FA or Gary Reeder Custom Ruger

[cobrad]

I have the bug again, never should have sold that last .44 mag. Ready to pull the trigger in a FA .454, but got looking at Reeder's customs last night. Good looking guns, but as good as FA?
Anyone have experience with both? Lots of info about FA, but I don't find much commentary on Reeder.

[Redhawk1]

I have several Gary Reeder handguns. I love them. They are very well done and shoot great. I have also owned a few FA's. FA is also a great gun. Don't have any FA's any longer, but I still have 4 of Gary Reeders guns. I have 3 on Blackhawk frames, and one on a Redhawk frame.  You won't go wrong with either gun, just pick which one you think you will like the most. If you want more information on Reeders guns, just go to his forum section. If you want more information you can e-mail me at Surfish7@aol.com

[Lloyd Smale]

gary makes a good gun but in my opinion the FA is a little better built and a bit stouter and probably is going to hold its value a bit better. Downside is theres not near as many options to allow you to have it your way.

[drdougrx]

Having an Arizona Classic buily in 475L by Reeder.  Can't wait.

[cobrad]

Well, I couldn't wait either. I bought a FA Premier grade 454 Casull last night. Fired 8 rounds tonight. This is a frisky caliber! It will take more practice to master this one. Sure a nice gun though.
Told my wife tonight I plan on keeping this one, and no need to buy any more... She didn't believe me either.

[sixshot]

The Reeder guns are fancy, lots of engraving, etc. A friend has 4 of them & the El Diablo felt good & shot good, I liked it but they are not a Freedom Arms. Reeder won't line bore his guns, says it isn't necessary. Almost all of the top pistol smiths in the country line bore for a reason. Some do it somewhat differently but its basically line boring. If you like the laser engraving the Reeder guns will suit you fine. Also, Reeder turns out more guns in a month that most places do in a year.
 
Dick

[Redhawk1]

Gary Reeder also has a lot of gunsmiths working for him, that is why he can get so many done. I have owned other custom guns, and I can't see the difference in accuracy in my hadguns. They all shoot very accurate. Just because he does not line bore his guns, don't make them any less accurate. I have a lot of stock Rugers that are tack drivers as well. My Super Redhawk in 454 Casull is every bit as accurat as my FA was in 454 Casull.  The FA is like a swiss watch, it looks great and works great, but my other guns are like a timex, they take a licking and keep on ticking..

[Lloyd Smale]

redhawk is correct. Line boring doesnt guarantee anything. I once had two old model 357s converted by dave clements. One was a 44 special that i had him go all out on including lineboring. the other was done as a basic conversion in 41 mag. the 41 mag hands down outshot the linebored 44 special. Lineboring was basicaly invented to save the gunsmith time from blocking a cylinder into alignment. Basicaly its a shortcut. Im not saying it doesnt work. Id bet that if you did 20 identical guns half linebored and half not the linebored guns would probably outshoot the non linebored ones percentage wise. thing is its became a catch word in the custom revolver world and some people think that a gun not linebored is an inferior gun and it just isnt so.

 
Another thing that suprises many is there thoughts on tight guns. tight isnt good unless alignment is perfect. If alignment isnt perfect and it seldom is a little slop will actually help a gun. Another example i can give you from my own experience is a 45 vaquaro i had. It was a box stock 5.5 inch 45 colt vaquero that shot exceptionaly well. especially with heavier bullets and the hotter it was loaded the better it shot but bottom line is it was the most accurate 45 colt i have owned at any level and with any bullet weight. Well i owned it back in my younger dumber days and shot loads out of it i wont even post here as they were probably near 454 pressure levels. After a while of doing that the gun just got loose. It sounded like a rattle when you shook it. Funny thing is it still shot like gangbusters. That one too went do dave clements. Told him i wanted it tightened up. A new match quality barrel, the forcing cone was about gone on the old one (even like that it shot great) and i had him round but it and case harden it. it came back just beautiful! dave does real nice work and he outdid himself on this one. Thing is it never again shot as well as it did as a rattle trap. Ive seen other times in the past were rugers with side to side slop and lots of end play shot just fine. To me the advantage to a tight gun isnt accuaracy its useable life. It takes a while to shoot enough ammo out of a tight fitting gun for it to show some wear. A sloppy gun seems to wear alot faster and get worse quickly.

[sixshot]

Agreed, line boring in its self is not magic, its a combination of everything, just like building a fine rifle, pillar bedding isn't magic, neither is getting the perfect seating depth. It has to be every part of the sixgun...or rifle to make it sing. Another example is base pins, some think by going to a tighter base pin they will inprove the accuracy of their sixgun when it can actually make it shoot worse because of alignment.
 
Dick

[mk454]

start off with some of the mellower loads, get some of the hunting shack bulk or 50 rd boxes with 300 gr xtps, they are pretty mellow and the federal fusions are mellow as well.  you'll build up a tolerance to the round.  i've had several FA handguns and it'd be easy to say the rugers i've had were as accurate until i put a scope on them and then the FA lets their accuracy shine in.  look at the imsa shoots and see how FA is represented, there's a reason.   not knocking any of the custom smiths, they put out a good product but i am highly partial to FA, good buy!

[S.B.]

I've never heard of a bad or ugly Reeder handgun but, for me, I'd opt for a FA. I love the looks of the short barreled .50 Wyoming Express. One, just might be in my future?
Steve

[Bigboar]

Reeder makes his own FA size guns quite nice.


bigboar

[xphunter]

Make mine a FA