new FA 454 is a shooter

[Lloyd Smale]

loaded up some bc 350lfngc and 300 rcbs swcgcs and some 320 lfngcs all at about 1500 fps with wc297. All groups were just under or just over an inch at 25 yards. Worse bullet tested was the lbt wfngc that went about 320 grain and it went 1.5 inch so that is even hard to call bad. Most guns id have been tickled to see 1.5 inch. Not bad for the first outing just using one powder one load and one primer. Needs a new front sight blade though. The original is to short. Must have been because of the longer barrel or the gun i bought it from could have been shooting 260s in it. Nice thing is there a snap to change out on the FA guns.

[Glanceblamm]

That is some great shooting along with some health loads for sure Lloyd.

I don't know if you gave the wfn a fair chance though...IMO, you may have subconsciously shot
those loads with your off-hand 

[Lloyd Smale]

  could be true. Id hate to see a wfn be the best bullet in one of my guns!!

[kennisondan]

Lloyd : those FAs do not shoot too shabby, do they ?  the wfn cast was not particularly accurate for me but that is all I had to shoot... got a whole bunch of them... could not be me... really .... now if I just never shoot a lfn I can blame the wide meplat for the problem accuracy of 1.5 inches....lol
I am gonna have to try some lfn configurations to see if I shoot any better with those... once I am recuperated a bit..
really glad you like the  FA.... I went on and got a few front sights for mine, figured it could be put to good use, may be able to switch front sights and have a load that matches up to it...
I know that you should have that all figured out and a sight/loading chart for the rest of us by ... say, next weekend ?  I would be curious how the accuracy of that FA compares to your multitude of customs... with their favorite loadings stoked in... long range and short range..
How do you compare the recoil of the 454 to other big bores you shoot with heavy bullets ? snappier ?  shorter impulse ? I am curious for your input to be posted...
so get back to work Master Smale.. there is much to be done.
lol
dk

[Lloyd Smale]

Dan its a very accurate gun. Ill put it this way. My 475 linebaugh John built is another one that was just as accurate. Not to many guns shoot everything you stick in them well and this one does. As to recoil its definately less then a 475 or 500 loaded to the top but thats just physics. I chuckle when i hear guys saying the 454 kicks as much as a bigger gun or the 475 kicks more then a 500.  How could a gun shooting a 350 grain bullet at 1500 fps kick as much as a 475 shooting a 420 grain bullet at 1450 or a 500 linebaugh shooting a 450 grain bullet at 1450. What fools alot of guys is muzzle blast. the smaller the bore the more muzzle blast your going to get at the top end and 454s are nasty in that reguard. But in recoil level i allways thought they were closer to heavy ruger level 45s then the were to the 475 or 500.

[Glanceblamm]

Lloyd
This is probably a dumb question but once you have FA shorten up that trombone tube of a barrel, is it your experience that the shorter tube will want a Taller or Shorter front blade?
My (mind's eye) says that the shorter tube may want a shorter front blade to keep the angle flatter but yet the bullet will spend less time here which may or may not provide an offset.
Told you that this was probably a dumb question, just curious.
P.S. I like them 7.5" trombones but the shorter ones have really grown on me since I purchased my little birds head.

[Lloyd Smale]

I would think that because the bullet is in the barel a shorter amount of time the poa would be sligtly lower just as it would be if you shot a heavier load or a lighter bullet. So that would make me say a shorter blade would be the answer. This one is allready cut and back and i never shot it with the long barrel so id dont know for sure. I know that the sight blade on it right now is to low. The guy that had it before me had two of them. One to shoot heavy cast and one to shoot light jacketed. This was the one for jacketed. He told me after buying a couple boxes of heavier jacketed jacketed bullets he gave up on that idea becuase of cost so what it had shot was 260s at about 17-1800 fps. Ive called FA yesterday and have a taller blade comming. We swapped one  out of one of my buddys FA guns and it worked fine with the taller blade. So id have to honestly say that i would think the load your using has alot more effect on what you need for a blade then the lenght of the barrel.

[44 Man]

We need pictures Lloyd, pictures!!  (NO, not of YOU!  Of the gun!)  Ha ha.  Great shooting!  Glad to hear the gun is almost as good a shooter as you are!  44 Man