Henry Rifle Forums

We wanted to find out how well our new Henry Single 45/70 shoots from over 25 yds, so we added a Talley scope base (from Henry) and Leupold VX Freedom 1.5-4X Scope, and took it out to our homemade hay-field range We sighted in at 25 yds using our favorite 45-70 round - Winchester 300g JHP. It took four shots to get to the bull. (It should have taken three, but I turned the scope's elevation dial the wrong way on the last adjustment). We then put four more rounds downrange to get a "not too bad" 5 shot group. Next we moved out to 50yds and shot 5 more rounds: Anfd finally, we moved out to 100 yds and shot 5 more rounds: The flyer was the last round shot and was my doing - I knew it off when I pulled the trigger.

A couple of observations:
1. I can shoot this gun standing all day, but in a bench rest, it will eventually beat you up. The back of that Caldwell Led Sled is a lot harder than the Henry's recoil pad - probably one of the reasons that the last round was a flyer.
2. This gun does pretty well with Winchester 300g JHP, which is a good thing because we buy it at the local Walmart.
3. It was interesting to sight the gun in at 25yds, see it shoot 1" high at 50 yds, and then see it put 3 of 5 in the bull at 100 yds. Shows how flat that 45/70 trajectory is using these Win 300g rounds. This would be an excellent hunting setup for anything under 100yds.
4. We also shot some HSM 405g Cowboy rounds which we picked up on sale at Sportsman's Warehouse. Surprisingly, they felt similar (recoil wise) to the Win 300g's. HSM uses Starline Brass, so we kind of bought them for the brass (reloading), but they are just as fun to launch as the Winchesters. This little Henry Single continues to impress - it is a fun, accurate, nice handling rifle - all for under $400.

tractortad wrote:4. We also shot some HSM 405g Cowboy rounds which we picked up on sale at Sportsman's Warehouse. Surprisingly, they felt similar (recoil wise) to the Win 300g's. HSM uses Starline Brass, so we kind of bought them for the brass (reloading), but they are just as fun to launch as the Winchesters.

surprise indeed .... I've fired hundreds of the Cowboy action rounds and could tell a significant reduction in recoil as compared to full power loads .... agree that your Henry could serve as a very good hunting rifle

tractortad wrote:This little Henry Single continues to impress - it is a fun, accurate, nice handling rifle - all for under $400.

a well deserved positive endorsement .... thanks for an excellent report

Those are some excellent groups with the Winchester stuff. I'm going to have to pick some more of it up. We're still deep in snow, up here, but hoping to venture out, soon, to shoot the Encore Katahdin 45-70.

Great report and awesome shooting, Tad! Looks like the VX-Freedom, no? Great scope. Just terrific results at 100 yds with that set-up!

There you go Evan 45-70 Single Shot mild to wild. And you can get a BFR 45-70 pistola to go with it

Looks good Tad. The 45-70 is one fun round to shoot.

BigAl52 wrote:There you go Evan 45-70 Single Shot mild to wild. And you can get a BFR 45-70 pistola to go with it

No. Just no.

Chicken

Nice shooting!