March/April 2004
by John Taffin

American Handgunner

HOW DO YOU SPELL ACCURATE?
BFR: MAGNUM RESEARCH’S BIG BORE TOUGH-GUN

By John Taffin

About 20 years ago, I received a phone call one evening from a man I had never met. I was just getting started in the gun writing business on a regular basis, doing most of my work for two journals – The Sixgunner from Handgun Hunters International; and The Silhouette, official newspaper of IHMSA (International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association). Both of these allowed and encouraged exploration and experimentation of unusual handguns and handgun calibers. I learned my craft from these two publications and also met John Linebaugh because of them.

During our phone call John chatted about his experimentation with heavy loads in the .45 Cold and also his desire to send me one of his revolvers for testing. Some of his claims seemed pretty outlandish at the time, but everything he told to me proved to be true. I learned from this never to doubt anything he said about heavy sixguns. By heavy sixguns, we mean heavy in caliber and power, not in weight and size. That sixgun from John Linebaugh also has a special place in my heart since the first article I did for American Handgunner was about that very gun. It appeared in the January/February 1985 issue and was entitled “New Speed, New Power For The .45 Colt.”

Linebaugh’s next step forward was a massive one in more ways than one. He had been building several levels of .45 Cold sixhuns, including those with oversized, five-shot cylinders. Would it be possible to go bigger? It certainly was and John’s answer was the .500 Linebaugh. Using the largest cylinder that could be fitted inside a Ruger Blackhawk mainframe, and .348 Winchester brass trimmed to 1.400”, Linebaugh’s big Magnum did with 400 gr. bullets, what the .44 Magnum and .45 Colt could do with 300 gr. bullets.

To prevent movement during recoil, the cylinder base pin of the BFR features a locking screw.

That might have been the end of Linebaugh’s sixgun cartridge development had it not been for a rumor circulating saying Winchester would be dropping .348 brass. Without the brass to build his cartridges, John Linebaugh would have a very difficult time selling the sixguns he was custom-building. As he was shooting a lever action .45-70, he took a good at the cartridge and came up with an all-important “What If” question. What if the .45-70 was trimmed to 1.400”? It didn’t take long to find out and result was the .475 Linebaugh. There is very little chance .45-70 brass would ever disappear!

The .475 Linebaugh continued as a custom revolver built by several custom pistolsmiths. Jack Huntington converted Freedom Arms revolvers to .475 Linebaugh, however it was necessary to reduce the diameter of the rim of .45-70 brass to allow it to fit in the recessed cylinders of the Freedom Arms revolver. Freedom Arms experimented with it by trimming the rims to fit their cylinders. The results were excellent, however, they were not interested in bringing out a revolver for which no factory ammunition was available. One factory ammunition with the proper sized rims arrived, Freedom Arms introduced the Model 83 chambered in .475 Linebaugh.

The Door Opens

Suddenly, the way was paved for another manufacturer to bring out a .475 Linebaugh sixgun. It made even more sense with the arrival of the .480 Ruger, which is nothing more than a slightly shortened .475. The manufacturer is Magnum Research and the revolver is the all stainless steel BFR (Biggest Finest Revolver). Actually, this revolver started elsewhere and really went nowhere until Magnum Research took it over.

“That might have been the end of Linebaugh’s sixgun cartridge development had it not been for a rumor…”

The BFR looks much like a Ruger Super Blackhawk. The grip frame will accept the same grips, however, unlike Rugers, the BFR has a freewheeling cylinder that rotates clockwise or counter-clockwise when the loading gate is opened. This is a great advantage if a bullet jumps the crimp and protrudes from the end of the cylinder preventing it from rotating in the normal direction. The BFR is offered in two versions, the Short Cylinder chambered in .454 Casull and .480 Ruger/.475 Linebaugh, (and even .22 Hornet!); while the Long Cylinder is offered in .444 Marlin, .450 Marlin, .45-70, and a special .45 Colt that also accepts 3” .410 shotgun shells. My test BFR came in .480 Ruger/.475 Linebaugh with a 1.5-4X Burris mounted on an SSK T’SOB base, the most secure mounting system in the industry, if I might be so bold as to say so.

BFR revolvers are totally American-made with cut-rifled, hand-lapped, recessed muzzle-crowned barrels, tight tolerances, soft-brushed stainless steel finish and are normally equipped with an adjustable rear sight mated up with a front sight with interchangeable blades. The test gun supplied by Magnum Research was without iron sights, and although factory barrel lengths in .475 Linebaugh are advertised as either 6.5 or 7.5”, this one is just a shade over 7”.

Readers can reach Magnum Research at 7110 University Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55432; (763) 574-1868; www.magnumresearch.com

Big Bore Accuracy

A full complement of .480 Ruger and .475 Linebaugh handloads as well as factory .475 Linebaugh loads from Buffalo Bore were fired through the BFR. It performed flawlessly with no malfunctions whatsoever and also proved to be superbly accurate. Six of the loads tested grouped four shots into 5/8” at 25 yards. That is excellent…no, way above excellent, by anyone’s standards. Twenty different loads were tested, and results are in the accompanying table. The really scary thing is the average for all twenty is well under one-inch for four shots at 25 yards. Again, I have to say this is beyond excellent performance! Priced at $1 under $1,000 equipped with iron sights, the BFR is the least expensive way to get into a .475 single action sixgun.

 

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