Ammo question ref. Big Boy Steel 357/38

[Papermaker]

I recently bought a new Henry BBS 357 and am starting to look for ammo supplies. I have kept mostly 357 home defense loads and 38 special range loads for use with my 357 and 38 revolvers. I will most likely try to buy 357 magnum for the rifle. My question is, is there any type of 357 loads to stay away from with the Henry? I just missed a great deal at Palmetto State Armory on some American Eagle 158 grain Jacketed Soft Point. I really was not familiar with JSP rounds, but I did like the muzzle velocity of 1280 fps.

Any comments on JSP, or any other loads to stay away from with the Henry BBS 357? Thank you.

[steelersfan97]

The only rounds I ave used in mine are the American Eagle 158 grain Jacketed Soft Point .357 and the American Eagle 158 grain Lead Round Nose in 38 special.

No issues with those two rounds for me.

[clovishound]

Keep in mind the MV listed on the box of American Eagles is for a revolver. You will get substantially more out of a 20" barrel.

I ran those exact rounds over a chronograph using my BB steel .357. They registered 1800 fps. They are now my hunting round. I was going to develop a handload to hunt with. When I saw the chrony results, I put the rest of the box in my hunting backpack and called it good. A 158 grain soft point at 1800 fps should be up to the task of taking down a 150 lb hog. If you want the absolute max in MV, look to Buffalo Bore ammo. They are hot. They have some 158 grain ammo that runs over 2100 fps from an 18.5" barrel. Some people refuse to run them through their weapons because they are that hot.

I have not run a lot of factory ammo through my BB. Typically, the factory stuff is hotter than my target reloads. I can feel a definite difference in recoil. I have had good luck with the Perfecta brand that Wally World sells. They run about $16 a box around here. They are made in Italy, some say by Fiocchi. If I buy some more factory stuff to get more .357 cases, I will probably get the Perfecta due to price. The cases seem to reload jut fine for me.

They couple boxes of factory I have bought have all fed flawlessly, and were accurate.

As was stated, stay away from round nose. You don't want a round nose bumping on the primer of the round behind it when firing your rifle.

[CT_Shooter]

...stay away from round nose. You don't want a round nose bumping on the primer of the round behind it when firing your rifle.

I'd never heard that said about round nose bullets before, CH. So, thanks to you, I went looking for more information about it, which was both fun and educational.

I found a lot of musings, opinions, and anecdotes suggesting that round nose bullets shouldn't be an issue in lever guns; but I also found this declarative statement by Mike Rintoul, the owner of Grizzly Cartridge Ammunition Company, "Round nose bullets in factory loads are widely accepted as "safe" and have been in use for a century."

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... 76#p627933

http://www.grizzlycartridge.com

[clovishound]

Well, I am rather conservative about what I use and recommend.

I won't run 5.56 ammo through my .223 bolt action. I know the chances of a problem are very small. Still.......

[Papermaker]

Thank you for the responses.

[retAFShooter]

I haven't run into any 357 ammo that my Henry won't shoot well. But I will confirm what Henry warns you about that the short 38 specials (flat nosed) present a feeding problem in my Big Boy 357/38. I have to shoot the 158 gr rounds.

[JCN]

I see this thread was revived, if the OP is still interested, I posted a review of 4 different types of ammo through my BBS (including the AE you mentioned from PSA):

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=1238

[Papermaker]

Thank you, JCN for the info you referenced. I have bought a quantity of the PSA ammo you cited. Looking forward to using it on my range.

[Papermaker]

Thanks also retAFShooter. Looking forward to sending more rounds down range with my Henry.

[DWD445]

I don't have a 357 Henry, but Pefecta ammo from Walmart works good in my revolvers.
I reloaded a bunch of 357s the other day, all cases the same length, deburred etc.When crimping I crushed several cases,
almost all that crushed were Federal ?? Perfecta, Magtech, Blazer all good. Federal's I had to go REAL slow and kinda back off and bump the press
a few times and about 50 % crimped ok. Anyone else seen this ??