Freedom Arms warns of erosion with their guns, unlike other makers whose guns will fire "light" and "heavy" rounds, i.e., .44 Spl./.44 mag., etc..

Apparently, with some FA guns one will get lucky and it won't happen, but it does with others.

With so much of an investment, it's not worth the chance.

I think I'd consider having an extra .45 Colt cylinder fitted personally.

the question i have is Can you shoot 45 long colt in a 454 safely ? or do you have to change the cyclinder ? this gun would be used for target practice and hunting mostly deer and black bear . thanks Bob

A 454 will safely chamber and fire 45 colt ammo, however, if you do that repeatedly, there may be a problem with extracting 454 ammo due to erosion or build up of deposits. The deposits effectively put a lock ring in the cylinder, and once you fire a high pressure 454 load, the brass flows either side of the ring and provides the difficulty in extraction. I would expect this to be more of a problem in the FA mdl 83 due to it's tight tollerance cylinders, and you would be advised to get a 45 colt cylinder.

Unless you have a lot of .45 Colt brass, I'd recommend just downloading the .454 cartridges. This way you would not have the problem of build-up in the chamber walls.

thanks for the good replies as always .Bob