Freedom Arms 252 Casull, good idea?

S

Swede68

New member
Well, I bought a pair of S&W revolvers (m14 and m17) from the local gunstore, and the kind gentleman running the establishment showed me a .22lr Caliber Freedom Arms revolver. I wasn´t planning to buy it, but the thing has stuck in my mind. Now, I didn´t ask him the model but from what I have found on the internet it is a Freedom Arms 252 Casull revolver.
If I´m wrong about this, please correct me, the features are:
- 6" barrel
- Fiveshot cylinder (a lot shorter than the window in the frame)
- Adjustable sights

The gun would be used for targetpractice and competition, and a little bit of plinking. It does seem a bit on the heavy side, but I love Single Action revolvers and could live with that.

So, are there any .22lr Casull shooters out there? What is your opinion, is this a good target revolver?

The gun was specially ordered for a collector here in Sweden, and if it´s ever been shot, it sure hasn´t been fired much!

Give me your thoughts on this gun, please.

Anders Olsson
 
Last edited:
You probably should buy it

Swede68,

Thanks for asking our advice.

I own a Freedom Arms Model 83 (454 Casull), but not their 22 rimfire.

It is, as are all Freedom Arms guns, supremely well-built. "Your" 252 will likely be the equal in accuracy of any gun short of a full-race Olympic pistol.

It will also hold its value well.

You are right about the weight. That frame is designed for much more powerful centerfire cartridges.

That gun, holding only 5 rounds and much heavier than it needs to be is not for everyone. But if you will appreciate 1) a unique piece and 2) a gun of little general utility but a fine shooter.

According to your post, I am surprised you did not take the gun right there.

Since it was a special order on which the original buyer reneged, you might be able to bargain the price down.

My advice: Buy it.

Lost Sheep
 
Lost Sheep, thanks!
The gun wasn´t reneged, the collector has had it for quite a few years (I was unclear about that), he just hasn´t fired it (much, or at all).
It was sold to him by this particular store though, so the owner of the store (who´s also a buddy) knows the guns history. The price is good (I think), roughly the equivalent of 2400$ (the price new here is over 3500$, and this gun IS as good as new). It´s a lot of money, but it isn´t just any revolver so I can justify the cost if it suits my purpose for it.

Biggest reason I didn´t buy it then and there is our gun legislation. I can get a permit for it, no problem, but with my current amount of permits, I would have to get rid of one .22lr pistol or revolver. I allready have two permit-applications under consideration by authorities (the two S&W revolvers), which I expect to be aproved any day now. So..., it wasn´t a good time for a spur of the moment purchase.

It has been sitting on the shelf for quite some time (the store owner told me so), so I´m not too worried that it will be sold. And I don´t "need" it anyway, I just want it.:)

I´m going to take another look at it, and get a feel for how it balances next time I go to the store, which will most likely be next week when I expect to have received the permits for the two S&W´s and can pick them up.

I should probably say that I am not totally unfamiliar with the Freedom Arms Casull revolvers. A close friend has a .454 Casull revolver which I have handled and shot quite a bit, it´s a great gun! Also the owner of the store in question is the Swedish representative for Freedom Arms, so I´ve seen them around the store many times. I´m just not that familiar with the rimfire versions.
I have been thinking of buying a m97-357AS .357Magnum revolver on several occasions, but it just hasn´t fit in with the rest of my permits (I´m not going to go into the Swedish gun legislation, other than to say that it is a lot different than yours). Anyway, we´ll see what happens, it would be a nice gun to have for sure and I have the funds for it (set aside for other purchases, but those aren´t exactly essential either).

Anders Olsson
 
Last edited:
The FA 252 is a very nice revolver. There are several people who use them to compete. One thing you can be sure of is I doubt a person could ever wear one out.

I have a 252 "Varmint Class". The gun is exceptionally accurate.


FA252VC-2.jpg


FA252VC.jpg
 
My 252 silhouette class would consistantly shoot one hole groups at 25 yards.
The only issue I had with it was it had "match" chambers. They were TIGHT.
My thumb would be sore after a few dozen rounds from pushing the cartridges all the way in to fully seat them.
The "sporting" chambers, such as on the varmit class, are much easier and still super accurate.

Jim
 
I normally don't get excited about single action pistols, and I normally don't comment on threads because I'm very far from being a gun expert. But I have to say, THAT is one of the most stunning and sexy guns I've ever seen.

I would love to get my hands on one. Whew! I think I need to go take a cold shower!
 
Thanks guys, and thanks in particular to wdelack for the pics!

Jim, I´ve read about the tight chambers. Now, I´m not sure which version this is but I think I could live with that.

If I could only understand why they didn´t chamber it for one more round, as far as I can understand it has nothing to do with accuracy (?) and it´s definitely not a matter of lack of space/material between the chambers!:D
That really doesn´t matter though. If I get it, it will be used for precision targetshooting at 25m distance. 5 shots is all I need for that.

Anders Olsson
 
Freedom Arms 252

All the Freedom Arms 252's I've seen were shooting in IHMSA matches. I believe it was built primarily for IHMSA style shooting. Given that thought, it would be useless to have the cylinder hold any more than five rounds as that is one course of fire at an IHMSA meet. Two courses of fire at 25 yards, another two courses at 50 yards, two more at 75 yards and finally, the last two courses at 100 yards. Targets are steel chickens, pigs, turkeys, and rams respectively.

Mine has ridiculously tight match chambers too. I took all my .22 handguns to the range yesterday and my Freedom Arms 252 was the only one that did NOT get shot. Simply because I do not have a wooden bullet pusher tool to get my cartridges in the chambers far enough to let the cylinder turn past them! My fingers are too big for the area to fit in but once they are in, the rim on the case is too small to be comfortable pushing it in so hard! The tool should be similarly sized to push the .22 rim but obviously not dent it... anyway, because of this it did not get used.

Maybe a competition .22 shooter out there can recommend competition ammo that does fit these chambers?

I'm about to talk to Freedom Arms directly about this as I cannot imagine being able to load it easily enough in competition either but then that is with Winchester Super-X ammunition. Maybe Eley 10-X is better?
 
I thought looser 'field chambers' were an option from F/A on the 252.

How about the F/A model 97 in .22? It's a much more realistic gun for .22lr.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top