Maker 350 Gr Subsonic Bullets - Bullet Creep

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Maker 350 Gr Subsonic Bullets - Bullet Creep

Postby Savage16Shooter » Sun Feb 14, 2021 6:54 pm

I have been a follower of this site for years - I can't believe I had not previously registered. I searched this site and the internet and can't find any helpful info on the Maker 350 Gr. "Bushmaster Subsonic" bullet.
Anyway, a bit of backstory: I've had a 16" Bushmaster upper since 2016 and hunt hogs and deer with my 450BM. After some problems with bullet break-up and no blood trails with Hornady 250 gr FTX bullets, I switched to the 275 gr Barnes TSX and have gone through all the loading issues with that bullet that are discussed here. Following Hoots' coverage of the concept "way back when", I settled on using a 45 Long Colt die to reduce the neck to give sufficient neck tension to hold the bullet and avoid bullet creep. That's worked great and I get about 1.0 - 1.25 MOA with no bullet creep without having to ride the bolt. (Load: 2020 fps 275 gr Barnes TSX 35.2 gr Lil' Gun WSR Primer Hornady Brass necked down to 0.451 COAL 2.290" CBTO 1.8863"). After getting a SilencerCo 46 Hybrid, I thought I would try some of the Hornady Subsonic loads, but can't find any ammo for it now. After searching this site, I saw mention of the Maker Brand bullets, followed up with research on YouTube and eventually bought their 350 gr "Bushmaster subsonic" bullet which is supposed to stabilize in my 1:24 twist barrel. After locating and paying way too much for a pound of Accurate #9 powder which a search of the internet as well as Maker's own advice indicated was likely one of the only powders which would work subsonic AND cycle an AR action, I tried to create some reloads, but being aware of the "bullet creep" problem with the 450BM, I tested that immediately and sure enough, I get as much as 0.015 movement just on chambering. I tried to put a very tight taper crimp on the band as well as a bit of a crimp into the cannelure. I have plenty of freebore to work with (2.400 with the 350 grain Maker), so I used seating depths of 2.24 (in the cannelure) to 2.26 COAL on the band). BUT no matter what, I got bullet creep when I didn't ride the bolt. For hogs shooting suppressed sub-sonic, I would of course like to have follow-up shots, so riding the bolt isn't feasible for subsequent shots. I have not actually fired any loads, I was first trying to set up a load recipe that would not give me loading/chambering issues. So after this background, does anyone have any experience with the Maker bullet, and what options might I have to avoid the creep? what powder and load did you use and did it cycle the action? The Maker bullets are .4514 diameter (compared to .4505 with the 275 gr TSX and .4519 with the Hornady 250 gr FTX), so I don't know if they are too wide to use the 45 Colt die to increase neck tension. I thought I would try to tap into the experience base here before continuing my experimentation. Is my only option to try a side crimp?
Savage16Shooter
 
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