- Freedom Arms .454 Casull -

Big bangs and loose screws with the .454 Casull

The first time I shot the .454 I just didn't know - flinch, take two steps back, or run in the other direction? My kid shot the thing and immediately had a minor cut on his right hand - but then - he seems to get hurt by whatever he shoots. I thought the Casull was jumping around a lot, but it was hard to tell with my eyes closed most of the time. It's difficult to hit paper when you're afraid of what you've got your hands wrapped around. Someone told me they shot a friend's .454 in the field with wet hands and it flew ten feet behind him (I'm glad it wasn't mine). Talk to the guys who say they're not affected by recoil at this level and it tends to makes you question their sincerity.

The Freedom Arms .454 Casull can be a different kind of gun to warm up to. That it is one of the best revolvers that money can buy and a good value is without question. That it is a wonderful, accurate shooting machine is pretty much common knowledge with people who care about these things. But initially, I still had a little trouble nailing down the big gun's personality. These days I can't wait to get another with its own family of 3 cylinders.

Maybe I've spent too much time in machine shops. Picture a high tolerance precision stainless piece of tooling, assembled into a rotating, closely fitted shooting machine - kind of a .45 caliber machine shop, indexing Terminator. I still find it hard to look at the Casull without envisioning the shop and the craftsmen who made it. Strong, finished to close tolerance with, almost sharp, machined edges. The probability is that, even at the approximate price of $2,000, Freedom Arms can only put so much time into the process, and most of the time goes into the utilitarian working precision and quality of the piece. It is, after all, a production gun and the money is not there for all that Custom Shop rub and love stuff. And then I never liked the wood impregnated grips - the black Micarta is the stuff for me (like Micarta clad Randalls). Maybe the gun was just too perfect, too tight, too machine like, no hung-over guy on the polishing wheel to give it a little character.

But the more you shoot this gun - the more it grows on you. The first few times you get home from the range it can be rather disconcerting to find everything loose and misaligned. This is remedied by realigning frame parts by eye and snugging up the screws (use a screwdriver that fits). The next time you shoot full loads the gun will loosen up again - but after a few trips to the range it seems to settle-in and stay tight. Some shooters use Locktight or Teflon tape on the screws but I don't like that idea, and it seems unnecessary if you show a little patience and let the gun settle-in. If you shoot lots of light loads it's never a problem anyway.

You can shoot .45 Colt ammunition in the Casull, but using an optional additional cylinder from Freedom Arms is recommended. The shorter .45 Colt can leave a deposit that, without proper cleaning can later impede the longer .454. One can also order a .45 Auto cylinder which I would love to have for no practical reason. This is a reloader's gun - shoot lots of light .454 loads, document and slowly work your way up to the hotter stuff. Strange too, how well a gun this tight, continues to function well as it gets dirtier - shot after shot. Finally, the counter-bored diameters in the charge holes will develop noticeable gunk build-up, and it takes a little extra push to seat the flange on reload. It's when you shoot this gun a lot that you appreciate it the most. And maybe all that handling begins to bring out something of the missing personality because mine just seems to look and get better all the time.