Magnum Research BFR .45-70 Government

I gotta say, looking back at this purchase a few months ago, this is one of the stupidest guns I ever spent money on.  It looked cool.  Bigger is better, right?  I never realized ammunition would be so expensive.  That's the real problem with this.  It's otherwise a nice gun.  Here are some 'groups' of 20 Remington greenbox rounds that I shot at Red's Indoor Range.  It says fifty yards, but I was probably lying to myself and it was more closer to 35-40 yards.  My hand was getting tired holding it up and I was flinching when shooting.  I'm a horrible shooter to top it all, so this isn't even half the gun's full potential.

I have to admit, however, that of all the cheap-o pistols I own this is mechanically one of the finest weapons I ever fired.  The grip feels nice, the hammer draws sharp and crisp.  The metal is clean, smooth, and even, with minimal manufacturer's stampings.  The trigger is nice and snappy!  I never knew what the hell anyone was talking about when someone mentions a gun having a nice trigger, but now I know.  There is no 'slack' when you pull the trigger, and there's no over-travel.

There is no half-cock and there are no four clicks.  I found that extremely awkward.  To load, instead of putting the hammer on half-cock, you just simply open the loadgate.  This allows the five-round cylinder to spin freely in either direction so you can eject spent shells and it also prevents the hammer from being cocked.  A nice feature that speeds up those tedious load times by a second or two.

I've been told that the frames are just stretched out Ruger Blackhawks, so all the above features are present those, I assume.  I've never handled a Ruger, so I have no way of knowing this.  Upon inspecting the grips, they even say 'Ruger' on the inside (though they're made by a third party)!

Other thoughts:  This should be used exclusively with smokeless rounds because it seems to be built to tighter tolerances than traditional Single Action revolvers.  I used some American Pioneer blackpowder substitute and the face of the cylinder seems to get full of crud fast, making the weapon unshootable after 6-7 shots.  Cleaning this thing is not fun.  I'm pretty sure I got blackpowder substitute residue inside the action, but I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to open it up when there's no screws, and I don't wanna punch the pins out because I know I'll fudge it up.

 

I also picked up a Hi-Point .380 because it was $100!  I've never owned a semi-auto pistol, so it's pretty awesome.