44 Henry Range Work (With Load Correction!)

[Wildgoose]

Had a chance to try out the test loads for my new Henry 44 Steel. From the first session I had a month ago or so it didn't look too good for H110 loads with Hornady 240 grain XTP bullets. Today pretty much confirmed this. The pics tell the tail. About the best that could be done with all of the various charges was more or less the same coming in at 5 to 6.5 inch groups at 100 yards. Of course I could do some better with a scope or aperture sights but not enough to be where I would like to be. With the standard sights I have to use the large bull targets in order to test load using a dead on hold as the front bead just covers the bull and gives me a steady repeatable picture and hold. Not a lot of room for any movement and a bit hard to repeat but gets the job done for now.

With my coated cast bullet tests it shows that in the Henrys twist the 300 grain slugs were marginal at best around 6+ inches. Not good enough in my book for hunting at 100 yards. No real surprise there. The 240 grain coated cast did do some better at 4.5 inches and with a little better sights would be good enough for deer work I think.

The one bright and surprising spot was a few rounds I loaded with some out of production Honrady JTC-SIL 240 grain match bullets a friend gave me a box of loaded at 25.4 grains of H110. If nothing else it shows what the rifle can do with the right combo of components.

I have finally found some 2400 and will be picking up a couple of pounds of it tomorrow so new tests with the 240 XTP and 240/300 coated cast bullets will be coming. I should also have my Ranch Dog 265 grain cast gas check and plain base bullet mold up and running in the next few days so some loads should be on the list by then too.

The rifle itself has been flawless in function and really fun to shoot. It was a good buy and a keeper. Cant say I ain't having fun.

Pretty much the typical results with any of the 240 XTP/H110 loads.


300/240 Coated Cast Loads


240 JTC-SIL match bullet load. NOTE: Load is 25.4 Grains NOT 29.5 listed in photo!

[M. M. Wright]

I'm assuming 44 Mag? Looks really promising. A check with Henry would tell you what twist is in that barrel so you can choose a bullet that will stabilize in that barrel.

Thanks for sharing.

[GunnyMack]

I have a 41 Henry, I tried XTPs, Nosler and Sierra, all shoot very well at 50, haven't gotten around to 100 yd groups yet. But your groups are good enough for deer.
One thing I found out was Hornady suggested my loads were a bit too fast for the XTP velocity range! Nosler & Sierra say go forth and shoot deer with them.
My load is LilGun under 210's about 1800 10' from muzzle.

[earlmck]

Holy Moly, Wildgoose. Do you have any idea what pressure that 29.5 grain load might be generating? That's 5 grains above Hodgdon's max load for a 240 grain bullet. On the bright side, it must be nicely compressed, which H110 likes to be for best velocity consistency.

If that isn't a misprint I am very impressed with the strength of your Henry.

[mikld]

I too was curious about 29.5 gr. of H110 and a 240 gr. Jacketed bullet so I looked it up on the Hogdgon website; 23.0-24.0 gr. of H110 recommended loads for .44 Magnum rifle...

[Wildgoose]

Holy Moly, Wildgoose. Do you have any idea what pressure that 29.5 grain load might be generating? That's 5 grains above Hodgdon's max load for a 240 grain bullet. On the bright side, it must be nicely compressed, which H110 likes to be for best velocity consistency.

If that isn't a misprint I am very impressed with the strength of your Henry.

Whoa!!!! Thanks for the proof reading. That was a BIG goof on my part. Must have read my notes wrong on that one. I have changed the post accordingly. Big thanks for the catch! I am not sure how it happened but its a good reminder to be careful what you read on the internet.