OK. I did it. I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't help it. You guys infected me with a disease, and I had no immunity. But, I'm still happily married and soon to be the proud owner of my first Freedom Arms.

I ride horseback in the mountains here in Alaska all summer, hunt when I can, and hike the rest of the time. I've been carrying my NMSBH in 4 1/2bbl, but always felt a little under powered. My hunting buddy shoots 454 and re-loads, but that did not help me, I shoot factory ammo. Also, that NMSBH is my town carry gun (always under a vest or jacket) and the 44 mag is a bit much for that.

I've been looking at a FA 83 454 Premier Grade Packer with a 3"bbl for sale on the net with a spare 45LC for some time now, and finally broke down and called the guy today and bought it. I send the MO out monday. Yes, it is a LOT of money, and perhaps too much of a niche piece for most, but it gives me a bigger round for bears in a more packable package, and the 45LC cylinder gives me another more suitable/affordable CCW round for in town.

I told Shweety "See, Dear, it's like buying two guns for the price of...three"

Yes, I do carry a SA for CCW, have for years.

I still hunt with my scoped 3-screw SBH 44mag, but I developed a twitch for this FA, and there was simply no recovery. I suspect it's all down hill from here.

Briar..,

Pictures speak a thousand words! Where's the pics? Freedoms Arms guns are an investment, and if you take some care in their use, their value doesn't decrease. Congrats.

Doc

Here is a picture of it from the seller.

Congrats on a beautiful rig

A .454 out of that short barrel will have trouble matching the .45 Colt. You can burn all the hair from a bear with all the powder burning at the muzzle though. Shoot, cook, eat at the same time!

Briar,

Congratulations on your newest addition to the family! Careful with that twitch -my Freedom-itis started in a similar way, and their presence in my gun safe has grown ever since!

Yes......Congrats and beware!

dang....if i had the $ for a FA revolver....i'd definately want one with A barrel on it.

4 5/8" would be my minimum, and don't think much less than 6" for a big popper.

nice piece,but I bet that baby is going to have some muzzle flip!

Wow, nice looking but a real handful I bet with a "heavy load!"

One problem with a barrel this short (you will note from the picture that there is no ejector rod and/or housing) is that the spent shells are difficult to remove. An ejector rod would be useless due to its short length not even touching the casing even when fully deployed.

I know, right??

The local gunsmith was telling me the other day that he was changing out a bbl on a SBH 44mag a while back for a customer, and they decided to go out back and shoot a few rounds with NO bbl, just for "because". They were surprised at the accuracy at 20ft and he said the noise, flash and recoil was not near what they figured it would be.

This is the same bbl length as the 454 SRH Alaskan my friend carries as backup, I hope to get at least the performance he does. If not, at least mine's prettier

Haha!! That's great! Congratulations on the purchase!

Briar, You made a great move...Thats a beautiful piece. James

Its a pretty look piece.

Nice pistol. I like it. It looks like a good packing pistol. Good backup for a single shot rifle like I hunt with, a Ruger number 1.

Gregg, I sure thought about that for guite a while, but finally decided that for the gun's actual intended trail use,(miles and miles of packin', shoot it only if I have to) if the dust hadn't settled by the time I was done using it, I hadn't got the job done and I couldn't sit down and reload at leasure and in peace, I was probably beyond worrying about it anyhow.

Exactly!

When you get it dialed in with a load that you like, it would be really cool if you could chronograph it and then maybe the same with the .45 Colt loads, and let us know how they do! I am very curious as to the velocities you can get with that length barrel.

Sort of a collector's item, as they aren't made any more.

briar,

now you're hooked! great looking gun.

Doc

Well, I got the call fro the local gun store yesterday at 5:00 pm that my transfer had arrived in the mail, so I hot-footed right down and picked it up. Oh, my.

This is only the 2nd FA I've ever handled, and the other time was briefly in a shop. There were several things that surprised me a little about it.

1. Lockup. I have never handled a gun where you could get NO wiggle from the cylinder, at least a tiny hint. Not this one. It feels like the cylinder is welded to the frame.

2. Tight action. Pulling back the hammer is deliberate and intentional. It feels like the spring is twice the strength of my SBH's. The same opening the loading gate. It surely is not going to pop open on it's own with heavy recoil.

3. No free-wheeling pawl. Don't know why, but I expected to be able to rotate the cylinder in either direction on a gun designed to shoot heavy loads, in order to free a "jump" if necessary.

4. The grip frame. Don't know what the differance is between this and the grip on a SBH, but it feels... right.

5. Balance. One of my biggest questions was how the balance would be affected by the short bbl.I needn't have worried. The balance is supurb.

I am going to the range this afternoon to sight in My scoped SBH for a bear hunt I have scheduled in a couple of weeks, and I will put a few round through the FA as well. The ammunition supply is limited at this time, but I will let you all know this evening how it goes.

Glad to see that you are happy! Let us know how it shoots! Congratulations again!

great score, enjoy it, i know i would. perfect packin pistol.

That is one beautiful pistol, wow! Never seen one with that barrel.
Enjoy your new beast.

Awesome pistol. FA is at the top of my i-want-one-but-will-probably-never-get-one list.

That just may be the perfect packin gun. Like you say, it's an emergency gun, and ejector rod or not there won't be time to reload.
That should out perform the "Alaskan" which is a wildly popular gun for bear defence, so I think you got just what you wanted.

Plus you get to carry a FA every day.

Nice purchase.

That is unless you are underneath a bear and then, just then, and only then, the double action has a bit of an advantage! God forbid!

That is one very nice revolver, and it will be a pleasure to pack!

Or.... If 6 bears come at you at the same time.....the higher capacity may be handy....;)

Yes indeed, LOL!

I've put about 200 miles on my horse in the mountains so far this summer, and carried the packer on most of those miles in this holster that I made for it.


It carries like a dream. I tried a Guide's Choice holster by Diamond D, but being across the chest, it was always banging on the horn during rough riding up steep hills and such.

I shot some 454's the other day through it finally. My buddy had some factory ammo, but he could not remember what grain they were, only that they were hard cast bear loads. Not much differance between them and the 325 grn 45colt +P from Buffalo Bore.

Nice looking leather. Not surprised that the B-Bore 45's would rival the factory 454's. They load 'em hot.

Before I started building my own guns I bought a couple Reeders and he used to use the same people FA does for holsters. I have FA cross draws for my 4 5/8 and 6" 475's and they are really comfortable. I haven't carried on my horse because it would be suicidal for me to ride anymore, one time thrown and I'd be in a wheelchair or six foot under. I can say I carry them on my belt in the rig, walking and on atv's and it's always ridden comfortable. If you ever want to try something different you might try them, it looks like you did a nice job on this holster though.

The words "Reeder" and "FA" should never be used in the same sentence

"The words "Reeder" and "FA" should never be used in the same sentence"

I must admit that statement is a new one for me. I've never heard or read a negative review of a Reeder product. Until now.

I think JWP meant the Freedom does not hold a candle to Reeder and Reeder is no better then an out of box Ruger.

The dialogue was that Reeder bought his holster from the same supplier that FA used. HOWEVER, ya...