The Michigan Question — The Rule This Cartridge Was Bought For No Longer Exists

3.1 Where the full treatment lives

The straight-wall hunting laws, Michigan’s and those of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, are now covered from each state’s own text in the .450 Bushmaster cartridge dive’s Volume 7, read in October 2026. This volume keeps three things that are the rifle’s own: the old Michigan rule as it was posted, which the order no longer prints and which other dives in this hub cite from here; the repeal; and the Michigan rules that still decide how a semi-automatic .450 can be carried and used. Nothing here is legal advice, and every regulation changes; check the current digest before the season.

3.2 What the rule was

Michigan’s Wildlife Conservation Order, Chapter II, section 2.1(4), as posted at michigan.gov and read on 17 September 2026, quoted verbatim:¹

“(4) Use in hunting, or, subject to section 43510, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.43510, possess afield in an area inhabited by wild birds and animals within the ‘limited firearms deer zone’ from November 15 to November 30, or use to take a deer during any firearm deer season in the ‘limited firearms deer zone,’ a firearm other than:

(a) A shotgun with a smooth or rifled barrel.

(b) A .35 caliber or larger pistol capable of holding no more than nine shells at one time in the barrel and magazine combined and loaded with straight-walled cartridges.

(c) A muzzle-loading rifle or black-powder pistol loaded with black-powder or a commercially manufactured blackpowder substitute.

(d) A .35 caliber or larger rifle loaded with straight-walled cartridges with a minimum case length of 1.16 inches and a maximum case length of 1.80 inches.

(e) A .35 caliber or larger air rifle or pistol charged only from an external high-compression power source such as an external hand pump, air tank, or air compressor.”

Subsection (d) is the rifle rule: .35 calibre or larger, straight-walled, case 1.16 to 1.80 inches. The .450 Bushmaster passes all three (.4525 bullet, straight case, 1.700 inches), with 0.10 inch to spare at the top. The .45-70 Government’s 2.105-inch case does not, and that one fact explains most of the .450’s Michigan market: it was, to a good approximation, a .45-70 short enough to be legal in the zone and to fit an AR-15.

The zone was a defined area, not “the southern Lower Peninsula” loosely. Chapter I, definition (17), as posted on the same date, began: “that area south of a line beginning at a point on the Wisconsin-Michigan boundry line directly west of the west end of highway M-46; then east to M-46 and east along M-46 to its junction with freeway US-131 …” and continued by named highways and county lines.²

3.3 The repeal

The Natural Resources Commission approved the change on 15 May 2026:³

“Elimination of the Limited Firearms Deer Zone in the Lower Peninsula, allowing the use of all legal firearms, including bottleneck cartridges, throughout the Lower Peninsula. Firearms larger than .22 rimfire are now permitted statewide.”

The DNR’s 2026 deer regulations, read on 17 September 2026, put it as: “The limited firearms deer zone has been eliminated. Beginning Sept. 12, 2026, hunters can use all legal firearms across the Lower Peninsula,” and list among legal firearms “A rifle of any caliber larger than a .22-caliber rimfire.”⁴

And the order itself, as posted on 19 October 2026, now reads at section 2.1(4):⁵

“(4) Repealed; Am. 6, 2026, Eff. May 24, 2026. Publishers Note: The repealed section pertained to legal firearms allowed for use to take deer in the ‘limited firearms deer zone.’ The limited firearms deer zone was repealed effective September 12, 2026.”

Chapter I carries “(17) Repealed; Am. 6, 2026, Eff. May 24, 2026,” with the same note.⁵ Two dates are worth keeping apart: the amendment took effect on 24 May 2026; the zone ended on 12 September 2026, the opening of the early antlerless and Liberty Hunt seasons.

In Michigan from 12 September 2026, a .450 Bushmaster is simply a rifle larger than .22 rimfire, legal for deer across the Lower Peninsula like a .308.

3.4 Correction: the order now carries the repeal

⚠ Correction (19 October 2026). The first edition of this section was headed “The Order as Posted Still Contains the Old Text.” On 17 September 2026 that was true: the posted chapters still printed §2.1(4) and the zone’s definition, no 2026 deer-firearms amendment could be found, and the section treated the conflict with the DNR’s digest as a documentation lag rather than as evidence the zone survived. The lag has closed. As posted on 19 October 2026, both chapters carry the repeal and name it: Wildlife Conservation Amendment No. 6 of 2026, effective 24 May 2026, with the zone repealed effective 12 September 2026 (§3.2). The first edition’s reading was right; the documents now agree with it. The old text quoted in §3.1 is no longer posted, which is why it is kept here.⁵

3.5 What the change does not do

3.5.1 It does not make the rifle illegal

The zone was a restriction; removing it widens what is legal. A .450 Bushmaster is legal for deer in Michigan exactly as before.

3.5.2 🔴 It does not touch the six-shell limit on semi-automatics

This is the rule that actually constrains an AR-15. The order, section 2.1(2), as posted on 19 October 2026:⁵

“Use in taking an animal, or have in the persons possession in an area frequented by animals, a semiautomatic shotgun or rifle other than .22 caliber or smaller rimfire, capable of holding more than six shells at one time in the magazine and barrel combined …”

The DNR’s digest, read 17 September 2026, says the same in plainer words: “You cannot hunt deer with a semi-automatic shotgun or semi-automatic rifle that can hold more than six shells in the barrel and magazine combined.”⁴

Two words in the order matter. “Capable”: the test is what the rifle can hold, not what is loaded. “Possession”: it applies to having the rifle in an area frequented by animals, not only to shooting.

For my rifle this is a non-issue: a four-round Lancer magazine plus one chambered is five. For the .450 generally it is a live trap, because the cartridge is also sold in larger magazine bodies: a nine-round body plus one chambered is ten, and is not compliant even loaded with three (Volume 4 §4.6).

3.5.3 It does not change the archery-season rules

The digest’s rules on carrying a firearm while bow hunting are unchanged, and a rifle is not a pistol for that purpose. The Remington XP-100 dive covers the handgun side of Michigan’s hunting rules.

3.5.4 It does not change anything outside Michigan

The cartridge dive’s Volume 7 reads the other four straight-wall states from their own texts. In October 2026, in short: Ohio still requires a straight-walled cartridge of .357 to .515 inch with no more than three rounds loaded; Illinois requires a single-shot rifle until 1 January 2027 and three rounds after it; Indiana now allows any centrefire of .219 or larger; Iowa allows .350 to .500, straight or necked. The .450 qualifies in all of them; the magazine and the round count are what a travelling owner of a semi-automatic must check.⁶ The first edition of this volume deliberately listed no other state because none had been read from a primary source; that gap is now filled there, not here.

3.6 3.4a The Michigan rules that still apply to this rifle

These are quoted from the DNR’s 2026 deer digest as read on 17 September 2026; the cartridge dive cites this section for them and does not repeat them.⁴

3.6.1 The quiet period

“The ‘quiet period’ is Nov. 10–14. During this time, you cannot carry afield or transport any rifle (including rimfire) or shotgun if you have buckshot, slug, ball loads or cut shells.”

The digest’s exceptions are transport to deer camp or to a target range, properly transported, and target shooting on one’s own property “provided there is no attempt to take game.” The order carries the same restriction at §2.1(3). This one catches people, because it falls in the five days before the opener, when rifles are most likely to be moved.

3.6.2 Transport in a vehicle

“These rules apply whether your vehicle is parked, stopped or moving. At all times when carried in or on a motor vehicle, including snowmobiles: Rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders and all other firearms must be unloaded in both barrel and magazine and enclosed in a case or carried in the trunk of a vehicle on private or public property.”

🔴 A concealed pistol licence does not help here. The digest’s easier vehicle rules apply to pistols carried under a CPL. A .450 AR-15 is a rifle, and it travels unloaded and cased. The Remington XP-100 dive covers the pistol side of the contrast.

3.6.3 Afield outside legal hunting hours

“Firearms must be unloaded in the barrel and all arrows must be in a quiver when you are afield outside the legal hunting hours.”

3.6.4 Lead-free ammunition

“While not required by law, it is recommended that you use lead-free ammunition when hunting a deer. Some national wildlife refuges require the use of lead-free ammunition.”

Steinel’s solid-copper .450 loads, and its brass solid, are lead-free options on the maker’s own pages (cartridge dive Volume 3).

3.6.5 Pneumatic guns, and what the phrasing reveals

“You can use a pneumatic gun to hunt deer if it meets the firearm requirements for the season, species hunted and zone you are hunting in.”

Zones 1, 2 and 3 still exist and still govern seasons. What was eliminated is the separate limited firearms deer zone and its equipment rule, not Michigan’s three-zone structure.

3.6.6 Suppressors

Hunting with a lawfully owned suppressor is legal in Michigan; the federal and state position is in Suppressor Law, Volume 7.

3.7 3.4b What else the Commission changed

The zone was one item in a package, and some of the rest changes when a .450 can be used:³⁷

• The muzzleloader season is cut to three days and, in the Lower Peninsula, renamed the December Firearm Deer Season, during which any legal firearm may be used. The DNR’s August 2026 bulletin gives the 2026 dates as 4 to 6 December and says “hunters may use all legal firearms during the December season.” ⭐ A season that used to exclude this rifle now admits it.
• The Liberty Hunt and the Early Antlerless Firearm season run together on the second weekend in September: 12–13 September 2026, the day the zone ended.
• The Late Antlerless season opens earlier, the Monday after the December season, through 1 January; the Extended Late Antlerless and January Archery seasons are eliminated.
• From 2027, in the Lower Peninsula only, one buck per hunter, with a single deer licence valid for a buck with at least three points on one side or an antlerless deer; and a pilot “earn a second buck” programme in Zone 3.

⚠ The 2027 changes are not in force for 2026.

3.8 An ambiguity in the new wording

“A rifle of any caliber larger than a .22-caliber rimfire” read strictly would exclude every .224 bullet and so the .223 for deer. Read as plainly intended, “rimfire” carries the clause and excludes .22 rimfire only. The order’s own six-shell rule uses the clearer form “.22 caliber or smaller rimfire”. It has no bearing on a .450; it is noted so a reader who spots it knows it has been seen. The Remington XP-100 dive flagged the same wording for handguns.

3.9 What this means for a .450 owner

The cartridge has lost its exclusive claim in Michigan and kept everything else.

Before 12 September 2026 a hunter in the zone had a short list of legal rifle cartridges and the .450 was near the top of it; it was bought because it was allowed where a .308 was not. Now that hunter may use the .308, and the .450 has to justify itself on merit.

What it still has: it is what the rifle is already chambered in, zeroed and fed for; inside 200 yards it does the job as well as anything (Volume 5); it recoils about a third less than the slug gun it replaced; and the AR platform’s fast second shot and modularity are unchanged.

What it has lost: the legal argument, entirely, and perhaps part of its Michigan resale market. What happens to prices and shelf stock is unknown and is not predicted here.

3.10 References (Vol 3)

Footnotes

1. Michigan DNR / Natural Resources Commission, Wildlife Conservation Order, Chapter II, General Hunting and Trapping Regulations, §2.1(4), as posted at michigan.gov and read 17 September 2026. This text is no longer posted. ↩

2. Wildlife Conservation Order, Chapter I, definition (17), “Limited firearms deer zone,” as posted at michigan.gov and read 17 September 2026. No longer posted. ↩

3. Michigan DNR, news release “NRC approves deer regulation changes for 2026 and 2027,” 15 May 2026. URL: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/newsroom/releases/2026/05/15/nrc-approves-deer-regulation-changes-for-2026-and-2027. ↩ ↩²

4. Michigan DNR, 2026 Deer Hunting Regulations Summary (deer regulations, michigan.gov), read 17 September 2026: elimination statement, legal firearms, semi-automatic capacity, quiet period, transport, legal hours, lead-free recommendation, pneumatic guns. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Michigan DNR, Wildlife Conservation Order, Chapter II, §2.1(2), (3) and (4), and Chapter I, (17), as posted on 19 October 2026 and read in the cartridge dive’s Volume 7. URL: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/managing-resources/laws/orders/wildlife-conservation-order. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Ohio Adm. Code 1501:31-15-11; Indiana SEA 280 (P.L. 76-2025); Iowa Code §481A.48 and Iowa DNR; Illinois 520 ILCS 5/2.25 (P.A. 102-0932, P.A. 104-0058, P.A. 104-0627), as read and quoted in the cartridge dive’s Volume 7, October 2026. ↩

7. Michigan DNR, bulletin “2026 deer hunting regulations – what’s new,” 19 August 2026, read 19 October 2026 by the cartridge dive. URL: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIDNR/bulletins/4250286. ↩