Freedom Arms of Freedom, Wyoming makes what
are arguably the best revolvers in the world. Most full-blown
custom revolvers cannot approach the quality craftsmanship and
tight tolerances that are built into the Freedom Models 1983 and
1997. The ‘83 is their large frame revolver that is chambered
for such powerful cartridges as the .454 Casull, .475
Linebaugh, and Freedom’s own
.500 Wyoming Express. The Model ‘97 is a smaller, handier
size, and is chambered for such cartridges as the .45
Colt, .44 Special, .32 H&R
Magnum, .327 Federal Magnum,
.22 rimfire, and .17
HMR. Now, Freedom Arms has a brand new cartridge, based upon
the .327 Federal case necked down into a bottleneck
configuration to accept a .224 diameter bullet, making the Model
‘97 into a dandy little dedicated varmint sixgun. As I have
reviewed the Model ‘97 before, I won’t go into great detail
about the revolvers itself, but refer the reader to those
previous reviews, and will concentrate more on the new cartridge
here.
Forming the cases for the .224-32 FA is a
very simple operation. RCBS makes the dies, and Freedom Arms has
them in stock. The .224-32 is a bottleneck case that headspaces
on the rim, so the sizing die is adjusted to touch the shell
holder or shell plate, depending upon the loading press that you
are using. I loaded all of my .224-32 FA cartridges on a Dillon
550B loading press, using it like a single-stage press.
Simply lubricate a .327 Federal case and run it into the sizer/form
die. After that, trim to length and load like any other
bottleneck cartridge. Depending upon the bullet weight chosen,
the velocities are very respectable, beating those of the .218
Bee from a barrel of similar length, without the problems of
case setback often encountered when chambering a revolver for
the Bee cartridge. The .224-32 FA uses a small pistol primer,
and has a maximum overall loaded length of 1.6 inches. The case
trim length is between 1.115 and 1.12 inches, and I set my Lyman
trimmer towards the minimum end of those specs. Case life proved
to be very good, and I lost only one case during all of my
shooting sessions. It was not lost due to wear or damage, I just
lost it somewhere between the loading room and the shooting
shack. I had no split cases, nor loose primer pockets to develop
on any of the cases, and all were loaded at least a dozen times.
As mentioned above, the cartridge overall length is 1.6 inches
maximum, and I loaded to maximum length, so as to fully use the
available case capacity for powder. The seating die has a crimp
ring, but I did not use a crimp on any loads tested. The .224-32
FA is a very efficient cartridge, using powder charges in the 9
to 14 grain range. Powder charges used in newly-formed cases are
reduced, as powder capacity increases after the cartridges are
fired. According to the tests done at Freedom Arms, Accurate
1680 and IMR 4227 are the best powders to use, so I stayed with
those two, only substituting H4227 for some of my loads. Bullets
in the 30 to 40 grain weight range are ideal in this .224-32 FA
revolver. The rifling rate of twist is one turn in nine inches,
which will stabilize a heavier bullet, but with the very
efficient case size, those lighter bullets seem like the best
choice to me, and therefore all of my shooting has been with
those bullets. Powder charge weights are low, so even a very
small increase in powder weight makes a big difference in
pressure, so increase charges only one-tenth of a grain at a
time. As an example, with the 30 grain Varmint Grenade, 13.3
grains of H4227 gave very good velocity and fine accuracy, but
an increase to just 13.4 grains proved to be too hot in the test
gun. Freedom Arms offers the .224-32 FA in various barrel
lengths, but the test gun wore a ten inch barrel, which is my
favorite length for a varmint revolver. As expected, tolerances
were very tight on this Model 97, as they are on all Freedom
Arms products. The barrel/cylinder gap measured two
one-thousandths (.002) of an inch, which is just perfect for a
sixgun of this type. At least one of our major revolver
manufacturers in the US allows a barrel/cylinder gap of up to
ten one-thousandths (.01) on their double-action revolvers to be
within specs, which is deplorable, and way too large for decent
performance. Freedom Arms holds tolerances to a minimum, and it
pays off in performance. The trigger pull measured a crisp two
pounds, six ounces on the test gun, which greatly enhanced the
practical accuracy achieved from the bench during accuracy
testing. Accuracy from the Model 97 was superb, and it got
better as the barrel got seasoned a bit from shooting. I tried
many different bullet and powder charge combinations in the
Model 97, and will list my favorites here. In addition to these,
Freedom Arms has data on their website. All loads listed below
proved to be accurate from the barrel of the test gun, and
exhibited no signs of excessive pressure. However, I have no
ballistics lab, and individual revolvers vary in tolerances, so
start at least two tenths of a grain below the charges listed,
and work up incrementally, looking for the best accuracy, as
well as heeding excessive pressure signs. You are not going to
get .220 Swift rifle velocities from a ten-inch revolver, so
there is no need to try. The little .224-32 FA is extremely
efficient, and will deliver fine accuracy and velocity, with low
noise and recoil. Velocities were recorded at a distance of
twelve feet from the muzzle, and are listed in feet-per-second.
Velocities were recorded with an air temperature in the sixty
degree Fahrenheit range, at an elevation of approximately 400
feet above sea level. Bullet weights are listed in grains. This
is by no means all of the combinations that were tried, and
there are many good bullets available to suit the performance of
this cartridge, but these are the loads that worked the best for
me, in this test gun. Some loads tested proved too hot, and
others lacked the accuracy that I expected from this revolver.
All loads were assembled using Winchester standard small pistol
primers. VG is the Barnes Varmint Grenade bullet. The Varminator
is another Barnes bullet of conventional construction.
Bullet |
Powder |
Charge Weight |
Velocity |
40 Varminator |
AA1680 |
14.1 |
2238 |
30 Barnes VG |
AA1680 |
14.1 |
2337 |
30 Barnes VG |
AA1680 |
14.9 |
2488 |
30 Barnes VG |
H4227 |
13.3 |
2609 |
40 GS Custom |
H4227 |
12.1 |
2233 |
36 Barnes VG |
H4227 |
12.1 |
2366 |
Note that I used two different weights of the
Barnes Varmint Grenade bullet. I had high hopes for the 30 grain
VG, but the 36 grain VG proved more accurate in the test gun,
shooting consistent sub-one-inch groups at 100 yards from the
bench with a Leupold scope mounted upon the Model ‘97 is a
Lovell scope mount. The 30 grain Varmint Grenades performed very
well, grouping into under two inches, but the 36 turned out to
be my favorite of all the bullets tested in this revolver. I
also tried some Hornady and Speer varmint bullets, and they
performed well, but did not show the potential of the Barnes VG
bullets, so I stuck with those mostly, as they have been proven
performers in the past. The Varmint Grenade bullets are not of
conventional design, but have a core of compressed powdered
metal within the bullet jacket, and contain no lead. They open
up quickly, and exhibit devastating performance on flesh. There
were no misfires encountered. Ignition was positive, and cases
extracted easily. Loading powder into the cases, I found it
really helped by swirling the powder into the case with a
funnel, as dumping directly from the powder measure into the
case mouth greatly reduced the amount of powder that I could get
into the case. Slowly swirling the powder in settled the charge
uniformly, and also improved accuracy.
I really like this new cartridge from Freedom
Arms. This brief review here is by no means meant to be
comprehensive, but merely an introduction to the new .224-32 FA.
The folks at Freedom Arms, along with other writers like John
Taffin, are still working on developing loads for the efficient
little jewel, and I look forward to reading of their experiences
with this cartridge. Like its big brother the .500 Wyoming
Express, the little .224-32 FA should prove to be an efficient,
reliable, and accurate cartridge ideally suited for the purpose
for which it was designed.
Check out the .224-32 FA and other Freedom
Arms products online at www.freedomarms.com.
To order the Barnes Varmint Grenade bullets,
go to www.barnesbullets.com.
Jeff
Quinn
NOTE: All load data posted on this
web site are for educational purposes only. Neither the author nor
GunBlast.com assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of this data.
The data indicated were arrived at using specialized equipment under
conditions not necessarily comparable to those encountered by the
potential user of this data. Always use data from respected loading
manuals and begin working up loads at least 10% below the loads indicated
in the source manual.
Freedom Arms' Model 97 has a frame-mounted firing pin
(top) and hammer-mounted transfer bar safety (bottom).
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