Ruger #1 , not heavy ,strong, and easy to scope
Ruger #1 , not heavy ,strong, and easy to scope
The 3 people a man must be able to trust completely are his gunsmith his doctor & his preacher ..,his gunsmith for his short term health ,his doctor for long term health ,and his preacher incase one of the others mess up.
I had an H&R Buffalo Classic. Between the trigger, recoil and a wandering zero I couldn’t learn to love it.
Found a T/C Katahdin on the used rack and paid too much for it but it’s a tack driver with my 360gr RD over Varget loads shooting sub 2” groups at 100 yards with a 2.5x scope. Still kicks like a mule with a toothache but just doesn’t seem as obnoxious as the H&R. The 20” barrel does work well in thick woods or the blind. I filled a doe tag with mine last year.
I have owned several H & R handis and a CVA break action in 45-70 and they both shot very well.
I sold the CVA as I own 7 others in that caliber and I can't warm up to black plastic.
The 45-70 handis have become smokeless muzzleloaders and shoot great with a sabot and 40 cal.
The Henry wold be my first choice now if I were looking to buy a break action 45-70 single shot.
Jedman
I think that 1:14 twist is the standard for the .458 Win Mag. I've heard that the fast twist is not for stabilizing the bullet during flight so much as it's to keep the bullet tracking straight while penetrating through the critter you just shot.
Chris.
Don't buy anything until you look at a marlin guide gun in stainless.
What conditor 22 said .got the sbl.
Well, I jumped in today and bought a H&R Buffalo Classic at our local club's Buy,Sell & Swap Day. It has a few dings on the stock, but looks like it had very little use...I think I got it at a good price.. the trigger is very crisp and I'm guessing about 4#... now I will have to look at the sights...should be easy to put a scope on if I choose that route...I have 3 or 4 Leupolds taken off other rifles that could be used... Thanks to all for your help
Perhaps my learning skills have diminished in my senior years.. 50 years ago I could read something once and then "have it"... Now I read it about three times, do it a couple of times and then... "have it" only about half the time.
You did good. The BC is an excellent gun. Shoots great and they did have a better trigger. Put a good scope on it and you can do anything with it.
I do hope your BC is as good as everyone else's. Add a scope or some decent sights, bump the weight up, and if all is well you should have a pretty good gun.
Mine was new in 2008 and I had nothing but trouble with it. Apparently they had some quality issues back then.
Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.
My "El Cheapo" H&R Buffalo Classic is as accurate as the several other 45-70 Sharps & HiWall's. It's a light rifle and felt recoil will be greater than the heavier rifles but it's accuracy can't be beat. First range test with the H&R using Triple 7, at 600yds shot a 600yd - 5 shot group in the 7 ring that was 4.75 x 2.25" with 3 holes that could have covered by a silver dollar
Regards
John
I have had a few single shot rifles in .45/70 that I shot with Black powder and they were amazingly easy to clean. I would imagine shooting Black Powder in any other actions would cause problems and not be a good idea.
Have you looked at ArmsList for your rifle? I just now found (2) H&R handi-rifles at $275 (wood furniture) and $300 (synthetic) in the first 2 pages of their ads. Call up the website, click on "Agree", pick your state of residence, go to "power search", scroll down to select your caliber 45-70 Government, and tap the "search" button. Shop until you find your selection. You will be facing shipping and transfer costs, but that comes with the territory when buying from another state. Good luck.
If you have the sharps and are comfortable with it an option would be to rebarrel it with a lighter contour and or shorter barrel. Most of the weight in a single shot is in the barrel itself. A tapered round or half round barrel 28"-30" would get the most out of loads and probably get the rifle into the 8-9 lb range. drilled and tapped a period style scope can be used. Going this light on the rifle a recoil reducer in the stock might be good.
I'm now covered with 45-70's for the foreseeable future... have the use of my nephew's 74 Shiloh Sharp's and i bought a H & R Buffalo Classic to play with.. now I need to do some casting, loading and shooting... thanks to all for their input
Perhaps my learning skills have diminished in my senior years.. 50 years ago I could read something once and then "have it"... Now I read it about three times, do it a couple of times and then... "have it" only about half the time.
the buff classic is a good gun, and if the trigger is already at 4# then so much the better. unless you'll be building light smokeless cartridges, i'd suggest filling the butt stock with shot or some other weight and get it's 8# up to a good 10#. williams makes a good peep rear for the H&R guns, so does skinner.
with a simple but mandatory spring change, the henry is arguably the better value in a modern single shot.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |