It was probably around a year ago
that Bob Baker, President and CEO of Freedom Arms,
Inc., told me that he was working on a single-shot pistol
design. I have never before got too worked up over single-shot
pistols, as I find most of them to be heavy, cumbersome, bulky,
and uncomfortable to shoot when firing ammunition that has power
capable of cleanly taking large game at a distance. With
heavily-recoiling cartridges, I find most single-shot pistols
downright painful to shoot. However, I was excited about the
Freedom Arms project. The famous Freedom Arms revolvers are
comfortable to shoot with hard-kicking cartridges, and I had
high hopes that the shooting qualities of their revolvers would
carry over to their new single-shot as well.
Until now I have been sworn to secrecy, but the
folks at Freedom Arms have been testing the new pistol, and are
looking for input from shooters and hunters as to what features
and cartridges they would prefer in the new single-shot. Last
week at the Shootists Holiday, which is an annual
invitation-only event held at the NRA
Whittington Center near Raton, New Mexico, I was able to
shoot the prototype Freedom Arms single-shot pistol. The one
that Bob Baker brought to the event was not a crude prototype in
any way, but looked like a finished production gun, displaying
the renowned Freedom Arms quality that we have all come to
expect from that manufacturer. The pistol shown to us was fitted
with four interchangeable barrels; one each in .22 Long Rifle,
.357 Magnum, .375 Winchester, and 6.5 JDJ chamberings. The
pistol has an exposed hammer, which must be manually cocked
before firing. The design of the pistol allows for both rimfire
and centerfire cartridges to be fired without fussing with
separate firing pins. The accommodation for the rimfire
cartridge is in the design of the chamber block into which the
barrel is mounted. Changing barrels takes only a minute or so,
and the use of a screwdriver. Bob is looking into a
quick-release forearm, similar to the lever type latch as found
on some double shotguns. Either way, it takes little time to
switch barrels on the new FA pistol. The pistol is made
primarily of stainless steel, with the grip panels and forearm
on the test pistol made from laminated wood.
The chamberings exhibited cover a wide range of
uses from small game hunting, to target shooting, to big game
hunting. The .22 LR is perfect for close range target shooting
and small game hunting. The .357 Magnum in a single shot works
very well for metallic silhouette shooting and deer hunting. I
was mainly interested in the long-range capabilities of the .375
Winchester and particularly the 6.5 JDJ cartridges, and it was
those two chamberings that captured my attention. Starting out
on paper targets to get the pistol sighted in, the 6.5 JDJ
barrel was topped with a Burris 3 to 12 power pistol
scope. I found that the 12 power was too much magnification for
my ability, and did best with the scope set at a lower power,
with around five working best for me. The 6.5 JDJ barrel
displayed excellent accuracy on paper, but especially shooting
long range at rocks and such. The dry New Mexico landscape made
spotting misses easy on the distant hillsides, and after the
proper hold was established and the pistol sighted in properly,
misses were few. Hitting the famous “banana rock”, which was
580 yards from our shooting position, was easy with the 6.5 JDJ,
but it was also fairly common to hit the same spot on the rock
repeatedly. Same thing when shooting the heavier .375 Winchester
loads at the same rock. Hitting that rock was done with
regularity by every shooter that I observed shooting the Freedom
gun.
The following day, while I was working with a
rifle on another range, Bob Baker placed a long-range base on
the 6.5 JDJ pistol using the same scope, and he and our friend Mark
Hargrove were shooting into a 24 inch circle at a distance
exceeding 1000 yards! Mark is a fellow Shootist who is very
familiar with the grip of a Freedom Arms revolver, as he owns a
few of them and hunts with them on occasion. He is a pretty fair
shot for a Texan, and like myself, he became very fond of the
new Freedom Arms single-shot in short order.
Back to the particulars of the pistol design,
the action is a break-open configuration, using a sliding top
latch that is very easy to open, either by pulling rearward on
the latch, or by using the lever on the side. The action opens
effortlessly, unlike some designs that require the use of both
hands and one leg to open. The Freedom pistol opens easily using
just one thumb on the side lever. No extraction problems were
encountered at all. The pistol uses a positive extractor system
that uses a solid cam action to extract the cartridge. It does
not depend upon a spring to extract the fired cartridge case,
but as the action is opened, the extractor positively slides the
case from the chamber. The trigger pull is light and crisp, and
the design of the trigger blade is perfect, and it never pinched
the trigger finger as happens with some other designs. The
trigger guard has ample room to accommodate a gloved finger, and
is shaped well for comfortable use. Making revolvers for decades
that chamber hard-kicking cartridges, the folks at Freedom Arms
know how to shape a grip that is comfortable to hold and
comfortable to shoot. No matter how many cartridges were fired
in a shooting session, and we burned up a lot of ammunition, the
Freedom Arms single-shot never became painful to shoot. Unlike
many competitive designs, the Freedom pistol doesn’t bite the
shooter.
Right now, everything is still in the
development stage. Bob Baker is taking the pistol to shoots
around the country to get input from shooters. He has been
working on this pistol for a long time, and wants everything to
be perfect when it goes into production. I think that he is
there now, but he is wanting as much input from shooters as he
can get. If you are interested in the new Freedom Arms
single-shot pistol, let the folks at Freedom Arms know which
cartridges would interest you. My personal favorite is the 6.5
JDJ. It offers a wonderfully flat-shooting trajectory, with
ample power to take most game animals. It is a cartridge based
on the .225 Winchester case necked up and fire-formed. For a
dandy varmint cartridge, the .225 Winchester itself would be an
excellent choice. The .375 Winchester is a good choice for
larger game, and I like it also.
I have never been a single-shot pistol fan,
until now. The design of the new Freedom Arms pistol is just so
much superior to anything that I have ever shot before, that
this pistol has made a convert out of me. I like it. I highly
recommend it. I want one.
Check out the Freedom Arms revolvers and
accessories online at www.freedomarms.com.
To let the folks at Freedom know your thoughts
on the new single-shot pistol, email to freedom@freedomarms.com
or call 307-883-2468.
Jeff Quinn
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