I recently caught the bug for 'supermagnum' handguns (my term for anything above 44 Mag). I scratched the itch with a BFR in 475. The seller was kind enough to include 2 handgun scopes, about 100 loaded rounds of Hornady 325 and 400 XTPs, brass, dies, and an express sight (installed), and a pistol sling. Still unloading the box, might have been a kitchen sink in the box too!

Anyway, took the BFR out for a range session, the sights were 'slightly' high at 25 yards. If my ballistic calculator is right, then it's zeroed in for 400 yards. Man, that guy must have been one heck of a shot!

Will install the Leupold 2x so that the SBH and BFR have the same sighting system.

The factory 400 XTPs did not disappoint in the recoil department, WOW! Hard to talk about accuracy though, the round was hitting so high it struck the target holder, talk about devastation! The new target showed minute of whitetail accuracy at 50 yards though. Not bad, a better shooter would undoubtedly get better results. Still, I have some 355 grainers from Oregon Trail that are destined for a 1000 fps loading for plinking/hunting.

Ahh the fun of big bores!

Congrats on the new toy!

warthog97,

Welcome HHM. Remember pictures, pictures, pictures!!!

Doc

The .475 takes a little time to get used to. It must be held very firm and never let your grip move on the grips. Chances are the other owner used more strength so it did not rise as much.
I had trouble with mine when I first bought it. I shot good on the range but I relaxed too much shooting at deer and just took hair off the top of three deer's backs.
I had to start to talk to myself and say "hold tight."
The big ones will shoot different for each person much more then a .44, etc. Getting used to it let me move to the .500 JRH easy to the point it is my first choice when I go down to my range.
Now the BFR will be fine with lighter boolits for slower loads but for heavy loads it really likes from 400 gr and up. I use a 420 gr cast I made a mold for, it is like a WFN and is plain based, no need for a gas check if the boolit is a little hard like water dropped WW metal. It has shot many, many 1" groups or less at 100 yards. I use 296 powder and the Federal 155 primer, do NOT use rifle primers.
My load for the 400 gr Hornady is 25.5 gr of 296 and for the 420 gr is 26.5 gr.

that outta leave a big hole through some whitetail!

one of the best things about the .475 linebaughs is they dont have the fast crack that a .454 has. It seems to be a slower hard push, than the faster crack that snaps you wrist. how can you go wrong with any FA? there like a pretty girl, there even nice to just look at, but fondeling is that much better

nice deal....

Everything he said!

sounds like a helluva deal and a helluva a pistol. with practice you can be more accurate at 100 yards with that thing than 90% of rifles out there. congrats!

Thats 1 hella pistol but overkill for anything less than africa to me .what would you need that much power on in north america?May as well get a rifle. but thats just me.

In the first place there is no such thing as overkill and I can think of several species that are well suited to a 475 like bears, moose, elk, bison and a whole host of exotics. They also work great for smaller animals and the recoil isn't as abusive as a 454 or the 500's.

Congratulations!!! Nice snag

I had a bfr 475L that I hunted with last year and in a real stupid moment but just bought another,I really like this cartridge and the bfr,overkill? I like that and think feel real good hunting with that cartride both have been extremley accurate.

if it doesn't hurt to shoot, and you can shoot it accurately it's never overkill. if it kills when ya hit it in the vitals then it's not too small either. there's a lotta lattitude in deciding what to shoot. difference is, if ya wanna go hunt something big at any point in the future, ya got that covered. great purchase!

No such thing as overkill -- shoot what ya WANT to shoot, and enjoy it! I shot a mule deer just shy of 100 yards with a 460. He didn't move 2" after impact. Well, OK, maybe he moved 2" or so SIDEWAYS, but it was still the easiest tracking job I've ever had! And it wasted NO meat at all. Bullet was still going so fast it never had time to expand. Exit hole was almost same size as entrance.

Ya just gotta love big magnums!!! That 475 is going to be my next.

...Wonder what it does to a prairie dog???

What bullet was that? Where did you hit the animal? Sounds like the bullet never got going fast enough to me, or didn't make contact with anything of substance.

You are right S4, it never really hit anything. Went in the left side between two ribs, and came out the right side between two ribs. Butcher told me if there ever was a perfect shot, that was it. No meat was wasted. He said the "shock wave" of the bullet is what killed it. I don't really care what killed it, I was just completely awe struck. Had never seen anything like that.

The deer literaly stood up on its back legs and fell over. That was it. No running, no limping away, nothing.

Oh, and the bullet was one of those scam bullets. The 200 grain Hornady XTP. I won't use it on elk, but I sure liked it on that deer!

The 475 is one of my favorites. I shot this buck last fall with my Freedom Arms. I used a 400 grain SWC over 14 grains of HS6. This load does 1150 fps from my gun. My hunting buddies all want to know why I need such a big gun. I just tell them you never know when one of those little 100# deer are gonna charge you!!!!!




Toby