Henry Rifle Forums

Hi all,
Well after a few months of questioning whether my BBB in .357 was ever going to be any good I finally managed to find a combination that works. The limitations here in the UK in regard to ammo choices meant the only way forward was to handload. At the start I was getting dinner plate patterns at 25 yds using factory ammo, beyond hopeless out of the box. I then had the barrel recrowned as it was very ragged looking, brand new rifle I may add. Not wanting the hassle of a ten hour return drive To the importer I asked a local smith to do it and there was some improvement but not as much as I had hoped for.
Rather than give up I started using different powder and bullet combos which has cost quite a lot and resulted in a variety of powders I have no use for but now from a dinner plate at 25 yds I am getting, with a simmons hunting scope 1- 1/12 group at 100 yds. Still some fine tuning of the load but at least I feel happier with the rifle now and will then remove scope and look for a decent set of iron sights, recommendations welcome!

Iron sight recommendations.

There are a number of Forum threads that have info from members re. using Skinner peep sights. I think there are members that are quite happy with these sights. Also check out the "Skinner Sights" link in the blue Forum banner above, right side. That takes you to the company's web site. It's a busy sight, but there are quite a few options for mounting different iron peeps on Henrys.

Also just over this last weekend in a Range Report I posted, there was some good chatting about these sights. Tractortad posted some great photos of his iron sight setup, too. He also provided some suggestions for both front and rear sights as he has on his Henry. It was a helpful post. Here is that link. http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 4&start=10

I hope other Henry Folk will chime in on your post to tell you about their iron sights on Henrys.
Trust you may find some iron sights you'll be pleased with, Twotone. Best in your search.
PT7

Twotone wrote:Hi all,
Well after a few months of questioning whether my BBB in .357 was ever going to be any good I finally managed to find a combination that works. The limitations here in the UK in regard to ammo choices meant the only way forward was to handload. At the start I was getting dinner plate patterns at 25 yds using factory ammo, beyond hopeless out of the box. I then had the barrel recrowned as it was very ragged looking, brand new rifle I may add. Not wanting the hassle of a ten hour return drive To the importer I asked a local smith to do it and there was some improvement but not as much as I had hoped for.
Rather than give up I started using different powder and bullet combos which has cost quite a lot and resulted in a variety of powders I have no use for but now from a dinner plate at 25 yds I am getting, with a simmons hunting scope 1- 1/12 group at 100 yds. Still some fine tuning of the load but at least I feel happier with the rifle now and will then remove scope and look for a decent set of iron sights, recommendations welcome!

Skinner Big Boy "Express" on the receiver, Lyman .494" Globe on the front with Lee Shaver inserts = best iron sight set-up around for a Henry Big Boy (IMO).

Hi both,
Thanks for the information. I will check out thavailability over here. I am sure Brownells will have them, great to have a recommendation as I was fishing in the dark with this,

Skinner sights are way over priced. I'd recommend Williams Foolproof sights. I had my smith add a third hole & move the sight forward. The Williams sight plus the work cost about the same as a Skinner Express & it works with the factory sight height on my .45 Colt BBS.

What did you settle on for powder/charge/bullet?

Hi there
I am using starline brass,a plated 158 gn rnfp bullet, 158 gns, case length 1.283". Powder is lil gun and the load is 15.7 gns using cci 400 primers.