All Weather Big Boy grouping issues

[Sumaru]

Howdy all! First post here, and bought my first Henry (All Weather Big Boy in 44 Mag, model H012GAW) last Friday. Got it out to shoot last Sunday, (NOT a fan of the semi buckhorns) and could NOT get the thing to produce reliable groupings. This was from a seated and benched position. And I'm talking from 20-30 yards here, and three different brands of factory ammo. Picked up a base/rings assembly and Vortex scope and will try again this weekend, but I fear there could be something wrong with the gun. Anyone have similar experiences? Am I going to have to return this to Henry? Anyone with experience on that as well?

[fortyshooter]

Welcome to the forum! I had issues with my 2018 Henry 44 Carbine with mild loads and cast bullets. Did some measuring and found the bore to be on the large side at .4315 instead of .429/.430. Also the older ones still had the slow 1 in 38 rifling twist. If I shot hot loads with a FMJ type bullet it shot a little better. With the mild loads I would get some keyhole hits at 30 yds. The .44 Mag rifles for some reason were all over the place for bore size from several makers.
I later sold it and bought a hard to find Uberti 1873 Winchester carbine in .44 Mag and it shoots great! Hope you have good luck with yours.
Get some soft lead and slug the bore and see what you have.

[jstanfield103]

There has been a few complaints I've read. If not better after trying it with the Vortex, call Henry and let them work it out. I had a 22lr that they replaced the barrel on and another rifle that they replaced the whole rifle.

[Sumaru]

There has been a few complaints I've read. If not better after trying it with the Vortex, call Henry and let them work it out. I had a 22lr that they replaced the barrel on and another rifle that they replaced the whole rifle.

Hey Stan- what were you seeing in those cases that made you want to return them? What steps did you take before returning?

[Sir Henry]

Welcome to the forum. I don’t have that particular rifle so I can’t make a comment.

[Sumaru]

Welcome to the forum! I had issues with my 2018 Henry 44 Carbine with mild loads and cast bullets. Did some measuring and found the bore to be on the large side at .4315 instead of .429/.430. Also the older ones still had the slow 1 in 38 rifling twist. If I shot hot loads with a FMJ type bullet it shot a little better. With the mild loads I would get some keyhole hits at 30 yds. The .44 Mag rifles for some reason were all over the place for bore size from several makers.
I later sold it and bought a hard to find Uberti 1873 Winchester carbine in .44 Mag and it shoots great! Hope you have good luck with yours.
Get some soft lead and slug the bore and see what you have.

Hey 40...thanks for answering up. Any tips on "slugging the bore"? Unfamiliar with this but assuming this is measuring a projectile after having been compressed by the barrel under pressure? By no means a newbie to shooting but for sure a noob when it comes to this!

[DsGrouse]

Slugging the bore: a few videos
https://youtu.be/DRRZDZsDoBY
https://youtu.be/bQb_L4o29nA
https://youtu.be/j2yB783fK30

[leverjc]

I am wondering what type of factory ammo you were using, if it was jacketed I don't see much reason to slug the bore unless you are going to shoot lead bullets in the future. I am wondering what size groups you are shooting, at 30yds even with buckhorn sights I would think a 2" group would be about right.

I do not have a BB in 44 but have one in 357 that I have had all sorts of barrel problems with. If you don't have a bore scope you can probably tell if bore has a lot of chatter in it by how much copper and lead you can get out of it when you clean it. It will also take a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. A problem I had with one of my barrels was that the last half inch was not rifled. This problem you can check by inspecting the end of the bore with a flashlight.

Henry does have very fast customer service so all you have to do is call them and they will set you up.

By the way welcome to the forum. Happy shooting.

[fortyshooter]

If you have say a Hornady XTP bullet which normally measures .430 does it expand enough at normal .44 Mag loads to grip the rifling if the bore is .4315?

[Sumaru]

I am wondering what type of factory ammo you were using, if it was jacketed I don't see much reason to slug the bore unless you are going to shoot lead bullets in the future. I am wondering what size groups you are shooting, at 30yds even with buckhorn sights I would think a 2" group would be about right.

I do not have a BB in 44 but have one in 357 that I have had all sorts of barrel problems with. If you don't have a bore scope you can probably tell if bore has a lot of chatter in it by how much copper and lead you can get out of it when you clean it. It will also take a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. A problem I had with one of my barrels was that the last half inch was not rifled. This problem you can check by inspecting the end of the bore with a flashlight.

Henry does have very fast customer service so all you have to do is call them and they will set you up.

By the way welcome to the forum. Happy shooting.

Hey Lever,
I was using Cowboy loads to verify it's on paper..2 rounds or so. Then I'd switched to 240 grain PMC TCSP as I tried to dial this in. After getting NO kind of semblance of grouping, I'd suspected the ammo and decided to use some of the Hornady Leverevolution rounds I'd be hunting with. I managed to get a two shot group (if you can call that a group) that was probably 1.75" at 20 yards. Horrible. Rifle looks to be rifled all the way through. I did check the end of the bore with some Brown & Sharpe calipers...looks like around .425"-.427". Is that undersized?