Henry Rifle Forums

Well after helping a couple of older fellas I know this morning cutting wood I went out to test my new loads. The red dots are with 8 grains of Unique and 125 grain JHP Hornady bullets and the green dots are the same load with 125 gr. Plated Flat Point lead bullets, both at 50 yards offhand kneeling. It's obvious my Henry likes the JHP bullets. I think it's a winning load for my Henry - and they shot nicely out of my M-66 4" Smith with a soft recoil. Unique is hard to beat for 'midrange' loads!

nice ===> 50 yards, kneeling .. .. I'd take either one .... we tested ours with 158 gr'ers and it prefers JHP's

"....both at 50 yards offhand kneeling."

Sounds like a uniquely good range visit, and your targets prove it all! And I ditto JEBar….
Great shooting, and glad everything came together so well.
PT7

Sounds like a uniquely good range visit

Well, no range actually - just in the woods!

Great shooting with the Smith, Henry, too. Is that a vintage 66 or the current version?

Is that a vintage 66 or the current version?

Nope - a M-66 No Dash I bought in tandem with a M-60 also No Dash last year at a private estate sale.

Great shootin'. One knee down and one up? Were you using the up knee for support because that is mighty fine targets.

Were you using the up knee for support because that is mighty fine targets.

Yep - left arm on the knee for support - I ain't no silly 'bench rest' shooter - I am an old school woods walker, big and small game hunter where it's hard to find a bench sometimes !

I shoot lots that way too. I bet lots of old frontier critters were taken that way. Great shooting.

Those vintage 66s get gobbled up, fast, around here when they come up for sale. Haven't gotten lucky on one, yet. Might have to opt for a new one. The new production Smith 66s were redesigned when they were introduced a few years, back. The redesigned the yoke so there's no cut at the bottom of the forcing cone as on the originals. Went with a ball detent lockup at the front, too, same as on some of their PC guns and all their big X frame guns. makes for a stronger K frame revolver for those who want to shoot mostly 357s in their K frame.

A while back I stopped in Sportsman's WH and looked a new 66 over. No doubt a superior design but that hole in the side and the sleeved barrel leaves a lot to be desired - but I suspect they shoot very well.

Great shooting, and glad everything came together so well.

Thanks and I was HOPING the Plated bullets would shoot as well or better than the jacketed but that doesn't seem to be the case with the Henry - or other pistol caliber carbines. Certainly not a bad thing but the plated are much cheaper! I am going to try one more direction and try some UN-plated hard cast in 125 gr and see what happens. I was shooting some .38 specials with unplated a while back with my Henry and while I only took a few shots and the end of the shooting session they shot VERY accurately - but I was out of them so I could not load any .357s with them. Plated bullets are a great advancement but I do experience varying degrees of accuracy with them. A friend of mine is trying some in a .44 Mag Red Hawk he recently picked up and is not getting very good accuracy with plated out of it.

I don't think it's an apples to apples comparison shooting the plated bullets as fast as the jacketed. You may get better accuracy from the plated by slowing them down.
I had accuracy and leading issues with moderately loaded Xtreme cast lead 158s. I slowed them down and accuracy improved and leading ended.
They are much less expensive to shoot.
Barry's suggest 1250fps for their pistol caliber plated bullets, 1500 for their "Thick Plated", to avoid plating separation.
BTW I'd be happy with any one of the targets presented, excellent shooting!

Ive also tried both in my Henrys. I like the plated much better. I had to play around with mine a little but my Henrys in the 357 like the 158 gr round nose Berrys bullets. They shoot very well out of the rifle and the pistols that I have in 357. My pistols are a Ruger GP100 match champion and a Ruger Blackhawk 4 5/8. Your targets are great. Just FYI on the load Im using 231 under mine for powder. I havent used much unique in 357. I have a bunch of it but I use it in 41 and 45 more.

Mistered wrote:A while back I stopped in Sportsman's WH and looked a new 66 over. No doubt a superior design but that hole in the side and the sleeved barrel leaves a lot to be desired - but I suspect they shoot very well.

I do understand the distaste for the dreaded S&W lock, though, to be honest, I've never had one fail - ever - even shooting the big X frame 460s. They can be easily removed, too.

The two piece threaded barrel, though, is an upgrade over a standard barrel. It was pioneered by Dan Wesson and has proven itself to be very accurate. To be sure, it is NOT traditional, but it is a very effective design and Smith typically only offers it on their high end PC models. My PC 327 R8 also uses it and that gun is similar in accuracy to my Dan Wesson.

I mention this new 66 only for the sake of folks who want a K frame Smith 357 that can handle a steady diet of 357s and/or don't want to beat up a vintage K frame 357. Love our vintage Smiths - they're in a class of their own - but the new Smiths are a great way to enjoy shooting some of those classic designs without worrying about wear and tear on the gun.