Author Topic: FA 454 - heavy vs. light bullets (Read 866 times)

Sverre A. · « **on:** March 05, 2005, 12:37:00 AM »

My mod. 83 have good accuracy with bullets up to 325 gr.
Heavier bullets gives bad accuracy. Somebody who have similar experience?

pastorp · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2005, 05:58:23 AM »

I have owned 3 freedom arms model 83's in 454. The heaviest bullets I used were 300gr jacketed and a 310gr cast. All of my guns shot them really well. My 310gr LFN LBT GC bullet load conagraphed at 1510fps. I can't see the need for any more out of a 4&3/4" handgun. Regards, Byron

Dusty Miller · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2005, 09:51:14 AM »

I shoot a 345 gr. bullet out of a FA 454 and it is very accurate. You might want to check the diameter of your heavier bullet and compare it to the diameter of the lighter one.

Sverre A. · « **Reply #3 on:** March 05, 2005, 11:19:13 AM »

Diameter is the same.

RCL · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2005, 01:46:34 PM »

I always got the best accuracy with bullets around 300 grains.

swifty · « **Reply #5 on:** March 08, 2005, 04:10:08 AM »

I talked to John at FA and he said that he uses the 260 grain FA bullet with good accuracy.I have some loaded up but not at full power.
I shot about 75 rounds on Sunday with 300 grain lead bullet on top of 7.4 grains of bullseye.It was putting them in the black and the recoil wasn't bad either.

Graybeard · « **Reply #6 on:** March 08, 2005, 04:17:27 AM »

I certainly don't consider bullets of 325 grains to be light for caliber in the .454 casull. But I've fired up to 360 grains with fine accuracy from the FA83. Recoil is pretty vicious tho. To me this one shines with bullets in the 300-330 grain range. If you really want heavier bullets I'd suggest you go with the .480 Ruger or .475 Linebaugh, which is in fact what I've done. I no longer own a .454 as I do in fact like the heavier bullets and primarily use 400-430 grain in mine.

Dusty Miller · « **Reply #7 on:** March 09, 2005, 09:18:53 PM »

Graybeard, WHAT in the name of heaven are you shooting with those heavy bullets, cape buffalo?

Graybeard · « **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2005, 03:01:08 AM »

Any thing that gets in front of me and needs shooting. They work fine from paper targets to metal to small game on up to elephants. One size fits all don't ya know.

BackCountry · « **Reply #9 on:** March 13, 2005, 06:55:33 PM »

Graybeard,

What is the recoil difference between the 454 and 475.

Thank you

Graybeard · « **Reply #10 on:** March 13, 2005, 07:14:30 PM »

I don't own a .475, mine is a Taurus RB480. I had an exact double of it in .454 Casull and I honestly couldn't see any real difference in recoil between the .454 with 325s at 1550 to 1600 fps and the .480 with 400s and 420s at 1100-1200 fps. If there is a difference it's too minor for me to detect it.

Now from what I hear the .475 in a FA83 or reworked Ruger is seriously wicked even tho we're only talking about 200 fps more than the .480 with equal bullet weights. The RB handles recoil for me far far better than the FA83 but the cylinder is not long enough for you to gain anything from use of the .475 case as you still can't seat the bullet to any longer C.O.L.

If a 420 grain bullet .475" in diameter moving out at 1100-1200 fps won't kill it then you got no dang business messing with it in the first place, you're only gonna make it mad and most likely won't like what it does to you.

jaycocreek · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2005, 03:45:44 AM »

A few years ago Sherriff Jim took all the .454's on the market and run all the available factory ammo through all of them for velocity and accuracy.I found it interesting how they differed.Below the right two coloms are 50 yard accuracy and 100 yard accuracy with the Freedom Arms revolver for an idea in his test.

If you click on the image you can see it better.

Jayco