Hello everybody. Business has been rather busy and I haven't been around as much as I'd like, but...

What grip options are availible for the BFR?
I"m not really fond of the stock rubber grip. I really like the Houge Monogrips on my Rugers. I bought an extra for SBH, but haven't taken the dremel to it yet.

On the Magnum Research site they have a nice Black Micarta grip listed, but it's $159.99 - ouch


They also have BFR Pau Ferro Wooden Grips listed for $75.99, but it's not really tripin my trigger.


Is there another option that I've missed?

TIA

What caliber, and how big are your hands?

I guess I have normal sized hands. ??

I have a 45-70 10"
475 6.5"
and a 50AE 6.5" on order. I'll send this back for a 500 JRH cylinder.
A local shop has one in 500 S&W that I've been thinking about, but really don't need it. I have a 4" S&W in 500.

I have arthritis in my right wrist from shootin too hany huge loads, so I'm trying to go abit more on the moderate side of things now. Maybe 320s at 1200fps instead of 1500fps. 700gn at 900fps from the 4" S&W is fun also.

I bought a pair of the Pau Ferro grips, but just sent them back. While they felt great, they shook loose after every shot and simply had no retention.

IMHO, the design is completely useless for a powerful revolver (mine is a .500 S&W).

I, too, am interested in other options as I'm not wild about the rubber factory grips.

I have a BFR in .500 JRH and I have the micarta grips. They feel good and are nice as long as I am shooting offhand. On the bench, it just moves around too much and the trigger guard has cut my trigger finger on many occasions as a result. So, on the bench I use the factory rubber grips (at bfrshooter's insistence -- and he was right). While they aren't very sexy, they are a whole lot better on the bench. JMHO.

I tossed around the rather limited options and at one point had the grip frame reshaped and black micarta fitted on an BFR 460 10". It didn't work for me ~ ordered out a few sets of hogue rubbers and fine tuned w/the dremel and me be happy ~ now. Instead of the screw hogue provides for the grip stirrup, I used an uncle mikes front sling swivel stud to make a lanyard kind of arrangement and made the swivel loop round-ish and use a CCA single point sling for the whole arrangement. I retapped the grip stirrup nut to facilitate the upgrade. Did the same for the BFR 475L and my rugers. I do believe I was the first to purchase a replacement grip frame assy from magnum research at the time and it was extremely close fit.

I like the idea of a lanyard -- bfrshooter uses them on his BFRs -- particularly his .45/70. I may opt to have a Bisley grip frame put on my .500 JRH -- that would solve every issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:
I guess I have normal sized hands. ??

I have a 45-70 10"
475 6.5"
and a 50AE 6.5" on order. I'll send this back for a 500 JRH cylinder.
A local shop has one in 500 S&W that I've been thinking about, but really don't need it. I have a 4" S&W in 500.

I have arthritis in my right wrist from shootin too hany huge loads, so I'm trying to go abit more on the moderate side of things now. Maybe 320s at 1200fps instead of 1500fps. 700gn at 900fps from the 4" S&W is fun also.

I asked, since if you have medium to big hands, JRH does a real nice grip extension, with custom grips, and the extra length makes it feel like a different gun:
The gun below is Boxheads', which he stole from someone, and, I'm sorry I didn't get there first for that price.



Have you checked with BFR, to see if they will do a .500 JRH cylinder on a .50AE?

quote:

Have you checked with BFR, to see if they will do a .500 JRH cylinder on a .50AE?

Why would they not?

quote:

Originally posted by jwp475:

quote:

Have you checked with BFR, to see if they will do a .500 JRH cylinder on a .50AE?

Why would they not?

Because they would probably rather just sell you a .500 JRH cylinder......

quote:

50AE 6.5" on order. I'll send this back for a 500 JRH cylinder.

That is what we are talking about, "why would they not build another cylinder in 500 JRH"?

Sorry, misunderstood the intent of the post.

Yes Magnum Research will and does make 500 JRH cylinders for the 50AE gun.
You just have to send it back to have the cylinder fitted to your gun.
It's been awhile since I first contacted them about the 500 JRH, but I think the price was $150ish for the extra cylinder. They will also fit a 450 Marlin cylinder to your 45-70.
When I talked to them about the 500 JRH, they said you could just order the gun with extra cylinder directly from them for around $1300 and have it sent to a local FFL. You could also get any custom barrel length with the direct purchase.
There are a couple 50AE BFRs on GunBroker for around $650-690, so it seemed like a much cheaper option to get one of those and send it back.

My 10" 45-70 is very heavy and not really comfortable to hold offhand.
I was suprised at how much lighter and how well the 500S&W BFR balenced and pointed, so the local shop no longer has one for sale. I'll have to see if the longer barrel will stabilize the 700gn bullets from Ranger Rick.

quote:

Originally posted by GS:

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:
I guess I have normal sized hands. ??

and a 50AE 6.5" on order. I'll send this back for a 500 JRH cylinder.
A local shop has one in 500 S&W that I've been thinking about, but really don't need it. I have a 4" S&W in 500.

Have you checked with BFR, to see if they will do a .500 JRH cylinder on a .50AE?

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
I may opt to have a Bisley grip frame put on my .500 JRH -- that would solve every issue.

This is a very intriguing idea.

People either love the bisley or hate it. I have seen BFRs with the bisley grip frame and have already had the conversation with my gunsmith (he's done a number of these conversions already).

Check with BFR about their new, in the works offering of a .500JRH as a stock caliber. That way you don't get the extra cylinder you won't use, and, you get the gun fitted and designed for that caliber.

quote:

Originally posted by GS:

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:
I guess I have normal sized hands. ??

I have a 45-70 10"
475 6.5"
and a 50AE 6.5" on order. I'll send this back for a 500 JRH cylinder.
A local shop has one in 500 S&W that I've been thinking about, but really don't need it. I have a 4" S&W in 500.

I have arthritis in my right wrist from shootin too hany huge loads, so I'm trying to go abit more on the moderate side of things now. Maybe 320s at 1200fps instead of 1500fps. 700gn at 900fps from the 4" S&W is fun also.

I asked, since if you have medium to big hands, JRH does a real nice grip extension, with custom grips, and the extra length makes it feel like a different gun:
The gun below is Boxheads', which he stole from someone, and, I'm sorry I didn't get there first for that price.



Have you checked with BFR, to see if they will do a .500 JRH cylinder on a .50AE?

Hey, nice gun.

Yeah, do you recognize it?

I ordered some Black Micarta grips from MR. They were not an exact fit and needed a little adjusting for everything to line up.
They definitly look nice on the gun. they do seem to be a little fat at the top, but I haven't shot it yet.



I did some compareing of several revolvers in the safe and the BFR grip frame is very close to the Ruger SBH and the Seville. The BFR is just enough bigger and different that grips from the others would not completely cover the grip frame.



I did find the reason that the Houge Mono-Grip would not fit. The area just behind the trigger gaurd is a little taller on the BFR.
The Green lines show where.

I'm going to adjust the Houge grips and put on my 475, then take them to the range and see how each behaves while shooting.

I do have a 44 Bisley that hasn't been shot in a long time, so I think I'll borrow the grip frame and see how it lines up on one of the others.

I did notice something interesting while I had the Ruger and Seville 357 Maxs lined up next to the BFR, It looks like you'd only have to open up the length of the BFR's frame a little bit to fit a maximum cylinder in it.
I talked with a gunsmith at the Linebaugh seminar that opened up a long frame BFR to fit a 405 Win. He said it shot great. I'll have to see if I can find the pics of it.

The guns below are not mine. (pictures from Tony Grant of Grizzly Custom in MT)

I think this one is the 405 Win.



458 Win Mag:


Some BFR eye candy.


Too pretty to shoot?


Nope.

How hot are you loading that .50 Alaskan? The reason I ask is that you can't shoot mine off the bench or it will make certain contact with flesh. I run 525 grain bullets at 1,575. It would actually be controllable around 1,400 fps.

Nice guns, Lar45!

Hi, the 405 win, 458 win mag and down though the engraved ones are not mine. The pictures came from Gunsmith Tony Grant of Grizzly Custom in Montana. I don't remember who he said did the engraving.
I have 4 BFRs, 45-70, 475, 50AE and 500S&W.
Those 5" 44 mags look kind of nice, I may have to get one.

I think the shooting pics are from the 2009 Linebaugh seminar in Cody. I was too busy to go last year, but did make it this year. It was great, if any of you are thinking that maybe sometime I'd like to go when..... Just put it on the calender and GO. There is a pile of guns to shoot, great people to meet and BS with. Friday we had dinner at the Erma. John reserved the Govenor's Room, so we didn't have to wait in the long line just to get in, The Prime Rib buffet was fantastic.

I used a pocket knife and small flat file, on a Houge Mono-Grip for Ruger SBH, and got it to fit my 475 Linebaugh BFR.


I had to adjust the section at the rear of the trigger gaurd. Also at the top of the grip there is a flat horizontal section that needed lowering a little.
I think I may have gone slightly too far. I'll take it to the range and see how it shoots, but I may build up the section with epoxy and go down a little slower next time.

If you are going to try putting one on a BFR, go ahead and put the stirup on the grip alignment pin and tighten it down inbetween each adjustment. There are a couple rugger ribs inside that give the grip kind of a crush fit with the screw tightened.

Has anyone used Buffalo horn for revolver grips? I was thinking of getting a couple of slabs, use the Black Micarta grips as a template, and see if I could make anything useful.
I was thinking about leaving a raised section on the inside of the grip panel to fit the hollow section of the grip frame. Maybe this would help it to not shift or walk under hard recoil.
Does anyone know of a good place to buy grip screws?

quote:

Originally posted by Lar45:


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I think I may have gone slightly too far. I'll take it to the range and see how it shoots, but I may build up the section with epoxy and go down a little slower next time.

Sounds like a familiar road ~ the area above & behind the TG I used a short section of a large size electrical tie-wrap to force between the frame and mono grip, making for snug/tight fit. Its not as pretty but have'em on both of my BFRs as well as the smiths & rugers.