New Guy here with a new rifle

[JSnover]

Morning folks. I've been reaading the threads for a while, decided to join today.
I added a new H&R Buffalo Classic to my collection last week and I love the rifle but am not thrilled with the sights. The Williams rear aperture ran out of left windage before I got on the paper @ 100 yards. The load was Black Hills 405 gr lead FP. Since the range was covered in snow, I am not 100% sure that every round went to the same place. This week our snow is being replaced with mud, so it will be a lot easier to see where the bullets land. I plan to try again under better conditions with a 50 yard target but I wonder if anyone else had any gripes about the rifle out-of-the-box.
Thanks for any input and have a merry Christmas!

J

[KCSO]

Is the front sight centered? That seems like a lot of windage. I don't own one but have shot a friends gun in 45-70 and it was an excellent shootet and the sights were pretty well centered. What kind of a load are you using and is the gun grouping?

[JSnover]

No idea on the groups; It was a clear day but the wind was gusting and shifting so I decided to stop wasting ammunition. The Black Hills Cowboy loads are 405 gr / 1250 fps. Front sight appears to be centered and everything on the rifle seems tight. I'm not too concerned yet, since I plan to upgrade the sights and start handloading the weapon. If the majority opinion is good, then I'll write this off as a fluke/operator error/geoplitical conspiracy, etc and go back to the range on a better day.
Thanks.

[jack19512]

I added a new H&R Buffalo Classic to my collection last week and I love the rifle but am not thrilled with the sights. The Williams rear aperture ran out of left windage before I got on the paper @ 100 yards. J





I really like my B/C too. I didn't like the stock sights either but probably not for the same reason you don't. I put a scope on mine mainly because of my eyesight. I think this is the first time I have heard a complaint about the windage, all of the complaints I have heard about the sights had been due to a lack of elevation when it comes to long range. I had plenty of windage adjustment with mine at 100 yards when I used the stock sights.

[KCSO]

The Balck Hills ammo might be your problem as their cast bullets run .457 and my budddy's rifle ran 459 in the grooves. I just had the same problem with a Uberti Highwall. The bore was 3795 and the factory ammo was a 376 bullet. No accuracy shot to one side, wouldn't hold a group. Handloads with a 3815 bullet went into 1 1/2" at the same range and were dead center.

[JSnover]

Thanks. As soon as I can get my act together I plan to either buy or load some more appropriate ammo. Black Hills worked ok in my other .45-70, although I did have to use all of the elevation.
Assuming this rifle is mechanically sound I plan to trick it out a little.

[montana_charlie]

Do you have access to a boresighter? You don't need a fancy laser job.
Even the old-fashioned optical kind works just fine to see if the sights are lined up with the bore.
CM

[OBXPilgrim]

Boresighter? with an H&R Single shot? What for?

It's easy enough just to pop that sucker open, look down the bore at something a long ways off (put it in the CENTER of the bore) - with the barrel resting on a solid rest & then look at where the sights are pointing. If it is off, the front sight can be moved to correct as well.

I've got a highly polished piece of metal glued to an aluminum paddle to drop into an M1 Garand loading area to bore sight them - put them in the black at 100 yards first shot many times.

[JSnover]

Don't have an actual boresighter but I've had good results with bolt-actions and breech-loaders by pulling the bolt or popping the action open and looking though it, like OBX describes. It's looking more and more like I just plain screwed up and it's time to get a fresh start.
An old guy told me many moons ago, "If you've never shot it before, start with 50-yard target; You have no idea where those first rounds are going."

[jim 44-40]

Jack,get some .459 sized cast bullets for that H&R. Mine shoots great with that size.Also I think,once you find the right insert for the front globe you will understand how to hold on paper and game. And don't forget to wear some extra pad or your shoulder !!!! Also try some bright orange sight paint on the front post. Have a great Christmas

[Buckshot]

................JSnover, wanted to say welcome to the board. Last Tuesday there was a guy at the range with a H&R in 38-55 and HIS complaint was that his was shooting too high. His front blade did appear to be very short. I didn't find out if it was new or just new to him.

...............Buckshot

[JSnover]

Thanks BuckShot.
That is interesting. The BC comes with a Lyman 17A on the front but the actual center of the front aperture isn't that high above the barrel. That's got me wondering, since I basically had to guess where the rounds went.
I have a sporterized Enfield #4 chambered in .45-70 that shot way too low and I ran out of elevation with that rifle (Williams leaf rear sight, blade front, LeverRevolution loads). When I switched to the Black Hills ammo I was able to get back on target.
Half my problem is I haven't fired a lot of low-velocity big-bore rifles until now. In spite of this minor problem, I'm already having a lot of fun!

J

[Lucky Joe]

When I bought mine it did not come with any sights. I ordered the Williams WGRS for the rear and the Lyman MJT 20 front globe. This set takes some tweaking, but is versatile and it is a great shooting gun, if not a shoulder smasher.

[stillhunter]

Recommend that you procure the Weaver scope base (25.00 or so) and rings and build yourself a good load with glass before you go to the iron sites. Mine is 38-55 and shoots fine. Also recommend that you check to be sure that you are using .458 bulletts, Cast Performance are good. My trapdoor doesn't like undersize bulletts, and 45-70 with reduced loads should do way better than that..

[JSnover]

Thanks Lucky Joe and Stillhunter. I'm looking into different sight options and different loads, should have something picked out in a few days.

[lonewolf5347]

I think when I had my B.C. I used 405 FP .459 diameter and a 20:1 mix for smokeless and BP too if you keep velocity under 1400fps
I had a board member here from the forum cast them for me.
They did shoot excellent

[montana_charlie]

Boresighter? with an H&R Single shot? What for?

Maybe I'm all wet.
I haven't seen one of these rifles in person, but I have this impression it's a break action gun.

Depending on where the rear sight is mounted, I reasoned that opening the action might make it impossible to look across both sights, with the butt hanging down.

I, too, have boresighted many rifles that are configured so you can look straight through at some 'target'...and compare that with a barrel-mounted 'sight picture'.
Just thought that might not be possible with this particular rifle.

I can see all the way through my Sharps...if I can get the tang sight out of the way...which is not easy. So, an optical boresighter is 'my choice', even on the Sharps. And, it is much more precise than that 'distant target' method because you can see the change as you make adjustments. That's why they are the tool of choice when mounting scopes, and they work very well for irons, too.
CM

[JSnover]

That's correct, Charlie; With the action open it's easy to lay the barrel on a rest and look through both the sights and the bore.