New Henry owner from New Hampshire

[Alchris658]

Hello Everyone

I just bought my first Henry . I picked up the new side gate in 38-55 . I had a 38-55 years ago and sold it . I was looking for the last six months for one and came across the New side gate Henry. So I picked one up .
Took it to the range and well lets say it did not shoot very well . I bought a couple of boxes of Bulleye 38-55 245gr lead RNFP . I also installed a Skinner Alaskan peep sight . Shooting at 25 yards to check sights my average groups were 7 inches I only shot 20 rounds. I got home to clean the rifle so I could slug the bore and found it was severely leaded . I spent a couple of hours cleaning the lead out and slugged the bore which measured .376. I then pulled a bullet from the second box I bought and the bullet measured .375. So my thinking is this ammunition is the problem not enough to upset the bullet to seal. I could not find any specs on line about this ammunition
I do like the rifle and it is very well made . I will have to research ammunition to find what this likes so far Bulleye is not one of them

[Cofisher]

Welcome from Nebraska. Sorry your first shooting let you down. Better ammo may be the answer. I know nothing about the 38-55, but, Big Al is our regular pro on it. You will certainly get some help. Enjoy your Henry!

[markiver54]

Welcome to the forum Alchris658, glad to have you here!
I have no experience personally with the 38-55, so can't help on that one. I'm sure many on here will follow that can provide some insight.

[CT_Shooter]

Welcome to the forum from CT. Please keep us posted about how it shoots and what ammo works best. Glad you joined us.

I just bought my first Henry . I picked up the new side gate in 38-55 .

[BigAl52]

Welcome to the forum Alchris658. Thanks for the complement CoFisher but Im no 38-55 pro. Alchris please take a look at our how many thread and add your new Henry to our running total. http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... start=1090

Ive shot mine a few times but havent ever shot any factory through mine. Mine shoots very well with a Lyman gas check I get from Montana Bullet Works.
https://www.montanabulletworks.com/prod ... 4gr-fn-gc/. I get these sized in 377. and load them with reloader 7. Ive had the best luck in 38-55 with reloader 7. I also have a Marlin 336 cowboy that likes the same powder with different bullets. Here is a target I shot at 50 yards off bags with the stock irons.

IMG_1052.JPG

[Alchris658]

Thanks BigAl nice shooting . I am hoping for similar results I figured at 25 I would have gotten close to a one hole that wasn't my case I will have to order some bullets now that I pulled all 20 of the bulleye they were built using starline brass haven't measured them yet but most likely shorts

[RanchRoper]

Welcome from Alberta.

[BigAl52]

Thanks BigAl nice shooting . I am hoping for similar results I figured at 25 I would have gotten close to a one hole that wasn't my case I will have to order some bullets now that I pulled all 20 of the bulleye they were built using starline brass haven't measured them yet but most likely shorts

Yes all of my brass is the shorter brass. I have Starline and Winchester. Starline has a thinner wall than the Winchester. The Starline brass is the one I used in the Henry. I also use it in the Winchesters I have. When I load for my Winchesters they shoot a fatter .380 bullet. The Starline will work with the 380 and the Winchester is tight. I mainly keep the Winchester brass for the Marlin.

[Mags]

.
Hello and welcome from the TV, Oregon! Sorry to hear about your new out of the box shooting experience. Henry sometimes does quite a bit of test firing and they don't clean the bore afterwards. So hearing about your bore being dirty is not uncommon. If interested here is a site where you can at least see a partial list of factory ammo manufactures who make .38-55 ammo.
https://ammoseek.com/ammo/38-55-winchester sorted by price/rnd
https://ammoseek.com/ammo/38-55-winchester?sort=mfg sorted by factory.
Also, here is a list of other online factory ammo sources.
http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 44#p110763

I just bought my first Henry . I picked up the new side gate in 38-55 ...

[BruniX]

Welcome, Alchris658 !
BruniX

[Vaquero]

Welcome & Hello from W TN.

RP

[The Wiz]

Welcome!!!!

[If1Hitu]

Welcome........

[Alchris658]

Evening A quick update . I got the all the lead out of the barrel . I ended up using Bronze wool wrapped around my cleaning brush . I ordered a Lyman 264 two cavity mold and gas checks . I should have them by tomorrow . Saturday I will cast up a bunch . I have two 5 gallon pails full of linotype and two 5 gallons full of pure lead .I just weigh up 5 pounds of each . I am going to mix 1-1 which should be close to Lyman # 2 . Last time I casted for the 45 colt I using that mix and was running 14.3 BHN and zero leading shooting 300 rounds . I have 3031 and just picked up some Reloder 7 I have both long and short cases so will do some of both . I will size to .377 as mine slugged at .376 . I will keep everyone updated on the progress and fingers crossed a good range report . I should have done this to start but the ammunition I got seemed like a very good deal to start I was WRONG