Henry 45-70 Colour Case Hardened, Range Report

[Supaduke]

Been thinking about a big bore lever gun for a while now. Looked at Marlins and the ones I have handled in gun shops have been uninspiring to say the least. The top eject on Winnie's ruled them out.

I have an octagonal barrelled Henry .22 and love it, very nice rifle. Looked at pedersoli's as well, nice rifles but a bit pricey.

While discussing Henry's with the shop owner , we came across this one on their website, Colour case hardened, 22inch octagonal Barrel, cut checkering and just a beautiful lookin rifle. Will match its little brother nicely. Ordered it and Deposit paid, should pick it up in a month or so.

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Henry 45-70

[southwest shooter]

good choice i,ve got a henry , as good as gold.

[Supaduke]

If it functions and shoots like my Henry .22 it will be awesome. Nearly went for the new nickle finished all-weather, but it was a little bit too bling bling.

Looked at a 30-30, but to be honest it just didn't really have a role that wasn't already well and truly covered n my collection.

Factory ammo 45-70 costs put me off initially , but a little research for my reloading revealed less than $1 a shot, I can dig that. I want to try some cast bullets with trail boss. Fun times ahead, this is my first rifle larger than .30 cal and I'm looking forward to making some large holes in things.

[bigpete]

Very nice. I reckon you'll like shooting cast Trailboss loads and to be honest they'll probably do the job for most shooting

[Supaduke]

Any ideas how hot you can push a cast projectile before you need gas checks bigpete? (Not interested in stuffing around with gas checks). Or is it different for each rifle and you just have to check for lead fouling and find your own limit?

[bigpete]

I'm certainly no expert but I think around 1600fps tops ? From what I've read at least. But even if you only drive it at that , imagine a 500gn 45cal projectile whacking something in the chest I shoot my 44 with 210gn cast at around 900fps and its dropping everything I shoot it at within 100m all with no huge BOOM

[Noisydad]

How fast you can push cast lead depends on things such as pitch of the rifling, lead hardness, bullet lube, depth of rifling, length of barrel and even caliber. Try to push them too fast and the bullet will accelerate faster than it can rotate and the rifling will act more like a wood rasp and shear lead off the bullet. Copper jackets are of course much harder than lead and will resist those shearing forces and force the bullet to rotate. Generally about 1800 fps is a typical limit but you may get as much as 2200 fps with some experimentation. Each barrel is an individual and the only way to really find out is try it and see.

[Supaduke]

So my new shooter finally arrived and she's a beauty.

Box of goodness

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Henry 45-70

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Receiver

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Receiver left

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Henry

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Henry left

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Receiver

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[Supaduke]

Wood to metal fit is good, blueing is good, timber is beautiful

Timber

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45-70 Drainpipe

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[brett1868]

The Henry's generally shoot as good as they look so that should be very accurate. Beautiful rifle, great choice and thankyou for sharing. Looking forward now to reading about how well it shoots.

[Supaduke]

Cheers fellas !!
Well I have 50 rounds of 300gr hard cast lead and trail boss loaded. And I bought a box of Leverloution just cause I keep hearing about them and want to see how they go. I will get a range report happening as soon as I can.

[juststarting]

I feel like I am missing something in my gun safe.

[brett1868]

I feel like I am missing something in my gun safe.

I get that feeling constantly...bought another LCH2 last Saturday. Next mission is to fill it Still looking for a .357 Lever side eject....

[juststarting]

Brett, funny you say that - I kind of feel like a 44Mag lever action. On the fence between 44 and 357, but right now leaning to 44

[juststarting]

Supaduke, damn sexy!

[Supaduke]

Henry are doing some really nice rifles in pistol calibres. Really happy with my new purchase. And tube feeding centrefire cartridges is actually very easy with a little practice. Haven't had a chance to fire it yet but the action feels smooth and solid. All the parts fit together nicely and the case hardening is really nice to look at. Would happily recommend a Henry rifle to anyone in the market for a lever gun.

P.s and thanks juststarting I've been working out...... Oh you mean the rifle

[juststarting]

Yeah, sure, the rifle.

[thebear]

A great gun, I purchased a Marlin in 45 Marlin a few years ago, could not find a 45/70. I use jacketed projectiles in my reloads though. I do have a couple of Henry's though, a 22mag, a 357 and a 44mag. They have a very smooth action. Enjoy. I had an issue with a 357cal Henry last year, a problem with the magazine. It went to OSA's repairer in NSW, who sent it back scratched and still with the issue not fixed. I returned it again and after another and when it came back again it still had the loading problem. I returned it again and said keep it. I then wrote to Henry in the US and they actually sent a replacement rifle.

[sandgroperbill]

45-70 does interest me, as does the henry. Looks like a fun and purdy rifle

[Tank]

Any ideas how hot you can push a cast projectile before you need gas checks bigpete? (Not interested in stuffing around with gas checks). Or is it different for each rifle and you just have to check for lead fouling and find your own limit?

It will depend on the projectile. I've used Hawkesbury's 350's (Silverhawks and Blackhawks) over 57gn 2208 and not had any issues with leading in my H&R, Marlin and Ruger.
Preference is for nearly a case full (15gr) of Trailboss with the 405's though!
Awesome fun.....and my kids can use it loaded this way.
Enjoy the new toy!

[wrenchman]

i have been thinking of getting a henry steel boy in 357 henrys look good i cant find a marlin

[Wm.Traynor]

I feel like I am missing something in my gun safe.

Me Too He's got me looking at my LGS

[juststarting]

I've decided on a lever action 44mag few hours before I saw the post, this just committed me to it, lol.

[Supaduke]

Something undeniably cool about wielding and cycling a lever gun. And they just look so balanced and beautiful. Every man should own a lever gun (or two or three or.........)

[Oldbloke]

"and thanks juststarting I've been working out...... Oh you mean the rifle"

faarkin funniest thing I heard all week.

[Supaduke]

Finally got down to the range today. Weather and conditions were perfect. Cool and dry and only the most gentle of breezes. I managed to get down there at a reasonable hour and set up for a full day of shooting.

Henry 45-70

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Henry 45-70

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The 45-70 being the latest aquistion, I was keen to try her out first up. I had a box of Hornady Leverloution and 70 reloads. Reloads were all 300gr hard cast flat nose . Powder was Trail Boss with loads from 13.5gr to 16gr.

Knowing they were all pretty soft loads I decided to start at 16gr loads and work backwards.
Started at 25 meters to work out a zero and just see how it shoots.

First couple of shots barely make paper, shooting way low. These cowboy loads sure do drop. Start dialling up the rear Buckhorns every few shots and start walking it into the bull. Buckhorns are going up and up at this point and I'm still not on target and getting nervous I'm running out of elevation. 2nd last notch and we start making centre. I'm still working out my grip at this point. The 300 grainers are also a bit erratic with 16gr of Trail Boss.

Henry at the range

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Aiming at blue cross 25m

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Next step was 15gr and straight away groups began to tighten. I was learning where to actually arrange the sight picture for best effect. Once I found the closest elevation point I found having about half the target poking out above the front bead put me bang on. Elevation remained unchanged at 50m.

25m , dialling it in

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Getting better 25m , 15gr

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About 2 inches or less. Seems the sweet spot is somewhere between 14gr and 15gr, do more load development to go. Satisfied with the accuracy I was getting so far, I didn't want to shoot for groups any more and started popping clays at 50m. I tried a few at 100 but needed more
work on elevation. They certainly start dropping off at 100m.

100m, aim higher

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The Leverloution rounds certainly pack quite a punch . Shot much flatter than the reloads. Good accuracy , about 1.5 inches at 50m, not bad for open sights. Easily popping clays at 50 and 100m. Ran out of memory on my phone so no photo of that.

Here is a short video of me popping some
clays, 4 shots, shanked one, got 3.
http://youtu.be/8pQeOEK9k4s
25m clay targets. 300gr hard cast flat nose
15gr Trail Boss
Pop.....Pop.......Pop......Pop

And here is a video of my mate shooting some Leverloution.
http://youtu.be/zjwBvHSy2_o
100m Paper Target
325gr hornady Leverloution

Boom......Boom

Overall the rifle functioned flawlessly. Shot quite accurately considering my starting point in
Load development with plenty of scope for better accuracy.

No failure to feeds or eject. The rifle handles and cycles beautifully. Looks beautiful out in the daylight too.

At the range

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Overall an awesome gun, I recommend it.

[juststarting]

Them holes

[in2anity]

Very nice. Trail boss seems to work well with HRBCs, perhaps slightly less than max. You seem to be able to push Westcastings a little faster (with a medium-burn like AR2206H) - I'd try 48.0gns over a Westcastings 405 @ 1645fps.

[Noisydad]

I'm feeling a bit like Homer Simpson and his donuts - Llllgggggggghhhhhh

[Gwion]

Very nice, Superduke... if i ever by a cowboy gun, i think it will have to be a Henry!