Silent Sam
Blackhawk
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2006
- Messages
- 728
Background:
No technical measurements were taken and I did not shoot for groups. So if you are looking for that info you're in the wrong place. The point of the trip was a live fire function check and more so to see if this beast could be managed. I am not a high power handgunner. By that I mean I don't hunt with handguns and am not confident enough with handguns to want to hunt with one. Besides, I don't have enough time to even rifle hunt as much as I would like. I don't own any large bore magnums. I have one 45 cal BH convertible and have shot mid range loads through it. I also have a full size 1911 set up as a 460 Rowland and have a Kimber Ultra CDP in 45 acp but semis don't count for this discussion. I have shot big bore revolvers in 44mag, 480 Ruger and S&W 500 but just an occasional cylinder full so I am not ignorant of recoil but I am not "experienced" by any stretch. I do enjoy a little power as most who shoot do but I am decidedly against guns that involve pain to shoot, except one. Power as a challenge to shoot well - yes. Power that turns to bloody knuckles, torqued wrists, stinging palms and the possibility of forehead engraving- no. I have exactly one other DA revolver. A titanium Taurus snubby in 357. At 15oz "Little Evie's"(stands for extreme violence) recoil is fast and sharp and it is difficult to shoot. Most who try it at the range shoot one or two rounds and hand it back to me with "that look". Nobody shoots all five, except me. It is nothing approaching what would be called comfortable. I have never shot a 38special round through it and probably never will. I have acclimated myself to the sting of firing it. I tolerate this gun only because as a last ditch, self defense as a contact sport proposition it gives me the best chance. It is not fun. It is my belly gun.
Initial Impression: A massive block of steel with a huge rubber handle. All my SAs have smooth wood, horn or antler stocks. No plastic, no rubber. This revolver is not "pretty" in that sense. Beefy brushed stainless SRH frame filled with a large unfluted cylinder of what looks like a different flavor of steel. The slightly different finishes complement each other I think and connote something special is going on in there. The huge grip makes it look almost as tall as it is long but it misses that by a couple of inches. What that something special going on with that cylinder is about triple the pressure of a std 45 Colt load and about double of a Ruger level heavy 45 Colt loading. The spec is set @ 65k psi although I believe most std factory ammo probably runs around 50-55k psi. Handling it and dry firing it I quickly lost the "massive" impression and was surprised how well it balanced compared to the way it looks. It certainly doesn't settle on target as a 7.5" barrel but it doesn't feel like a snubby either. It doesn't weigh as much as it looks and not that much different from a steel BH. The frame has a fairly even brushed finish although on the flat top of the barrel shroud there is some unevenness. It almost looks like it has the start of a melt treatment and there were no sharp edges initially noted. I did find after looking it over after shooting that there are some sharp edges, but no where you would normally be handling it. The bottom edge of the barrel where it is cut out for the ejector is almost a knife edge. The only other areas that had any sort of edge was the cylinder opening and is of no consequence. I'll probably stone that ejector rod opening just because. The trigger face is smooth and beveled with a good amount of curve. Double action pull was smooth, long and heavy commensurate with the gun weight and power and can be staged with a little practice. Double tapping this thing by accident is not desired. Single action was surprisingly light and breaks clean with just a little creep. The cylinder has some movement fore and aft and side to side. When cocked it locks tighter with only a tiny bit of play for and aft. The cylinder latch comes up almost as soon as it clears the notch so it will "ring" practically all the way around. The cylinder - barrel gap appears fairly large and I will have to measure that. Throats were checked with a .452 jacketed bullet and slid through like they were greased with no slop and all were uniform or at least so far as I could tell. Chambers were smoothly polished with no visible tool marks. Bore is smooth with sharp rifling. I think the 454 chamber specs are held tighter than Ruger's std 45 Colt chambers in deference to the pressure involved. The ejector works smoothly and the rod does not turn with the cylinder. Sights are good w/ a white outline on the rear. I think the front will be getting some orange paint. Sight radius is a little over four inches so it is not as bad as I had anticipated for a "snubby". The grip is full, finger grooved with palm swells and fits my hand well. Rooster Cogburn yelling "fill your hand you son of a …."came to mind. This grip is a handful. The backstrap is fully covered and there is a good amount of soft cushion at the top. This gave me a bit of hope as I still remember shooting some stiff 44mag loads and the exposed backstrap on that gun left a lasting "impression". This handle was made to be gripped, not "held" like a SA. I was hoping that was a good thing.
Anticipation / Apprehension:
I have read a few articles about the 454 and they always include the terms massive and powerful or something to that effect. Hunting dangerous game is often mentioned. Descriptions of shooting the 454 run from "may be unpleasant to the inexperienced shooter" to "wicked recoil", "not for the faint of heart", and "a necessary evil if you want to hunt with it". These are all descriptions of shooting hunting size pistols w/ 7.5" barrels or longer by someone presumably more experienced at this sort of thing than I am. Any photos accompanying those descriptions usually show the gun in full recoil - read near vertical with shooter holding on with what looks like a grimacing death grip. The original 454 was a five shot single action that weighed 50oz. and has since earned the reputation as one of the finest revolvers ever manufactured. I have not shot one but I think that is where the 454 earned its reputation for recoil. When it came out few were experienced enough to handle that level of power in that type of gun. At the time the 44mag was the most powerful handgun around and I would guess a lot more 44special rounds went downrange than magnums. The 454 bested the 44mag by about 50%. What was I thinking messing with a 454 DA revolver that weighs in the low 40 some oz range with a 2.5" barrel? I was thinking I should have a wilderness "belly gun" and for that comfort I would try to learn how to tolerate the punishment enough to use it effectively.
Shooting:
I started with 45 Colt 250gr lead FP cowboy load. A total waste of time. No familiarity with this revolver can be gained with soft loads. It felt about like a 9mm out of a full size auto. A gallery load for kids to bust balloons. I figured a 250gr or heavier bullet at 900 - 1000fps would have been about ideal to start with to see how the gun handles when fired. I didn't have that luxury. I cleaned the chambers and swabbed the bore out. No visible leading in the bore and I wanted those chambers spotless for the next step. The only other load I had was a Speer 300gr GDHP factory load that is around 1600fps out of a 7.5" barrel. I read a review somewhere that this load was good for around 1300fps out of the Alaskan's 2.5" barrel. I didn't chronograph anything this trip. Next time. The moment of truth with full power ammo was actually fun. Don't get me wrong it pushes hard and fast with a good amount of torque. It gets your attention. The muzzle does come up but nothing as onerous as the descriptions I have read. That wraparound grip works. No cuts, no stinging, no twisted wrist, no marks on my forehead. I was almost disappointed. Almost. There is unmistakably some serious power at work. It barks and blasts and spectators feel the concussion but compared to what I had anticipated it was easily controllable even in double action. I put the last three SA shots into about 2" at 25 yds. The gun will probably do that at twice that range or more. I was smiling like a kid in a candy store (or busting balloons at the county fair with that chained down pump rifle). Fired cases needed a bump on the ejector to fall free. The bore shows light even copper on the lands. Brass looks good. Full house 45 Colt power out of a 2.5" barrel and I survived. I think I'll keep it.
No technical measurements were taken and I did not shoot for groups. So if you are looking for that info you're in the wrong place. The point of the trip was a live fire function check and more so to see if this beast could be managed. I am not a high power handgunner. By that I mean I don't hunt with handguns and am not confident enough with handguns to want to hunt with one. Besides, I don't have enough time to even rifle hunt as much as I would like. I don't own any large bore magnums. I have one 45 cal BH convertible and have shot mid range loads through it. I also have a full size 1911 set up as a 460 Rowland and have a Kimber Ultra CDP in 45 acp but semis don't count for this discussion. I have shot big bore revolvers in 44mag, 480 Ruger and S&W 500 but just an occasional cylinder full so I am not ignorant of recoil but I am not "experienced" by any stretch. I do enjoy a little power as most who shoot do but I am decidedly against guns that involve pain to shoot, except one. Power as a challenge to shoot well - yes. Power that turns to bloody knuckles, torqued wrists, stinging palms and the possibility of forehead engraving- no. I have exactly one other DA revolver. A titanium Taurus snubby in 357. At 15oz "Little Evie's"(stands for extreme violence) recoil is fast and sharp and it is difficult to shoot. Most who try it at the range shoot one or two rounds and hand it back to me with "that look". Nobody shoots all five, except me. It is nothing approaching what would be called comfortable. I have never shot a 38special round through it and probably never will. I have acclimated myself to the sting of firing it. I tolerate this gun only because as a last ditch, self defense as a contact sport proposition it gives me the best chance. It is not fun. It is my belly gun.
Initial Impression: A massive block of steel with a huge rubber handle. All my SAs have smooth wood, horn or antler stocks. No plastic, no rubber. This revolver is not "pretty" in that sense. Beefy brushed stainless SRH frame filled with a large unfluted cylinder of what looks like a different flavor of steel. The slightly different finishes complement each other I think and connote something special is going on in there. The huge grip makes it look almost as tall as it is long but it misses that by a couple of inches. What that something special going on with that cylinder is about triple the pressure of a std 45 Colt load and about double of a Ruger level heavy 45 Colt loading. The spec is set @ 65k psi although I believe most std factory ammo probably runs around 50-55k psi. Handling it and dry firing it I quickly lost the "massive" impression and was surprised how well it balanced compared to the way it looks. It certainly doesn't settle on target as a 7.5" barrel but it doesn't feel like a snubby either. It doesn't weigh as much as it looks and not that much different from a steel BH. The frame has a fairly even brushed finish although on the flat top of the barrel shroud there is some unevenness. It almost looks like it has the start of a melt treatment and there were no sharp edges initially noted. I did find after looking it over after shooting that there are some sharp edges, but no where you would normally be handling it. The bottom edge of the barrel where it is cut out for the ejector is almost a knife edge. The only other areas that had any sort of edge was the cylinder opening and is of no consequence. I'll probably stone that ejector rod opening just because. The trigger face is smooth and beveled with a good amount of curve. Double action pull was smooth, long and heavy commensurate with the gun weight and power and can be staged with a little practice. Double tapping this thing by accident is not desired. Single action was surprisingly light and breaks clean with just a little creep. The cylinder has some movement fore and aft and side to side. When cocked it locks tighter with only a tiny bit of play for and aft. The cylinder latch comes up almost as soon as it clears the notch so it will "ring" practically all the way around. The cylinder - barrel gap appears fairly large and I will have to measure that. Throats were checked with a .452 jacketed bullet and slid through like they were greased with no slop and all were uniform or at least so far as I could tell. Chambers were smoothly polished with no visible tool marks. Bore is smooth with sharp rifling. I think the 454 chamber specs are held tighter than Ruger's std 45 Colt chambers in deference to the pressure involved. The ejector works smoothly and the rod does not turn with the cylinder. Sights are good w/ a white outline on the rear. I think the front will be getting some orange paint. Sight radius is a little over four inches so it is not as bad as I had anticipated for a "snubby". The grip is full, finger grooved with palm swells and fits my hand well. Rooster Cogburn yelling "fill your hand you son of a …."came to mind. This grip is a handful. The backstrap is fully covered and there is a good amount of soft cushion at the top. This gave me a bit of hope as I still remember shooting some stiff 44mag loads and the exposed backstrap on that gun left a lasting "impression". This handle was made to be gripped, not "held" like a SA. I was hoping that was a good thing.
Anticipation / Apprehension:
I have read a few articles about the 454 and they always include the terms massive and powerful or something to that effect. Hunting dangerous game is often mentioned. Descriptions of shooting the 454 run from "may be unpleasant to the inexperienced shooter" to "wicked recoil", "not for the faint of heart", and "a necessary evil if you want to hunt with it". These are all descriptions of shooting hunting size pistols w/ 7.5" barrels or longer by someone presumably more experienced at this sort of thing than I am. Any photos accompanying those descriptions usually show the gun in full recoil - read near vertical with shooter holding on with what looks like a grimacing death grip. The original 454 was a five shot single action that weighed 50oz. and has since earned the reputation as one of the finest revolvers ever manufactured. I have not shot one but I think that is where the 454 earned its reputation for recoil. When it came out few were experienced enough to handle that level of power in that type of gun. At the time the 44mag was the most powerful handgun around and I would guess a lot more 44special rounds went downrange than magnums. The 454 bested the 44mag by about 50%. What was I thinking messing with a 454 DA revolver that weighs in the low 40 some oz range with a 2.5" barrel? I was thinking I should have a wilderness "belly gun" and for that comfort I would try to learn how to tolerate the punishment enough to use it effectively.
Shooting:
I started with 45 Colt 250gr lead FP cowboy load. A total waste of time. No familiarity with this revolver can be gained with soft loads. It felt about like a 9mm out of a full size auto. A gallery load for kids to bust balloons. I figured a 250gr or heavier bullet at 900 - 1000fps would have been about ideal to start with to see how the gun handles when fired. I didn't have that luxury. I cleaned the chambers and swabbed the bore out. No visible leading in the bore and I wanted those chambers spotless for the next step. The only other load I had was a Speer 300gr GDHP factory load that is around 1600fps out of a 7.5" barrel. I read a review somewhere that this load was good for around 1300fps out of the Alaskan's 2.5" barrel. I didn't chronograph anything this trip. Next time. The moment of truth with full power ammo was actually fun. Don't get me wrong it pushes hard and fast with a good amount of torque. It gets your attention. The muzzle does come up but nothing as onerous as the descriptions I have read. That wraparound grip works. No cuts, no stinging, no twisted wrist, no marks on my forehead. I was almost disappointed. Almost. There is unmistakably some serious power at work. It barks and blasts and spectators feel the concussion but compared to what I had anticipated it was easily controllable even in double action. I put the last three SA shots into about 2" at 25 yds. The gun will probably do that at twice that range or more. I was smiling like a kid in a candy store (or busting balloons at the county fair with that chained down pump rifle). Fired cases needed a bump on the ejector to fall free. The bore shows light even copper on the lands. Brass looks good. Full house 45 Colt power out of a 2.5" barrel and I survived. I think I'll keep it.
