At Last

[Wildgoose]

Bought my Steel 44 Mag Henry last December. Haven't had a chance to shoot it until yesterday. The weather finally broke at least for one day and the temp made it all the way to 50 degrees! So it was off to the range. I only had a few loads I had put together with what I had on hand. Some H110 and a box of 240 grain Hornady XTP bullets. I did order a couple of sample packs from the Missouri Bullet Co. of their coated 240 and 300 grain slugs to try out. I loaded up some of the 240 XTPs at a mid load listed in the Hornady manual for H110. And some of the high tech coated 240 and 300 grain cast samples. Those I loaded at pretty much max for hard cast. I believe that they are 18 on the hardness scale. Checked the sight in with two shots at 25 yards and it was pretty much dead on for windage and about three inches high, as expected with the XTP loads. Went out to 50 yards and put one XTP in about the same place for windage but six inches high. Again pretty much as expected. Went to the 100 yard range and started with the XTP loads and here things weren't what I had hoped for. The best I could do at 100 with the XTP 240 grainers was six to seven inches. Granted you can take off an inch or two given my eyes and open buckhorn and blade iron sights. But still on the sub par side. When I went to the cast bullets at 100 yards the 240 grainers shot pretty well all things considered at 3.5 inches and the 300 grainers not as good at around five inches. So it looks like I have some work to do. When I got home the rifle cleaned up fine, no heavy fouling or leading to deal with. I will reload some more of the XTPs and run them all the way up to max, should be about three separate loads to test there. And will retest the cast bullets at the minimum load and do a work up there too. Next time out we shall see what that accomplishes. This will all be with H110 as its all I have on hand at the moment. I wanted to try some 2400 but every one around here is out of stock and so are all the internet suppliers I could find. Anyone know what is up with that? It sure felt good to get our and shoot. Oh yea, the rifle functioned perfectly but the tubular magazine loading process is going to take some getting used to.

[Blaine]

With those sights, and the 240 grainers, that 3.5 inch sounds about right. I have no idea what the twist on them things are. Maybe not enough for 300s?

[Wildgoose]

With those sights, and the 240 grainers, that 3.5 inch sounds about right. I have no idea what the twist on them things are. Maybe not enough for 300s?

Your right about the twist. It's 1 in 38 and really not what one would want for 300 grain and heavier bullets. The groups I got at around 5 inches at 100 are really where one would expect. With a scope and in a hunting situation when shots were less than 100 yards I wouldn't hesitate to go hunting with this gun using the 300 grainers. And really the 3.5 inch groups with the 240 grain cast bullets are fine. After all its a hunting lever not a target rifle. Where I am a bit concerned is the groups running 6+ inches with the 240 grain Hornady XTPs at 100 yds.
Next time out I will have more test loads to shoot and will see what happens. Given that the rifle was OK with the 240 grain cast there is plenty of reason to think the jacketed slugs in the 240 grain range can be coaxed into better performance. At this point with only one time out with a new rifle its too soon to tell. Darn it means I will have to go out and shoot it somemore.

[AJMD429]

I try every gun I can possibly (even temporarily) mount a scope on off the bench, using a 32x scope I have. I don't use the scope on a gun other than testing, because it has broken adjustments. BUT the high magnification allows me to test the gun for accuracy with several loads without sights/shooter being the weak-link, before I spend further time working up a load and outfitting the gun with more application-appropriate sights.

One of the reasons I 'settled' for a Ruger 96/44 was the 1:20 twist. I guess lots of 45 Colt leverguns have a fast twist, but so many of the 44 Magnum ones are still 1:38...

[Rusty]

That 1:38 twist is what has kept me away from .44 Mag rifles. I have one my wife bought me for our wedding anniversary several years ago. That will be the last one I ever buy until the manufacturers change their sinful ways.

[Nath]

Probably speeding out of place as I have never loaded 44m but the only straight cased cartridge I loaded in a lever gun was 357 and oddly got no joy from h110!
I tried and tried but it would not come together.
Now I know it has no bearing on you but what I will say is 2400 was easy to get good powerful loads in no time!

Take a camera next time!

N

[piller]

May not be related because of a different caliber, but my .480 model 92 likes H4227 better than H110. If you have some, give it a try. Some guns show a real preference for certain powders.

[GunnyMack]

I tried CFEPistol,H110,4227 and LilGun for my Henry 41 mag. Best by far was LilGun!

[flatnose]

Wildgoose,
Maybe a cast 180 grain gc bullet driven flat out would shoot better. See what the other guys think.

[Wildgoose]

Very good points on the powder issue. I really wanted to try at least 2400 but I cant find any to buy anywhere right now. None of the on line suppliers have any in stock and all of the retail outlets in my area are out too. At this point I happened to have a good supply of H110 on hand from past projects so that's what I am starting with. 2400, 4227 and now after reading what has been posted here LilGun are on the to do list. H110 is known to be picky about what it works well in. In my old Desert Eagle 44 it was the stuff to use. Seeming maybe not in the Henry at least with jacketed bullets. I can see this taking quite a few trips to the range.