Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Big Bore Handguns, anyone?

I think I am done with load development for my three big bore handguns:

Freedom Arms .454 Casull, custom 10" octagon MagNaPorted barrel, with handloads of 240 gr. XTP Mags, 260 gr. FA JFP, 265 Swift A-Frames, 300 gr. FA JFP bullets.

Magnum Research BFR, .475 Linebaugh, 410 gr. Cast Performance bullets, at 1250 fps- handgun weight and grip make this load very manageable. Plans for taking this one back to Africa for large plains game- wife not crazy about taking on a Cape Buffalo, still working on it. In the meantime, back to TX for a Scimitar horned Oryx this fall.

Ruger Super Blackhawk, .480 Ruger, 410 gr. Cast Performance bullets. This is my off-road carry gun.

All three are very accurate, having taken game so far including coyotes, whitetails, red deer, hogs, and bison. The FA and BFR both wear Ultradot Gen 2 sights, 1" on the Casull, 30mm on the BFR.

Big-bore handguns are a serious affliction, making rifle looneyism seem like something sane, for me at least.

Ive owned many variations of them all over the years. Love big bore handguns. Awesome collection you got there. A couple years ago i purchased a bfr in 500 jrh and have not bought anything else since. Absolutely fell in love with the caliber and havent looked back

Bighorn, that's a very nice trio you have there! I've used them as well & as you probably know those FA bullets are plenty hard, you wouldn't have any trouble poking a hole through a Cape Buffalo with any of those last 3 you mention. Good luck on the hunt, and take your wife with you! I used a 325 gr cast & got a pass through with my bisley 45.

Dick

I have a Freedom Arms 475 Linebaugh that I really enjoy. I took it on a Bison hunt in the Henry Mountains about 10 years ago. I never got close enough to feel confident of my shot. I was loaded with Buffalo Bore 420 gr LBT-LFN.

Turns out I had an a shot at a huge old bull, but the distance was 230 yards, so the 338 got the job done.

Still, I really wanted the Linebaugh to do the job..

...and yes, a really nice trio indeed!

Nice family of “big bores” you have there! And since finally getting one……I’ve learned to appreciate there usefulness much more! memtb

Nice collection, but it isn't complete unless you add a 500 or two:)

Indeed.



Though 475's are neat.





Even 45 Colts.

Yep…

Not too big, but this is one of my first guns. .44mag

Recently I did a work up of some .45 Colt loads that were heavier than the all around loads of 270 grain at 900 FPS (from a 4&5/8ths" barrel).

I ended up finding the sweet spot with a 320 grain wide nose flat point at 1155. They shot extremely small groups and I saw no need to push them faster. I had made some loads that were quite a bit faster, but the groups were not nearly as good and saw no point, since it is not likely that they are going to perform any better in terms of terminal ballistics.

That’s a great looking bullet. I doubt there’s much in NA, or the rest of the world for that matter, that will still want to fight after taking a good hit with that load.

Doing the load development, I did not have much time to shoot the test loads one evening, as far as setup goes, so I was just shooting over the hood of my old Land Cruiser at 25 yards using my 4 & 5/8ths Blackhawk.



I could not see the shots or if I was on paper so I walked down to the target and all 4 were in one hole.

I took a pic because I figured I would screw up the next shot since that is typical for me.

I was aiming for the green dot BTW.




My fifth shot was pretty good too.



I then shot some for the chronograph and got an average of 1155 FPS, which for a short barrel (4&5/8ths") is pretty good. I am curious to see what numbers the load would do in a 7.5" Blackhawk.

This is definitely going to be a good heavy load for full size/large frame .45 Blackhawks.

I think that was pretty much where John Linebaugh determined was the ultimate for the 45 LC! That’s one sweet look’n cartridge! memtb

Thanks memtb,

John Linebaugh was spot on. Just like he was right about the "all around/general purpose load" of a .45 Colt and a 260/270 Keith style around 900 FPS.

This load covers the heavier end of the spectrum. Plus it does it with "ear hole" or "eye hole" type accuracy.

It is going to be a commercial load as soon as more components arrive.

I agree too, it is one sweet looking cartridge.

Glad to hear this load is coming to market!

After loading 44 Magnum's with heavily loaded 320 grain bullets, I decided I didn't need bigger. I have a couple of 45 Colts though.

I'll take 200 of those 45's

Same here

Hopefully the components will get here in the next couple weeks and I will get a batch of these into production.

I'm a 4 & 1 shooter myself! John you can't shoot as good as Mackay!!

Dick

Nice looking cartridges and bullets. I would have no issues carry that 320 grain load anywhere that I would roam.
The 1150 fps out of the 4-5/8" is perfect for me.

I like most anything in a revolver.
But, .429, .452, and .475 are definitely my personal favorites. Depends on the day which is the most favorite.

Put me on the list for some of those 320 grainers.......

Mackay, Not much you couldn’t get done with that 320 grain WFN at 1155. My go to load is the 45-270-SAA 285 grain Keith SWC pushed by HS6 to about 1100 fps. This is in my 5 1/2” stainless Bisley Blackhawk.

Ron

As soon as I can get some more components, I will be putting them into production.


I did just do a "Special" run of .44 Specials.

They are 200 grain full wadcutters.

I found a sweet spot, accuracy wise at 1055 FPS. (out of RDO equipped M29 Classic).

I did some accuracy testing/shooting at 25 yards.

This is two, 5-shot groups.




That gun stacks them in there, when you have a good rest.

And of course, I managed to pull my usual trick of shooting a decent group and messing it up, by having one shot decide to go someplace else....




This one I won't complain about.



Overall the 200 grain full wadcutters are very accurate and have a fair bit less recoil than the standard 240 grain SWC load. It will be a great target, home defense. CCW, and small game load for those who want to carry a .44 Special.

I am personally looking forward to finding some unsuspecting Jackrabbits to punch holes through with it.

Nice revolvers. In the past I've owned a couple Bowen custom Ruger Bisleys, a custom Vaquero large frame, several Freedom Arms and one of the BFR. I tried to like the Ruger Bisley frame and it's grip but it's extremely painful for me to use and it's far too small between the grip and trigger guard so they went down the road. The BFR and Freedom Arms work fit me and are ideal single actions.

Today my revolvers are an S&W mountain gun and an old regular 629, an super redhawk and a pair of Ruger Alaskans. I'm perfectly happy at this point in life with the Ruger Alaskan and its ideal with 45colt.

Everyone should have at least one .500 center fire and a .50 caliber black powder pistol

That is one Gorgeous handgun
Congrat's

Thanks!

That looks consistent with the numbers I was getting.


The wide nose/meplat on the bullet is going to hammer some big old critters lol!

Nothing is going to walk a way with a solid hit from one of theses.

46.8 yards

JWP, is that a single round, or a group?

That custom gun is a sweet setup.

A group

JWP,
Who did the custom work on that Redhawk? Looks like something Bowen would do….

Jack Huntington, I've also have a 44 cylinder and barrel for it. Can go from 45 Colt/454 to 44 mag/special.
Bowen did made some Redhawks with the Dan Wesson barrel system but, I don't belive that he ever made a switch caliber

Finally,

Got more of the heavy .45 Colt projectiles and put them into production after some more testing.

There is an ad in the classifieds or you can PM me.

They are actually 325 grain, not 320. Just had 320 in my head. I think because I shot 320 grain .44s for a long time.




https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...grain-hard-cast-wfn-hammers#Post18470452

What’s 5 grains among friends! 😉 memtb

At the moment I just have the 480, though I'm planning to take the 500 JRH plunge soon.

I've had the 480 since it came out, and it has been outstanding. I've tried cast bullets from round balls up to 460 gr

[Linked Image]

I settled on 400 gr over 21.0 H-110 for 1200 fps out of the 7 1/2" SRH. The 310 gr over 9.7 gr Unique at 1000 fps is an moa load, but sadly the mold disappeared. Need to get another one cut one of these days.

I used to have an MP molds hp mold that I had to let go

[Linked Image]

Fortunately I did get a replacement one that is a bit lighter but I haven't had a chance to try it yet

Agreed!

I have a New Model Bisley Blackhawk in .41 Mag I like a lot. I have only shot one small buck with it, but he didn't go far. I am excited to take another one, this time with my handloads which are 210 grain XTPs with 21 grains of H110. Also have a .50 cal CVA Kentucky Pistol that is really fun and my 12 year old daughter is building the matching kit in .45 cal. Someday I would like to get another big bore handgun, probably a .454 Casull. I have always dreamed of a Freedom Arms. Thanks for sharing the pics of all the nice pieces!