Freedom Arms replaceable forcing cone?

[Tall Pine]

Freedom Arms replaceable forcing cone? Pics added

I was warned that the early FA revolvers with this factory option "might" be something to avoid, ceteris paribus. Can someone explain what the disadvantage "might" be? Dude who told me about it forgot what he had read, and added that this option was discontinued some time ago.

Thanks,
Tall

 

[56hawk]

I'm curious myself. I have an early 454 with a replaceable forcing cone. Have had a lot of problems with it, but don't know if the forcing cone is to blame for any of them.

 

[Tall Pine]

What kind of problems? I just bought the one I was asking about.

One odd thing with mine is it has 3 hole ported barre. You guessed it, 2 on side and 1 right on top of barrel. Kind of weird but was such a good deal I didnt worry about. Now Im curious how that flame is gonna look coming straight out the top.

 

[56hawk]

The majority of the problems I have had have been due to my reloads. Got really inconsistent velocities with anything less than a book max load. Went above that and pierced a Winchester primer. Switched to CCI and haven't had any problems since. Have always had a problem with bullets jumping crimp though. Had to stop using bullets over 300 grains because they would jam the cylinder. My FA has a non-ported 4 3/4" barrel, so the muzzle flip is pretty impressive and I think that is the main reason it pulls bullets.

The problem that might be forcing cone related is that sometimes the cylinder gets really hard to turn. I think most of the time it's the cylinder axis pin getting dirty, but the last time I think a little bit of lead got between the cylinder and the forcing cone and jammed it up. There is hardly any cylinder gap at all, so it wouldn't take much to jam it.

It's a fun gun to shoot, but I wouldn't trust it for anything important.

By the way, let me know how yours shoots. I'd be interested to know if you can see the flame out that top port. Mine flips so far up in the air I don't think I would be able to see anything.

 

[Tall Pine]

Thanks Hawk. I will let you know how it shoots. Stay tuned Ill post pics of the ports.

Forgot to mention I called FA today and asked about the forcing cone. Dude said its all good, only possible disadvantage at the time was cost. The part was so expensive having it replaceable made no sense. He said the cone screws in tight, and functions just like the regular ones. My concern was achieving perfect alignment with a removable component he said no worries there, its not an issue.

 

[Tall Pine]

Alright, I think I feel comfortable after speaking with FA directly that the replaceable forcing cone represents no problems, or "lower desireablility" from the regular type forcing cones.

So on to some pics. Here is a pic of my 3 port barrel. Most all FA I've seen have either dual or quad porting holes. I'm still trying to find out more about my 3 hole, mainly if it came from the factory that way or was an aftermarket deal. The porting was not listed on the factory box, but there is no pre-printed checkbox for porting on the label as far as I can tell.



And here is a pic of what I think is a cool option added at the factory. It is listed on the factory box as an "Inverted Crown" :

 

[56hawk]

That is a pretty strange magnaporting job. The side ports look normal. I have a 460 Weatherby with ports that look just like that. Never seen anything with three ports like yours though.

Don't know how common it is, but mine has the same inverted crown. Here is a picture of mine, unfortunately you can't see the crown in it.