Many Years Ago In The Land Of Arizona

Paco Kelly and I were experimenting with the then-new 454 Casull from Freedom Arms. We were trying about everything we could think of in them, seeing what could be done. Some things we tried worked well and some didn't. Most of it I won't write about ... BUT it was quite fun and showed us how amazing the gun was in many ways.

One experiment was with the 185 gr. extremely wide-mouthed 45 ACP hollowpoint bullet .. I disremember who made it but it was probably Speer. I was seeing how fast I could get the thing to go out of the 7 1/2" barrel ... and got some crazy velocities with what had to be 'way overpressure loads.

BUT .. the accuracy was non-existent. Some shots went straight. Some you could not hit a 4 x 4 foot piece of plywood at 20 feet!

However I was never one to give up too quickly and one day Paco and I were out looking for jackrabbits. I had the 454 loaded with the High Velocity 185 gr. loads. At some point I walked up behind a jack who was paying more attention to Paco who was about 50 yards to my right. The jack was maybe 20 yards away, facing away from me, sitting on his haunches.

I lined up on him and fired. There was a big flash and something went 'way up in the air .. maybe 20 feet or so .. and landed over toward Paco. It was the jack's head. The rest of him was little bits and strings all over the brush around him. There were no parts larger than my little finger any place.

I was glad I wasn't closer.

I soon gave up on the light bullets and began seeing how fast we could get JD's 345 gr. cast bullet. Which is another story.