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