357 Lever Action

[duddley75]

So recently I have been looking at a Henry Big Boy X chambered in 357. Turns out no one has one and no ETA , so thats a bugger. (About $1800)

The other day I was in my LGS and mentioned I was looking at this and confirmed none about. They showed me a Marlin dark, I think it was, nice gun but $2800 was above budget. then they showed me the Citadel Levetac 92. At only $900 odd dollars, heaps cheaper. Could definitely feels the difference between the Marlin and the Citadel.

My plan for of these was to change out the fore end and stock to Ranger point Precision gear. The Levetac already has an MLOK forend so that was a bonus.

I put down a deposit for the Citadel with ETA sometime around May/June ish.

After doing more research on the Levetac I am having some buyers remorse due to the Optics selection. As it ejects the cartridge up and out where a scope would usually mounted, the Pic rail is much more forward. Yes there are Scout type scopes available but with only a 16inch barrel I think these wouldn't look to good as I did want to put on something like a 1 - 6. The Henry and Marlins side eject so not an issue with these.

Even some of the red dots I am looking with a bit of zoom (Vortex Spitfire) at only have a 3 inch eye relief.

Use: bit of plinking and bit of hunting (pigs or other).

Anyone have a Levetac 92 and had similar issues?

Thinking I should just try and find a Henry somehow. Marlins are just a bit out of my price range considering the mods I want.

[Shootermick]

I think The Barn might still have the Henry X in 44 mag if that’s any good to you.?

[duddley75]

Should of mentioned I wanted the shorter barrel of 16.5inch.

But thanks for the tip re the 44. Looking at the website they have a 357, not exactly the one I was looking at but with the mods, doesn't really matter.

[Blr243]

I have the cit as del short version. I have a red dot holo on it very light balanced set up the optics go well with it

[wrenchman]

i have the henry big boy steel and like it that being said shoot it and enjoy it i took the scope off my henry and went a red dot.
my henry was a gift from my sons at the time i was looking at the rossi 92 it was about 300 us less then the henry

[duddley75]

Thanks all.

Spoke to the Barn today, no Henry 357 or 44 that I was looking for.

However through some additional random searching and a few calls I managed to to find a Henry Big Boy X with 16' barrel which is the lever action that I originally wanted to start with. They didn't have it in 357, but I am taking it as a sign I needed the 44. Felt very nice, much happier about it .Speaking to the shop, they ordered these over 2 years ago and only just turned up. Deposit paid

[bladeracer]

Thanks all.

Spoke to the Barn today, no Henry 357 or 44 that I was looking for.

However through some additional random searching and a few calls I managed to to find a Henry Big Boy X with 16' barrel which is the lever action that I originally wanted to start with. They didn't have it in 357, but I am taking it as a sign I needed the 44. Felt very nice, much happier about it .Speaking to the shop, they ordered these over 2 years ago and only just turned up. Deposit paid

.44Mag is a big step up on the .357, it really packs a wallop. But you can load it down to .357Mag levels with 180gn bullets for when you don't need to thump something really, really hard. No loss in mag capacity and they take up about the same amount of room in your pocket.

[alexjones]

Do you use used guns website? I refresh the "whats new" tab about 20 times a day on my mobile phone and they have lever actions come up all the time. A lot of them are still brand new from dealers not private sellers.

Do you shoot pistols? I love cross over rifle/carbine and pistol calibres. Makes your ammo supply more versatile.

A desert eagle, revolver and rifle/carbine in 357 and 44 mag is a great triple combo.

[bladeracer]

Do you use used guns website? I refresh the "whats new" tab about 20 times a day on my mobile phone and they have lever actions come up all the time. A lot of them are still brand new from dealers not private sellers.

Do you shoot pistols? I love cross over rifle/carbine and pistol calibres. Makes your ammo supply more versatile.

A desert eagle, revolver and rifle/carbine in 357 and 44 mag is a great triple combo.

I don't do pistols anymore, sucks having to attend clubs every time I feel like doing some practicing.

Yes, having a carbine and handgun in the same chambering would be awesome, if we were allowed to carry a handgun in the bush. Since we can't I don't see any value in it here in Oz. Best we can do is a rifled chamber adapter in a shotgun I think, run out of 12ga. slugs or buck and you can revert to .44Mag or .45Colt or something for close-range shots. But it probably doesn't help if the gun itself goes bad when you're out hunting. A break-down rifle in your pack is a good choice if you do want to carry a back-up rifle in case your primary rifle goes down and you don't want to have to come home early. A .22LR or WMR 16" Winchester 9422 makes a great little pack rifle. It splits in half with one screw and the bolt remains within the receiver. Mine is the Norinco copy, but both are hard to find nowadays.

In lever-actions I have a pair of .22's, a .38 Special Uberti, .357Mag Rossi, .44Mag Marlin, and .30-30 Winchester. They're good fun but lack the reliability or accuracy I like from my bolt-actions. They're all tube-fed so also lack some versatility in bullet choice, you can load "nicer" bullets but have to single-feed them.

[mickb]

Thanks all.

Spoke to the Barn today, no Henry 357 or 44 that I was looking for.

However through some additional random searching and a few calls I managed to to find a Henry Big Boy X with 16' barrel which is the lever action that I originally wanted to start with. They didn't have it in 357, but I am taking it as a sign I needed the 44. Felt very nice, much happier about it .Speaking to the shop, they ordered these over 2 years ago and only just turned up. Deposit paid

I started with multiple 357's( rossi 92's) and ended up with 44 mags in the end. They are a decent step up as Bladeracer says. Handloading might be tough with the current powder situation but Remington does a 180grain UMC factory load still available here will give you plenty of zap with the least amount of recoil.

Also for reduced loading or plinking try Blazer 44mag ammo, the aluminium cased stuff which is very low power, only 1250fps from the carbine barrel I tested. This feels less recoil than full house 357.

Also Sellier and Bellot is lower power, about 1500fps with 240 grain. ( normal 44 carbine loads are 1600-1800fps with a 240)

Also you occasionally see 44 special ammo on the shelves, sometimes as cowboy ammo( which is the shorter ancestor of the 44 mag) and will feed in most lever actions( some dont feed very well with the shorter length, but they are safe to fire). This will run about 400-500fps slower than 44 mag,

Top end power if you want it are Hornady Custom ammo. The 200 grain XTP factory loads I tested ran 2000fps from the Rossi 92 20" barrel, almost 1800ftlbs. Similar power was the Hornady 225gn FTX which ran over 1800fps.

[duddley75]

Also for reduced loading or plinking try Blazer 44mag ammo, the aluminium cased stuff which is very low power, only 1250fps from the carbine barrel I tested. This feels less recoil than full house 357.

Also Sellier and Bellot is lower power, about 1500fps with 240 grain. ( normal 44 carbine loads are 1600-1800fps with a 240)

Also you occasionally see 44 special ammo on the shelves, sometimes as cowboy ammo( which is the shorter ancestor of the 44 mag) and will feed in most lever actions( some dont feed very well with the shorter length, but they are safe to fire). This will run about 400-500fps slower than 44 mag,

Top end power if you want it are Hornady Custom ammo. The 200 grain XTP factory loads I tested ran 2000fps from the Rossi 92 20" barrel, almost 1800ftlbs. Similar power was the Hornady 225gn FTX which ran over 1800fps.

Cheers thanks for the tip re the various ammo.

I agree re the re-loading. No sign of poweder. How are people reloading currently for pistol calibres?

[bladeracer]

I agree re the re-loading. No sign of powder. How are people reloading currently for pistol calibres?

Scavenging powder from shotshells, or AR2207, or getting onto some of the small imports of Vectan, Lovex or Vihtavuori powders that come in every few months.

[mickb]

as blade says the main options are

Raiding 12ga field shotshells. WST shells actually have WST powder in them, 25 grains or so from memory. Very fast burning, only good for reduced, plinking loads. About 250 shells for $120 gets you just shy of a pound of powder, which is about twice the cost powder used to be but better than a lot of the price gougers out there. These loads only run 5-6 grains in a brass case so that harvested pound will get you over 1000 reloads. You might be able to find a shotgunner as well who will take the rest of the shell off your hands. I have a bloke who takes the remnants off me( shot, primer etc) for $50 a case, so works out even cheaper.

Fast burning rifle powders like Ar2207 and Reloader 7. These are way too slow for pistols technically. Enough of this in a 44 case will get to 1200-1250fps with 240 grain in carbines. So roughly equivalent to a 44 handgun or original 44-40 olden day loads. These are still okay killers.... but 400-500fps slower than full power factory in a carbine.

As mentioned the occasional shipments by small companies turn up from time to time. F*&&&$ travesty the major companies wont do the same but I promised not to go on about this all the time. Anyway, currently on usedguns.com.au a QLD gun business has a shipment of Vihtavouri pistol powders in stock if you want to make the trip. N110 is a heavy magnum powder, capable of highest velocity loads in a 44. N120 is a type of fast burning rifle powder, much like our 2205 and almost as good. They also have N330, similar to AP70 and Unique for mid power loads.
Bronzewing the shotshell importers are rumoured to have another shipment of Vectan on the water too apparently. They are Vic based, if you want some google them and get on their list. Vectan BA 6 1/2 is their magnum powder, very powerful. BA 7 1/2 is quite powerful as well.


Another potential higher powered option is raiding 3"magnum shotshells. These theoretically should be filled with your slower burning magnum pistol or shotgun powder equivalents. Anything with a burn rate like Alliant Steel, Blue Dot etc is going to get close to magnum power in a 44 case. The issue is really knowing what the powder is, as it may not be identifyable.
Running low powered loads of fast burning powders like WST or Clays from light field shells is pretty basic and safe.
However testing 10-20 grains of an unknown powder for magnum pressures is a different level of advanced experimentation.... I am not game myself.

Realistically, factory ammo is going to be cheaper than reloads if the price of the powder and primers remains too crazy. Find a bloke who wants your brass and make some money back selling it as you shoot it.

[DigaumSpider]

Did you ever find out if there's anyone here in Ozland selling the Henry Big Boy X (has to be the X) in 357 by any chance?
Thanks.

[jpsauer88]

Should mention the 357 is flater shooting as far as flat shooting goes with pistol cals
Load with AR2205