BFR 45 colt/410 7.5" barrel - awesome

[nonseven]

I kind of thought the Judge concept was interesting - buckshot or birdshot out of a handgun, plus 45 colts. I fooled around a bit with my 3" barrel Judge - but it just fell a little short. I only got 750 fps out of the handgun 000 loads, and the patterns of birdshot at 10 ft were so loose that I'd be lucky to hit a snake with more than a couple of pellets.

Just to see what it could do, I bought a BFR 45/410 revolver with the 7 1/2" barrel which has a screw-in choke. I took it to my range in the back 40, with the choke in. First shot was a 5 pellet Winchester 00 buck 3" shell. Chrono measured 925 fps! Heck, in a 18" shotgun barrel I was only getting 1070 fps. At 30 feet, all 5 pellets in 3 1/2" circle. 2 1/2" Federal 000 buck 4 pellet was next, 975 fps and another tight group! The 3" Federal handgun #9 buck left one big hole at the same distance.

Next was a 2 1/2" #8 birdshot at the same distance. Wow - 85% of the pellets in a evenly distributed 12" circle. Yes, it's a huge beast, not very practical, you never would carry it, but the power in a 410 shell comes to life in this gun - tremendous fun, and small game inside of 50 ft better watch out!


I'm impressed with the build quality too - one big chunk of steel very nicely made.

Ordered a bandoleer holster for it - same holster should fit the 45-70 version. Hmmmnn, something to think about...

 

[MagnumDweeb]

now the second question is, does it shoot .45 Colt well. That to me was the big let down with the judges, not being able to shoot .45 Colt well. I understand the technical limitations but still. The Judge also left a lot wanting for a snake gun. If the BFR could handle .45 Colt well it'd be a dandy second gun for protection from varmits and aggressive deer. Personally for a snake gun I'd just take one of my idle Ruger Blackhawk .44 magnums and load it with those shotshells for snakes and rats.

 

[nonseven]

I have not shot a group with 45 colt yet, so I don't know. But from the reviews I've read, I'm not expecting it to be a tack driver because of the long cylinder. For shooting slugs, I'd probably get the BFR 44mag, 454 Casull with the short cylinder, or the 45-70 with the long cylinder. As far as strength goes, I think it would handle the strongest 45 colt you would want to load.

Problem is, you got to remove the choke to shoot 45 colt, and with the choke out the 410 patterns are loose like the judge. So mixing and matching with the best performance of both shotshells and slugs is not in the cards.

On the other hand, it's shooting 240 or 300 grains of buckshot out of the barrel at about 1,000 fps, so as to defense against deer and varmints, I would think it would suffice.

 

[saltydog452]

BFR?

sd

 

[nonseven]

Magnum Research, BFR.

 

[nonseven]

Pic of said revolver.

 

[saltydog452]

Thanks.

sd.

 

[Hunt480]

My BFR in 475 is one of the most accurate guns I have with that said I'm kinda interested if the 45 loading is as accurate as other BFR's. Though I do not own one I bet it is by far the most accurate of all 4-10/45 revolvers available today.

 

[amandakay]

Love it

I own the 45/410 BFR.
What a GREAT gun!!!
Love it!!
I get great results from the 45 colt loads (I reload my own).
I also like the 3" 410 slugs and bird shot.
Just a great all-round gun.
I know a lot of people told me I would not have any accutacy with the 45 colt load due to the long clyinder for the 410 but they are wrong. I do get good results!!!!!