No offense is intended by this, but unless you're used to shooting big bore handguns, the .45-70 BFR IS NOT for you (and I'm not talking about .44mags or .45colts). It's certainly not a beginners gun, truth be told, it's quite a bit of gun even for pretty seasoned handgun hunters-it's an avid big bore handgunner's gun, a handgun shooter's gun.

I had a BFR .45-70 for a time, really loved shooting it, recoil was pretty nice for what it is, honestly not that bad...BUT, as far as what you can use it for a .480Ruger or a .454Cassul is more practical. It's incredibly powerful, but you really don't need that much power to hunt any game on this side of the pond, it's a HUGE heavy single action that recoils like a son of a gun, so it's not a good choice for a self defense gun.

I really loved mine, only reason I sold it was because I got enough money to buy BOTH a .480Ruger AND a .454Cassul in Ruger Super Redhawks...sometimes I regret it, it was a really cool gun, even if these two new ones are more practical. I bought the 10" and took it back for a 7.5" because I didn't really like the handle on the long one, your mileage may vary.

If you've got the money burning a hole in your pocket, buy it, the resale value on them is much better than any other handgun-take me for example, I had mine for 5yrs, shot the heck out of it (kept it really clean and neat though) and only lost $100 on it when I sold it.

It's definately fun to shoot, get some light handloads made up to start yourself out though.

The velocity decrease between the two lengths isn't really noticeable in your hand or down range, even if it is substantial on paper-long story short, the 2.5" isn't going to bridge the gap between a .500S&W and a .454cassul, it's a small change (even though it should be substantial since .45-70's run best with slow burning powders), it's just behind the .500S&W and a long way ahead of the .454C and .480R regardless of bbl length.

BTW, you're NOT going to quick draw with the BFR, whether you get the 7.5" or the 10", it's huge regardless of bbl length, and it's HEAVY, and it's NOT fast.