Henry Rifle Forums

As I have written here I just bought a Henry h012mx. 357/38 spec.
The manual I received and the manuals on line for other Henry rifles do not mention to use only Flat nose type bullets. There are many statements on line to use only flat nose in lever action rifles. There are stories of tube explosions because of loading of round or pointed bullets
Some have stated that in the marlin manuals states this. They state do not use round nose or pointed nose type bullets.
Is there a reason that Henry does not consider the use of round nose not a problem or is the use of other type of bullets an urban legend.

I have read lots of stuff like that too. I use lead flat nose but have shot Remington lead round nose too. I just never let them slam when loading, and have never had an issue. Seat your primers properly too if reloading. I accidentally crushed a primer sideways while seating one, and it didn't go bang so maybe they are not as delicate as we think.

RanchRoper wrote: ↑

Fri May 15, 2020 10:09 am

I have read lots of stuff like that too. I use lead flat nose but have shot Remington lead round nose too. I just never let them slam when loading, and have never had an issue. Seat your primers properly too if reloading. I accidentally crushed a primer sideways while seating one, and it didn't go bang so maybe they are not as delicate as we think.

I thought the problem was when shooting not loading. I’ve never heard of one going off although I suspect it has happened.

Maybe it was happening more with Berdan Primers???

It is a theoretical possibility that a sufficient force with a hard nose bullet ( a military fmj/armor piercing for example) will ignite the primer. However, here's a controlled experiment with standard hunting rounds from about 5 years ago. Click on the image to get a readable full size.

https://www.reddit.com/r/guns/comments/ ... tonations/

The warnings are for spire pointed bullets, not round nose bullets, though the term round nose covers a lot of different shapes. Round nose 30-30 ammo has been the standard in lever action 30-30s as long as their have been lever action 30-30s. In fact, round nose bullets are the preferred lever action bullets for the sake of reliable feeding. Wadcutter and flat nose bullets can sometimes cause feeding issues in certain lever guns. This is most likely to happen in our lever guns that shoot revolver ammo, since a lot of this ammo is flat point

Standard spire point bullets have been the no no in tubular mag lever guns because of the danger of a sharp pointed bullet setting off the round above in the mag during recoil, though I have never seen a case of this actually happening. It's been the standard restriction, though, as long as there have been lever guns. We now have gummy point spire pointed bullets in the Hornady Leverevolution loads that now allows us to use spire points in tube fed lever guns. using these lever gun spire point ammo gives us improved retained velocity, so adds a bit more range to our old 30-30s.

Yep, I can get 2350 out of my hand loads with a 20' barrel using 160grn gummy tip that can really extend the range of a 30-30.

In my two Henry's, .38/.357 & .45Colt, I handload RNFP(round nose flat point) bullets. Have never had a problem.

Round nose lead bullets are fine, so are other lead bullet shapes, including JSP and JHPs. As has been said, pointed (spired) bullets, other than Flex tips, should never be used, and Henry advises against using FMJs, as well. Both for the same reason, the potential for accidental detonation of a primer in the mag tube, either from recoil or from a sudden impact, like dropping the rifle from an elevated position.

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... fmj#p37402

Jerrysea wrote: ↑

Fri May 15, 2020 10:01 am

As I have written here I just bought a Henry h012mx. 357/38 spec.
The manual I received and the manuals on line for other Henry rifles do not mention to use only Flat nose type bullets. There are many statements on line to use only flat nose in lever action rifles. There are stories of tube explosions because of loading of round or pointed bullets
Some have stated that in the marlin manuals states this. They state do not use round nose or pointed nose type bullets.
Is there a reason that Henry does not consider the use of round nose not a problem or is the use of other type of bullets an urban legend.

What NCG says.

Hi Folks,

I may be off to a good start [sarcasm] - again - I’m new to lever action also with the Model X in 357... I didn’t see any reference to specific ammunition in the manual. I just purchased some Hornady Critical Duty 357 Mag - seems like the plastic center core protrudes a bit and covers the primer of the adjacent round - would this ammo be safe ?

Looking for recommendation on a good home defense round and a cheap target round for practice.

Thanks...

Regards,
Scott

What NCG said pretty well covers it. Other than the Leveraction stuff, just stay away from the pointy bullets, should have no problem.
Some primers are softer than others too.

Grunt67 wrote: ↑

Sun May 17, 2020 8:00 pm

What NCG said pretty well covers it. Other than the Leveraction stuff, just stay away from the pointy bullets, should have no problem.
Some primers are softer than others too.

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the response...

Maybe I'll pick up some Remington HTP hollow points in 38 Spcl - honestly - for any envisioned home defense scenario - 38 Spcl should be more than enough bang - I don't plan on having any running "gun fights" where I need to penetrate windshields or car doors... I'm not a hunter - so home defense and target shooting are my only intended use...


Regards,
Scott

Sounds good, Scott.

North Country Gal wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 11:21 am

Sounds good, Scott.

Thanks NCG !!!


Regards,
Scott

Winchester 357 Mag 158GR Jacketed Soft Point

As a first time lever action owner I figured those would work okay. Those things gave me hell at the range. Never again.

Good luck in finding any kind of popular ammo at this time. A lot of dealers have empty shelves and what is there is overpriced. That is why I have been loading my own for many years.

Before I devoted all my shooting to cast bullets, I shot a mess of Remington Round Nose bullets out of my Marlin 336, 30-30 , that was before somebody said that I wasn't supposed to so then I went to the Flat Point " J" bullets and have a bunch of round nose still in their original boxes. I never had a Kaboom from shooting the round nose in the 336. Guess I didn't know any better then, guess I still don't cause I don't know what the truth really is concerning the matter so I better not say, one way or the other.

Gonna take one more range trip to see if it's user error. If the results are the same I may send my X Model back to Henry for a fix. After reading up, I see there's no way the rifle should have problems with flat or JSP rounds.