The Big-Bore Chronicles

New products from Freedom Arms, Winchester and Engel

I’m attending the SHOT Show in Orlando, Florida this week and from the appearance of things some companies are doing well while others seem to be facing uncertain times. Overall, my impression is that attendance is way down but then the show is always less well attended when it’s held outside of the normal Las Vegas venue. Here are some quick updates but I’ll have more info later today and tomorrow.

224-327 Freedom Arms

There are several items I’ve come across that are of interest. One of those is the 224-327 from Freedom Arms. The 224-32 FA case is very simple to make. Basically just lube the 327 Federal case and run it into the properly adjusted sizing/forming die, then trim the case to 1.115/1.120 overall length. This cartridge headspaces off the shoulder, not the rim. This is easily checked by inserting a formed and trimmed case into a chamber, rotate it around so the case head shows at the top of the loading gate cutout in the receiver, then use a .005 shim as a go/no-go gage and a .010 shim as a no-go gage between the case head and firewall.

Bullets
At this time only load data for the 40 gr. bullets have been provided as this weight seems to give the best performance. Both the Sierra Blitz King and Hornady V-Max have performed well in this cartridge.

Powder
So far the two best powders for the 224-32 FA have been IMR4227 and AA1680. The IMR4227 isn’t as temperature sensitive. The AA1680 has a slower burn rate which will give more trouble free results as well as better accuracy. This cartridge has a small case capacity so be precise on weighing out the powder. A few tenths of a grain variance in a case that only holds 10 to 12 grains is a lot of variance.

Primer
The 224-32 FA is setup to use a small pistol primer. This primer has shown to provide reliable and consistent ignition of the powder. Both WSP and CCI 500 primers were tested with both giving similar results. As always, care must be taken to seat the primer below the case head to prevent recoil from firing a cartridge that is not aligned with the barrel.

Fireform Loads
40 gr. Blitz King or V-Max Starting Load Fps Max. Load Fps
IMR 4227 9.5 1830 10 1940
AA 1680 12 1900 12.5 2020

Standard Loads
40 gr. Blitz King or V-Max Starting Load Fps Max. Load Fps
IMR 4227 10 1900 12 2270
AA 1680 12.5 1965 14.5 2295

These data are for a 10″ barrel. With the 7.5″ barrel you can expect to lose about 100 Fps and another 100 Fps for the 5.5″ barrel. The 4.25″ barrel will lose another 120 FPS or 320 Fps difference from the 10″ gun.

Freedom Arms 25th Anniversary Model 83

After much effort designing the artwork the FA 25th Anniversary gun is done and it is truly a work of art. There are only to be 25 of these guns and while the price of $9300 is steep, a serious collector won’t want to miss the opportunity to own this beauty.

You’ll notice the grips on this gun have the appearance of genuine ivory but they are actually ivory micarta and they are very very nice. If you can’t quite go the price of an Anniversary gun you can get these grips installed on your Freedom Arms.

Winchester Ammunition
Winchester produces some of the best hunting ammunition for big-bore revolvers and this year they have introduced a double jacketed hollow point in 45 and 50 calibers. You can get them in the .454 Casull, 460 Smith & Wesson Magnum, and the 500 S&W. They are uniquely designed with a thin inner jacket chemically bonded to a lead core and an outer thick jacket mechanically bonded to the inner jacket. Expansion is impressive in the samples I was able to view and the 45’s will expand just shy of 1 inch of diameter. The advertised velocity for the .454 Casull is 1800 Fps. Winchester will continue to produce their other line of premium hunting ammunition using the Ballistic Silvertip and the Partition HG projectiles. Of course many of you know I used Winchester’s reduced recoil loads in 454 this year with excellent success.

1 - Bullet within a bullet
Revolutionary “bullet within a bullet” delivers an unprecedented 12 segment design with two times the expansion for maximizing stopping power.

2 - Hollow Point
Massive hollow point cavity provides lethal stopping performance at a variety of ranges and impact velocities.

3 - Proprietary bonding process
welds lead and inner bullet jacket together—improving retained weight and penetration for quick kills.

4 - Heavy outer jacket
mechanically bonded to the inner bullet, protecting it during penetration through thick hide and heavy bone, and ensuring maximum retained weight and penetration.

5 - Revolutionary design
delivers unprecedented knockdown and penetration—retaining nearly 100% of the original weight.

Engel Rugged Coolers
Engel coolers are literally grizzly bear tough, I’ve seen the video, and will keep ice for several days. The coolers have some great features including a pitched floor to allow complete draining without tipping the cooler, non-skid feet, an air-tight freezer gasket and 2″ of high quality insulation. In the video, which I’m trying to get, a 1000 kodiak bear stands on the cooler and it stays shut; most coolers would simply crush under the weight. Of course the bear tried standing on the cooler because he couldn’t get it open. If often hunt in warm weather conditions you’ll want to check out coolers from Engel.
www.engel-usa.com

Many times reduced velocity loads simply don’t shoot that well based on my past experiences. They are pleasant to shoot but often lack the power and accuracy to be of much use beyond practicing the basics of marksmanship. Such is not the case with Winchester’s reduced recoil loads for the 454 Casull.

The rounds are loaded with the 250 grain Hornady XTP bullet and from my 4 3/4 inch Freedom Arms 454 Casull, they exit the muzzle around 1250 fps which is roughly the equivalent to a 44 Magnum or heavy 45 Colt load. From a rested position I am able to keep 4 shots in 2 1/2 inches at 50 yards with open sights and using a scoped 10″ gun they group in about 1 inch.

I used these rounds exclusively this deer season and they performed wonderfully accounting for 6 kills. When placed broadside through the lungs on an average sized whitetail there was 3-4 inches of damaged tissue and the bullet exited the off side. The only bullet that didn’t exit was fired from approximately 65 yards and impacted the spine after traversing roughly 1/2 of the deer. Another spine shot in which the deer was directly below my stand penetrated the spine fully and exited through the bottom of the chest. Of course both spine-shot deer were anchored immediately.

Only one bullet was recovered from a spine-hit deer and as you can see it expanded pretty well. On one side, which I assume hit the spine first based on the angle, the jacket was peeled back almost to the base. On the other side the bullet expanded back to the cannelure groove doing a significant amount of internal injury.

If you’re looking for a great shooting 454 Casull load without the sometimes punishing recoil of full-house loads, you owe it to yourself to try the Winchester 454 Casull in the silver box loaded with the 250 grain Hornady XTP. You can expect a street-price of around $35.00 per box of 20.

While visiting at the Dallas Safari Club annual convention I met up with Doug Turnbull of Turnbull Restoration. Doug is the premier refinishing expert and once you’ve seen his color case hardened frames, whether they are on a vintage Colt or lever gun, you will want one. I missed a great opportunity a couple years ago to pick up a Hamilton Bowen 41 Magnum Blackhawk with a Turnbull finish and I still regret not buying that gun.

In addition to making guns more beautiful and in some cases, bringing them back from the dead, Doug has come up with a couple of cartridges of his own. While speaking with Doug and admiring his work, he handed me a couple of dummy rounds for the 470 Turnbull designed to function specifically in the Marlin Model 1895 action. Of course I’m thinking T/C Encore.

The 470 Turnbull from the rifle will do about 1850 fps. with a 400 grain bullet but I’m betting you could get similar performance from a 15″ barreled Encore. One of the advantages to the 470 Turnbull over some other cartridges is that it is a rimmed cartridge which means you can unload very quickly in the Encore simply by tipping up the barrel.

Shown above are 400 grain bullets from Barnes and the 470 Turnbull cartridges.

If you’re interested in exploring an Encore in the 470 Turnbull you’ll simply need an Encore barrel in .475 caliber and Doug will rechamber it for about $100.

For more information on the 470 Turnbull visit Turnbull Restoration

Today I read in the Outdoor Wire that another company has tripped up and let the marketing folks rile the masses. HS-Precision it seems has used a recommendation on the back cover of their catalog by someone of rather dubious distinction. Remember Lon Horiuchi, he’s the FBI sniper that shot Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge. Yep you got it — HS-Precision is using his recommendation in their catalog. So far it seems to be the “Zumbo Effect” all over again. According to the wire, the company has received quite a lot of emails from unhappy customers.

Also like the Zumbo incident and the Cooper Rifles incident, I suspect this will blow over fairly quickly. They’ll fire the person who let this happen and in a month or two everyone will be buying HS products again. Two things strike me with these events. One, like the title of the column in the Outdoor Wire, “What Were They Thinking?” and two why do Americans seem to forget so quickly when we are wronged. 9/11 barely has notice of anything other than the day after the 10th. Zumbo is back with TV shows, albeit a new-found-love of AR’s. Dan Cooper has been fired but that will probably change once the flames are out and the dust has settled. If he doesn’t own a gun anymore maybe Obama will give him a cabinet position. On the first preponderance, I suspect HS hired some twenty-something with a marketing degree and tasked him/her with putting together the catalog and well now you have another Zumbo event taking place. The good news for Cooper Rifles is that this will probably take some of the heat off of them but I suspect most have already forgotten about it.

The flip side of this is that perhaps there will be a few more people who become educated about the heavy-handed ATF/FBI fiasco that took place under Janet Reno’s watchful eye. Remember her, the Attorney General under the last Democratic President who also has the Waco, and Elian Gonzales incidents to her discredit. Looking at how Obamba’s cabinet is shaping up I wonder what we have to look forward to this time around. We already know we’re hated from the top down.

I recently had occasion to check my gun safe dehumidifier and found it wasn’t working. Upon inspecting the situation a little further this is what I found. This was a “Dri-Rod” and it was completely corroded internally. I’m not quite sure how something like this could get a UL rating but here’s the proof. I’m no electrician but that just looks like a fire hazard. This is something to think about if you’re one who stores powder and primers in your safe.

So check your rod and see if it’s heating. If not then check power to the outlet and then look into a replacement. I just bought a Goldenrod from Brownells which is what I should have bought to start with.

Click to Buy

You have to wonder about the folks that PETA gets hold of. In a shocking move (does anything about PETA actually shock us anymore), a PETA intern named Jennifer Thornburg legally changed her name to “CutoutDissection.com.” She says that she now goes by her nickname, “Cutout.”

I’ll also have to classify this post manually in the stupid category.

Source: US Sportsman’s Alliance

This is a gun storage container that uses steel mesh, a “draw string” cable and padlock to provide an inexpensive and portable solution to securing firearms or other valuables. The key to how this works can be seen in the closeup photo of the lock (notice the brass bead on the cable.) This bead is pulled through a hole in the collar and aligned with a smaller hole in the collar that it can not pass through. A padlock is placed through the larger hole. The loop end of the cable is then passed around or through a permanent object (like a seat rail) and then the loop end is secured to the lock.(gun and holster not included)
Click to Buy

Do your iron sights let you down early and late in the day? Replacing the front sight on your Super Blackhawk Hunter, Redhawk, Super Redhawk or GP100 with a Marbles fiber optic front sight will make all the difference (available in orange and green).

Click to Buy

Refused to sign the brief supporting an individual Second Amendment right in the Heller case.

Against Right-to-Carry. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 4/2/08; Chicago Tribune, 9/15/04)

Director, Joyce Foundation—one of the most anti-gun foundations in America. (Politico)

I think it’s a scandal that this president [Bush] did not authorize a renewal of the assault weapons ban.” (Illinois Senate Debate #3: Barack Obama vs. Alan Keyes, 10/21/04)

Clinging” to guns—how Obama described “bitter” gun owners at a San Francisco fundraiser.

Ammunition ban supporter. Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting. (United States Senate, S. 397, vote 217, 7/29/05)

Limiting self-defense. Obama voted to allow the prosecution of people who us a firearm for self-defense in their homes. (Illinois Senate, S.B. 2165, vote 20, 3/25/04)