Henry Rifle Forums

Guy's/Gal's
I went to my LGS yesterday looking to buy a Marlin in 44 Mag (order). None could be found and really they are getting up there in price. I asked if they had one in a Henry model, they said no but they do have a 45/70. I ended up buying that new Steel 45/70 and a set of RCBS loading dies and also two opened boxes of cast bullets that they had. Found some brass a Cabelas (Starline) now just waiting to find some primers somewhere and I am ready to reload for her. Did buy a box of Leverevolution Hornady ammo for it. Took her home pull the stock off and cut it down to 12.5" length of pull. Wrapped the lever in leather string, now she looks great and very comfortable to shoulder. Can't wait to try her out tomorrow (10-4-2020). I prefer the Marlin but for what this Henry is and the price, I am very happy with it.

Pictures to follow, took me till 2 am to get the LOP redone, and the lever wrapped.

jstanfield103 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:11 am

Did buy a box of Leverevolution Hornady ammo for it.

congrats on purchasing a Henry 45-70 .... ours has proven to be one heck of a rifle .... with Cowboy Action level ammo (like HSM ===> https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/hsm-cow ... rifle-ammo) , recoil is drastically reduced and is fun to fire .... with full power hunting level ammo, its recoil can be harsh and it can take down most any critter on the planet .... by loading your own ammo you have the option to fire loads of any level .... once I realized that I didn't need dangerous game ammo with its harsh recoil to punch a hole in paper, I've thoroughly enjoyed shooting ours .... do not mix LEVERevolution brass with standard (Starline) brass .... LEVERevolution brass is shorter than standard and should only be reloaded with FTX® and MonoFlex® bullets .... looking forward to your coming range reports and use impressions .... be sure to add your new Henry to our community's total at the link below



http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 13#p147513

45-70 in anything is a good purchase.Congrads!

do not mix LEVERevolution brass with standard (Starline) brass .... LEVERevolution brass is shorter than standard and should only be reloaded with FTX® and MonoFlex® bullets

JEBar, I never realized that, going to have to read up on that. Thanks for the advice. I wish I could have found something other than the LEVERevolution ammo but that was all the gunshop had.

jstanfield103 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:45 am

JEBar, I never realized that, going to have to read up on that. Thanks for the advice. I wish I could have found something other than the LEVERevolution ammo but that was all the gunshop had.

same thing happened to me the day we picked up ours .... I bought a box so a LEVERevolution round was the first fired through our Henry .... all in all, I fired about 10 and eventually gave away the rest .... my Henry didn't like them and I was concerned about accidentally mixing the brass with what we use

Took her out today and shot 10 rounds of the Hornady, wow think I will name this gun Thumper. It really lets your shoulder know that you fired it. It was shooting low left, raised the buckhorn sight and now it shoots to point of aim. The sight needed a little right adjustment but I noticed it really is loose on the metal it is mounted to. It kind of easily swivels. so I just swiveled it to the right and now hits point of aim.

Ordered a set of skinner sights for it today after the range. I had to raise the rear sight quite a bit so I don't think I will need to change the front sight on this rifle. Keep my fingers crossed till I get it.

Yep this one will definately be named thumper. 10 rounds is all my shoulder wanted for one day.

JEBar,
So this will be a stupid question, from a learning Reloader. I am really still pretty new to the reloading part of the sport. Use to load a Dillion 650 for 357 Mag and 44 Mag.
Did not like the progressive press, so sold the Dillon. Just recently bought a RCBS Rock Chucker, think I will like the slower pace one at a time routine a lot better.

My question is the Brass is just a little shorter on the Hornady brass. Will it make that much of a difference in loading ? I am going to be loading Laser Cast 300 grain flat nose and some Hornady 350 grain semi-jacketed flat nose.

Did take a poor low light picture of him today. This is what he looks like after the LOP shortened to 12.5" and wrapping the lever with leather string.

jstanfield103 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:22 pm

JEBar,
Just recently bought a RCBS Rock Chucker, think I will like the slower pace one at a time routine a lot better.

My question is the Brass is just a little shorter on the Hornady brass. Will it make that much of a difference in loading ? I am going to be loading Laser Cast 300 grain flat nose and some Hornady 350 grain semi-jacketed flat nose.

we have a good Hornady multistage press but I still load my 45-70's on a mid 60's vintage Rock Chucker .... I'm sure there are folks here who know more about the technical side of mixing LEVERevolution components and those that meet SAAMI .... knowing that 45-70 is a powerful caliber, I'm unwilling to stray far from load data that I trust .... I do know that compression of gun powder can yield significant pressure changes

Thank you Sir

Very nice congrats on your 45-70 rifle!

jstanfield103 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:44 pm

Did take a poor low light picture of him today. This is what he looks like after the LOP shortened to 12.5" and wrapping the lever with leather string.

I have the same rifle. You'll love it, never look back.

Thanks guys, like I said I was looking for a 44 Mag at the time. But very happy I bought this one instead. It fits me really well with the twelve inch length of pull and can't wait to get the Skinner sights and get rid of the wobbly rear buckhorn sight. She sure drives my 8x1/2" steel plate hard. Fun

Good looking rifle.

jstanfield...Love how you shortened up the stock on your new Henry! Is the stock mostly straight at the end to allow the recoil pad to match up around the edges?
45-70 is a nice thumper when you want it to be or you can load down using Unique powder for mild for 45-70 plinking.

I own a Marlin 1895 GS .45-70 and is a nice rifle even being a "Remlin" issue. Also I load my own ammo for it and do know about the Hornady 325 gr. Lever ammo being rather stout!
I must mention at one time I also had a BFR .45-70 revolver and that was FUN !

About loading the shorter Hornady Flex Tip brass which is about .055 shorter than standard.... I did a test comparing standard brass and the Hornady
brass loading a cast 405 gr. bullet with 38 gr. of IMR 3031 with standard length brass. The Hornady brass I backed down to 36.5 gr. of IMR 3031 and my test gun was the BFR revolver.
Result was the standard round checked out at an average of 1086 FPS and the Hornady load at 982 FPS. So being the .45-70 case has so much volume it didn't show signs in bullet velocity of higher pressure being slower with lighter load.
At low to mid level loads I wouldn't think there would be any problems using standard load data.

I also have a 1885 Uberti/Winchester High Wall in .45-70 and with this and the Marlin I stick with the Springfield loading data now days...easier on the shoulder! Shooting a 500 gr. cast torpedo round out of the High Wall gets your attention at the butt end and on the steel targets!

fortyshooter,
Thanks for the comments, really enjoy reading them. My buttstock is a straight cut. I cut it down on one of those old style angle saw cutters so it's straight and clean. I then mount the buttpad on it and sand it down even with the stock on a belt sander (carefully). Little hand sanding and some semi-gloss clear spray on it ( two light coats) after drying and then some light rubbing with 0000 steel wool to take the shine out. She was good to go. I love lever guns but I also like to be able to operate the lever while it is on my shoulder if I want to. Me being only 5'5" tall or short, the 14" length of pull feels like I have a 2x4 8' long hanging off my shoulder. I have 9 lever guns and every one of those I have had to cut down the stocks to a 12.5" LOP. Even my old ones like my 1955 Marlin 39A Mounty and my 1968 336 RC Marlin 30/30. Love those lever guns.

Those are some great looking rifles that you have there. Love that revolver also. Very Nice.

I have the same rifle as yours. I hand load with standard size brass. Deliberately stayed away from the Leverevolution stuff, due to the length.
I use mostly Starline brass. Works fine, not as expensive as Hornady.
Enjoy your new Henry, and welcome to the club.

I picked up some Starline brass (100) from Cabelas for it. Thank you.

Wrote an email for warranty service on the rifle a couple days ago. When I first shot the rifle the first day, I noticed that the rear sight was a little loose and had to be swang all the way to the right to hit point of aim. Did not worry much because I knew I was going to be putting Skinner sights on it. Well I have the Skinner sights on it now and I have had to adjust the front sight to the left and the rear sight to the right to even get it close to hitting at point of aim. When I look down the barrel it looks terrible with the sights adjusted so much out of line. Like you have to hold the rifle sideways almost. I looked at the receiver and the skinner sights on it. The sight body is all the way to the edge of the receiver on the left side and has probably a 1/16" on the right side. Look at the barrel from the front and it also appears to be off center just a little. Everything centered up at 25 yards the rifle was shooting a good foot to the left if not a little more. So something is a miss. Anyway I will see how good customer service is now in these times. Not good for Henry though. Last Golden Boy I bought the rifling did not go to the end of the barrel and had to be sent back. They replaced the barrel on it to make it right. I don't know how they will fix a miss drilled receiver and barrel ? Hope I don't regret this purchase, Henry has one of the best reputations there is but in these times I may not have the rifle for a very long time. I also hope that they send back the rear stock if they replace the rifle since I have already cut it down and also the Skinner sights. I have put a barrel blank in the dovetail of the rear sight and hope I get all the changed stuff back. But it took some time to get all those things in place and really can't send the rifle back without the rear stock. To center the front sight to the barrel it is been moved all the way to the left where the right edge of the front sight is on the edge of the dove tail. The brass insert of the Skinner rear sight is hanging over the right edge of the sight base right at a 1/16" . I have not heard back from them as of yet and wrote them the email requesting the service on Sunday. It is now Wednesday morning. Hope to hear something soon.

That would be pretty upsetting. People bad mouth Remington's Marlin for their lack of QC. I surely hope Henry isn't taking that path.