Henry Rifle Forums

I tried the search feature and did not come up with anything in regards to this topic.
Has anyone used aluminum cased ammo. in 357 magnum? If so have they had any problems with their Henry Rifles?
If used in other calibers, have they had any problems with their guns?

Jerrysea wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:30 am

I tried the search feature and did not come up with anything in regards to this topic.
Has anyone used aluminum cased ammo. in 357 magnum? If so have they had any problems with their Henry Rifles?
If used in other calibers, have they had any problems with their guns?

Jerrysea, Henry warns on Page 8 of the Big Boy manual:

DO NOT USE BLAZER OR OTHER ALUMINUM CASED AMMUNITION IN THIS RIFLE.

https://assets.henryusa.com/uploads/201 ... Manual.pdf

Thank you. The manual I have is titled. Henry Side-Gate Lever Action X models.
It appears it was written in a hurry. I have not seen that warning in this manual.
I did contact Henry with some questions for this gun. They did advise via email, to look at the video for the h006. Big Boy.

Jerrysea wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:30 am

Has anyone used aluminum cased ammo. in 357 magnum?

years ago when the service handgun for the Department of Correction I worked for was a S&W 357 we fire untold thousands of rounds of it .... it did OK .... never have fired a single round of it in our Henry rifle

Aluminum ammo shall never touch the chambers or magazines of any of my firearms. Aluminum is for BBQ's and airplanes.

Shot a bunch of it way back. It worked ok with in my Security Six.

Never used it but only because my club doesn't allow it. They don't want to have to sort through all the recycled brass or have their recycler do it for them. Too costly for them.

Aluminum cased ammo will not scratch chambers or damage them any more than brass case ammo. I've used it successfully with absolutely no damage to 1911s, other semi autos and revolvers that don't use moon clips. In semi autos, feeding from the removable mag, the lighter weight of the aluminum case ammo is not a factor. Feeds the same as brass ammo, assuming your mag is free of burrs on the lips. I can buy aluminum case 45 auto ammo that is only a bit more expensive than 9mm ammo and accuracy is right there with the bulk brass 45 auto ammo.

In some revolvers using moon clips, though not all, the lighter aluminum case ammo can bounce a bit when hit by the firing pin and cause light strikes. This I have experienced. The problem in lever actions is that aluminum case ammo is lighter than brass case ammo and that can cause issues with feeding from the magazine tube where the timing mechanism is critical and then getting picked up by the lifter which is also a critical step.

Hey, if I can use steel case ammo in some of our bolt guns with absolutely no damage to the chamber, the much softer aluminum won't cause damage.

Luckily I was able to buy some brass cased 357 mag. yesterday. I went with my Son and daughter in law to buy a gun for her.( (I have not been going to stores,I am in the danger age group).(They are new to guns, so I went with them.))
They had 357 for less then some of the places on the internet advertise. Plus there was no shipping charge.
I should be good for a while on 357 ammo.

Several years ago I bought both a Henry BBB in 45 Colt and a Ruger BH 45 4 and 5/8 inch. Since this was a new caliber, I was still gathering supplies to reload, I bought a box of Blazer Aluminum 200gr to shoot. It cycled just fine in both guns. In fact, both guns shot to POA without sight adjustment. Being an old die hard reloader, it pained me sorely when I had to throw away those empties.

Muddy Waters