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Twist in the Henry BB 44

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Johnnyjr
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Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by Johnnyjr » Tue Aug 03, 2021 6:06 am

What twist does my BB 44 have ? 20 inch barrel. What's a good weight cast bullet would be the most accurate in your opinion.. Im not getting very good groups with it. They are all over the place at 27 yards.. maybe it's the titegroup powder I'm trying. But I expected better than this.. Thanks for any help.. johnny
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Vaquero
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by Vaquero » Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:51 am

Could 1 in 38, or 1 in 20, and trust me they don't have a clue.
Last year I sent mine back because the the mag tube tore loose where it attaches to the barrel.
Well they ended up changing the barrel also.
The day after I received it back I called to inquire which they had installed, and they had no clue.
They told me how to check it, that's all fine but you would think they would have a better idea of what's laying around, but no.

As to bullets, they say it's optimal for the 240 gr.
Me I haven't shot mine much since I got it back, and really no clue as to what this barrel likes compared to the original.

RP
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Johnnyjr
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by Johnnyjr » Tue Aug 03, 2021 8:23 am

That's odd they didn't even know..
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fortyshooter
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by fortyshooter » Tue Aug 03, 2021 9:51 am

I bought my 44 steel carbine in December 2018 and just checked the twist. About 1/2 turn in 16.5 inches which is close to the 1 in 38.
My CCH .45 Colt Carbine is 1 in 20.
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by ol'pole » Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:00 am

My experience with Henry cs and hfw is that most of them don't have a clue and the rest don't care !! It should be easy to look up the build/repair and parts used on the computer wait that might take some thought and effort. IMO henry service is almost as bad as the old Remlin's. I was told here that I should contact the owner to get something done right, if that's true why does he hire managers & supervisors? And now he raised the prices 10-15% for a Marlin copy.
I'm thinking of getting a lever gun in 357, I think I'll wait for the Marlins to start shipping
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John E Davies
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by John E Davies » Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:23 am

The later BBs have 1 in 20, but you need to slug it with a tight patch to make sure. I emailed Henry asking why they did not stamp the twist rate on the “new” fast twist barrels during manufacture. Silence.

My 1:20 BBX has decent accuracy but I carry it as a close up bear gun so I don’t care about group size. Minute of fur is fine. But it is under 2 MOA…..with close to max AA9 300 gr XTps and 230 gr LeHigh XPs. They stabilize fine at 120 yards, I have never tested further than that.

Do you use a chronograph? if not, you are pretty much guessing during load development….

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Last edited by John E Davies on Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:41 am, edited 5 times in total.
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fortyshooter
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by fortyshooter » Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:29 am

For what I do the 44 carbine shoots fine with bullets in the 180-240 gr. range. Think I tried a couple of 300 gr. loads in .44 Special cases mild loads and saw a couple key hole hits. Not the rifle for 300 gr. bullets.
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John E Davies
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by John E Davies » Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:38 am

Titegroup is pretty darned fast, are you trying for plinking/ gallery loads? It would not be my choice for the .44 Mag, except in an emergency. I do like TrailBoss for just messing around, but it doesn’t perform well.

John Davies
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by JEBar » Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:51 am

no clue as to twist rate ..... purchased in 2016 .... first target (50 shots at 50 yards) shown below below were fired August 24, 2018 .... the second (100 shot at 100 yards) was fired on December 1, 2018 .... both were fired from a rest under pretty well perfect conditions .... all were our hand loads using 240 gr Nosler JHP's pushed by 23.8 gr of either H110 or W296 she's literally fired 10's of thousands of rounds and had to be sent back to Henry twice ... both times, they repaired and returned it in a timely manner .... with this rifle and our Henry 45-70 their service after the sale has been excellent ... I don't know of any major company that has a perfect record but from the vast, vast majority of reports on this forum, Henry's commitment quality is exceptional
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Conax
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Re: Twist in the Henry BB 44

Post by Conax » Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:32 pm

I just got it out and looked-
My BBS carbine has a 16" barrel and the rifles make it just over 1/2 full turn. 1 in 32?
Made in September of '17. It shoots 180 to 225 grain bullets, never tried any others.
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