BB 44 Magnum Misfires

[Deacon]

My brother received a BB 44 Magnum from his wife for Christmas last year. She got it based on my recommendation and the fact that he loved mine. Before he ever got a chance to shoot it he got sick (multiple myeloma) and had treatments, etc. He is doing well and wants to deer hunt this year. I put a scope on it for him and took it to the range to sight it in. I grabbed what I thought was a box of 44 magnum shells and when I got to the range I realized I had Winchester 44 Special shells. I decided to go ahead and shoot them while I was there and was shocked when 37 out of 50 rounds did not fire. Each one of the misfires had a small indentation on the primer but not enough to set it off. I’ve talked to two other people with the same gun but they have never shot 44 specials in them. Is this common with Henry’s and 44 Special shells? Could it be the ammo or a problem with the firing pin? What are your thoughts?

[North Country Gal]

If the gun is new and has been sitting for some time, make sure there is no factory grease in the bolt slowing down the firing pin. You can use something like Gun Scrubber. I'd also check the hammer to make sure it has plenty of spring tension and is also free of factory grease. Next step is to fire a variety of 44 mag rounds, as well as some other brands of 44 Special. Winchester pistol primers can be pretty hard. If you're still getting ftfs, then time to contact Henry. That's often a headspace problem. Best of luck. Hope you get that Henry shooting the way it should.

[daytime dave]

I bought my BigBoy .44 magnum new. I shot both magnums and specials when I got it and had no problems. I just recently shot it and the magnums and specials all had positive ignition. My buckhorn sights jumped all over the place. I plan to put a Skinner rear peep on the rear.

[Deacon]

Took the rifle out today and shot some Remington 44 magnums with 6 ftfs’ out of 10 shots. Switched to HSM magnums and only had 9 ftfs’ out of 20 rounds. Going to try cleaning it real good tonight and see what happens.

[Redthies]

It sounds like a headspace issue, but definitely try to clean any sticky assembly grease out of the firing pin etc before going to the sending it back route. My older .44 BB is my favorite Henry.

[Steve51]

I have b Big Boy brass .44 rifle and a .44 Big Boy Steel carbine and I have never had a misfire but I have probably not fired more than 50 rounds of factory ammo. I rarely, if ever, shoot .44 specials from these rifles.

[Vaquero]

I have an older bbb that has never had a misfire. I only shoot reloads in it, hope youget it figured out.

RP

[PJM]

had an issue with my 44 mag SS. turns out he hammer extender was just touching the under side of the scope eyepiece and slowing down the hammer. Check out the underside of scope for scratches. A dremel fixed my problem after i filed the extender a bit.

[Richd]

Hi

I have a similar problem but 100% misfires. Any update on the resolution please?

Rich