Henry Rifle Forums

Got down to my range to test a few loads including the MB 200 gr. Cowboy 15 bullet loaded with 8.5 gr of Unique with the 1873 Carbine.
These were loaded as .44 Mag and they seemed to shoot okay when I was seeing my front sight clearly. I had a touch of yellow paint on it but depending on the angle it would just fade out or blend in with the target. Was mostly cloudy and that was causing issues with the front sight. Think I will try a brass bead insert on it as it has to stand out against the background.
Anyway I charged on with it and didn't do to bad from 40 yds on the paper target. Shot some steel also and no issue picking them off and lined up on one of my rimfire targets of 1/4 inch steel. Yep the 200 gr. cast bullet at 1200 FPS bent that all to crap! Similar to a .44-40 load it ain't no slouch!
Speeds were from 1185 to 1235 FPS which is perfect for plinking and nice clean lead free bore after 30 rounds of them. Shot a few of the 200 Xtreme plated bullets again with 9.5 Unique and the 1873 really likes those shooting that one shot much on point!
The 200 gr. MB load will do well for general steel and target use.

Those 1873's are great looking rifles regardless of who makes them or exact configuration... yours is no exception!

This reminds me I still need to replace the steel swinger my heavy 357 loads destroyed... rated "up to 44 Magnum" by @&$.