Home for Wayward Hand Cannons

Fargone4sure

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GunNutz
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Hi guys,
Some pics of my hand cannon collection, for those recoil junkies amongst us.

Starting small and working my way up, a Magnum Research Lone Eagle in 30-06. Lone Eagles can handle crazy pressures, and it's easy to obtain 2700fps with 168gr bullets, which is still fairly light recoiling by standards. Of course good muzzle breaks and a great stock design help.

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Then onto a TC Contender in 338jdj #2. Not too many of these around, which is a shame, an excellent chambering. 200gr at 2200

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And the 338's big brother, a 375jdj. 300gr x 1900fps. This caliber has taken all the big African game. The inventor, JD Jones and friends took quite a number of elephant with it. And Yes, recoil is getting up there pretty good, but still quite tolerable. This one is magnaported, and can be a tad loud.

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Moving on to a pair of big boys. A TC Contender and a early Lone Eagle, both in 444 marlin. The TC is limited pretty much to factory speed ammo, but that said, the 265 Hornady Leverevolution Ammo is plenty powerful, and I wouldn't want much more recoil anyway. But the Lone Eagle can pretty well handle anything that you can feed it. 265gr at 2400 is plenty for me though.

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And the king of recoil, is this Magnum Research BFR in 45-70. Of course you can load these light, or use factory loads which would be quite tame. But my load of choice is 485gr Cast GC, at 1420fps out of the 8.5" barrel. The gun could handle more, not sure I could. But the bfr shoots really well with these, and I can use the same load in my Baikal double rifle. Interesting fact is that this gun will not shoot hard cast accurately at all, but with softer lead, and a gas check, it comes alive.

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Anyway, that's the crew.
 
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I'm fascinated by the action on the Lone Eagles. There's only a few videos on You Tube detailing it but the ones that are up show what a fantastic concept these are.
 
Yes, the artillery breach design is quite different, and crazy strong. I've had a number of them apart, and it's quite amazing how simple the design is. The trigger linkage is simplicity at its best. Actually I have one in 22-250 apart right now. I've machined a bipod block for it, the same as on the 444, am just drilling and tapping to mount it.
Actually, although they call it an artillery breach, a true artillery breach in its modern form uses an interrupted thread, while the Lone Eagle uses a solid thread. In theory slightly stronger than the interrupted version, but that's splitting hairs, there both really solid.
 
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Those are some seriously huge guns. I didn't realize that such things even existed, I'd love to try one out someday if I ever see one.
 
Mother......some fab toys right there....can only imagine shooting them....maybe try clobersaurus shooting game? Add 80 yards too make it fair...lol
 
Yeah, it doesn't hurt to mount one or two extra rings if space allows it. But I've never had problems with just 2 good rings either. As long as their well designed to stay put.
 
Yeah, the BFR's are fairly large. Actually with the longer barrel length, they start to look like a cartoon gun. But the long cylinders not only allow 45-70, but let you seat bullets out quite far to gain more case capacity (not that it really needs more) or to shoot long heavy bullets, 500+ grains.
When I have this out at the range, I often get people coming up, interested in what it is. I usually offer to let people take a shot with it, as long as they look like they can handle the recoil (I wouldn't let someone try it if I thought they might get hurt). I've probably had ten or more people give her a whirl. After shooting, most people just sit there and say "WOW" repeatedly, with a huge s**t eating grin.
Always fun.
 
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Very nice. You don't see the TCs much anymore, though they are hunting guns and we can't. They were quite common in the 1980's.

The 375 jdj is definitely an iconic big game cartridge. A lot of firepower.
 
Yes, it's a shame we don't have handgun hunting. But unfortunately we have a government that wouldn't trust their citizens not to knock over a liquor store on the way to elk camp. As much as these were intended for hunting, they really proliferated when metallic silhouette was all the rage. Flatter trajectory, plus enough power to easily smack the rams down made them popular. But I enjoy them even for target shooting. If I do my part, the scoped ones will generally group into 1 1/2" at 100.
 
Yes, it's a shame we don't have handgun hunting. But unfortunately we have a government that wouldn't trust their citizens not to knock over a liquor store on the way to elk camp. As much as these were intended for hunting, they really proliferated when metallic silhouette was all the rage. Flatter trajectory, plus enough power to easily smack the rams down made them popular. But I enjoy them even for target shooting. If I do my part, the scoped ones will generally group into 1 1/2" at 100.

Impressive accuracy! I'd be ok with that and a rifle. Too bad there is not much if any silhouette around these days. That has more appeal to me than some of the action sports.

what gun do you like shooting the most?
 
You know, I've never really thought about which is my favorite. But if I had to pick, it would probably be between the Lone Eagle in 444, or the bfr. But if handgun hunting were legal, the 30-06 would probably get the nod. They're all a gas though. But my real interest is in milsurps, specifically WW2 sniper rifles from the major belligerents. I did a post with pics of those in the accuracy rifle section. Actually I had it in a different section and it got moved to the accuracy section, rather than with milsurps, not sure why. Anyway, the hand cannons are for fun, but the sniper rifles are an addiction, lol.
 
Hey Redshooter, they aren't anywhere near as bad as you might think. Once you get onto them a bit, and just let them rock, they're not a problem. I find heavy recoiling rifles way worse. With the hand cannons, they just jump, with your arms absorbing the recoil. With a rifle your body has to absorb it. I actually load down most my rifles truth told. Doesn't take a lot of energy to poke holes in paper, lol
 
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