Freedom Arms Revolvers

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Unkel Gilbey

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Howdy all,

I just got back from a trip to Alaska - and let me first state that I highly recommend that everyone try to visit there, it fulfilled all expectations. While there, I had a chance to visit a gun show in Anchorage. Lots of heavy caliber rifles and pistols for sale/trade. No wonder seeing the size of the stuffed Brown and Polar Bears in the airport terminal. I got to talking to a 'trader' at one of the tables there and was given a glimpse of the first F.A. 454 Casull, .475 and .500 Linebaugh Magnum's that I'd ever seen. They'd been modified by the gent, and they looked like some really fine pieces of workmanship. If I could have swung the price tags, I might have gone home with one or two!

Something that this gent said has me wondering. As luck would have it, I didn't get his name (I think he said 'Monty'), and as hindsight is always 20/20, I didn't think to get a business card at the time either. So I have to go on my faulty memeory. What he said was this - That what is currently being offered for sale by the F.A. company in their line of BIG revolvers is a little less that what is desired. He mentioned several problems that he had encountered with some of the pistols that he's recently received which (to me) are down right scary. Especially if I were one of those Salmon fishermen that have to share the river banks up there with Big Brown Bears!

I hesitate to go into detail - as I don't want this to become a bitch session between me and the company. But if there is any truth to what this gent said about these pistols - then there is a legitimate concern here. Especially if I was to seriously consider purchasing one of these pistols. Perhaps there was a bad batch to leave the factory, or maybe this is a sign that the company is soon to be no more? I don't know.

So, if you folks out there have any info about this - I would greatly appreciate your response here. Are my concerns unfounded? Should I list specifics? Has anyone else encountered problems with these pistols? If the gent that I spoke to at the Gun show in Anchorage is a member here and would like to chime in - and not here (on the board) feel free to send me a Email ping. I thank you all in advance for your responses!

Hold them hard in the Ten ring!

Unkel Gilbey
 
Gilbey;

Specific problems would be nice. How can we address problems if we don't know what they are.

I've had a FA .454 Casull for about 6 years. IMO it is without a doubt the finest made production revolver made. The tolerances are tight, there is NO play in the cylinder when it is locked.

Now I've heard about people that reload the .454 and fail to crimp it tight enough. When fired this can cause the bullets to jump from the recoil and lock up the revolver when next you cock it. I know of one instance where this happened while fending off a bear attack. Due to the tight tolerances of the frame/cylinder if a bullet jumps even .01 this could cause the cylinder to lock up.

Unless FA has went down in their quality I haven't heard of any other problems. Maybe someone with a more recent FA might know something.


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Schmit, GySgt, USMC(Ret)
NRA Life, Lodge 1201-UOSSS
"Si vis Pacem Para Bellum"
 
I believe that I've run across 'Monty' on the forum on John Taffin's 'Sixguns' website www.sixguns.com . I wonder whether the fellow has some sort of really bad gun karma. Nothing ever seems to work for him: FA revolvers, loading dies, etc. Moreover, no one seems to be able to confirm his reports. And the worse thing is that he keeps coming back for more. If I had been stiffed as many times by one company as 'Monty' claims, I certainly wouldn't keep buying their products.
 
I live in Kodiak and it seems like half the town owns an FA revolver. I've never heard of anyone having a problem of any kind with a Casull.
It sounds like "Monty" has a business going modifying the revolvers and may have a need to justify his income.



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Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan
 
I've read bad things about the new FA guns on rec.guns . By who, I don't know. But you could look it up on dejanews. Some of the bad stuff was from folks that had older ones and were disappointed with newer ones.
 
Howdy,

OK, since I've heard from a bunch of you I guess that I can go on with what I've heard. I'd like to emphasize that this IS hear-say, and that I've not had any first hand experience in this myself. But as I like to say when referring to our CIC, "if Ten percent of what I hear about him is true, would you still want him there?"

The finish on the later F.A. pistols is supposedly sub-par. This is a take it or leave it issue with me, I figure that if the finish doesn't suit, I can change it. Personal aesthetics aside, if I were to spend $1500+ on a pistol, it'd better have a decent finish!

He (Monty) said that after 100 or so rounds through a 454 Casull, the Ejector shroud fell off. He said that there was a really dinky boss that sheared off and he commented that it was due to the later model's design change. Modifying this and adding a Ruger shroud supposedly fixed this problem.

The gripe that was related that has me the most concerned was that the cylinder throat(?) was a few thoudands too tight. This meant that some of his reloads wouldn't seat down in the cylinder. He told me where he had to actually ream the cylinder out to .454". He said that accuracy before this was poor - 8-10 inch groups at 50yds. After reaming, the groups shrank to 1-2 inches at 50yds.

This last gripe as I said before is (to me) really scary. What kind of pressures are going to be generated when a situation like this is encountered? Was this a one time screwup? If so, Holysh**ski! Who wants to be the guinea pig? The other gripes also fall into the realm of "If I spend $1500 some odd dollars on a weapon, should I have to put up with this kind of product?"

In all fairness, I want to reemphasize that the problems that this guy related to me were with what the F.A. Company is currently selling, and doesn't reflect the earlier pistols that they produced. I don't have a model number that I can give, but suffice it to say that if you were to go down to the local gunstore and there was a F.A. 454 Casull (or bigger) new in the box, I (at least) would be wary.

This guy (Monty) struck me as a straight-forward type of guy, and looking at his gunsmithing work, I would have to say that he knew what he was talking about. He also did some really beautiful work on the pistols that he had. He said that if he could get his hands on any older model F.A. pistol, he'd buy it in a heartbeat - but he really had a problem with what the company is currently offering. If there is a problem here, then let it be out. If there is nothing here but smoke, then let THAT be out, but let's find out what the real deal is before someone is hurt. Besides, I'd really hate to plunk down that amount of geetahs just to find out that I'd been had. Thanks fellahs!
Unkel Gilbey
 
Seems like the Monty's-featherbedding-for-his-smithing-business theory would hold more weight if he had said it was ALL FA revolvers, but the guy said no, only recent ones. Makes me think he's more likely on the level than not, but who the heck knows.
 
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