Mossberg Patriot Predator 450 Bushmaster Bolt-Action Rifle

If your taste in hunting rifles runs more toward the bolt-action platform, look no further than the new Mossberg Patriot Predator bolt gun chambered in .450 Bushmaster. Mossberg centerfire rifles have come a long way in recent years, and the new Patriot Predator incorporates all of the rifle technologies Mossberg employed to develop its affordable Patriot series, but with a number of changes and enhancements to make the Predator ideally suited to its intended role.

I got three hogs on that hunt, ranging from 350- to nearly 500-pounds—all one-shot kills—the biggest being a feral hog that somehow infiltrated the high-fence property. The dogs got that hog running flat out parallel to a line of three shooters at a range of about 100 feet. Steve Hornady was first up—only fair, since he was picking up the entire tab—but he missed. The next guy in line was the editor of a major national gun magazine who shall remain nameless. He hit a pine tree in an explosion of red bark. And then there was the “last chance” guy … me. With ten years of sporting clays experience, I tracked the crosshairs out past the hog’s nose and pulled the trigger. He caught that 250-gr. SST ML right below his ear and went down like he’d been hit by an 18-wheeler.