Henry Rifle Forums

Hi, i have a 45-70 that i want to put a decent scope on, If anyone has a suggestion as to what scope would work best, I would appreciate the feedback..

You might also consider a Skinner peep sight. Skinner Sights is a sponsor of this forum. It's a great company with great products. Check out the link in banner at the top of this page. Many members consider them to be as helpful as a scope in many situations.

Regardless, many here also mount scopes, so I'm sure you'll be getting some advice soon. Good luck.

we have a 3 X 9 Nikon on our Henry 45-70 that performs extremely well .... if you are going to be firing any full power hunting loads in yours, I'd recommend going with a scope that is proven to handle the affects of hard recoil over time .... I also recommend that you select a solid set of scope rings for the same reason

I chose the PROSTAFF Shotgun Hunter 2-7x32 Matte BDC 200. The BDC is very close calibrated for 385 gr slugs at 1800 fps. Center crosshairs is 50 yds. The BDC is very close to the 300gr JHP ballistics.

interesting .... that should serve you well .... it should stand up well to the recoil .... really looking forward to your evaluations

Any updates/more feedback on this? I just purchased my first 45-70 and I'm looking for a scope as well. Has anyone used cabelas lever action scope? They say it's made for use with Hornady leverevolution ammo..

You might try searching the Marlin Owner's Forum. A great group over there.

BTW, bradf seemed to give some pretty good advice, it would seem............

Rchunter26 wrote:Any updates/more feedback on this? I just purchased my first 45-70 and I'm looking for a scope as well. Has anyone used cabelas lever action scope? They say it's made for use with Hornady leverevolution ammo..

I tried the LeverRevolution bullets and didn't like them .... regardless, I admit to being curious about the Cabelas scope .... any clue what they have incorporated into its design so as to be used with a given brand of shell ??? .... if you get one and then later decide you'd rather use some other brand, would there be a problem .... if you decide to use Cowboy Action type ammo to practice with (cheaper/less recoil), would there be any issue ???

JEBar,

Now Savage is selling the A-22 Bolt rifle to match the A-22 ammo and even bundle that with some type of A-22 Scope. I saw it in a recent flyer...........

Henry88 wrote:JEBar,

Now Savage is selling the A-22 Bolt rifle to match the A-22 ammo and even bundle that with some type of A-22 Scope. I saw it in a recent flyer...........

interesting .... I have a rimfire scope in the vault .... my guess is the innards aren't designed to handle much recoil .... I can't help but wonder how much of a brand specific scope is marketing

Congrats on your first .45-70!
And Welcome to the Henry Forums from the Show-Me-State.

Rchunter26 wrote:Any updates/more feedback on this? I just purchased my first 45-70 and I'm looking for a scope as well. Has anyone used cabelas lever action scope? They say it's made for use with Hornady leverevolution ammo..

JEBar wrote:

Rchunter26 wrote:Any updates/more feedback on this? I just purchased my first 45-70 and I'm looking for a scope as well. Has anyone used cabelas lever action scope? They say it's made for use with Hornady leverevolution ammo..

I tried the LeverRevolution bullets and didn't like them .... regardless, I admit to being curious about the Cabelas scope .... any clue what they have incorporated into its design so as to be used with a given brand of shell ??? .... if you get one and then later decide you'd rather use some other brand, would there be a problem .... if you decide to use Cowboy Action type ammo to practice with (cheaper/less recoil), would there be any issue ???

I guess it's got bullet drop dots on the reticle( and I know I prolly said that all kinds of wrong...) looks like it could be decent.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/cabela-s ... type%3DGNU

Why didn't you like Hornady ammo?

Could it be the different bullet tip on many of the Hornady ammo out there? They almost seem like they are a hard rubber, and markedly stick out (pointed). It is promoted as a plus factor of the LeverRevolution bullets. I tried them in my .30-30 Henry a couple of years ago and did not care for them either, although I use Hornady standard JHPs quite a lot.

Rchunter26 wrote:

JEBar wrote:

Rchunter26 wrote:Any updates/more feedback on this? I just purchased my first 45-70 and I'm looking for a scope as well. Has anyone used cabelas lever action scope? They say it's made for use with Hornady leverevolution ammo..

I tried the LeverRevolution bullets and didn't like them .... regardless, I admit to being curious about the Cabelas scope .... any clue what they have incorporated into its design so as to be used with a given brand of shell ??? .... if you get one and then later decide you'd rather use some other brand, would there be a problem .... if you decide to use Cowboy Action type ammo to practice with (cheaper/less recoil), would there be any issue ???

I guess it's got bullet drop dots on the reticle( and I know I prolly said that all kinds of wrong...) looks like it could be decent.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/cabela-s ... type%3DGNU

Why didn't you like Hornady ammo?

PT7 wrote:Why didn't you like Hornady ammo?

1 . due to the design of their LeverRevolution bullet, the length of their 45-70 shell casings is shorter than the industry standard ... what this means is, they can't be reloaded with other types of bullets

2 . if you go back and do some reading about there ammo you will see that some Henry rifles don't cycle it well .... ours did so but the feel of the lever was different than when using all other ammo .... about the best I can describe the difference is it felt stiffer, it took more effort to use them .... since then, I've fired a fairly wide range of other 45-70 ammo and all have caused me any concerns .... I still have about half of the original box of LeverRevolutions with no desire to fire them

JEBar wrote:

Henry88 wrote:JEBar,

Now Savage is selling the A-22 Bolt rifle to match the A-22 ammo and even bundle that with some type of A-22 Scope. I saw it in a recent flyer...........

interesting .... I have a rimfire scope in the vault .... my guess is the innards aren't designed to handle much recoil .... I can't help but wonder how much of a brand specific scope is marketing

Depending on the brand and quality (leupold, nikon, etc.) the rimfire scope may holdup, I don't know.

It may be just a matter of the parallax setting or the BDC functionality.

Henry88 wrote:Depending on the brand and quality (leupold, nikon, etc.) the rimfire scope may holdup, I don't know.

It may be just a matter of the parallax setting or the BDC functionality.

that is certainly possible .... I'd really enjoy hearing from someone who knows

JEBar wrote:

PT7 wrote:Why didn't you like Hornady ammo?

2 . if you go back and do some reading about there ammo you will see that some Henry rifles don't cycle it well .... ours did so but the feel of the lever was different than when using all other ammo .... about the best I can describe the difference is it felt stiffer, it took more effort to use them .... since then, I've fired a fairly wide range o other 45-70 ammo and all have caused me any concerns .... I still have about half of the original box of LeverRevolutions with no desire to fire them

Is there a type of ammo that's generally thought of as one of the best?

Rchunter26 wrote:Is there a type of ammo that's generally thought of as one of the best?

that's a topic much like Chevy vs Ford .... they'll both get you to the grocery store and back but some folks can get all heated up when discussing it .... in short a personal preference ..... one of the things that I do know is you have a much smaller bullet size selection than with something like 30-06 .... a company called HSM offers Cowboy Action Ammunition ===> http://www.cabelas.com/product/HSM-COWB ... 6CQ_st%3Db <=== and high power Bear Loads ===> http://www.cabelas.com/product/HSM-Bear ... 6CQ_st%3Db <=== their Cowboy Action loads have low recoil and are really fun to shoot ....their Bear loads will take down anything in this country .... both are stocked by Cabela's and other sources as well .... depending on location 45-70 ammo can be hard to find .... examples where the geography calls for long range shooting .... both HSM's shoot well in our Henry 45-70 .... another point, reloading offers a person the opportunity save money and come up with ammo that best fits their rifle .... we will be going that route and will begin by pattering our reloads after HSM's and then fine tune from there

A few years ago I ordered, directly from the HSM shop in MT, some of their hunting and cowboy action ammo. Originally, I think I had either 5 or 6 different configurations. I liked to shoot this ammo both in my Henry Big Boy and .357 Magnum revolver.

I still have left two configurations in my ammo stock, which both shoot quite well:
HSM 158gr PHP
HSM Bear Ammo 158gr LRN FPGC

I don't know, if they continue to sell direct. Here is the homepage to the HSM web site at http://thehuntingshack.com/

BTW, I don't get "much heated up" over the driving brand...although I have had several Chryslers over the years, drive one today, and will get another for my next vehicle. Do like them for my grocery shops!