Henry .45 Colt...Update

[5shot]

Gun deer seasson starts here in Wisconsin on Saturday so I checked the .45 Colt zero today. This was 10 shots at 50 yards. The high flyer was because of the rear sling swivel being hung up on the sandbag. This same rifle hasn't shot very well with any of the cast bullet combinations I've tried in it so far. Velocity of this load is just short of 1400 fps which should be plenty for deer at <100 yards and is probably about as fast as the soft XTP should be pushed too. We shall see.

Henry Colt.jpg (147.42 KiB) Viewed 1218 times

[fortyshooter]

Well that kind of performance should do the job! I'm not a hunter but I see all these got to have it new rifle/caliber combos that you must need to kill a deer. Then I think back how many deer and other things were killed with a .44-40 or 45 Colt 100 plus years ago. I'll bet the deer were bigger back then too!

[DsGrouse]

Yes nicely done

[daytime dave]

I'd say it like those loads. I hope you get a deer or two with it.

[Hatchdog]

What was that line from that movie years ago? Oh year, “I see dead deer”.

Those XTP’s sure shoot great, I’ve had similar results with them in Henry Big Boys.

[GFK]

Can't complain about that. Nice shooting!

[5shot]

The property I hunt is adjoining farmland that had a lot of crop damage this year and the farmer said if we didn't start thinning them out he was going to get a permit and do it for us. So....I was sitting in the treestand with the .45 Colt and was presented with a standing broadside 60 yard shot at a doe. Right behind the front leg and 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the chest and 30 yards later we have a dead deer.

So today my nephew and were skinning this deer and there was a second hole about an inch in diameter in the rear of the offside ribcage but it didn't exit the hide. It was obvious the 250 gr. XTP came unraveled and the core and the jacket parted company on impact. The lungs were demolished but this explains the entrance hole being larger than the exit hole.

This wasn't a particularly big bodied deer and I'm left wondering if it had been a big bruiser of a buck and the only shot presented would have been where you might have to punch through the shoulder to get in the boiler room..?? In defense of the XTP it was probably designed for the more sedate velocities of 900 to 1000 FPS from a revolver and these loads were running about 1400 FPS. Hornady makes a heavier jacketed 240 gr. but due to the position of the cannelure it's too long to function in the BBS.

I'll be heading back up in the woods in a day or two but will take my trusty .44 magnum single shot H015 with a cast bullet which I know will get the job done.

[fortyshooter]

I have a 325 gr hammer head load that runs at 1000 FPS out of my Henry 45 X model. Quiet as a mouse fart thru the suppressor but carries a lot of thump! It is the MB 325 Slammer loaded with 8 gr. Unique and think it would hole a deer both sides.

[5shot]

I don't doubt that would penetrate very well.