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Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

servant824
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Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by servant824 » Fri Jan 03, 2020 5:35 pm

All of the 44 mag rifles on Henry's website state 1-20 twist. Not the old 1-38. When did this change?
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by BigAl52 » Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:07 pm

Id call them. Seems to me this came up before and the website wasnt right.
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by PATOKARI » Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:06 pm

Hey "servant824",

Will you please share what you find out?

Thank you!
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by servant824 » Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:56 pm

A member on the Cast Bullet forum spoke with a Henry tech about this. He said the Henry tech stated they are in the process of using up all the present supply of 1-38 barrels they have and then will switch to 1-20 twist for the 44 mag. No date or serial number cutoff was mentioned.
This company listens to customers.
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by fortyshooter » Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:24 pm

So is this to shoot heavier than 240-250 gr. bullets?
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by John E Davies » Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:02 pm

Wow, that is welcome news. I emailed customer support about ten days back about this and never received a reply, which bothered me. I wonder if the new fast twist guns will be marked as such on the box ID label.

I would be pissed, extremely, if I bought a 1:38 gun thinking it was 1:20 due to Henry advertising mistakes. I would feel more confident if they posted this announcement at their FB page or website.

I will hold off on my purchase of an AW for a while.... maybe by then they will offer the AW in a carbine.

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servant824
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by servant824 » Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:35 pm

I have a 1-38 .44 and wish it was a 1-20. But it shoots pretty well. Still trying out loads. I have had to push up the velocity in the 1-38 twist a bit harder for accuracy so far. But I have not shot any cast out of it yet just jacketed.. But groups are much tighter as I get near about 90% of listed max loads of AA9 or 2400.
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by John E Davies » Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:25 pm

Found Henry’s response to my questions in my spam folder..... i emailed back asking for clarification and if there will be any way to identify a 1:20 gun other than forcing a patch down the barrel. I wonder how long distributor inventory of the older guns will take to “sell down”... maybe online sellers will list the new TR, but I personally would not rely on that data when the gun might be an older version. It would be nice if it were stamped on the barrel next to the caliber markings.

“Thank you for your interest in Henry rifles.

The .44 Magnum Big Boy series rifle barrels have undergone a change from the old twist rate of 1:38” to a new twist rate of 1:20”. This was to simplify production of .44 Magnum barrels using the same twist rates for both the Big Boy series and the Single Shot series.

The changeover in the .44 Magnum rifles' twist rates was a running production change for which we have no specific date or serial # reference.

There is no functional difference in the use or operation of our .44 Mag Big Boy lever-action rifles, no matter which twist rate the gun has. Due to the nature of the lever-action mechanism, the Big Boy rifles (H006- and H012-series) still use the same ammunition as previously. They can use any reputable, good-quality brands of factory standard or +P loads of .44 Magnum or .44 Special which have standard profile bullets (lead or semi-jacketed round-nose, semi-jacketed or jacketed flat-nose and hollow-point) up to a maximum projectile weight of 260-grains.”


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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by ruhler » Tue Dec 29, 2020 5:37 am

I really want that new twistrate, I have a Henry AW 44magnum and want to be able to shoot heavier (longer) bullets with better stability. Just inserting the data for my current bullets all from 200 to 310grain in this: https://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi and changing twistrate from 1:38 to 1:20 goes alot higher in the stability calculator, the longer bullet the faster twist you want. Now Henry sells 44mag with the twistrate I wanted from the start, anyway mine shoots well with cast bullet up to 290grain sized to .432 so its really no need for me to replace what I have.

But still it keeps me wondering if the accuracy will be better with the new rate of twist? Anyone has some rangereport?
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Re: Did I miss something? .44 mag twist rate?

Post by MarkB » Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:23 pm

You know you can check the twist rate easily. You are looking for either a 1:20 or a 1:38 twist rate which means one full turn in either 20 " or 38". Just mark your cleaning rod and, with a patch, pull the rod through the bore and watch how much the rod turns. About one full turn for the 1:20 twist and about i/2 a full turn for the 1:38 twist in a 20 inch barrel. A 16.5" barrel will have turns of about 3/4 for the 1:20 rate and about 3/8" for the 1:38 twist.
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