A New FA97 will be heading my way soon.

[Graybeard]

I dropped by the gunstore this morning on my way home from the skeet range. I had the owner call up Freedom Arms and get his price on a new FA97 7.5" .45 Colt for me. Yeah EXACTLY like the one I did the review on that is the first thread on this forum. I just didn't have the bucks back then to buy it when I had it here. He priced it to me at $1850 which is not such a great price really since I happen to know his cost in it.

When I got home I called up Bob at FA and discussed it with him. He tried to get me to just let him send it as a Writer's review gun but since I've already reviewed this EXACT gun I just don't feel right about doing that. But he is gonna comp me the action job so that should drop the price about $100 or so.

In return I'll do another review of this one kinda sorta in comparison to the one I had for review a few years back. I'm NOT gonna shoot that heavy recoiling stuff in it I did last time tho as I'm not a glutton for punishment and done been there done that once before. This time I'll stick to milder loads that are much more pleasant to shoot.

I will somewhat later on be getting yet another for review but I've got to firm up my decision on which to ask Bob to ship to me. Right now I'm thinking most likely it will be another FA97 7.5" in .357 Magnum. I KNOW it will outshoot my current S&W and I think that's what I want next. But I've not yet ruled out a 10" FA97 .22LR. I think tho that my Ruger Single Six 9.5" shoots better than me so I'm not sure getting a more accurate FA97 .22LR will really reduce my groups as I think I'm the limiting factor now as an iron sight shooter. We discussed an FA83 .475 Linebaugh maybe with an extra .480 cylinder as light loads are ALL I'd want from that one. Bob says the stuff he shoots in it bring the barrel back to kiss his cap brim. That probably means with my light grip it would kiss my punkin head.  But with 370s to 400s at a sedate 1000 fps to 1050 fps I think it just might be nice.

I've also asked Bob to ship me another holster just like the one I had with the other FA97 .45 Colt. This photo shows the other one holstered with some of the factory ammo I used to review it.

[Ken ONeill]

Graybeard,
My 97 .45 Colt/ .45 ACP is a 5 1/2 incher, and my 97 .22 LR is a 7 1/2 incher ( the 2nd one shipped, right after John Taffin's test gun). Both are truly, truly superbly accurate. The .22 makes my 1973 9 1/2"  stainless "Star Model" Single -Six's groups look like shotgun patterns. That's saying something because I used that Ruger to shoot the first-ever 38X40 IHMSA revolver score in 1980.
Thought I'd tell you that to make your decision more difficult.... And I haven't even mentioned the superb accuracy of the 97 .32 H&R yet !!! I can't call any decision  wrong, though, because all of them can be expected to shoot well.
My next one will be a 5 1/2" 97 in .357... or .41...decisions, decisions.

[Graybeard]

I had been thinking along the lines of a 5.5" Ken but that front sight really needs to be as far away as possible for me to shoot decent groups these days. It's hard to shoot tight groups with a fuzzy front sight and the older I get the fuzzier that sight gets unless it keeps moving away from me.  For now the 7.5" is about as short as I can make group decent.

I love those long 9.5" to 10.5" barrels as they really get it out there for me to see but I'm really wanting to take this one to the woods and while I used to take my S&W 29 with 10-5/8" barrel to the woods regularly it sure wasn't as handy as a shorter barrel. But for sure for a .22LR a 9.5" or 10" is the way I'll be going either with the Ruger I now have or a new FA later.

[Rod in Pa]

Graybeard, Just to let you know, I will be hunting squirrel with my Freedom Arms 7 1/2 inch Model 83 22 lr tomorrow. Rod in Pa.

[Dusty Miller]

 The icons wipe out my post whether spell check is engaged or not!!

[Graybeard]

NO WAY Dusty. Disengage it FIRST and then type. Don't type then disengage it.

[Graybeard]

I dropped by the gunshop again this morning and asked Steve to get my new FA97 on order today. Since the lady told him yesterday they had a couple in stock it should arrive next week I reckon unless they sold both before he called back today.

I also asked him to order me a holster for my Ruger single six 9.5". If I later get an FA97 10" it should fit same holster as well.

[Broom Rider]

Sounds great! Call me if ya need help breakin' it in!

[Graybeard]

Bob contacted me this afternoon to let me know the order was received and is being processed. I'd imagine it will arrive next week but dunno which day.

[Graybeard]

I got an e-mail from Bob this afternoon telling me the new FA97 should arrive today. I was in the store earlier but the owner took the day off so I didn't even ask Kenny if it had arrived. I need to go back tomorrow to speak with Steve the owner so I'll go prepared to pick up my new FA97.

[EdK]

Interesting price you were quoted by your local shop. I'm usually embarrassed/envious when folks post concerning a price check and historically you've blown away the best price by a few hundred anyways. I can say prices are right up there here in the northeast and always have been as far as I can tell.

This has got nothing to do with the value of a FA - they are worth more! It's just that the tremendous regional price variation often posted on GBO always got me.

Good luck with your new FA.

[Graybeard]

EdK I ended up paying $1750 out the door on this one. Steve the owner told me his first price quote was $50 plus tax over his actual cost. I do a LOT of business with him and send him even more so I do get some real good prices.

The cost of the Freedom Arms guns has gone up considerably since I had last priced them and since I saw that Field Grade in the same store priced under $1200 out the door to another customer.

Since I get writer discounts due to my reviews here at GBO I did get Steve's price lowered some on this one since I will be doing a continual review of it as I use it. Being the owner of a site this size with the ONLY FA Forum on the internet as far as I know does have some perks. Even tho FA is not a paid advertiser here they do give me some really good deals and I in return give them a lot of exposure and I suspect more FA guns are sold from the exposure here than from any advertisement program they might have elsewhere.

Bob is sending me a one piece scope base to use with this one for load development and so I can test the actual accuracy of the gun rather than my vision and can report what the gun does not what my eyesight is capable of. Of course long term the gun will be used with irons when afield not scoped and I'll just live with the reduced range that involves. Since I plan to pick up at least one and likely a couple more FA97s in the future as money permits I'll use this same base/rings to test them and do reviews on them as well.

[Broom Rider]

Ok.............can I whine a bit now?
What??? No pics of the new beauty yet???
Just kidding of course. I'd love to have a 97 in 44 Special but until my right elbow and wrist heal better anything that recoils is out of the question.
I have a lot of jacketed bullets for 45 Colt and 44. It would be a shame not to run a bunch of them through a FA.

[Graybeard]

Sure we got pics. I posted them on the other thread the day I picked it up. That thread is titled: Picked up my new FA97 .45 Colt 7.5" today and it's at: http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,129063.0.html

But since you asked here they are on this thread too.







I even have the results of my first range session there. As soon as I get the scope base from Bob I'll scope it for awhile to work up some good loads and to find out how well the gun shoots instead of how poorly I can see the iron sights. 

It was a tough decision for me between the .45 Colt and the .44 Special but in the end the .45 won out. I liked that first one I did the review on (first post pinned at top of this forum) that I decided to go with another exactly like it. I'll likely wind up with a .44 Special one day as well.

[Broom Rider]

Thanks, I had missed that.

[revo]

That's one nice revolver there, Graybeard. Beautiful. Seems the 45 Colt 97 has got to be the most versatile 97 there is. And, yep, that 44 Special does have a way of capturing ones heart too, eh?

Will you be using the Lovell scope mount for load testing? Is that the one-piece mount you refer to?

Be interested to hear your thoughts on the mount when you test it.

[Graybeard]

Yes it's the Lovell I just can't seem to ever remember that name and didn't go back to look up the name.

My plan is to use it and a Bushnell Elite 2-6 scope to do load development and to test the real accuracy of the gun for a review of it. It won't be on there when I actually use it afield tho as I love to tote this on the hip while hunting. Back when I did the review on the other one that at the time I didn't have enough money to buy and had to return it to Bob I never scoped it so all testing was done with iron sights. I carried it on a lot of hunts that season but never got an opportunity to use it on a deer at my self imposed iron sight limit of about 50 yards.

Since I bought this one I'll have it a long time and surely I'll eventually get a deer in close enough to use it on one. You can see my thoughts on the gun in the post at the top of this forum. I did that review on a gun EXACTLY like this one a few years back. I liked it so well that when I decided to buy a new FA97 I chose one EXACTLY like the gun I tested back then.