240 gr cast 44 are keyholeing at 25 yards

[Johnnyjr]

What cast bullets and what weighs
Are you finding to be the most accurate
In your 44 mag Henry's with the 1/20
Twist rate..Thank you.

[BigAl52]

Pretty hard to beat MCB 240grain Hi Tek bullets. Id be trying some of those if I had a 44 mag

[Vaquero]

The 240 and 250 gr cast should work nicely.
With the 1:20 you should be able to use some even heavier bullets.
I have a 320 gr that I cast; but I haven't played with those since Henry swapped my barrel last year.

RP

[Johnnyjr]

Tried the 240 swc today at 25 yds. Terrible,keyholes all over the place. Thinking of trying the 200 gr.

[BigAl52]

Have you slugged the bore? Have you tried factory ammo?

[fortyshooter]

Keyhole could be due to too small bullet diameter. From what I read now the Henry rifles come with a .431 bore so best to use a .432 sized lead bullet. A mystery to me how it doesn't effect .430 sized jacket bullets. The 1 in 38 twist would give trouble with a heavier than 240 gr. bullet at over 100 yds. The 240 gr. .430 sized MB bullets I shot were just to the left but grouped well except for a tumbler or two in 8 shots. For steel plinking I'll just move the sight over a click.

[runnin n gunnin]

Hey Forty, I'm going to start calling you the Professor ! ! ! I'm using Focus Factor and couldn't remember all that.

[Vaquero]

RP

[Vaquero]

Keyhole could be due to too small bullet diameter. From what I read now the Henry rifles come with a .431 bore so best to use a .432 sized lead bullet. A mystery to me how it doesn't effect .430 sized jacket bullets. The 1 in 38 twist would give trouble with a heavier than 240 gr. bullet at over 100 yds. The 240 gr. .430 sized MB bullets I shot were just to the left but grouped well except for a tumbler or two in 8 shots. For steel plinking I'll just move the sight over a click.

I still haven't slugged the new barrel on the 44, but I haven't shot it much yet either.

RP

[runnin n gunnin]

You to Vaquero ???

[Vaquero]

You to Vaquero ???

What?

RP

[Johnnyjr]

Now before any comments I have scrubbed the hell out of this barrel there's no lead in it trying 240 grain cast semi-wide cutter bullets several different powders supposedly hard cast bullet from rimrock. Tried several loads yesterday I only loaded three each at 25 yards they keyhole I mean really bad this has the one and 20 twist Henry big boy all weather model I have not shot any so-called high velocity loads anything over what the manual suggest what do you think is going on here I even tried some 200 grain round nose flat points and they also were key holding if not anyway they were all over the place again at 25 yards now I tried some barns 240 grain factory rounds they shot good I would like to hear some ideas on what might be going on here I appreciate it I'm going to try the same 240 crane bullet only in 44 special just to see what that does thank you very much for any help on this deer season is fast approaching thank you Johnny

[BigAl52]

No information to help you with. What size are the bullets you are trying and have you slugged the bore

[Johnnyjr]

How do you slug the bore

[Johnnyjr]

It shoots factory ammo just fine.

[BigAl52]

You will need to get a hold of some pure lead. Such as a round ball like used in muzzleloading or you can buy a bore slugging kit for that caliber. Even a lead sinker will work. Just needs to be slightly bigger than bore size. Lube it and drive it through the bore with a wood dowel. Needs to be pure lead. then measure it with a caliper. Im sure there is some videos on you tube. Like Forty said I bet the bullets you are shooting are undersized for the bore. Lead bullets need to be one size up from bore size. IE if the bore measures .430 you should be getting bullets sized .431

[Vaquero]

The bore may be a little over sized.
As Al mentioned, slug the bore.

RP

[JEBar]

It shoots factory ammo just fine.

with that being the case, have you checked to see if the factor loads are using bullets with the same diameter as the ones you are loading

[Johnnyjr]

Yes,I think I need at least .432 diameter. Guess I never noticed the .430 on the box.. oh well,I should have head out of my ass that day..so I'm guess the ,430 jacketed. Just grips the bore better.

[BigAl52]

Well if it was me I wouldnt do any more guessing I would definitely slug the bore.