OAL for .45 Colt Henry

[Seeker]

Couple questions:
Is anyone having any troubles with OAL in their Henry rifles? I read somewhere, (on the internet, so it must be true) that rnds. need to be 1.600 or shorter to feed properly. I just cycled a tube full of c300 rfs that I had loaded up for my NM Blackhawk through the Henry and they fed and ejected perfectly. They measure 1.6290 seated in the second crimp groove. Also, if i seat to the shorter crimp groove, can I still use near max loads or should I stay down in the mid range? Thanks, G.

[tazman]

According to an email I received from Henry, "As long as it feeds through the gun you are fine. When loading bullets heavier than 280 grains you might run into trouble."
they were afraid that some bullets would be too long to feed properly through the action. They didn't specify a OAL though.
They said that they didn't recommend handloads being used in their rifles, but that the rifle would handle any 45 colt factory loads out there. They said that included the Buffalo Bore loads.

[Wayne Smith]

If it is made the same way as my '73 (Uberti) in 44-40 anything longer than the riser will jam. You have to take the side plates off to get it out.

[doc1876]

I ran into this issue, not paying much attention, and loading for revolvers, I had a good day at the range. I then pulled out my Henry Uberti 44-40, to see how it was going to like these loads, slid a tube of cartridges down the tube, an promptly ended with a lockup.
Got out the calipers, and the loading specs, (1.575 max oal is my go to length now.) and found that setting up the bullet seater, I had not set it up to go in far enough (I got tired of crushing cases, so I had backed off). Well, that was a painful experience, and when I started to make the bland loads out of .303 British, I cut the cases to the proper 1.60, and then after annealing, I then trim case length to between 1.530 and 1.540.

btw, as the Henry is a brass frame, I load for it separate from my revolvers.

I use 10 g of IMR 4227 in it, and 14 in my pistols with a 200 g rnfp

[JimA]

My First Henry Big Boy in .45 Colt (brass model with octagon barrel) definitely liked shorter cartridges. The 300 grain Lee RFN was about the outer limit. I couldn't close the action on a round loaded with a Penn Thunderhead 270 grain. Now those bullets are almost cylindrical with a huge meplat. My new Big Boy Steel .45 from Rice Lake will eat those monsters like candy.