Henry Rifle Forums

I have one of the new rifles on order, and have all of the reloading components ready to go. I have pages of pistol load data, but to my knowledge, there is no source for published rifle load data in this caliber. The obvious starting place is the pistol load data, but I was wondering if anyone has been thinking about loads for the rifle in this caliber.

Thanks,
GTS

Welcome to the forum from CT, GTS. I'm glad you joined our conversation. I look forward to learning more in this thread.

I would think about trying for a little slower powder for rifle loads. I don't know if you could get enough 2400 into the case and with a magnum primer or maybe just have to stick with something like unique and count on the longer barrel to give more velocity.

While I was pondering my original question last night, I recalled that I had developed loads for a Marlin 1894 Cowboy in .32 H&R Mag some years ago. I think that between that data and published data for pistol loads, I should be able to make a good start on rifle loads for the .327 Fed Mag.

I have no interest in the 327 Federal Mag but am intrigued in watching its development .... I did a bit of research and came up with the link below :

http://reloadammo.com/327fed-mag.htm


the second post in this link : http://www.reloadersnest.com/forum/topi ... C_ID=15889


I can't guarantee any of the data given .... hope this helps

JEBar,

Thanks for the info. I think I had come across those previously, but it never hurts to have a little more. The trouble that I am running into is that all of the available load data is for revolvers since no one has produced a rifle in this caliber until Henry took on the project. I am beginning to think it may be Henry's version of Bigfoot, often heard about, but seldom seen! Just kidding, I know rolling out a new caliber must be difficult. I just need to be patient.

GTS

Just don't use Federal brass. Lots of reports of cracked Federal brass even shooting factory Federal ammo.

Already have Starline brass, 4 or 5 different bullets, primers and powder. Just waiting on my rifle.

I'm reloading with Star Line brass, Federal Small Magnum Pistol primers, and Power Pistol for my .327 LCR Ruger. I've looked for rifle loads as well but none published yet. I may try some Lil' Gun in some loads after I get through running what I have loaded now to see the difference.

I tried 4 different loads in my new .327 Henry.
I was not shooting for accuracy at the time, yet still got good groups with all 4 loads.

I used 100gr Hornady XTP pills over a medium load of CFE. Loud, but clean burning and consistent.

Next was 100gr Rainier plated hollow points over a medium load of Titegroup. Not quite the punch of the CFE rounds, but acceptable groups.

Then tried some 90gr powder coated RNFP cast boolits that a friend cast and coated for me. These got a medium charge of 700X.
Noticeably less report and recoil. A little dirtier, but not bad at all. Decent groups.

Last of my hand loads tried were 115gr Meister RNFP cast boolits over a mid-charge of Trailboss. These were downright fun to shoot. Powder-puff report and recoil was nonexistent. It was like shooting a long cap gun, but I still got tight groups.

The dirtiest ammo I've put through it to date has been the Federal American Eagle 100gr JFP.
Those cases came out sooty. Not one of my loads did.

I really like this new rifle. This will be perfect for teaching recoil shy shooters.

All loads used new Star-Line brass and Federal 100 small pistol primers.

Mgderf,

Thanks for posting your results. I have several loadings ready to try, just waiting on my rifle.

GTS wrote:Mgderf,

Thanks for posting your results. I have several loadings ready to try, just waiting on my rifle.

Still waiting on yours?

I am. The distributor got a shipment from Henry, but I must have been too low on the list to get one.

GTS wrote:I am. The distributor got a shipment from Henry, but I must have been too low on the list to get one.

They're still not yet available on Davison's Gallery of Guns (Gun Genie).
They have the Big Boy .327 listed in brass receiver, with the steel receiver, and another steel receiver (I believe one is a carbine and the other a rifle length), but the number available shows 0 for all three.

They have them listed, but evidently have not yet received their first shipment.
Hang in there GTS. They are worth the wait.

My vendor also has them listed, but like Davidson's, has 0 in inventory.

I run the cowboy silhouette matches at our local range and our season wraps up this month, so at this point, I don't mind the wait. Although I would like to use it for the Louisiana State Cowboy match in December. Maybe it will show up in the next month or so.

Well I finally picked up my new Henry yesterday. It looks great and fells good in the hand as well. Thanks to Mr. Imperato for shaking the bushes a little to get my rifle on it's way to me. I will head to the range this weekend and see how she does.

GTS

good to hear your Henry has arrived and that your first impressions are positive .... looking forward to your range reports .... please take a look at our How Many ? thread (link below) and add it to our community's total


http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 815#p49815

Mgderf wrote: Last of my hand loads tried were 115gr Meister RNFP cast boolits over a mid-charge of Trailboss. These were downright fun to shoot. Powder-puff report and recoil was nonexistent. It was like shooting a long cap gun, but I still got tight groups.

My favorite. I load TB using the universal loading method - 10th of an inch below bullet base. I've even tried it in the 7mag. It seems to be accurate in everything.

I have used the 115gr Meister for years, but loaded 1000 100gr bullets of like design this past weekend from a local caster, Vance. Initial results seem indifferent from the Meister 115.

I don't have access to a chronograph any more, but most full trail boss loads seem to run around 850-950 in whatever you load them in, It's an interesting powder. And I have yet to shoot them in anything that isn't cowboy accurate.

Well I hate to say it, but I think I got a "lemon"! I have not been able to find anything even close to an accurate load.

Started out drilling a new hole in a Weaver 63B scope base so it will fit the holes on my BBS, and mounted a Simmons 6-21x scope I use for load development using Millet rings. So far I have tried 2400, AA#7, AA#9, Universal, Lil'Gun, Titegroup and W-231. All with new Starline brass and CCI small rifle primers. The bullets were Hornady 85 grain XTP, Sierra 90 grain JHC, and Hornady 100 grain XTP. All loads were well within the published load data for pistols, which is the only published data there is out there. As far as I can tell, there are no significant pressure points along the forearm and everything seems to be as it should be. All shots for "groups" were fired at 100 meters after getting pretty close at 40 meters. I can find absolutely no reason to be getting the awful results that I am getting. Everything looks like a shotgun pattern. First shot may cut center, next shot may be 8" high (or low), third shot might be left or right. As I said, there is no rhyme nor reason behind these results.

The only thing I have not tried is factory ammo, which I will do this weekend. I do not expect to see anything different, but who knows. I have been hand loading ammo for near 50 years, and have never encountered such poor results. If the factory loads prove to be the same as hand loads, I will make a chamber casting and send it and the rifle back the Henry. Almost all fired rounds come out sooty, so I expect there is a chamber issue.

I forgot Trail Boss, tried that too.

Bummer. Sorry to read about this, but Henry will satisfy you. No doubt. Keep us posted.