It is NOT my .45-70

[PT7]

My son-in-law visited this afternoon and brought his new Henry .45-70 to show me. For those of you Henry Folk who own one, you already know what a well-made, very sharp-looking rifle it is. The wood checkering on his rifle is especially beautiful, and he really likes the CCH receiver. I'm looking forward to trying it out at his range sometime this summer. For now, I'll just post some photos I took of the "visitor" I had.

His range time to date. He has shot only 20 rounds of factory ammo so far, primarily Hornady. He told me at 200 yards he grouped 5 rounds in less than 1" with the POIs touching each other. Then at 300 yards his group of 5 rounds came in at less than 2". He is quite pleased with the rifle, and plans to deer hunt with it this fall.

Sure am glad he now has the centerfire Henry, and that he likes it so much. I've kind of been "nudging" him to consider a Henry for a couple of years, and glad he decided on this one. It will be fun to try out, and gather in some pointers from him, too. BTW, the scope he mounted is a Nikon, Slughunter, which he uses on his 12-gauge Benelli semi-auto s/g. Nice-looking Henry set up all around.

Here are pictures of the Henry .45-70, which is NOT mine.

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[North Country Gal]

Wow! A 45-70 that looks that good and shoots even better would have even recoil shy me thinking of getting a 45-70. Thanks for sharing.

[CT_Shooter]

That's one beautiful rifle, PT7. Thanks for the great photos. Your son-in-law is a true marksman, I know, but I can't wait until you pull the trigger on it yourself! That's going to be a remarkable range report.

[JEBar]

congrats on the purchase .... after seeing those pictures I had to go and make sure ours is still where its supposed to be .. .. ours has proven to be an excellent rifle, one that will be passed on down the line ....

[PT7]

No prob, NCG. It was just a fun photo shoot today. And handling this hefty/solid Henry was a pleasure.

Ah, "recoil shy." I've not fired a centerfire rifle with this large of a caliber before. So I asked my son-in-law to compare the recoil to shooting my Benelli 12-gauge pump using 1-oz. slugs. He and I have both shot that gun with slugs very often. He said the .45-70 has a stouter recoil than the s/g. So next time when I pick up the rifle at his range, I guess I'll need to brace myself!

Wow! A 45-70 that looks that good and shoots even better would have even recoil shy me thinking of getting a 45-70. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, CT. You've got that right....beautiful is the word!

However, I'm not all that certain on my range report being "remarkable." The rifle has a scope, which is a challenge for me. I tried it today, and still generate (see) a lot of black "edges" on the inside of the sight circle. My son-in-law says it's how I'm placing my eye, or moving it....or whatever. I look through it as if shooting off hand, so the rifle does waive around on me. Anyway, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, because I do look forward to sending some rounds down range with this Henry. Gosh, was it ever well-made. Even my son-in-law said the person that did the checkering did an outstanding job.

That's one beautiful rifle, PT7. Thanks for the great photos. Your son-in-law is a true marksman, I know, but I can't wait until you pull the trigger on it yourself! That's going to be a remarkable range report.

[PT7]

congrats on the purchase .... after seeing those pictures I had to go and make sure ours is still where its supposed to be .. .. ours has proven to be an excellent rifle, one that will be passed on down the line ....

[ditto1958]

That's a stunner. Now he needs to start loading his own!

[PT7]

I like that, Ditto. "Stunner" is right on!

He's all ready to reload....regularly loads all his calibers, except shot shells.
And I've been the happy recipient of some really nice .38 + "P" ammo for my LCRX and derringer, which he builds in .357 magnum brass. I'm fortunate to have such a skilled & generous son-in-law, who is really into firearms! Always fun and interesting when we get together!

That's a stunner. Now he needs to start loading his own!

[North Country Gal]

PT, the one saving grace with the 45-70 for those of us who don't like a lot of recoil with a rifle is the 45-70's potential to load everything from very mild to very stout loads. If you get a chance to shoot it, might try to round up some cowboy loads and work up from there. Do not start out with hunting loads.

[JEBar]

PT, the one saving grace with the 45-70 for those of us who don't like a lot of recoil with a rifle is the 45-70's potential to load everything from very mild to very stout loads. If you get a chance to shoot it, might try to round up some cowboy loads and work up from there. Do not start out with hunting loads.

having been there and done that, its a very wise suggestion indeed ...

[RanchRoper]

Gorgeous rifle and a powerhouse too.

[Yornoc3]

Yes, if he's shooting Hornady 325 grain Leverevoulution rounds, I've heard from a reliable source that they recoil both more stoutly, and sharply than a regular 300 grain load. So start with them, or the even lighter recoiling "cowboy" loads, and you'll be fine. I think the comparison to a 12 ga. slug is pretty close.

[tractortad]

Your son-in-law has excellent taste in rifles - that is a nice looking Henry - the ultimate deer slayer. You'll have some fun launching 45-70 rounds from that one - I wouldn't worry too much about the recoil. That gun + scope + full load is probably approaching ten lbs and it has an excellent recoil pad. If you shoot it off-hand/standing it will just give you a strong shove...

[JEBar]

That's a stunner. Now he needs to start loading his own!

the first shells fired in our 45-70 were Hornady Lever Revolution factory loads .... they were the only 45-70 shells sold in our area .... as an FYI, a caution was reported that their brass doesn't meet the same length specs of standard brass .... in looking at the ones we fired we found they were a bit shorter .... it was further reported that they should only be reloaded with Lever Revolution bullets .... it was said that caution was based on the shortened case not lining up the the crimp ring on bullets manufactured to standard specs .... I don't use their bullets so I don't reuse their brass

[BigAl52]

I wouldnt be afraid to reuse the Hornady brass reloading light loads for plinking. I have some Meister cast 350 grain bullets Im using for plinking and 28 grains of XMP 5744 works great

[PT7]

Appreciate both of your validations as to how stout the .45-70 recoil is. Sounds perfect; especially cool was "a strong shove." I really had no problem shooting my 12-gauge Benelli pump with 1-oz. slugs; often shot a large number of rounds at any one range time. So this Henry should be fun to try out. I'll try to get back with a mini range report when that range day happens.

Even before I get to shoot the .45-70, I'd like to go on record with my response to the subject line:

"Wish it were!

Your son-in-law has excellent taste in rifles - that is a nice looking Henry - the ultimate deer slayer. You'll have some fun launching 45-70 rounds from that one - I wouldn't worry too much about the recoil. That gun + scope + full load is probably approaching ten lbs and it has an excellent recoil pad. If you shoot it off-hand/standing it will just give you a strong shove...

Yes, if he's shooting Hornady 325 grain Leverevoulution rounds, I've heard from a reliable source that they recoil both more stoutly, and sharply than a regular 300 grain load. So start with them, or the even lighter recoiling "cowboy" loads, and you'll be fine. I think the comparison to a 12 ga. slug is pretty close.

[JEBar]

PT, the one saving grace with the 45-70 for those of us who don't like a lot of recoil with a rifle is the 45-70's potential to load everything from very mild to very stout loads. If you get a chance to shoot it, might try to round up some cowboy loads and work up from there. Do not start out with hunting loads.

we have found we have a larger range of load levels with our 45-70 than we do with most of our other rifles .... I'd rate the felt recoil our lightest lead practiced ammo as being little, if any, harder than our Henry 44 Mag with 44 Spec ammo ... next would be our Cowboy Action level loads which have a felt recoil similar to that same rifle with 44 Mag loads .... the felt recoil using our deer hunting loads (300 grain Nosler BST's) is more than the 44 Mag but not a great deal more .... there is a big jump in the recoil from there to full power, Dangerous Game Hunting loads .... I pretty much agree with their recoil being on par with a 3" rifle slug fired from an 870 pump shotgun .... in short, it wouldn't take long to fire all of the rounds one would want in a single setting .... all of that is based on having a factory recoil pad, those models with a brass butt plate would most certainly have much stronger felt recoil ... the hardest kicking rifle (out of the box) I've every owned is a Remington 700 BDL chambered in 300 WBY Magnum .... the good news is, felt recoil can be drastically reduced .... as has been reported in threads about the upgrades we have made to our 45-70 (top grade aftermarket recoil pad, mercury recoil suppressor and Mag-na-porting ) drastically reduce felt recoil

[arky]

Wow! That sure is pretty! Thanks for sharing.

[airbus 330]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like 1 inch groups at 200 yards and 2 inch groups at 300 yards may be a slight exaggeration for a 45-70 that has only been shot 20 times?

[CT_Shooter]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like 1 inch groups at 200 yards and 2 inch groups at 300 yards may be a slight exaggeration for a 45-70 that has only been shot 20 times?

Not for a highly trained military sniper, but very much so for someone like me or possibly you and likely for most of the shooters here.

By the way, welcome to the forum. Interesting first post.