Magnum Research BFR 44

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The revolver on top is a BFR in 44 magnum and it is hands down the most accurate production revolver that I’ve owned.

Jim was his name, from up north. I understand he was high up in Magnum Research administration. Unfortunately he was forced out by his partners and I lost touch after the demise of the Y-O. I believe Magnum research used Pine Tree Castings for the frames as do some other notable manufacturers. (Owned by Ruger) It's simply easier to farm out complex casting operations as compared to beginning your own operations at huge capital expense.

The Magnum Research guns are not cheap, $1200-$1500 street prices, but are basically low production factory customs. Market prices are inflated enough with basic Rugers asking $1000 a copy for many models (100% increases in 4-5 years) . So the Magnum Research guns are not that much more expensive for a step up in quality. Where else are you going to find an on the shelf revolver in the exotic calibers for that kind of money?!

I've had two of the goofy .45-70 6 lb. revolvers. They are fantastic shooters! Power is not quite up to .454 levels but you can fudge by trying heavier bullets. Not belt guns but they competed more with the now defunct TC Single shots. I think they are giving S&W a run for the money by being a more sturdy SA platform.

I've checked out Randy's odd looking gripped model and it feels so much better than it looks. It's totally performance driven.

slicking up with an action job but are a fine revolver. The "goofy" gripframe WB mentioned was originally our Lawman Classic gripframe from 10 to 15 years ago, that was "borrowed" by Magnum Research.


We designed it to be like our Bisley style Gunfighter Grip but for a person that has smaller hands.
We have had quite a few of our custom gripframes borrowed by other companies. I came up with our Tombstone gripframe back in the early 90s. We were doing a lot of custom cowboy shows and I had the Tombstone gripframe and the Doc Holliday gripframe there on display and taking orders. At one of the big cowboy show and shoots at the big shooting range in Phoenix Ruger had a booth next to us. The guys there kept coming over looking at the Tombstone Classic. At the end of the show they asked if I would send them one of the Tombstone Classics. I told them to just take one of the guns with them.
About 2 months later they sent the gun back with their thanks adding that they would be coming out with their own birdshead gripframe on the new Vaquero that had just come out and it would be a copy of our Tombstone.


Sme of the Tombstone Classics were fancy with full cowboy engraving while some were fairly plain. Some had fancy pearl like grips while some had walnut, laminated wood or Corian grips.



The Doc Holliday Classic was an extremely popular series back in the late 90s. The Tombstone Classic gripframe didn't fit everyone's hand while the Doc gripframe did. There have been 3 or 4 big articles in the gun magazines on the Doc Holliday Classic thru the years.




The Tombstone Classic with it's birdshead gripframe was popular but for guys with big hands it was a bit small. To fix that problem we came up with the Trail Rider gripframe. It was a Tombstone Classic gripframe but bigger, the same length and size as the Bisley gripframe.



The Trail Rider gripframe became very popular among the cowboy shooters but among handgun hunters too.


Another of our cowboy gripframes that we developed in the mid 90s was one that you either loved or hated. That was our Bandit gripframe. Modded after the Colt Lightning and the Colt Thunderer with the hump back style gripframe the Bandit hump ended up in the middle of most folks hands, which made it either loved or hated.
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Another of our series that was just a modification of the old S&W Schofield. It was our Border Classic. We built quite a few of them thru the years. We did the Border Classic in short barrels and long barrels, the short barreled guns had a modified Doc Holliday gripframe.




All in all I think we designed and came out with 8 or 9 custom gripframes thru the years. Some were extremely popular while some were just mildly popular.