Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Freedom Arms... worth the $$$?

I owned a handful of Freedom Arms revolvers. All were truly beautiful examples of well machine artistry. All you need to is pull back the hammer and feel the precision. For the most part they are worth the price of admission.
The BFR’s for all intentions are just as accurate, sometimes maybe more so. But the difference is not significant.
The BFR can be bought for roughly 1/3rd the cost of a new Premier grade FA.
If accuracy is your main concern buy the BFR
If accuracy AND fit, finish, and artistry in metal if what you prefer buy the FA.

[quote=Snowwolfe]I owned a handful of Freedom Arms revolvers. All were truly beautiful examples of well machine artistry. All you need to is pull back the hammer and feel the precision. For the most part they are worth the price of admission.
The BFR’s for all intentions are just as accurate, sometimes maybe more so. But the difference is not significant.
The BFR can be bought for roughly 1/3rd the cost of a new Premier grade FA.
If accuracy is your main concern buy the BFR
If accuracy AND fit, finish, and artistry in metal if what you prefer buy the FA.

I’ve never owned a BFR, but owned one field grade Freedom Arms in 454 Casull. Concur with the first paragraph above completely. One of the most precisely produced firearms that I’ve ever owned. Superb handguns. Always reminded me of a bank vault when I cocked the hammer.

It's a difficult question to answer because it would be impossible to claim something that is machined to that level is not worth the money. They are incredibly well built.

But for me, they are not worth the coin if you are going to order one brand new. I do not like the size of 83. To me they are just too tank like. I do like the 97 and that is what I ordered, but the incredibly tight tolerances ended up being what I disliked about them. The action never rolls and clicks in your hand like a SAA or Ruger Blackhawk and the throats were so tight that I would have to rotate the cylinder and press extra super hard onto the case to get it to seat fully so I could rotate the cylinder. The folks at FA believe this is perfectly normal. I do not.

I don't need the throat on a .44 Special to be that tight. There is little doubt that a Freedom Arms revolver can shoot better than 99% of their owners, and that's really cool. But to leave close to $3K out of fun money circulation for that type of firearm is just silly in my opinion. Especially when you consider that they're making more every day and probably will continue to do so for some time. Now, if I could find a screaming deal on a 83 or 97 that was used, I'd probably be all over it. But I don't think that's what we are discussing based on your question.

If I was in your situation I would buy something that they're not making any more so you and your kids can enjoy them while you're still around. Old Colts and old Smiths would bring a lot higher pleasure to dollar ratio in my opinion.

Dick, Jack Huntington did a grip modification on BFRs corrected the grip shape, BFR now produces them with this grip shape

I have had my FA Model 97 in .22LR/ .22 Mag. for twenty years. If I ordered it today it would cost $3,900 plus the holster. Worth every penny. I would do it again.
.

I had Jack modify the grip on a BFR 500 JRH I used to own.

The Bisley model BFR currently sells does not resemble Jacks design unless you are you saying that BFR now offers a "Jack Huntington" grip model?

I own two of the latest BFR Bisley models. Good design to shoot, ugly to look at.

Jacks version is much better but he told me he can not convert the Bisley model to his design.

Bought one in .22 because that’s what I shoot the majority of the time.

Fantastic craftsmanship and everything I hope it would be. Not cheap but definitely falls under the buy once cry once category…

Damn you guys. Get this freedom arms thought out of my head.