Henry Rifle Forums

yesterday while running 75+ rounds through our grandson's new Henry 357 and interesting ammo feed question arose .... as background, all shells were our reloads .... 357 brass (no 38 spl) was used .... bullets were 158 grain .... when we loaded the feeding tube to where the tip of a bullet could be seen, the first shell didn't feed smoothly .... it would stick and required working the lever with considerable force to get that first bullet to chamber .... all subsequent rounds loaded smoothly .... question, is that typical ??

JEBar wrote:..question, is that typical ??

It's not typical of my Brass .357 Henry, JEBar. I wonder if the spring is sticking on a burr when it's pushed far up into the feeding tube. I would try loading nine rounds instead of ten to see if that still happens with the first round. If it works OK with nine but continues to fail with ten, then a quick call to Henry should take care of it.

will give that a try ..... my first impression was the first bullet was being pushed too hard and hangs up in the bottom of the chamber

JEBar -
My 357 BBB occasionally did this during the first 200 - 250 rounds thru it, but it feeds smooth now. I can't remember if it only did it on the first round of a full 10 round load. I think you may want to keep working it with a full load to see if the action smooths out a little bit...

good to hear .... thanks for responding

My .357 BB steel was a little finicky at first. It is very consistent now. Don't know how much is operator learning curve, slight change in reloading (added an FCD to the process), or break in. Perhaps a little of all three. I would wait for a couple hundred rounds through it before taking any action other than clean and lube, and perhaps checking a box of factory loads, if reloads are the suspect. I bought some factory rounds to get some .357 cases early on. I noticed I had less trouble with the factory than with my reloads. I picked up an FCD and it seemed to help. We aren't talking a big problem here anyway, just a couple hangups while feeding in a 100 - 150 rounds. Now, a hangup is a rare event, even with .38s. Normally it's a case of being sloppy with the lever.

In our case, 300 rounds was only a couple trips to the range.

good to hear of the smooth loading .... because it only happens with the first round when fully loaded, I don't believe that the ammo is the issue .... nonetheless, will certainly check it out

JEBar wrote:good to hear of the smooth loading .... because it only happens with the first round when fully loaded, I don't believe that the ammo is the issue .... nonetheless, will certainly check it out

JEBar....did you get to the bottom of your grandson's rifle feeding issue...??? Mine had the same issue....but it was not just the first round. I did find out that if I would hold the rifle level/straight up when operating the lever....it would load like it was suppose to load. But....I didn't like that....so I took mine apart and smoothed everything out that I could find that need to be addressed. Spend about three hours smoothing things out with a fine file, stones, scotch brite pads and some fine steel wool. One thing that I found that bothered me. I found rust on the inside of the outer magazine tube. It took awhile....but I got all of the rust out of it.

we took it out again last weekend and it didn't have the issue .... we didn't do anything to remedy it so I have no clue

JEBar wrote:we took it out again last weekend and it didn't have the issue .... we didn't do anything to remedy it so I have no clue

That's great news.

took it out yesterday evening, fired another 100+ rounds testing various ammo .... happy to report, no issues .... we have found with both our 357 and 44 mag Henry rifles that feeding the first shell can be an issue if we load the tube with the lever open .... with it closed, no issues whatsoever

Greetings folks....with the 357 Henry, are there any bullet types that don't feed reliably, either cast or jacketed ?

Welcome to the Forums from the Show-Me-State, TraderVic!
Good to have you and your .357 Magnum Henry come aboard.

TraderVic wrote:Greetings folks....with the 357 Henry, are there any bullet types that don't feed reliably, either cast or jacketed ?

The only one I have tried that won't chamber is the wadcutter. I didn't expect it to, and it didn't. I find that TCs and RNFPs, as well as HPs feed very reliably. I had a hangup or two with the first handful of SWCs that I tried. I have since loaded up a bunch more and tried them. They all seemed to feed OK. Not sure I would recommend them, but I got them to work. I don't use RN out of an abundance of caution, although I'm sure they feed well.

FWIW, my preferred bullet for my .357 is the Xtreme heavy plated HP in 158 grain. I can get them on a frequent sale for a little over a $100 a thousand. The heavy plate is good up to 1500 fps. I've had good luck with their TC bullet as well. It is a little cheaper. It feeds just as well. It is standard plating and is good to 1200 fps. With magnum loads from a 20" barrel. I have to watch the powder I use and make sure I don't break the speed limit. Spending a few dollars a K more, the HPs I don't have to worry about over revving them, unless I use something like H110 or IMR4227.

clovishound wrote: The only one I have tried that won't chamber is the wadcutter. I didn't expect it to, and it didn't. I find that TCs and RNFPs, as well as HPs feed very reliably....

I agree with this. Using both RNFPs and TCs work very well in my BBS. I posted a range review of 4 different types of 357/38 if you are interested.

The Fiocchi TC's were by far my favorite and also a reasonably priced round.

For .357, the only reasonably priced rounds I find are the one I make in my shop.

It is still an issue with mine, and I am investigating a solution to the sometime problem. Will update when I know more.

wailer1 wrote:It is still an issue with mine, and I am investigating a solution to the sometime problem. Will update when I know more.

Wailer1, please call Henry CS and explain what's happening with your rifle. A "sometime problem" is still a problem. HRA won't be satisfied until you are. Let us know what happens.

Just a reminder for all....and that includes me. One should also remember....Henry Big Boy rifles don't like being short stroked. They will not load reliably when short stroked. There also finicky when you operate the lever at a slow speed. You don't have to man handle the lever but it should be operated with some authority. Just some food for thought.

What some may have forgotten, virtually all lever gun makers who have offered pistol caliber guns will advise one to experiment with round/brand choice until you find what works. This is most true with 357 and 44 mag calibers that will also fire 38 special and 44 calibers respectively. I find with my BBS Carbine, it will reliably feed 158 grain round and flat nose FMJ's in 38 special without a hitch. Wadcutters, and some low powered hollow points not so much.