Range test - Henry Bras Big Boy - 44 Magnum/44 Special

[JoeJames]

I finally got a chance to try out the Henry on Sunday afternoon up at my cousin's place. Good setup - 100 yards range with a shooting bench. But rather than strain the barrel we placed a large cardboard box at 35 yards with a "tin-hat" silhouette drawn at center.

I was plumb out of 240 gr. JHP boolits, but found a few I'd loaded for 44 Special (One lodged in the Ruger GP 100 barrel), and a few I'd loaded 28 years ago in 44 Mag (very light loads), so I pulled all I could find = 9. And then I loaded 9 rounds of 44 Magnum with the Nosler 240 gr jhps I'd pulled, on top of 20 grains of 2400 (New powder as in had to cut the tip off the plastic end, but old because it was Hercules 2400 rather than Alliant 2400), and Win Large Pistol Primers (Magnum). Cousin supplied some 240 grain Remington 44 Magnum store bought ammo, and some 180 gr. store bought 44 Magnum, and I also tried my 44 Special pet loads (240 gr. swaged Speer SWC's - 6.8 grains of Unique, and 44 Special cases).

I learned the following:

1. Even in the 8 pound 10 ounce Henry, 44 MAG loads will give you a sound thumping. I probably shot 15 rounds of full bore magnums, and though my shoulder is not bruised it is fairly sore this morning. Especially the store bought 180 gr. which were punishing. Prior to that my cousin had slid 3 rounds over to me to try, and said "Try these 180's"; I did and thought "My, these are mild". Then he told me he had given me 3 44 Specials. Bunch of difference indeed!
2. Due to the above, I am satisfied that I went in the right direction in getting the Henry, rather than waiting and getting a much lighter Rossi, or Win 92.
3. Due, I suppose to the twist, it really, really likes 240 grain Jhps better than 180 gr jhp's or my 44 Special Pet Loads with lead swaged 240 gr, SWC's.
a. All 180 grains loads shot about 7 - 8 inches high and 3 - 4 " right at 35 yards, in groups of about 4 - 5"s.
b. My pulled 240 grain Nosler JHP loads were about an inch low and 2 -3 inches right, in a very tight group of @ 1 1/2" - 2", the same as the regular old Remington 240 grain JHP store bought 44 Magnum rounds. All of those made a very tight group as indicated even considering the very hard to see buckhorn sight. (pondering getting a Skinner rear receiver peep sight to replace the buck horn)
4. Important note - to me anyhow: I had no trouble whatsoever running my pet 44 Special lead cast SWC's through the Henry.

[GMW]

Congratulations on the new Henry. I have the same model and I installed a Skinner express peep on the receiver and replaced the front sight also. Mine is a real good shooter too. You can't go wrong with those Henrys.

[JoeJames]

Congratulations on the new Henry. I have the same model and I installed a Skinner express peep on the receiver and replaced the front sight also. Mine is a real good shooter too. You can't go wrong with those Henrys.

Thanks for the reply. And, matter of fact I am thinking seriously about getting a Skinner rear sight too; for two reasons: 1. I cain't crank the rear buck horn sight down far enough to get to point of aim with 44 Special cast boolit loads, and 2. My ancient eyes have trouble focusing on the aforesaid rear sight located halfway up the barrel.

[osteodoc08]

I like my Henry 41 Mag. I wish the metal work was a bit finer polish and deeper blued. It seems rather utilitarian but nicely and evenly done. Saw a Remlin 45 Colt today that the metal work was so rough I could file my nails down on it.

[Ramjet-SS]

Nice gun and yes the Skinner rear sight is dandy and well worth the money I also added the appropriate front sight with fiber optics green. That 44 will serve you well one of my favorite boolits is a WFN 270 grain GC over a dose of Unique. Accurate easy on me hammers game and takes them cleanly when the boolit is placed where it is supposed to be.

[44Blam]

Thanks for the reply. And, matter of fact I am thinking seriously about getting a Skinner rear sight too; for two reasons: 1. I cain't crank the rear buck horn sight down far enough to get to point of aim with 44 Special cast boolit loads, and 2. My ancient eyes have trouble focusing on the aforesaid rear sight located halfway up the barrel.

I put the Skinner Express on my Big Boy -- same 44 mag/special but mine is the steel instead of brass. When I put on the express sight, I also had to put the taller front sight on too. But I'm accurate within a couple inches at 100 yards with that thing. If you go the skinner route get a couple apertures. You would be amazed at how the tighter aperture brings in your groups, but the wider aperture is easier to get on target quickly.
I also bought the dovetail fill with the aperture hole so my rifle has both a big and small aperture.

That 20 grn 2400 under a 240 grn boolit is a pretty stout load - my heavy loads are pretty close to that.

[JoeJames]

I did some more Henry testing over the weekend. BTW the Hercules 2400 20 grain load under a Speer 240 grain JHP averaged out at 1656 fps, but it was tolerable to shoot. Full set up with table, rifle rest, and target at 16 yards. I had a box and a half of 240 gr HSM cowboy loads in 44 Special. Since they were very hard cast I thought I’d see how they did. I fired 6 rounds. From the rest I looked a bit open as far as group. I went down to the target, and I think I could have fired a tighter group at that range using my cylinder bore 12 gauge 870 with number 4's. Then upon closer examination I noted one silhouette of a SWC. I pulled one of the HSM boolits, and measured it - .428". I had noted before that the Henry’s groove diameter was .429". It sho looks to me as though if the bullet engaged the grooves it was merely by happenstance and not intent. I then fired 6 rounds of my pet load - 6.8 grains of Unique, under a Speer lead swaged SWC 240 grain .430" boolit, and CCI 300 primers. They did a hell of a lot better.

The next day I chorongraphed the following:
Pet Load: 6.8 gr Unique, CCI 300 primers, swaged .240 gr .430" lead swc’s,
chronographed at 10' - 1111, 1063, 1092 fps - avg= 1088 fps

44 Magnum handload: 20 gr. Herco 2400, WLP (M) primers, .429" Speer JHP’s
chronographed at 10' - 1639, 1605, 1724 fps - avg = 1656 fps
Note - the 44 Magnum load was very tolerable in recoil, certainly not the thumper the 180 gr. 44 Magnum loads my cousin let me try. I can live with it. Note the one hole group is from my pet loads .430" swaged 240 grain SWC's.

[JoeJames]

How do you like the Henry over the Marlin 1895?

The Henry has a very smooth action, but after figuring out how to adjust the sights, I am now doing some powerful studying on my hand loads. It is a work in progress; as I would like to shoot the same rounds in the Henry that I shoot in my Lipsey Ruger 44 Special SA.

[GMW]

I have a US Firearms peacemaker in 44 special and I am working on a hand load of a 240 gr Lee tumble lube boolit over 12.5 grs of 2400. Hopefully I can get a load for my pistol and Henry big boy to shoot respectively.

[JoeJames]

I have a US Firearms peacemaker in 44 special and I am working on a hand load of a 240 gr Lee tumble lube boolit over 12.5 grs of 2400. Hopefully I can get a load for my pistol and Henry big boy to shoot respectively.

Let me know how the boolits work out. I have tried HSM cowboy loads 240 grain swc which miked out at .428 - keyholed big time, .430 Speer swaged 240 gr. lead swc's - some keyholing, and then last weekend I loaded up some Sierra .4295 240 grain JHP's on top of 14.5 grains of Hercules 2400 (old but until now unopened can), with Win. Large Pistol (M) primers. They did pretty good, and I expect they'll do ok in my Ruger SA.

[JoeJames]

Update on Boolits for the Henry: I got in the shipment of 500 .431 Hard Cast Oregon Trail 240 grain semi-wadcutters on Monday, September 10, 2018, and loaded up some yesterday. The main reason I ordered the bullets was because I was trying to see if I could get my fairly new Henry Big Boy to shoot accurately with 44 Special loads. I was on the verge of selling it, because all prior 44 Special cast bullet loads tended to key hole at 16 yards.

I got in an order of 500 Oregon Trail hard cast .431 240 grain SWC's on Monday. On Wednesday I loaded my 44 Special loads with 6.8 - 6.9 grains of Unique - CCI 350 primers, and Oregon Trail .431" 240 grain semi-wadcutter bullets. First shot the Henry, no key-holing, and a tolerable group at 16 yards, of course the buck horn sight located up close to the front sight is an aggravation, but the bullets seemed much better than either the .430 swaged Speer swc's, or of course the worthless HSM .428 swc cowboy loads. Gives me some hope that I am on the right track. Still pondering the cost of a normal rear sight on the receiver.

Also had to try a few out of my Ruger Blackhawk 44 Special SA, and not too bad. I am not sure whether the Oregons are any better than the Speer swaged .430's in the Ruger. I do know it increased the pressure - I chronographed the Ruger which with the .430 Speers averaged about 890 fps, and with the Oregon Trail - same powder charge as the Speer = 6.8 - 6.9 grains of Unique - it ran 900, 1011, 1085, and 933 fps for an average of 962 fps. I reckon that is why it also shot a little lower than with the Speer swaged SWC's = faster round. BTW no obvious pressure problems with the Oregon load though.

[Ramjet-SS]

Are these the Laser cast? If so they are probably a little harder than the swaged boolits. I have shot the WFN from them several times even took an elk with some from my 475 Linebaugh performed great.

[JoeJames]

Are these the Laser cast? If so they are probably a little harder than the swaged boolits. I have shot the WFN from them several times even took an elk with some from my 475 Linebaugh performed great.

yes, they are the laser cast, and yes they appear to be quite a bit harder than the .430" Speer swaged swc's; as well as being .431" in size.

[RedHawk357Mag]

I put a Marble Tang Sight on a Big Boy Steel in 357. It's AMAZING the difference in groups. I am in the market for a 44 Magnum lever. Just can't decide on which one due to twist rates. Watching thread with interest.

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[JoeJames]

Twist on Henry is 1 in 38"

[JoeJames]

I finally got a chance to try the Henry with a 44 Special load of 6.5 grains of Unique, 300 CCI primers, and Oregon Trail .431 laser cast 240 grain bullets. I had tried it with my pet 6.8 grain load, but I thought I'd try it with a tad lesser load. I was hoping my group size would tighten up a bit bit, and it did. I am now satisfied I can indeed shoot the same load in my Henry Big Boy that I shoot in my 44 Special Ruger Single Action. It has been a struggle.

[RedHawk357Mag]

Sir from my brief experience in lever actions accuracy short comings are related to the sighting systems. Once I switched to the Marble Tang Sight. Groups easily cut in half. Friends who shot it afterwards shot much better. Good luck and enjoy the new rifle.

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[JoeJames]

Sir from my brief experience in lever actions accuracy short comings are related to the sighting systems. Once I switched to the Marble Tang Sight. Groups easily cut in half. Friends who shot it afterwards shot much better. Good luck and enjoy the new rifle.

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Mostly that is true, but when your group at 16 yards is 7-8", and many are key holing, then I knew I needed to come up with better boolits first, and sights later.

[RedHawk357Mag]

Ewww...that would be disheartening. Different caliber, but a 9mm I tinked around with keyholed on me. Brass and dies stacked tolerances against me, guess alloy should be included. Anyways these three things changed the diameter of my bullets. Once I got a proper expander and refined my taper crimp they flew straight after that. Good luck in finding a proper solution.

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