Freedom Arms

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rustynut1

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I stopped in at Lloyd today to have a gander at the Freedom Arms Model 83 and 97. I have been craving one of these and have never fondled one before. I was thinking I would go 97 but I really liked the feel of the Model 83 in my hand. I have big hands and have had to buy Hogue grips for the Ruger Blackhawks and S&W's. These are one fine piece of kit.

If you were going to spring for one of these what would you do? I want the .45 Long Colt round and the .45ACP round, don't think I would ever shoot 454 Casull. The gun is a .454 gun. Would you spring the extra $350 for the .454 just because or is this a waste of money. To be totally honest here I have a .44 Mag and I don't totally crave the kick of a .44 Mag. In theory you can shoot a .45 Colt out of a .454 cylinder. It is not recommended by Freedom Arms.
 
If you're going to shoot a mix of ammo then go with the adjustable sights on the 83. Fixed sights really tie you down to a very narrow range of ammo options if you want the ammo to hit at your point of aim.

Given your tastes for downloading the .44Mag you have already I'd say don't bother with the 454 cylinder. You'll simply be paying that extra money for some future buyer. And meantime you spend years having to deal with the ammo jumping the gap and possibly producing a loss of accuracy. Just go with the .45Colt that you are lusting after and the second cylinder for .45acp if that's what you like.

Personally I wouldn't bother with a .45acp cylinder. The .45 ammo in either guise costs equally to reload it for bullet, powder and primer. And if you can afford a USFA gun you can certainly afford to buy 500 or 1000 .45Colt casings. So why bother with a .45acp cylinder that has a long throat to jump before it hits the forcing cone? Instead just shoot the .45acp stuff with a nice companion 1911. That way you have the best of both worlds.
 
I have a Model 83 in 454, and I generally shoot loads using 7 grains of Trailboss, behind 260gr cast bullets in Starline 454 cases.These loads produce about 850fps, the recoil is quite mild, and the accuracy is very good.

Below are my 83 in 454, and my 97 in 357.

fa.jpg
 
BCRider said:
If you're going to shoot a mix of ammo then go with the adjustable sights on the 83. Fixed sights really tie you down to a very narrow range of ammo options if you want the ammo to hit at your point of aim.

Given your tastes for downloading the .44Mag you have already I'd say don't bother with the 454 cylinder. You'll simply be paying that extra money for some future buyer. And meantime you spend years having to deal with the ammo jumping the gap and possibly producing a loss of accuracy. Just go with the .45Colt that you are lusting after and the second cylinder for .45acp if that's what you like.

Personally I wouldn't bother with a .45acp cylinder. The .45 ammo in either guise costs equally to reload it for bullet, powder and primer. And if you can afford a USFA gun you can certainly afford to buy 500 or 1000 .45Colt casings. So why bother with a .45acp cylinder that has a long throat to jump before it hits the forcing cone? Instead just shoot the .45acp stuff with a nice companion 1911. That way you have the best of both worlds.
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Again, as usual, your advice is good and appreciated. I suppose I could just load a .454 brass as if it was a .45Colt load, and then find a used gun. For some strange reason I like the .45ACP round and want it as well as the .45Colt, same family .452 etc. The reason I was thinking about the .454 is for resale reasons only. I really do not like the .44 Mag so I know I would hate the .454, it's kick. Funny, I just bought a lead melting pot, and all that shyte for reloading lead in the .44 Mag plus air gap stuff for it. I actually have 500 new Starline brass in .45 Colt here now. For some reason, logic isn't it, I like a gun that shoots multiple rounds, (must be the Scott in me) it is not smart as one round hits a POA different than another one but I have like 7 guns that shoot multiple rounds now. Every time I buy the last gun I tell myself, self, this is the last gun than I buy another!

Thanks everyone for the replies.
 
We only have to please ourselves. So like I said above get the gun chambered the way YOU want and to hell with later on.

Besides folks that buy it will know that it can handle "Ruger only" loads in .45Colt since it's rated for .454 as well. Let THEM load up the massive barn blower uppers.... :D

Again I don't feel the NEED for a second cylinder. But if it'll make you smile then the second cylinder is the right thing for YOU. As the women's shoe commercial said "What's NEED got to do with it?" :D

And you DO know that you can load down the .44Mag, right? Like you I don't really care for a lot of full power magnums. I've played with downloading some 75%'ers and found that they are still sporty but I can shoot them all day instead of just a few at the end of the day. But then considering options like that might lead one to suspect that they don't really NEED to buy another gun.... :D
 
Anyone know what the issue is wrt to shooting 45 colt in the 454 cylinder? It is equivalent to 38 in 357 and 44 spec in 44 mag. Same cylinder ok for S&W and Taurus Ragging bull. Is it just that the tolerances of the freedom arms are so tight that the fouling and required cleaning after shooting 45 colt, would affect the revolvers performance in 454? Not suggesting this should be done (hey if I bought a $3k revolver I would want it to shoot like one) but just curious if there was a specific reason other than it is not optimal.
 
The reason given by FA is that because the 45LC is shorter you can get lead an unburnt powder built up in cylinder, which if not cleaned properly can cause issues when loading and firing 454 Casull. Now this is the same issues when interchanging 357/38, 44mag/44spc and so on. Reading on several forums the general consensus is as long as you clean the chambers when going from 45LC to 454 Casull you'll be fine.
 
The Freedom Arms single action revolver is probably the best SAA on the market and as such it is premium priced. If you can get past that, you will have the finest SAA. American made, no cheap parts, and superior tolerances, should you succumb to the urge, you will not be disappointed. Think of Freedom Arms SAA in the same league as special order, custom made & fitted top-of-the-line firearms. Not just production ware.
 
09outlander said:
The reason given by FA is that because the 45LC is shorter you can get lead an unburnt powder built up in cylinder, which if not cleaned properly can cause issues when loading and firing 454 Casull. Now this is the same issues when interchanging 357/38, 44mag/44spc and so on. Reading on several forums the general consensus is as long as you clean the chambers when going from 45LC to 454 Casull you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. i'd love to get one at one point. maybe in 44 mag.
 
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