The Magnum Research BFR: Frame Sizes, Calibers & the .45-70

The Magnum Research BFR: One Revolver, Two Frames, and Just About Every Big Cartridge Made

If you've spent any time around big-bore wheelguns, you know the Magnum Research BFR. The letters stand for Biggest, Finest Revolver — and it wore the “Big Frame Revolver” name for a stretch too, which fits just as well. It's a single-action, all-stainless revolver built right here in the USA, and it's about as stout as a handgun gets — which it has to be, because it does something almost nothing else on the market will: chamber everything from heavy handgun rounds to full-on rifle cartridges.

I build a lot of leather for these guns — and I carry a couple myself. I've got a short-cylinder 5" .44 Magnum (a six-shooter) and a long-cylinder 7.5" .45-70 (a five-shot), so there's one of each frame sitting in my own safe. That's a big part of why folks ask me about them all the time. And the first thing worth understanding is that the BFR isn't really one revolver — it comes in two frames, and which one you want depends entirely on what you plan to feed it.

The Two Frames: Short Cylinder vs. Long Cylinder

This is the part most folks trip over, so here's the plain version. The BFR is offered with two different cylinder lengths:

• Short Cylinder — built for traditional big-bore handgun cartridges.
• Long Cylinder — stretched to swallow the longest magnum rounds and rifle cartridges that won't fit in a normal revolver.

That long-cylinder trick is the BFR's whole claim to fame. A revolver that shoots .45-70? That's this gun. And here's a detail that surprises people: the smaller calibers hold six (my .44 Magnum is a six-shooter), while the big bruisers — the .45-70, the .500s, and the like — run five.

Short Cylinder Cartridges

The short-cylinder BFR runs the heavy-hitting revolver rounds you'd expect from a gun this size:

• .454 Casull
• .480 Ruger / .475 Linebaugh
• .500 JRH
• .500 Linebaugh
• .44 Magnum
• .357 Magnum

The short-cylinder guns are also the only ones offered in the handier 5" and 6.5" barrels, if you want something a little easier to pack. (My .44 Magnum is a 5-incher — a handy, hard-hitting woods gun.)

Long Cylinder Cartridges

The long cylinder is where the BFR gets wild — it stretches to fit the longest S&W magnums and honest-to-goodness rifle and lever-gun cartridges:

• .45-70 Government
• .450 Marlin
• .444 Marlin
• .30-30 Winchester
• .350 Legend
• .360 Buckhammer
• .460 S&W Magnum
• .500 S&W Magnum
• .45 Long Colt / .410

Here's a neat piece of trivia: the .45-70 and .450 Marlin share the same bore, so a single BFR can shoot both — you just swap out the cylinder to switch between them. It's two cylinders for one gun, not both rounds fired from the same cylinder.

Long-frame guns come in 7.5" and 10" barrels. Either way, these are big, heavy revolvers — roughly 3.7 to 5.3 pounds depending on the model — and that weight is your friend when you touch off a full-house load.

One thing worth noting: everything above is Magnum Research's standard catalog lineup. Their custom shop will build a BFR in other chamberings and barrel lengths beyond this list — so if you've got a one-off gun in an oddball caliber or a barrel you don't see here, don't sweat it. That's exactly the kind of gun I make leather for.

The .45-70: The One I Sell the Most Leather For

Out of all of them, the .45-70 Government is the one people ask me about most, and it's the BFR I build the most holsters for. It makes sense. The .45-70 has been dropping big game on this continent since 1873, and having it in a revolver you can wear on your chest — instead of a rifle slung over your shoulder — is a genuinely practical thing for a hunter or a backcountry guide. It'll handle elk, moose, big bear, even African plains game, and let's be honest, there's just something right about a .45-70 wheelgun.

My own is the 7.5" .45-70, so I'm not just selling you on it — it's the one I'd reach for myself. If you're buying your first BFR and you want the one that does the most, that long-cylinder .45-70 is hard to beat. That's the direction I'd point most folks.

Why a BFR Wants a Chest Holster

Here's where I come in. A BFR is a heavy, long revolver — carry one on your hip in the backcountry and it'll beat your leg up, snag on brush, and fight your pack belt all day. A chest holster fixes all of that: it carries the weight up on your chest, out from under a pack, and keeps the gun where your hand can find it fast.

I build a lot of BFR rigs, and I've got the molds to fit them right — short cylinder or long, with barrels out to 10". My Kodiak Leather Chest Holster is the one most BFR owners go for; if you'd rather ride on the hip, the Outdoorsman Hip Holster is cut for big wheelguns like this too. Either way it's wet-molded to your exact gun, because a revolver this special deserves leather that actually fits it.

Carrying a .45-70, or one of the big S&W magnums, into the high country? Head to my Custom Kodiak Chest Holster page, pick your BFR from the model dropdown, and I'll build it for your gun. Running a scope or a red dot, an odd barrel length, or a wildcat chambering? Reach out to me directly first — those take a little extra to get right, and I want to make sure it fits perfectly.

Bottom Line

The Magnum Research BFR is one of the most versatile big-bore revolvers ever built — pick the short cylinder for classic magnum punch, the long cylinder for rifle-cartridge reach, and the .45-70 if you want the one that does just about everything. It's a serious gun, and it earns serious leather. Whatever you land on, I'll have the rig to carry it.