Henry big boy accuracy

[Moondoggie]

Slug your bore. lf its around .429 then Sierras@4295 or Hornadys @430 should be ok. l f its app .428 you may be able to find some with 44-40s. lts .427".

Probably not what you want to hear, but as others have stated, a very good idea.

Any excess pressure signs?

 

[anotherreloader123]

24gr of 296 and a 240gr XTP. or I bought a mold from Accurate molds that makes 250gr and that uses 21.1gr of enforcer. they both make 1in groups at 75yd. I have the color case version and the carbine, the 250gr shoots very well in both with the same load. I also shot the 265gr FTX bullet made for the 444, it shot fantastic, but with the thicker jacket, it wont expand at our speeds (I want it for hunting) so I ditched the rest.

IIRC 44mag rifle SAMMI is .430-.431..........


matt

That's definitely different results than mine, what type of crimp are you using? If any

 

[anotherreloader123]

Probably not what you want to hear, but as others have stated, a very good idea.

Any excess pressure signs?

No not at all, and often single digit extreme spreads with the hornadys

 

[436]

It can't hurt to try those, I just need to slug the barrel and see where it's at i guess

Just a thought here, you might see if you can find some old articles or books by Elmer Keith on the .44 Magnum, I have a few of them, Six Gun, Letter From Elmer Keith, and Hell I Was There all three being excellent books on him and his development of the .44 Magnum bullet and cartridge. Some of his old articles in Guns and Ammo are just unbelievably good information on the .44 Magnum. Good Luck Cheers.

 

[anotherreloader123]

Just a thought here, you might see if you can find some old articles or books by Elmer Keith on the .44 Magnum, I have a few of them, Six Gun, Letter From Elmer Keith, and Hell I Was There all three being excellent books on him and his development of the .44 Magnum bullet and cartridge. Some of his old articles in Guns and Ammo are just unbelievably good information on the .44 Magnum. Good Luck Cheers.

Yeah, I'm sure those are great information on the 44 mag, considering he was one of the makers of it.

 

[bpcrshooter]

I use a very light roll crimp. I fireform the brass, then only neck size. I made a custom expander, .429 for my .431 bullets. The only jacketed bullet that shot well was the XTP at damm near max load of 296/h110 and a fed LP mag. I have found that you dont really need as much crimp as a pistol, as there isnt as much recoil in the rifle. Even in my henry 30-30, I use no crimp, just neck tension, it works just fine. You just have to do the testing to verify that things are not moving.

FWIW, both my henry's are .430....


matt

 

[anotherreloader123]

I use a very light roll crimp. I fireform the brass, then only neck size. I made a custom expander, .429 for my .431 bullets. The only jacketed bullet that shot well was the XTP at damm near max load of 296/h110 and a fed LP mag. I have found that you dont really need as much crimp as a pistol, as there isnt as much recoil in the rifle. Even in my henry 30-30, I use no crimp, just neck tension, it works just fine. You just have to do the testing to verify that things are not moving.

FWIW, both my henry's are .430....


matt

You might be onto something there with the neck sizing I checked the FL sized 44 mag brass and it was .010 less on the body diameter than fired brass and .430 is around what I was getting too. It is still strange how a .429 bullet is my best shooting one.
I will try partially full length sizing and see what that does. Later on I will get a bullet swager and 432 bullets and see how that does, but for now the montana bullet company can work.

 

[Alibiiv]

My dad has a 44 mag Henry big boy that I cannot get to shoot well at all, except for one bullet, the Berry's 240 gr flat point. The Berry's bullet can shoot around an inch at 80 yds, but any other bullet I shoot cannot get better than 2.5in at 80. The brass is starline for all of them and I put a factory crimp on all. Anybody else have a bullet that works good for their Henry?

If this were my rifle I would call Henry and tell them that the rifle is coming back to them and to make is shoot better. I did this with a Ruger 77 many years ago. The rifle was in 300WinMag, it shot "maybe" 2 inch groups at 50 yards. When I originally called the factory I was told that 2 inches at 50 yards met factory specs. I called again and told Ruger that 2 inch groups at 50 yards was unacceptable and insane, no one buys a 300 WinMag to shoot 50 yards. This all happened just before a paid for caribou hunt. Ruger expressed the rifle through, paid for express shipping. That rifle shot MOA when I got it back. Even if the rifle is a used rifle I would still be talking with the customer service people at Henry.

 

[anotherreloader123]

You might be onto something there with the neck sizing I checked the FL sized 44 mag brass and it was .010 less on the body diameter than fired brass and .430 is around what I was getting too. It is still strange how a .429 bullet is my best shooting one

If this were my rifle I would call Henry and tell them that the rifle is coming back to them and to make is shoot better. I did this with a Ruger 77 many years ago. The rifle was in 300WinMag, it shot "maybe" 2 inch groups at 50 yards. When I originally called the factory I was told that 2 inches at 50 yards met factory specs. I called again and told Ruger that 2 inch groups at 50 yards was unacceptable and insane, no one buys a 300 WinMag to shoot 50 yards. This all happened just before a paid for caribou hunt. Ruger expressed the rifle through, paid for express shipping. That rifle shot MOA when I got it back. Even if the rifle is a used rifle I would still be talking with the customer service people at Henry.

The problem is not that it is not accurate, the problem is that it is very finicky, out of all the loads I have got only 1 of them shot pretty good. The barrel is probably not the problem, I believe that I just need to shoot larger diameter projectile, and if that doesn't work i really don't know. If they say that a 300 win mag at 50 yds shooting 2 inches is factory specs, then a 44 mag shooting 3" at 80 is a tac driver to them.

 

[bpcrshooter]

You might be onto something there with the neck sizing I checked the FL sized 44 mag brass and it was .010 less on the body diameter than fired brass and .430 is around what I was getting too. It is still strange how a .429 bullet is my best shooting one.
I will try partially full length sizing and see what that does. Later on I will get a bullet swager and 432 bullets and see how that does, but for now the montana bullet company can work.

your/we get accuracy most likly because the copper is hard enough to grab the rifling. Your still not as accurate as it could be because the bullet is so undersized. Try the .430 bullet, https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/6530 it may shoot better.

this is what I shoot now, its sized to .431.....


matt

 

[Muddyboots]

By chance tried any factory ammo? I may have missed that comment but don't recall seeing it. This will be very first question Henry will ask anyway.

 

[anotherreloader123]

By chance tried any factory ammo? I may have missed that comment but don't recall seeing it. This will be very first question Henry will ask anyway.

Yeah, not too much though, my dad got the gun back in 2017 so really not a whole lot, but the ones we have tried shoot similar, no factory ammo has shot as good as the Berry's.

 

[anotherreloader123]

your/we get accuracy most likly because the copper is hard enough to grab the rifling. Your still not as accurate as it could be because the bullet is so undersized. Try the .430 bullet, https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/6530 it may shoot better.

this is what I shoot now, its sized to .431.....


matt

That's what I am thinking, I would hate to shoot all lead bullets, but if it's the only way to get accuracy I will have to deal with it. The xtps do not shoot too good, so lead seems like the only option.

 

[Old Rooster]

That's what I am thinking, I would hate to shoot all lead bullets, but if it's the only way to get accuracy I will have to deal with it. The xtps do not shoot too good, so lead seems like the only option.

I used to hate cleaning lead out of my barrels so I started powder coating my bullets and now Montana Bullet Company has Coated bullets so you never ever have to clean lead out of your rifle again!
Infact you can shoot a barrel that has lead in it clean by shooting coated bullets in it.
Had a friend with a 45 LC so badly leaded it would not shoot accurately so I took it to the range and shot it clean with my coated bullets from Montana Bullet Company.