Well, I got one of the .454 '83 models several years ago, and it's a nice gun. The flat surfaces are actually flat, the round surfaces are smooth and nicely blended, and the lines where the pieces of the frame fit together are barely perceptible. In an effort to remain objective though, there are a few scratches in the finish around the trigger guard that should have been polished out, and some of the corners in the grip area were left rather sharp. (but at least they didn't just buff the crap out of them and mess up the lines. There's a difference between a finely machined gun that has been dehorned, and one that was just finished sloppily to begin with) Accuracy? I don't know. As in, I haven't yet discovered its potential since I just can't shoot as good as it can. It came with a 25 yard 5 round test group from the factory, (fired from a machine rest) and all five shots went into one hole you could cover with a nickel. Whether you need that level of accuracy, that's up to you. I shot my deer with it at 8 yards & 35 yards last year, so it probably didn't matter. There were reports going around a few years ago of quality going down a bit when Dick Casull left the operation, but I don't know how prevalent the problems were or if they've been fixed.
These guns are strong. Freedom Arms used to load their own ammo, and their "standard" loads will ruin a Taurus .454. (you can find examples on this site) I don't know for sure how a Ruger would compare in the real world, but I distinctly recall they considered Freedom Arms level loads as "proof loads".
I don't believe any factory makes revolvers this finely crafted, but I'm sure several custom makers can build one that would match it. The advantage with going the custom route, of course, is getting to change more things than just the barrel length and sights. Then again, I suppose Freedom Arms has their own custom shop as well.
