Henry Rifle Forums

I've seen lots of comments from people who have found the perfect match of bullet/powder, etc., who claim consistent 1" groups at xx yds. And others who don't reload, but it's obvious they have spent many hundreds of dollars searching for the absolute best factory load.

But what about the guy who wants to buy an 18" lever 45-70, buy a couple boxes of factory ammo (Remington 405 gr. SP for the sake of argument) and head to the range to adjust his iron sights. Will he typically see 1"/3"/5" groups @ 100 yds?

"Typical" applies more to the shooter than the gun, all the more so when shooting iron sights and even more so with open sights. Had a Browning 1886 45-70 that I actually got to cloverleaf, now and then, at 100 yards with some factory ammo and the factory open sights, but it was on a day with excellent visibility and a day when these old eyes weren't being their usual fuzzy selves. 3" groups with those open sights were fairly easy to repeat, though, at 100 on a regular basis. Could usually keep things at 2" at 50 yards with that gun, too. It was a long 26" barreled gun though, so that long sight radius was a big plus and the gun weighed in at almost 9 pounds and that helped, too.

Tried a trapper version of the 1886 with a short 16.5" barrel and open sights and my accuracy fell way off, though. Recoil with that lighter gun started to affect my shooting, too. 3" at 50 was a good group for me with that gun. Nasty kicker. Don't miss it at all.

Would have gone peep sight with both rifles if that had been a practical option, by the way. A friend added a tang sight to his and loves it, but I didn't want to drill and tap the tang on the Browning.

In the end, both rifles were just too much for me in terms of weight and recoil, so traded them off. Funny thing. I can take all the recoil any magnum handgun can dish out, but even a 30-30 lever gun can instantly bruise my shoulder. Price I pay for being a gal, I guess.

Henry, I see this is your first post, so welcome to the Henry forum. Nice username, BTW!

You've already heard from one of the most knowledgeable members to answer your opening question (NCG). Good for you!

Oops! Yes, indeed, welcome to the forum

Hard to say. Each gun likes a different ammo and no 2 are alike. One would need to buy a box of each avaliable 45-70 factory ammo and see what it likes. I didnt do that for mine because I reload and have for over 40 yrs. One gun might give you a smaller group with one ammo vs another. But to say you could expect a given group consistantly Im not sure. But I would expect that 3 inch at 100 yards could be acheived most of the time would be my guess. Al

I got this group at 50 yards with my reloads out of my Henry 45-70CCh. Al

I used to have a marlin guide gun and could not hit the barn if I was shooting inside. I now have a #1 Ruger with scope that is a tack driver so it's hard to say though I only shoot my reloads.

defining accuracy as the rifle's ability to group shots, we've found that our 45-70 hasn't been picky about the ammo we've run through it .... below is an example showing a group with HSM Cowboy Action loads fired at 75 yards .... those rounds were fired from a sandbag bench rest at an indoor range .... in short, the rifle is capable of firing smaller groups than I have the ability to make it shoot

Welcome to the forum. North Country Gal is spot on. Your experience behind a gun will be everything and more telling then anything. Then the quality of ammo. Just to many variables to just say " it should shoot blah blah sized groups. Are you going to scope it? Use the stock sights or go with a aftermarket. Those things combined with your experience will be more telling of the true accuracy.

I can shoot 2-4 inch groups on average with at 100 yards Merit Aperture and my Hornady 325 FTX Leverevolution hand loads for ammo, on a good day. The Henry is a very accurate rifle. More so then the average shooter. I am sure others here can out shoot me. I can probably out shoot a few here though.

Take some time and try different ammo. If you are a reloader? Have some fun with different loads/powders. Have fun with your new gun. Let us know how it goes.

Henry, Welcome from the Show-Me-State! Are you related to SH by any chance?!?

The largest caliber Henry I've shot is the .357 Big Boy, and out-of-the-box, the first-time-shooting accuracy was a surprise. I think others have already said Henrys are darn accurate out-of-the-box. And also true is that the Henry shoots better than my abilities. Gives me something interesting to pursue.

I rarely measure group size with my calipers or ruler, but my gauge is simply how well I land the POIs in target. "The more the merrier!" I think if I solely concentrated on group size, my skill level might diminish. Can't explain that any further.

Since I don't reload, I cannot make any adjusts of my ammo. I do try different ammo brands to learn what my Henry "likes." Then I go outdoors to the range and just have fun!

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I had a hidden agenda (of course) for the question. A week ago I bought a Henry H010 18" which is to be a Christmas gift for my son. I had it shipped to my house as I wanted to check it out before sending it on to Alaska.

I was extremely pleased with fit, finish, function and couldn't help cycling the lever over and over. It was so smooth compared to the other brand I was considering and on a par with my Win M71 .348. The fly in the ointment came putting 20 rounds on paper.

Two 5 shot groups at 50 yds were 3". I moved to 25 and got 2" and 1". I haven't shot for years without a scope and had a hard time believing my old bifocal eyes might be to blame for those numbers even when using open buckhorn sights. I was looking for groups like JBER got although I see he cheated and used a scope!

It is what it is and I don't feel quite so bad after reading comments from this group. The gun is on its way to it's new home and its primary purpose is brown bear protection. My son will be thrilled and I will be too if I hear back I must be blind as a bat because he can't understand why I'm complaining!

henry wrote:A week ago I bought a Henry H010 18" which is to be a Christmas gift for my son.

Two 5 shot groups at 50 yds were 3". I moved to 25 and got 2" and 1". I haven't shot for years without a scope and had a hard time believing my old bifocal eyes might be to blame for those numbers even when using open buckhorn sights. I was looking for groups like JBER got although I see he cheated and used a scope!

hey, I only use a scope when I want to hit what I aim at .. ... a full load out of a 45-70 is fully capable of taking down a brown bear or any other critter that might be wandering around in the woods .... I have no doubt he will enjoy it

I looked at that 3" group on paper and thought it was huge. Then I held it up and thought about what it would look like pasted on a griz and it was really tiny

henry, welcome to the forum. I've gotten groups that were under 2" @ 100yds with Iron sights when I was younger & less shakey.
Now they are running 2" & 3" are more typical. Still great for hunting big game. I think you will like the .45-70.

I have a Marlin 45/70 and I also reload. For one thing I haven't spent hundreds of dollars testing loads for any rifle or revolver I reload for. Accuracy with this caliber can be quite a moving target - so to speak. Recoil, what factory or reloading recipe your particular rifle prefers, how well you site your target, etc. My rifle sports aperture sights, so while these are the most accurate of the iron sights, scopes will usually do better for target work. I would like to upgrade to a scope on the 45/70, but my son prefers the peep sights.
I bought 500 "405 gr Remington SP" bullets some time ago and I load these over 49 grains of Rel7.......a warm load for sure. I want to work up a new hunting load with a bit less recoil. This load gets 1" or less at 100 yds - if I do my part.
Since my rotator cuff surgery in 2012, I don't shoot this rifle much anymore. A "lead sled" would be nice for this.

Wow TraderVic that does sound like a warm load. I use the 405gr Rem. JSP too & get under 3" accuracy at 100yds with the Skinner Express sight.
I like that bullet it's usually very accurate.

Welcome to the forum! I also concur with NCG. The rifle will be way more accurate than you are.

As to recoil I load 300 gr. lead at around 1700 fps low recoil but still hits hard.with trail boss at 1250 fps it's like shooting a 410 the wife and grandkids shoot it.

The 45-70 is one major accurate round. I had one of the first Marlin Guide Guns that had the 18" ported barrel. I loaded a Sierra 300gr JHP over a heavy dose of IMR3031, I would get one inch or better at 100yds. I used both a peep site and a low power scope. Foolishly I let that rifle go. I am looking to replace it with the Henry CC Steel 22" barrel. I am wondering if the Henry action could hold up to a steady diet of power house loads. My Marlin load was pushing that 300gr bullet just over 2000fps. Today I am more interested in shooting my cast lead loads, but I would like to know how strong the STEEL Henry is. I already have the Golden Boy and the Big Boy in 44mag.

RiverRat wrote:I am wondering if the Henry action could hold up to a steady diet of power house loads. My Marlin load was pushing that 300gr bullet just over 2000fps. Today I am more interested in shooting my cast lead loads, but I would like to know how strong the STEEL Henry is.\

in the last few months our H010CC 45-70 has sent over a thousand Cowboy Action type loads and well over 400 full power dangerous game loads down range .... there is no doubt in my mind that it is built to handle a steady diet of any type of high power 45-70 rounds .... wish I could say the same for myself ....