single shot rifle (.223 / 308) for LONG range target shooting

[Johnmclam]

Hi fellow henry owners,
I am writing as i am new to firearms and just bought my new henry .357 single shot last month. I have the 12-gauge shotgun and .22lr revolver on order as i write this.
I am writing however to get some info - good or bad - in regard to using a henry .223 or a .308 single shot rifle for long range target shooting. Not necessarily precision but hitting targets 500 yards to 1000 yards. I want to emphasis targets and not animals.
I have been told that bolt actions like Howa or CZ and others would be preferred but looking at their specs, the barrel length look similar, which i thought would be the main thing. I did hear a heavier barrel would be better.
While i know Henry makes the long ranger, I am just a sucker for single shots - for now at least.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
John

[Mags]

Hi fellow henry owners,
...
I am writing however to get some info - good or bad - in regard to using a henry .223 or a .308 single shot rifle for long range target shooting. Not necessarily precision but hitting targets 500 yards to 1000 yards. ...
While i know Henry makes the long ranger, I am just a sucker for single shots - for now at least.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
John

I'm not much help on this one. I have a Long Ranger. Aside from that, Welcome to the forum!

[5shot]

Welcome to the forum John.

I am a Henry single shot fan and had my .223 out a month or so ago. There were some handloads for a Rem 700 with 40 gr. V-Max bullets in the cabinet that were left over from the last prairie dog trip. With a 2X7 Leupold set at 7X and Harris bipod clamped to the front swivel the little single could consistently stay close to center on a 4" swinger at 215 yards. I thought that was really good performance for a break action rifle. The barrel never got real hot but it didn't seem like barrel heat affected accuracy either. The .223 is on the left.

Long Rifles.jpg (27.48 KiB) Viewed 3338 times

I don't know if Henry hasn't started to neglect production of these lovely little singles. There are some on Gun Broker but a couple local dealers have told me they are having a hard time getting them. I wanted one in .360 Buckhammer and LGS checked with two distributors....no dice.

[BigAl52]

Welcome to the forum John.

I am a Henry single shot fan and had my .223 out a month or so ago. There were some handloads for a Rem 700 with 40 gr. V-Max bullets in the cabinet that were left over from the last prairie dog trip. With a 2X7 Leupold set at 7X and Harris bipod clamped to the front swivel the little single could consistently stay close to center on a 4" swinger at 215 yards. I thought that was really good performance for a break action rifle. The barrel never got real hot but it didn't seem like barrel heat affected accuracy either. The .223 is on the left.

Long Rifles.jpg

I don't know if Henry hasn't started to neglect production of these lovely little singles. There are some on Gun Broker but a couple local dealers have told me they are having a hard time getting them. I wanted one in .360 Buckhammer and LGS checked with two distributors....no dice.

They are spending more time developing Tacticool junk.

[BigAl52]

If I was going to do long range like 500 to 1000 yards Id opt for the 308. Im not bashing the 223 its a great caliber for what its intended for. But the 308 has a pretty good history at Long Range.

[Vaquero]

I had a friend that was doing quite a bit of long range stuff and started out with the 308, but later changed to a 243.
So much easier on the shoulder, especially for the amount of shooting they were doing.
Plus less powder, so a lb goes a little farther also.

RP