Henry Long Ranger .308 experience?

[Sunday Creek]

Greetings. I'm a first-time poster. I've had a Long Ranger in .308 since January but haven't had time to do much shooting. I'm an experienced, though not an expert, reloader. I was wondering if anyone had developed a good load for this rifle or knows what bullet weights it seems to prefer, and I do understand that all barrels are individual, but sometimes they follow a fashion. My interest is for elk and black bear as I have a very special hunt coming up, but it is for 2019 so I have lots of time. (I'm not new to Henry rifles as I have a .22, 22Mag, and a .357.) Thanks.

[PT7]

3HRF.jpg

Welcome from the Show-Me-State, Sunday Creek.
Enjoy your Forum visits.

[ESquared]

Greetings and welcome to the forum! You'll find this to be a great place. I'm a relative newcomer myself and have learned SO much in the past few months.

I'm also a fairly new 308 Long Ranger owner, but have put it through some paces, zeroed in a 4-12X42 Leupold VX Freedom, etc. Early on, I read a quote attributed to Anthony Imperato, the owner of Henry, where he allegedly said that Federal Fusion was what the LR 308 seemed to like best, based on what he was hearing. I've also learned that he doesn't remember ever saying that, so who knows? I also learned that "under 160 grain" was performing best (from another Henry insider).

Anyway, the Federal Fusion I've been tuning up with, at 150 grains. Here's a pic of a recent target, indoors, at 50 yds, and I just returned from an outdoor range trip where I was ringing steel targets at 400 yds with the same load. I'm looking at moving into reloading, so this will be my "model," so to speak, as it seems to be very compatible with the barrel length, twist rate, etc. My tutor on my outoor trip commented that the chamber fit was very good, based on the residue marks left on the lip of the case (very slight). He also figured that, even though I had this pretty much dialed in at 50 yds, based on the initial rise and drop rates, that this was pretty much zeroed in out to 200 yds.

I've tried other ammo, all 150 grain, but I just have more downrange with the Federal Fusion has by far seen the most action and the best, most consistent results.

[BigAl52]

Sunday Creek welcome to the forum please take a look at our how many thread and add your Henrys to our running total.
http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... &start=600

I would try some Barnes TTSX bullets in that 308 if it were mine. I have used there ammo in my hunting rifle and I do reload have for 40 plus years. Its some fine shooting ammo and I dont think I could load any that shoots better than theres for my rifle.

[Mags]

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Welcome to the forum from the TV Oregon!

Greetings. I'm a first-time poster. ....

[JEBar]

My interest is for elk and black bear as I have a very special hunt coming up

first of all, welcome to our forum, delighted to have you join us .... looking forward to your coming range and use reports .... many years ago I took both black bear and elk with a 308 Browning BLR .... within its range, it is a very effective caliber .... we hand loaded our ammo and found that for both bear and elk 180 gr deep penetrating Nosler Partitions worked well .... for deer we use 150 gr bullets ..... please be sure to follow the link Al provided and add all your Henry rifles to our community's total

[Sunday Creek]

Thanks for the welcome guys. I had a BLR in .308 for many years. I took numerous deer and antelope with it as well as several elk and one Shiras moose. It blew up on me the fault of one company's bulk bullets when I was practicing for a sheep hunt. (I did take a ram with a BLR in 7-08.) I also had a fancy BLR in .300WSM and another in .358. I traded all the BLRs off for one reason or another. For a number of years I took all of my game, including elk and a wolf, with my Marlin 1895G. As I've gotten older, and due to numerous injuries as the result of being a rancher in Montana, I dropped down to the 6.5s (all single-shots) in recent years. But, then came the opportunity to hunt with the legendary Warren Johnson of Hell's A'Roarin' Outfitters and decided I need something in .30 cal again and had to choose between the BLR and the Henry. I was impressed with my other Henry rifles so I decided to go that way. When the rifle arrived it had a very rough action so after playing with it for about 30 rounds I sent it back to Henry and they improved the cycling and the trigger and added a different stock. I am particular in wanting to take game with reloads, I just feel more satisfaction about that, and I am a bit of a terminal ballistics wonk. I have three piles of newsprint soaking in a water tank as I write this. Being a one-man ranching operation as well as a professional writer, I don't have a lot of time to shoot. Fortunately, being a rancher, my range is located about 150 yards from my house so it is convenient. Testing bullets is a real weakness of mine and becomes very expensive. I am leaning Nosler at the moment because of the Partition, Accubond, and E-Tip. But have not ruled out the TTSXs. I also have bullets from a number of boutique bullet makers like Cutting Edge, DRT, Lehigh Defense, and Hammer. I would love to find and use something different, but the tried and true are established for a reason. By the way, the photos posted on this thread wouldn't open for me, so there is something I need to do on my end yet, plus I may be slow in learning to post photos. I have a lot of cattle work coming up this week but will try to report back with results as I can. Thanks again for the welcome.

[JEBar]

I had a BLR in .308 for many years. I took numerous deer and antelope with it as well as several elk and one Shiras moose. It blew up on me the fault of one company's bulk bullets when I was practicing for a sheep hunt.

I bought our Belgium made BLR during their second year of production .... the thought of blowing it up is nothing less than shocking ....

I was impressed with my other Henry rifles so I decided to go that way.

well understood .... if I was in the market today for a 308, I'd go with a Long Ranger for the same reason

Testing bullets is a real weakness of mine and becomes very expensive. I am leaning Nosler at the moment because of the Partition, Accubond,

when it comes to hunting, since the mid 60's I only use Nosler bullets for big game hunting ..... not to say that I haven't experimented with other brands but in the end I always come back to Noslers .... my elk hunting with a 308 was before Nosler came out with its Accubond line ..... if I was going elk hunting today, I'd load Accubond bullets

[CT_Shooter]

Greetings. I'm a first-time poster.

Welcome to the forum from CT. It will be fun to read your range reports and hunting experiences.

[TraderVic]

As I've gotten older, and due to numerous injuries as the result of being a rancher in Montana, I dropped down to the 6.5s (all single-shots) in recent years.

Interesting. My wife and I loaded out the last of our cattle about a year and a half ago, just her and I - and the farm took it's toll on a few things, including my shoulders (I'm older too). Had a medium tear on my right rotator cuf (strong side) and needed surgery about six years ago and now considering a new deer rifle with less recoil. I'm looking at the 6.5's and/or maybe a 7mm-08. I like to shoot and also I reload, but have been shooting my 270 a lot less than I used to, so I'm thinking a short action rifle of one sort or another.

I don't have a lot of time to shoot.

Yep, I certainly understand this one.

I have a lot of cattle work coming up this week but will try to report back with results as I can. Thanks again for the welcome.

No doubt - as we're heading into winter. I load some Nosler and quite a bit of Hornady bullets. Looking forward to hearing about your new Henry 308 after you've done some shooting and hunting.

[Sunday Creek]

I had to get the three bundles of soaking newsprint out of the water tank -- they'd been in there almost a week and I have stock coming home Tuesday -- so I stacked them up and shot into them. Surprisingly, the least penetration came from the Nosler E-Tip at 14 1/2", followed by a 150 Accubond at 15", a 165 AB at 15 1/2", a 150 Nosler Partition at 18", and the winner was... a 152-grain Lehigh Defense at 20". I haven't gotten around to weighing the recovered bullets yet, but they all retained weight very well.

[JEBar]

no surprise at the penetration of the partition .... have you ever tested any 180 gr'ers

[Sunday Creek]

I almost tested some 180 NPs today, but didn't have time. Distance was only 50 yards and I didn't take time to set up my chronograph, but velocity would have been fairly similar on all. I just shot three more times because I had an extra 14" of newsprint. The Lehigh Defense blew right through it and the bale of hay I had behind it. A 135-grain DRT and a 150-grain ACCUBOND both went through the newsprint but I don't think they exited the hay bale.

[JEBar]

I can't help but go back to my grandfather's philosophy on bullets .... he used to tell me that when a bullet goes through an animal, all of the energy it expends after leaving the animal is wasted .... he wanted a bullet designed to mushroom so that would expend all of its energy as it penetrated deep into the vitals .... that's the reason for bear, deer, and boar hunting he stuck with his Model 94 30-30 and didn't switch to a 30-06 .... the Nosler's I've dug out of elk, bear, boar, and deer did just that .... later on, while staying with 30 caliber, I caught the bug and jumped all the way up to 300 WBY Mag .... I never found any of the bullets from it that blew right through the deer I took with it .... every time I looked at the exit hole in one of them, I couldn't help but thank back knowing just what my grandfather would have said ..

[ESquared]

Seems like your grandfather was spot on, at least in my mind. Maybe we've all been overcome by the "Tim-The-Toolman-Taylor" philosophy of "more power," when in reality, less power might do just fine.

But then again, I'm new here...