Distance (yd's) Drop (in's) Velocity (ft/sec) Energy (ft-lbs) 0 +1.5 2026 2278 100 0 1687 1579 200 -10.9 1396 1082 300 -39.7 1173 764

Distance (yd's) Drop (in's) Velocity Energy 0 +1.5 1760 2065 100 0 1462 1423 200 -14.9 1223 996 300 -53.1 1062 752

As can be seen in the tables above, the 450 has an approximately 200 foot-pound advantage over the 44 magnum at the muzzle. However, putting this in perspective, the 44 magnum is a pistol round that can also be fired from a handgun. Nobody would argue that the 44 magnum is a high powered rifle round capable of taking the large bears, knocking over people when they shoot the gun or being able to penetrate armor. The 200 foot pound advantage of the 450 is completely insignificant when compared to the energy of a true, high power rifle that is designed for dangerous game and that will exceed 4000 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. As you get to 100 yards, this energy advantage drops to about 150 foot-pounds. Although the 300 grain bullet of the 44 magnum is blunt, not very aerodynamic and starts off slower, its mass is allowing it to retain velocity better than the pointed, faster but lighter 450 bullet. By the time you get to 300 yards, they both have equal energy. However, the heavier, 300 grain bullet will out-penetrate and out-perform the lighter, 250 grain bullet at these velocities. Essentially, this is a draw between the two and the differences at any range are probably not significant.

What is clear is that both of these rounds are on the low end of high-power rifle performance. Experts in bear country recommend a minimum of a 338 Winchester magnum or a 12 gauge shotgun with heavy slugs for brown and grizzly bear defense. The 338 will shoot a 250 grain bullet at almost 2,700 feet per second, with an energy of about 4,000 foot-pounds. Which is nowhere near either of these guns or calibers.

You might say, OK -- it's not a bear gun, but it's a great general hunting gun. For short ranges, this would be true for either of these guns. They are both certainly capable of taking deer-sized game. However, their rainbow trajectories make shooting at long range an expert's proposition. Neither of these guns could be considered a gun that you could use for shots exceeding 200 yards, except in the hands of someone who really has a lot of experience with this type of shooting. If you are willing to go hunting with an almost 9 pound gun (before even putting a scope on it) you might as well get yourself something like a 300 Winchester magnum, bolt action rifle that will weigh less -- even with a scope on it. It has more energy, will shoot flatter and allow shots well past 300 yards.

The fully automatic version of the AR-15 in 223 (5.56mm) has been the combat rifle of the US military for decades. So it is clear that the AR-15 platform was designed from the ground up as a combat weapon. An AR-15 with a 30 round magazine full of 223 cartridges is a pretty potent self defense weapon. If you're in a situation in some remote location or during some sort of other catastrophe where crowds of people are coming after you, a weapon that holds 30 rounds before reloading and has been combat proven, is a pretty good choice.

Now, let's compare the 450 Bushmaster to the Marlin 1894 for personal defense. The Bushmaster's 5 round capacity is certainly no match for the ten rounds of the Marlin, much less the 30 rounds of the standard AR-15. At 5 rounds, it is less ammo than most revolvers and most people would agree that the revolver is not a combat weapon for fighting off groups of attackers. While the 45 caliber bullet, at the velocities the gun is capable of, would be a potent man stopper, you still only have 5 rounds -- and each replacement magazine you're carrying weighs an additional pound. With the 1894 Marlin, you have 10 rounds of an equally potent man stopper at hand and you can re-load anytime, even between shots, and always keep the internal magazine full.

The final argument we've heard is that you can put those 5 bullets on target faster with the Bushmaster 450. While this sounds like it's a plausible idea, we decided to see exactly what the difference is. We set up 5 steel plates at 50 yards to determine how fast we could knock them down. We asked several shooters to try this in order to get an average of the times. With the Bushmaster, the average time to knock down 5 plates was 6 seconds. With the Marlin, it took 9 seconds. However, after shooting down 5 plates, we had to reload the Bushmaster to shoot additional rounds while we still had another five to go in the Marlin. So, while the Bushmaster is slightly faster in laying down the fire, the difference is 3 seconds over 5 plates or 0.6 seconds longer per plate. Therefore, the question is -- in a situation where multiple attackers are closing in on you, which is more important -- being able to hit five targets in six seconds vs. nine seconds or having ten rounds on tap vs. five?

Finally, in accuracy testing at 100 yards, we averaged right around 1.5 inches with the Bushmaster and 1.75 inches with the Marlin. Both of these could be likely be improved with a high-power scope and by trying different types of ammunition. The bottom line is that a quarter of an inch is going to be irrelevant in the real world at a target that is a hundred yards away.

In conclusion, while the Bushmaster 450 performed as advertised and is a fun gun to shoot, we find that the Marlin 1894 in 44 magnum is clearly on par and costs one-third the price.