still trying to figure out exactly how I want to tackle opening up the ejection port. I'll keep you posted.

Edit: Uploaded images to fix bad FailBucket links -MikeD

 

[John A.]

Some nice looking hunting rifles Mike.

 

[MikeD]

Do you have an x/y vise for your drill press? That may be a better alternative than a dremel.

Found one at an industrial tool place near my work. I'll go back tomorrow (payday!!!) and get it. I have projects other than this where it would be most helpfull so I think I can justify the expense. Its really heavy and seems pretty stable, little to no play. Should work good for what I want to do with it.

They had a nice drill press mill there for a little over $1300 on sale. Really wish I could afford that. Ohhhh the projects I could do....

 

[MikeD]

Picked up the vise. I need to clean packing grease off of it, attach the handles, tweek the adjustments to get rid of what little play I found and then get to work.

Looks like I may be ice fishing this weekend so I might not get back to it until next week.





Interesting those pics are oriented differently on my phone. Sorry for the odd orientation of the pics.

 

[MikeD]

OK, got my upper milled out.



My High tech milling machine. Craftsman Drill Press, cross slide vise, 1/4" end mill bit and a bunch of c clamps







Before painting I will file down the sharp areas (i.e. where I ended the cut near the dust door catch)

My apologies on the poor focus in some parts, I forget that my DSLR does not autofocus in video mode. I did not realize my error until I was done and downloaded the video to edit it.

Edit: Uploaded images to fix bad FailBucket links -MikeD

 

[John A.]

Mike for the Win !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!