The 4 Best 450 Bushmaster Scopes – Reviews 2023

450 bushmaster scope

Photo by Robert Harley Mostad / CC BY

The .450 Bushmaster is a beast of a round. Designed with the idea of hunting large game like bear, hogs, werewolves, whatever. The .450 Bushmaster is most commonly chambered in AR cartridges and like all rifles can benefit from a quality scope.

Understanding the .450 Bushmaster strengths and weaknesses is key to finding a solid optic for it. It’s a powerful, short range round designed for hitting living targets, not paper targets at the gun range.

With these precautions in mind, we’ve delved into the optics marketplace and have come up with 4 great optics. These are the best 450 Bushmaster scopes in our humble opinion.
 
Burris M-tac 1-4×24

Since the .450 Bushmaster is designed for close range encounters you don’t need a whole lot of magnification. The Burris M-Tac provides a short 1-4x power magnification range. With 250 yards being the sweet spot for the .450 Bushmaster, this 1-4 power scope is ideal for that range. This is a scope designed for tactical use, but could easily fit in with hunting and target shooting.

The Burris M-tac is a lightweight and accurate optic that is perfect for both .450 Bushmaster ARs, and .450 Bushmaster bolt action rifles. The Burris M-tac The .450 Bushmaster can be described as a “thumper” and thump it does (though the round would blow up the real Thumper from the Bambi cartoon). However, the recoil from the round isn’t harsh, and the Burris M-tac will easily hold up to it. Even tossed on an AR and under rapid fire, it will hold zero without issue.

The Burris M-tac (see full specs) is fitted with all the necessary do-dads that a high-quality scope should have. This includes multi-coating on all lenses, a shock, and waterproof design, and index matched lenses. The Burris M-tac also comes equipped a Fastfire 3. The Fastfire 3 is a miniature red dot sight that’s mounted on the top of the Burris M-Tac. This allows a shooter to rapidly transition from a close to long range target in an instant.

The Fastfire 3 itself is an outstanding optic for engaging a target from 1 to 50 meters rapidly. The Fastfire 3 can be mounted directly on top of the optic, or at a 45-degree angle. The Fastfire is a very well built and durable optic that is the perfect companion for a magnified optic on the .450 Bushmaster. It’s one of the best .450 Bushmaster scopes period.

Burris MTAC 1-4x Ballistic AR Reticle BDC test

Vortex Optics Strikefire 2

If your .450 Bushmaster is used for home defense, the Strikefire may be a perfect choice for your rifle. The Vortex Strikefire 2 is a simple but effective red dot optic. It’s perfect for hitting targets at 3 feet or at 300. The Strikefire 2 has unlimited eye relief and can be mounted in nearly any position and remain effective. The Strikefire is designed for rapid fire shooting at close to intermediate ranges.

The Vortex Strikefire 2 uses a 4 MOA dot that is nice and crisp. As you dial in the different brightness settings, you don’t notice the dot grow in size or have much if any dot washout. It stays nice and crisp. Speaking of illumination the device has ten different brightness settings: two of the ten settings are also compatible with night vision devices.

These above reasons are why the optic is perfect for home defense. Paired with a night vision device and you can truly own the night. The optic is very well made and backed by an excellent warranty. Using it is stupid simple and the ergonomics are well thought out. The controls are placed to the rear of the optic and basically ambidextrous. The Vortex Strikefire 2 is ready to go out of the box with nice cantilever mount and a battery.

Vortex Strikefire 2 review

Vortex Optics Crossfire 2

The second Vortex on this list fits in the hunting or competition category. The .450 Bushmaster comes from the idea of a powerful round that can drop a large game animal with one shot, at 250 yards and under. With the Crossfire you’ll easily make those 250-yard shots. The Crossfire 2 is a small, lightweight, magnified optic with a variable 1 to 4 power magnification range. The reticle allows the shooter to transition between what is a variable optic, and what is effectively a red dot.

The center of the reticle is an illuminated dot (see full specs). Light the dot up, dial the magnification to 1x, and shoot with both eyes open. You basically have a short eye relief red dot in this situation. The eye relief isn’t short enough to worry about scope eye, but it’s not unlimited in terms of eye relief either; be aware of this. Even when you dial up the magnification the illuminated reticle is great for low light situations and gives you the ability to quickly get behind the gun and on target.

This is pretty important when you want to hunt big game which is also most commonly dangerous game. No one wants to be on the wrong side of a bear when it attacks because you’ll be screaming like DiCaprio in the movie The Revenant and not fake-screaming but real-screaming. The Crossfire is surprisingly affordable for how high quality it is. If you’re on a budget, it’s the best .450 Bushmaster scope that’s magnified.

Vortex Crossfire II Riflescope

Sightmark CSR Wolverine


The Sightmark Wolverine is a new optic, but it comes from a trusted source. Sightmark produced some excellent optics in the past and continues to do so to this day. The Wolverine is a red dot optic designed for durability. When you are packing a round as powerful as the .450 Bushmaster you need that durability. The Wolverine is perfect for the shorter-range capabilities of the .450 Bushmaster and on an AR platform it excels.

The Wolverine is waterproof up to three feet and coated with rubberized armor for increased drop protection. The optic itself is made from 6061 aluminum as well. One extremely impressive feature for such an affordable optic is the battery life. The Wolverine CSR will last 50,000 hours on a single battery. That’s up there with optics that cost 10x as much as the Wolverine. The Wolverine also weighs only 10.3 ounces and is even night vision compatible.

The 4 MOA dot is perfect for close range speed, and great for the precision within the Bushmaster effective range. The Wolverine CSR is a compact powerhouse and easily one of the best .450 Bushmaster scopes.

Sightmark CSR Wolverine Red Dot

The .450 Bushmaster

The .450 Bushmaster is and a potent pill for removing that large animal or smaller, two-legged pests. The round is well known for its power and penetrative abilities. You got to pair it with an equal piece of glass. The 4 listed above will run with your rifle like champs. They’re the best .450 Bushmaster scopes you can buy. Good luck!

  • Owner of Reloaderaddict.com, Boyd Smith is a major handgun enthusiast, and although he owns Glocks, he prefers the revolving wheel type. His go-to guns are a Smith & Wesson 642 Performance Center for carry and a Ruger GP100 in the nightstand biometric safe (he has kids). He loads both revolvers with old-school 148-grain Federal Gold Medal .38 wadcutters. It’s OK if you think he’s a wimp. Email him.

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One response

  1. I have a bargara b-14 in 450 bushmaster cal I use it for deer hunting and I have shot four deer with it. I mounted a leupold 4-12-x40 with a fire dot. deer #1-163 yards #2-137 #3-18 yards #4 263 yards. I love this gun it,s a one deer getting gun. I did lose the cheek riser my fault I will replace it as soon as I find where to order it from. Thank You for building a great rifle

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