BFR Unhappiness.

[frankb]

I've put maybe 150ish rounds through my 500 Linebaugh BFR. It is the Bisley grip 7.5 inch version. I'm not happy with it at all.

I've tried some Buffalo Bore ammo and a few different handloads. 420gr bullets and 525gr bullets. Enforcer powder and H110 powder. Some lower pressure charges, and some hotter. None have grouped better than 5 or 6 inches at 25 yards. I tend to shoot 3 to 4 inch groups with my 4 5/8 inch EAA Bounty Hunter, which was about 25% the cost. With my Colt Woodsman, sub 2 inches easily.

Today, after yet another session where the little EAA shot circles around the BFR, my BFR base pin came apart. The little plunger piece and the spring came out of the base pin body.

I've sent an email and pictures to Magnum Research. I imagine they will send me a label to receive and repair the pin. But it's questionable what might can be done to get it shooting better.

Anyone have input on a specific weight bullet these revolvers might like best?

I'm an experienced handloader and a decent shooter. I think this should be a much more accurate gun.

Thanks,
Frank

[Encore64]

I've never seen a BFR that wouldn't shoot better than I was capable of. No help here...

[potatojudge]

Request that they check throats, cylinder alignment, forcing cone, and bore uniformity while they have it.

If it were mine, I'd be the first suspect for a 500 that isn't shooting as well as a lighter caliber. Trail Boss powder and a bullet in the 400 grain range bring recoil down to a level where I can start to eliminate my anticipation from the equation.

Since it's going back anyway, let them double check the dimensions. With the knowledge that it is dimensionally correct, you'll have a reliable foundation for figuring this out.

[giblett]

My 500 jrh shoots pretty good but when i got out of the reduced loads and h110 loads i quickly found my recoil tolerance and groups opened up. Mine is not the bisley grip wish it was and hope to find a replacement for those ugly rubber grips.

[sixshot]

Not saying its the problem but I'd sure have someone else shoot it first before I sent it back...just in case. You always have to eliminate one problem at a time so go the easy route before paying shipping & of course the wait time to get it back.
The problem with the 44 bisley BFR that I had was my own fault, I wasn't getting a consistent grip shooting it bare handed, once I started shooting with some leather gloves the groups closed right down for me, something that was quite a surprise since I've shot bare handed for over 50 years with no problems.

Dick

[2 Dogs]

Does that BFR display a lube star on the muzzle?

What did the inside of the barrel look like?

Have you tried a random dead case in your cylinder to check yourself?

Think about giving me a shout. I’ll be happy to help.
Fermin
361-960-3697

[cmillard]

I will say that out of the 2 BFRs I've owned, both have been absolute shooters. My first was a 5.5" . 500JRH. Sold it to a member on here.....wanted a longer barrel. Now have a 7.5" .454. I will say, being able to shoot sub calibers and doing it well, is different then being able to shoot the BIG boomers.

[Encore64]

Yeah, I'd load some comfortable Unique or 231 Loads and give it a go off the bench.

[bigbore5]

My 500L BFRs love everything from 355gr to 560gr. Best accuracy is an lbt 425gr lfn over alot of h110. That's from the 5" and 9". I've never seen a bfr that didn't shoot dead nuts.
That being said I have seen experienced shooter's have trouble with the bisley bfr grip. It's different than anything else out there. You have to adjust your grip memory for it. That's why I am putting Ronnie's biznana on all my regular shooter's. For a constant grip feel whether it is a om 357, nm 45, or the bfr.

[frankb]

I'm shooting from a bench, with the frame on a rest. I do not think I'm flinching or jerking.

If the broken pin requires the whole gun to go back, I absolutely will request they measure a few things.

The 420gr bullet with the Enforcer powder on the lighter end of things really does not recoil that bad. I had a 3 inch 44M that was way worse. As the power goes up, certainly recoil gets pretty significant. I was shooting 5, stopping and checking group, and going again. Both bullets, both power levels, plus factory stuff, same basic groups.

Once the pin is replaced, I will see if someone else can do better with it. It certainly seems like it should do much better...

[frankb]

And I'd really like it to do well with the 525gr bullets I have. My Marlin 1895 50 Alaskan loves those.

[bigbrowndog]

HS6 will produce a nice 800-1000fps load with 450-525gr bullets, easy recoil, low blast, good accuracy. When the gun comes back, take the advice given and start easy then test your recoil threshold. Also take extra precautions to ensure your grip and rest are super consistent, it’s very easy for big guns to get out of control, and not be consistent with ourselves.

Trapr

[bigbore5]

Often as much as we like a certain bullet or style of bullet, that doesn't mean our gun will like it at all. I've got an om 357 that'll group 1.5" ar 50yds from a machine rest all day with MP's version of the 358429. Change to the same weight 359640 with the same load and it's a 5" group. But the same two loads both are extremely accurate in my NM, fa, and security six. So have you tried different bullet styles?

[frankb]

The 420gr and the 525gr are not the same, in any real way, except diameter.

420 is Hunter Supply Cast Bullets.

525 is The Bullshop.

[medicdave]

There's a lot of merit to what the fellas have been saying about recoil tolerance. Over the last year I've had to swallow my pride quite a bit. I lived overseas for the last decade plus and the opportunity to shoot were few and far between. Moving back stateside and being able to shoot daily I found that my perishable skill sets had perished. I just couldn't step back into the level of recoil I found easy a decade ago.

Having eaten the humble pie I started shooting with 22's until I was comfortably shooting groups and making shots at will. I then stepped up to 32 h&r, then 327 federal, and then into heavy 44 special etc. Each step up was a few rounds at first to avoid the flinch while the majority of my practice remained with smaller rounds. A year into my shooting rehab and I can comfortably and accurately shoot midrange 44 magnum. Still a ways to go for me to be comfortable with the 300gr rocks and dynamite loads I used to shoot with ease let alone the truly big boomers.

Another epiphany I found over the last year is that the black on black target sights I preferred a decade ago are much harder for my older eyes to focus on. A switch to fiber optic front sights tightened my groups drastically. I can still shoot my Patridge sights but not as fast or as well as something more high visibility be it a dab of paint, fiber optic, etc. Funny enough I have no problem focusing on black open rifle sights and still shoot them well.

Neither of these topics was a fun conversation to have but ones I really did need to address. When there is a change in our shooting be it recoil, age, volume of shooting, etc we need to have the hard conversation and address the nut behind the trigger as much as the equipment. Hope this helped.