Henry Rifle Forums

Hello! New member here. I’m Ian from Alaska.
I just picked up my first lever action rifle. It’s the Henry All Weather 45-70. I love it, but when I put a few 420 grain +P rounds through it, I realized I couldn’t even practice with it effectively with those higher loads. I have found lighter loads to shoot with but I’d like to be able to practice with the big ones from time to time. So here’s my question: has anyone replaced the butt pad with something better, and if so, what did you use?

Hey Ian. Welcome from Nebraska. Yeah, I noticed the 45-70 would do with a better butt pad. Good luck.

Welcome to the forum. I can't help you on the 45-70 question but I am sure someone will.

you might be able to find a thicker buttpad. But then you have to fit it to the rifle and make the LOP longer also. That is unless you cut the stock down.

Really is kind of the nature of the beast, 45/70 will let you know it's there and in Alaska LOP will come into the mix with the thicker coats.

I would get a recoil pad to wear on my shoulder. There are many choices available on Amazon. That way it could even be worn over a shirt or under a jacket and probably not affect yor LOP.

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:07 am

I would get a recoil pad to wear on my shoulder. There are many choices available on Amazon. That way it could even be worn over a shirt or under a jacket and probably not affect yor LOP.

“What he said” and welcome from Dacotah!

first, welcome to our forum .... delighted to have you join our community .... your assessment of the recoil from your 45-70 is dead on the money .... ours is shown below .... to help in the reduction of felt recoil we had a gunsmith replace the OEM recoil pad with a top of the line Kick-eez recoil pad and install a 4" Mercury Recoil Suppressor in the stock .... in addition we set it to Mag-na-port https://magnaport.com/rifle.html and had it ported .... note this is not their Mag-na-brake process .... this combination of upgrades did reduce our rifle's felt recoil but it far from eliminated it .... by far the greatest reduction comes from firing Cowboy Action level ammo .... doing so allow me to practice the mechanics without taking the punishment .... after all, I haven't found a need for dangerous game level ammo when punching holes in paper targets or ringing a gong .... be sure to follow the link below to where you may add your Henry to our total

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 74#p203774

Hey welcome! 45-70 is my favorite rifle! Here's a few ideas that might help...
Those 420 bear loads are hard hitting! The energy is amazing! But we pay for it lol
It's a light lever gun so the kick is harder. Wish they had the octagon barrel in this version.
I have a 6 cartridge leather holder on the butt and the extra ammo weight helps a little bit.
Also position and stance it like a 12 gauge. Taking off your shoulder as much as possible helped me a lot.
When bear rounds are used I fold up a hoodie and place it on my shoulder to help.
I also know now after many bruises NOT to bench fire that load sitting down. This light resting hold allows that cannon to kick back ferociously. Standing helped so much.
Standing and leaning gives me some decent groupings and takes the bite out quite a bit.

Hey jim! I recognize that rifle. Even with your mods, it left an impression on me. Lol.

Cofisher wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:41 pm

Hey jim! I recognize that rifle. Even with your mods, it left an impression on me. Lol.

its a very consistent rifle in more ways than one .... example: it has left much the same impression on everyone who has fired it