I've got a bolt action 450 BM that I'm trying to tame a bit for my grandchildren. I currently load 28 grains of H-110, pushing a 250 grain Hornady FTX. The kids say it's still too stout for their comfort. Does anyone out there have soft recoiling load for the BM? Thanks.

I recall that there was a "formula" to use in the development of lighter loads. You took the maximum safe load for the bullet/powder combination you were interested in, and multiply it by a certain percentage to give you a safe light load. Anyone know this formula?

12-13 gr cfe pistol,13-1400 fps.

Trailboss I’m sure would work.

H4895, if you have a listed load for it you can safely use 60% of the max listed load for reduced loads.

I would assume most stuff you would load cowboy 45 colt ammo with would be similar?

The hodgden site has sub loads listed

Thanks, folks!

One more comment for you. I did the math many years ago in relation to shotguns but its applicable here. Recoil is proportional to Mass squared times Velocity squared. You can get quite a recoil reduction going to a much lighter bullet without sacrificing too much velocity loading down the powder charge. As alluded to above, 45 Colt data is a good choice to look at for applicable powders and bullets.

In 44 Mag I can load a 180 gr JHP at under 1100 fps for reduced recoil. Yeah I know I can use 44 special loads but I don't like cleaning out the carbon ring.

I would look at the 185 gr XTP and the 185 gr Speer Gold dot and load to around 1100-1200 fps for a reduced recoil load. It should still do well as a hunting load. 45 Colt would be a good place to start. Your 450 can take over twice the pressure standard 45 Colt is loaded to. Even the "Contender or Ruger Blackhawk only" load in 45 Colt should be well under the pressures your 450 is designed for.

Thanks! I load for the 45 Colt as well and have lots of data that I've collected over the last several years for it. I'll dig out my reloading log for it and see what I can come up with.

Did you try running a subsonic 395 grain SubX or a Makers 425? Very little recoil with several powders. 🤷🏼‍♂️

No, I haven't tried either of these bullets. I don't have any on hand, but I'll get a box of each and give them a try if I can't work up something out of my existing stash. Thanks for the recommendation.

F(recoil) = bullet mass x velocity/gun mass. Slow it down or lighter bullet. That force is absorbed by a recoil pad and person's body. The pad works because it 'crushes'.

No. Mass times velocity is momentum. Dividing by the gun mass gives you just velocity ( fps ). Thats not force or even energy. The dimensional analysis does not work out.

Recoil energy = 0.5 x {[ (bullet mass x bullet velocity) + (powder charge mass x powder charge velocity) / 1000]2} / Gun mass.

Note the square is around BOTH bullet and powder velocities and masses. The 1000 is for metric conversion when using grams. Use 7000 if measuring in grains. And technically we ignore the powder mass for ease since when doing comparisons of 15 vs 20 grains its not significant, ALTHOUGH if you are using the real powder gas velocity there are some who feel its much greater than the bullet exit velocity so it could factor into the calculations, but when comparing 300 grain bullets to 20 grains of powder I generally ignore it for comparisons.

Bottom line, for comparisons from the same gun its proportional to Mass squared times Velocity squared. Now if you are looking at something like a .223 and using 55 grain bullets and 25 grains of powder and you use a powder velocity closer to 4000 FPS instead of the bullet velocity its actually significant. However we were talking the 450 bushmaster so I stand behind my initial rough estimation formula.

Simple way to compare. https://jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmrecoil-5.1.cgi

You're spoiling my fun.

Sorry about that, I know the math and have calculated it that and many other things before but now they know from your posts what the tool does

I am sure with enough digging I could find an old post or two with the calculations but that would be back a year or two after we joined this forum. These days I take the easy button on most of that stuff though, makes what brain I have left hurt.

Kmon - formulas don't really matter. What I posted was not exact but all you need to know. Formulas don't cover things like stock drop, size of shooter, etc. Helping many nieces, nephews, Scouts and GKs shoot, big part of the problem is noise and 'fear'. Personally I would recommend much lighter bullets - keep fps up so they can hit the target.

Agree with you on that, Good hearing protection or a suppressor go a long a way with lots of kids young and old. Lighter bullets and loads help with practice and confidence, when game is in front of them stronger loads often go unnoticed, not by all but by some.

Disagree, especially in this instance. Recoil is recoil and math is math. The fact that its a squared function really matters. Felt recoil can depend on several other factors but we are talking about the same gun and the same shooters.

You can add softer recoil pads and you can add weight to the gun too but we were talking loads not gun modifications.

So you can give me your internal 'ballistics' formulas also.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. I've settled on 8 grains of Unique, CCI primers and 200 grain FMJ's. My grand daughter declares it a winner! It sure makes a range session with the BM a lot more fun and comfortable. Don't need to go see the dentist for filling replacement, even after a couple of boxes of these squib loads. I'll be graphing them real soon and will let you all know what the chrono records.

You will likely settle a little higher with Unique. Probably about 9.2-9.8 grains.

Try the 220 grain Lehigh Defense bullets, I run the 225 grain .458 version in my Marlin 1895 45-70 and they are awesome. They feed like butter, deep penetration, great knock down power and very accurate. All that with a dramatic reduction in recoil.

https://lehighdefense.com/452-diameter-220-grain-xtreme-defense-bullets-50-count.html