Henry 45-70 Load Data

[Capt. Methane]

With the Maximum compressed loads of IMR 4895 and that 405 gas checked boolit the Henry will rattle your cage-especially from a bench. I've taken to shooting it from crossed sticks and that is much more comfortable...or perhaps much less uncomfortable!

With the light trap door load of 45gr of IMR 4895 and a coated 405gr boolit recoil is a firm push, no pain and it can make a ragged, just under an inch hole at 50 yds shot from the sticks.

I got two whitetails with that Henry this year, both shots through the heart/lung area and while they both took a few steps there was no tracking involved-you poke a 45 caliber hole through both sides of a whitetail's boiler room and they won't go far at all-best of all there was almost no bloodshot meat.

If you screw a silencer onto the X model and launch a 405gr bullet at 1000 fps you will still need hearing protection-at least if you are shooting a steel target! Paper, not so much...

[elmacgyver0]

I ended up getting the Henry X.
I liked the plastic stocks better than I thought I would.
I did find out that Henry makes wood stocks and planned on buying a set, but my wife said "Why don't you make them yourself"?
So, I ended up making a set.
I do like them better than the plastic.

[eastbank]

300 gr hornady with a heavy load of H-4198 and 100 yards out of my ruger #1.

[FergusonTO35]

I use 12.5 grains Unique under a Laser Cast 300 grain and large rifle primer, it shoots alot better than I can hold. I'm almost out of the Laser Cast slugs and will be loading 12.8 grains Unique under the Lyman 292 with a large pistol primer, this load shoots really well also. I'm currently petitioning our fish and game agency to change the regs to allow single shot rifles with straight wall medium and large bore cartridges during muzzleloader season. They already allow inlines with any and all technological innovations possible, and many of those easily outperform nineteenth century cartridge rifles.

[Capt. Methane]

I ended up getting the Henry X.
I liked the plastic stocks better than I thought I would.
I did find out that Henry makes wood stocks and planned on buying a set, but my wife said "Why don't you make them yourself"?
So, I ended up making a set.
I do like them better than the plastic.

I wince sometimes looking at the plastic stocks but I'll say this for them-I don't worry about rain, briars, being tripped by one of the various vines indigenous to the SE while trying to sneak in to my stand in the dark or banging a nice stock (my Henry in .41 Rem Mag has nice wood on it) against the tree stand though I agree that the plastic is ugly, it is utilitarian in the extreme.

To be honest there is no more utilitarian cartridge for a levergun. We reloaders and casters can make loads from mild on the shoulder and even subsonic to OWW! $%$&THAT HURT! and easily capable of taking any animal in North America and most likely has been used on any critter to walk on land since the advent of the black powder cartridge so the advent of plastic stocks on an old design is really evolution in action.

Besides, to see over the silencer when it is installed the only viable option was some kind of optic so mine is really messed up...

[GregLaROCHE]

A 45/70 trapdoor round is still a very effective round on big game. There was a time that you could only easily buy trapdoor power rounds commercially and there wasn’t any higher loading information in the manuals at that time. Then a magazine article came out that said it was safe to load hotter loads beyond what was published in manuals, if you had a modern gun. Then things started to change. I hear some rounds today get close to .458 win performance.

[doulos]

Ive had really good accuracy out of my Henry wit AA5744 with multiple bullets. I usually load at the upper end of the trapdoor range or the low end of the lever action data. Shot a lot of groups under 1.25-1.5 inches at 100 yards and some much smaller than that.

[Frosty Boolit]

I hope you find me this helpful even though I couldn't say what the pressure is. I have a Marlin and my friend has a Henry. I load a 365gr Noe gas check boolit over 42.3gr of accurate 2015. I'm not sure his barrel length but mine is 18.5" and I chronographed 1580fps. Neither of us experience any signs of high pressure and the deer fall dead year after year.