Back to the mothership
Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2024 10:43 pm
I bought an X-model in .44 magnum just before Wisconsins deer season with hopes of using it for the hunt. I've handloaded the .44 for a half a century and was confident that something already loaded would probably be just fine. Didn't happen. 50 yard groups were in the in the 3" to 5" range. Often two or three shots close together and then a flyer or two several inches away. I got my whitetail with a Big Boy steel .45 Colt but also hunted with a SS Henry H015 in .44 mag that shoots very well.
Since then I've slugged the barrel and it measures a little over .431". No wonder the lot of Nosler 240 gr. HP's did so badly on paper. They measure at just under .428". Hornady XTP's mic at .429" and were slightly better but still not good. A buddy and I took a little tour of the innards with a
his bore scope and we found no obvious flaws. I tried two different optics with similar results. I even sent in an UltraDot II with 2 minute dot and they sent it back with a sort of indignant note that there was nothing wrong with it. They were right...
Then I got to thinking ....I'm a bullet caster so since it's got a fat bore so I'll feed it some fat bullets. I powder coated several different styles of bullets and then ran them through a .432" Star sizing die. Some were loaded over proven loads in magnum cases and since this gun will NOT funtion at over the 1.600" SAMMI spec OAL some were loaded in .44 Spl brass. This collection of shotgun patterns was the result....will be phoning Henry tomorrow. After having all I could stand with the .44 I pulled out my X-Model .357. I was running out of daylight but had a box of ammo with 9 rounds left in it. It was the Lyman cast bullet #358665 which drop with my alloy at 166 gr. They were loaded over Blue Dot powder with the Garmin chrono reading at 1408 fps average. This was at 50 yards with a Leupold 2.5X scope. There's nine bullets in there but I think a couple of them used an already existing bullet hole. So....I own 10 Henry's and nine of them are really good. Stay tuned.
Since then I've slugged the barrel and it measures a little over .431". No wonder the lot of Nosler 240 gr. HP's did so badly on paper. They measure at just under .428". Hornady XTP's mic at .429" and were slightly better but still not good. A buddy and I took a little tour of the innards with a
his bore scope and we found no obvious flaws. I tried two different optics with similar results. I even sent in an UltraDot II with 2 minute dot and they sent it back with a sort of indignant note that there was nothing wrong with it. They were right...
Then I got to thinking ....I'm a bullet caster so since it's got a fat bore so I'll feed it some fat bullets. I powder coated several different styles of bullets and then ran them through a .432" Star sizing die. Some were loaded over proven loads in magnum cases and since this gun will NOT funtion at over the 1.600" SAMMI spec OAL some were loaded in .44 Spl brass. This collection of shotgun patterns was the result....will be phoning Henry tomorrow. After having all I could stand with the .44 I pulled out my X-Model .357. I was running out of daylight but had a box of ammo with 9 rounds left in it. It was the Lyman cast bullet #358665 which drop with my alloy at 166 gr. They were loaded over Blue Dot powder with the Garmin chrono reading at 1408 fps average. This was at 50 yards with a Leupold 2.5X scope. There's nine bullets in there but I think a couple of them used an already existing bullet hole. So....I own 10 Henry's and nine of them are really good. Stay tuned.