Cartridges for those “straight-wall states” and areas which require specialized ammunition for big-game hunting have certainly become popular of late, with Winchester’s 350 Legend and 400 Legend gaining a large fan base. There are some older designs which still get the nod each season, like the .444 Marlin, the venerable .45-70 Government and the .450 Bushmaster. There are many prospective buyers looking for the best of this style of cartridge, and I get more than a few phone calls asking whether the .450 Bushmaster or the 400 Legend is the better choice. Let’s put the two up against one another, and see which makes the better choice.
The .450 Bushmaster is the oldest of the pair, dating back to 2007 and was developed by Tim LeGendre of LeMag Firearms, who licensed the cartridge to Bushmaster Firearms International, however the cartridge was initially known as the .45 Professional. Based on the .284 Winchester shortened to 1.700 inches and using a small rifle primer rather than the .284’s large rifle primer, the .450 Bushmaster is a straight-walled cartridge with the same .473-inch rim that works so well in the AR-10 platform. With a body tapering from 0.500 inches to 0.480 inches at the case mouth, the .450 Bushmaster is designed to use the same 0.452 inch-diameter bullets that the .45 ACP, and other pistol cartridges use. The rebated rim of the .284 Winchester is retained, though the straight wall design forces the case mouth to handle headspacing duties, much like the .45 ACP or 9mm Luger.
The .450 Bushmaster is derived from Col. Jeff Cooper’s “Thumper concept,” where he wanted a cartridge suitable for double duty in both defensive rifles, and in a hunting gun, where a heavier bullet of larger diameter would be employed to deliver one-shot kills when hunting larger game species. The two most common loads see a 260-grain bullet at 2200 fps, generating 2,800 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle and a 300-grain bullet at 1900 fps, for 2,400 ft.-lbs. of energy.
The 400 Legend is the younger brother of the 350 Legend, and uses many of the same principles: a straight-walled, rimless cartridge, with a slightly rebated rim, using the case mouth for headspacing. Maintaining a case length of 1.65 inches to adhere to several state and local laws, and a case diameter of 0.422 inches—common to the 6.8 SPC and the obsolete 30 Remington—the 400 Legend uses a bullet of nominal diameter (technically 0.4005 inches, but Winchester gives some wiggle room). Because the rim diameter is the same as the 6.8 SPC, the Legend has no problem functioning in the AR platform, though it is also at home in a bolt action rifle. The common ammunition uses a 215-grain bullet at 2250 fps, generating 2,416 ft.-lbs. of energy, and the newer Winchester load sees a 190-grain Deer Season XP bullet at 2400 fps, generating 2,430 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle.
Despite the differences in bullet diameter, the velocity and energy figures of this pair aren’t all that radically different. For comparison purposes, I’ll use the Winchester 215-grain Power Point load and the Hornady 245-grain American Whitetail load. Both cartridges offer the most user-friendly trajectories when zeroed at 150 yards, which minimizes the rise at 100 yards, with the 400 Legend striking 1.8 inches high at 100 yards, and the .450 Bushmaster hitting 2.2 inches high. At 200 yards, the 400 Legend will drop 4.9 inches, while the .450 Bushmaster drops 5.8 inches; the 400 Legend retains 1,132 ft.-lbs. of energy, and the .450 Bushmaster has 1,012 ft.-lbs. Past this point, things start to drop off rather quickly, with the 400 Legend dropping 26.4 inches at 300 yards, in comparison to the .450 Bushmaster’s 32.8 inches of drop. While I don’t personally subscribe to the “minimum of 1,000 ft.-lbs. to kill a deer” theory, I will say that with both of these cartridges, you want an accurate rangefinder and I would recommend keeping your shots inside of 200 yards. Judge the range incorrectly outside of 200 yards, and it is very easy to shoot underneath your intended target (personal experience has taught me that lesson).
The major difference between the pair is the recoil level. In both autoloaders and bolt guns, the .450 Bushmaster has a significant higher level of recoil. Is it enough to shy away from the cartridge? I don’t feel that is the case, but if you’re getting similar ballistic performance, suffering through unnecessary recoil doesn’t seem logical. The .450 Bushmaster does offer a larger frontal diameter, and therefore a larger wound channel, but a .40-caliber projectile doesn’t exactly leave a small hole. I find the 400 Legend to be easy on the shoulder, allowing the shooter to accurately place their shot, and get back on target faster.
Ammunition for the .450 Bushmaster is more readily available, being offered by Remington, Hornady, Federal, Buffalo Bore, Barnes and Winchester, while the 400 Legend is currently available only from Winchester. The Bushmaster offers the 300-grain slugs if you like heavier projectiles, though I feel that the 190- and 215-grain bullets for the Legend are plenty of bullet weight for the whitetail deer which are pursued in those areas where these cartridges are most popular. In choosing between the two, I favor the 400 Legend, specifically for its combination of lesser recoil and energy values out to 200 yards. I just had the pleasure of using the 400 Legend and that new 190-grain Winchester Deer Season XP ammo in a Winchester XPR bolt gun on a deer hunt in Kentucky; while I enjoyed the cartridge, the mature eight-point buck did not.
It’s still relatively new, but keep your eye on the 400 Legend, as I think it’s going to become a popular choice among hunters.
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