The Frontier Sixshooter Community Message Board - I am attracted to the unique...

I am attracted to the unique... (reply)

Brian A — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 13:53:37 +0000

and get a small kick out of knowing I am the only one in the woods with a given piece or cartridge. It is fun to come across someone in the woods and they say, 'what in the world is that?' Of course, I have a long ways to go before exhausting all the possibilities of the '06 as well.

I have some of those loaded up but haven't had a chance to (reply)

stonewalrus — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 01:40:52 +0000

Try them.

Thanks Gunner. (reply)

Hoot — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 10:08:30 +0000

Apparently haven't misplaced that brain cell just yet.

Waded through a pile of holsters yesterday and found one for my RH so it'll be coming with me in two weeks! Can't wait!

Huh. I'm not used to seasons for varmints. NT (reply)

Bryan Pettet — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 01:44:10 +0000

Redhawk a longer cylinder? (reply)

Gunner — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:57:02 +0000

Yes it is, way longer than a 97, a little longer than everything else as well. Redhawk is the King when it comes to long nose hunting bullets. A Tru Shot 265 LN barely fits in a 83 cylinder, tab too long for the 97 but in the Redhawk you can crimp the 265 in the front grease groove and still have room.

With a 97 you have to careful on bullet selection and test fit before loading a whole batch of ammo, same for the 83 with long nose bullets.

Gunner

(without looking) more than likely it does (reply)

bj — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:55:20 +0000

I seem to remember someone loading commercial ammo for the Redhawk with a fairly long nose bullet in .44Mag, something that wouldn't fit in any other gun.

But I've also read that you can put "Ruger-only" .45 Colt loads in the FA97 and those can be fairly long. If those will fit then just about any .41Mag should fit.

The FA97 models that I've felt do seem to have fairly small grips.

I was doing a little looking to try to correlate the recoil difference between .41Mag and .44Mag. The .41Mag seems most popular with 210-220 grain bullets, while the .44Mag is popular with 240 grain bullets. Not much difference in recoil there. On the low end I found .41 bullets in 170 grains and .44 bullets in 180 and 220 grains. I suppose if you wanted a big bore with low recoil you could load 180 grain bullets in .44 mag. I went on to search for performance ammo from BuffaloBore and found that in the common bullet weight ranges there is very little difference in ballistics between .41 and .44. The .44 just offers the option to use significantly heavier bullets.

That .17-223 is a cool critter. Hope you like it. NT (reply)

DiamondD — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 23:24:20 +0000

Yeah I need to get started forming cases. We have a season for prairie dogs now and it opens back up in June.

45 Colt - I have a Blackhawk and an Astra (reply)

DiamondD — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 23:23:12 +0000

My load is the RCBS .45-270 SAA bullet over a middling load of Unique. About 900 fps and will do about all I need with the .45 short of the 2400/H110 loads.

Doesn't the Redhawk also have a longer cylinder? (reply)

Hoot — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 11:06:12 +0000

Or maybe I'm disremembering things (again).

FA 97 recoil? (reply)

Gunner — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 02:48:52 +0000

Yes it will recoil, little bugger can get down right nasty with stout loads, awesome trail/woods bum around handgun but for range work a Blackhawk or M83 is much more pleasant though nothing beats a 7 1/2" Redhawk, very mild recoil with heavy loads.

As for the short Blackhawk vs M97.....I could do a range session with a 4 5/8" Blackhawk without thinking about recoil but with the M97 it was a concern after a few rounds. I think it was mainly due to the smaller grips especially at the top just below the hammer, that area that would dig into your hand with stout loads.

I took my first deer using the 5 1/2" M97 in 41 Magnum hunting with Jim Taylor. Jim even used my hunt picture for his article on the Freedom M97 in Gun Week.

Gunner

recoil? (reply)

bj — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 02:06:15 +0000

I agree that it would be relatively stout.

I remember not long ago where Sundles was wanting to use a FA97 in .45Colt as a wilderness backup gun because he could use heavy bullet Ruger-only loads in it. Put heavy loaded 300+ grain .45Colt loads in the thing and then see if it generates some recoil. I'm not sure I would want to shoot one very much.

On the other hand- I did some searching for comparison but couldn't find reliable data- the blued Ruger blackhawk 4 5/8" barrel in .45Colt is relatively light partly because of the big holes drilled in it and partly because of its alloy grip frame. Even though it is much larger it might be close to the weight of the FA97 and the Ruger is easy enough to handle with full heavy bullet loads.

But then I know little girls that like recoil.

Thank you both. (reply)

Hoot — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 00:25:51 +0000

I discovered fairly recently that my "addiction" is really cartridges. Yep, I love the platforms where they might be found; I revel in 'this lever vs. that lever' or 'this bolt vs. that bolt' comparisons (first hand mostly, not 'net feuds) but what draws me most is the cartridges. The '06 is a wonderful cartridge and probably about the only one a fella would ever need for mid to semi-large game. Hell, I have four and I just don't shoot them. There just isn't anything left to be discovered there (maybe?). The odd-ball and the obsolete provide a couple of attractions. One is rediscovering what they were all about when they hit the streets, e.g. .256 and .35 Newton. Another attraction is to get something up and working again that's been gone for decades, e.g. 9.3x57R. There is also the appeal of being absolutely certain you're the only one in the woods with one of these!

.41 Mag in FA 97 (reply)

Laphroig53 — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 13:53:00 +0000

I have a Freedom Arms Model 97 with a 6 inch barrel and I can tell you from personal experience that it's quite the handful with full house .41 Mag loads. Shooting handloads of 210 grain cast moving around 1000 feet per second, it's a delightful toy. One chambered in the new .41 Special would be perfect.

I also have a Redhawk in .41 Mag. Much, much more pleasant to shoot with the full house loads. The extra metal may be unnecessary from a strength perspective, but it sure helps dampen recoil.

45 Colt - I have a Blackhawk and an Astra (reply)

stonewalrus — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 02:41:58 +0000

I want a fun plinking load for both that is hotter than cowboy load and a hotter but not barn burner for the Blackhawk.

Cast or Jacketed ? (reply)

Creeker — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 02:20:16 +0000

At this point I'm working with cast. These work great in my Winchester but my Handi Rifle is having problems so I'm going to shoot some jacketed bullets to see how they do.

Cast or Jacketed ? (reply)

Cherokee — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 01:48:28 +0000

30-30 Winchester (reply)

Creeker — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 01:20:45 +0000

That will keep you busy for awhile. NT (reply)

Bryan Pettet — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 00:43:32 +0000

I've been playing with the 4" Redhawk .44 Mag. I've (reply)

Hobie — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 00:42:16 +0000

shot a bunch of different jacketed bullets and some cast. I want to narrow down to one load for all the .44 Mags. I've got to admit that is a pretty boring project.

After this I'm going back to the .327 Federal Single-Seven. I also want to find the ultimate .45 ACP carry (factory) load for the Jovino 25-1.

The .41 Mag out of a carbine barrel really shines but (reply)

Hobie — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 00:33:49 +0000

I prefer the .41 Special sort of loads from the Blackhawk. Not certain why.