Range trip today - 3/2/21
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:10 pm
Nothing special, but needed to get out and burn some powder. Took the Henry BBS 357 and my Ruger NM Blackhawk 45 ACP/45 Colt for the outing. Set up some steel plates at 20 yds for the Ruger and 70 & 100 yds for the Henry. Weather was great; sunny and temps in the upper 40's with no breeze.
After going thru about 50 rounds with the Henry at the far targets I switched to the Ruger. Since it had the 45 ACP cylinder in it, I shot 50 rounds of my 200 gr. semi-wadcutter load. This is a fun load and very accurate. Then I switched cylinders and brought out my 45 Colt loads. Those loads are very addictive. There is an authoritative thump that the 45 ACP rounds can't match. I'm using a 250 gr. Missouri RNFP bullet with 7.2 gr. of Universal and boy do those steel plates dance.
After 50 rounds of 45 Colt I went back to the Henry to finish off another 50 rounds. Since 357 Mag. brass is hard to come by, right now, I've been loading 38 Spl. loads. I've got a lot of 38 Spl. brass and only about 300 rounds of 357 Mag. Some of the 38 Spl. brass is very old and has been reloaded upwards of 20 times. I had two cases split and both were nickel plated. I sort of expect this to happen with the nickel plated brass. It seems to be brittle because of the plating. I can't remember the last time I had a non-plated case split.
A side note here is the operation of the Henry. I'm not a round counter, but my best guess is that I have between 700-1000 rounds thru it now. I just marvel at how smooth the action is on the Henry. It was very good out of the box, but now it feels like butter sliding across a hot pan. Overall a great day in the sun with two favorite firearms.
Paul
After going thru about 50 rounds with the Henry at the far targets I switched to the Ruger. Since it had the 45 ACP cylinder in it, I shot 50 rounds of my 200 gr. semi-wadcutter load. This is a fun load and very accurate. Then I switched cylinders and brought out my 45 Colt loads. Those loads are very addictive. There is an authoritative thump that the 45 ACP rounds can't match. I'm using a 250 gr. Missouri RNFP bullet with 7.2 gr. of Universal and boy do those steel plates dance.
After 50 rounds of 45 Colt I went back to the Henry to finish off another 50 rounds. Since 357 Mag. brass is hard to come by, right now, I've been loading 38 Spl. loads. I've got a lot of 38 Spl. brass and only about 300 rounds of 357 Mag. Some of the 38 Spl. brass is very old and has been reloaded upwards of 20 times. I had two cases split and both were nickel plated. I sort of expect this to happen with the nickel plated brass. It seems to be brittle because of the plating. I can't remember the last time I had a non-plated case split.
A side note here is the operation of the Henry. I'm not a round counter, but my best guess is that I have between 700-1000 rounds thru it now. I just marvel at how smooth the action is on the Henry. It was very good out of the box, but now it feels like butter sliding across a hot pan. Overall a great day in the sun with two favorite firearms.
Paul
