Henry Rifle Forums

Do the shooters that use cast bullets in their Henry's see any real accuracy difference between cast and jacketed bullets?
Unless you cast your own bullets it appears that premium cast bullets (using gas checks) from commercial manufacturers aren't really much cheaper than jacketed bullets.
Note: I shoot hardcast gas checked bullets due to the velocities in my load for max penetration in my hunting loads.

So far I have only used cast bullets in my 45 Colt Carbine because the round can be downloaded to Cowboy levels for plinking with non gas checked cast bullets or loaded to near max using Gas Checks for hunting.

I was looking at possibly using cast in my 357 rifle but due to the velocies requiring a gas check I don't see much savings by using cast over jacketed bullets UNLESS there is a real improvement in accuracy.

we haven't found much, if any, difference in the size of the groups that we can attribute to jacketed or cast bullets .... they do tend to group at different locations which is easily handled by adjusting the scopes .... for our practice 357 cast 158 gr practice bullets bought from Cabela's we pay about 8 cents a piece our practice 158 gr JHP's from Rose Distribution cost us about 10 cents each .... for us, over time, a few cents a shot adds up

JEBar wrote:we haven't found much, if any, difference in the size of the groups that we can attribute to jacketed or cast bullets .... they do tend to group at different locations which is easily handled by adjusting the scopes .... for our practice 357 cast 158 gr practice bullets bought from Cabela's we pay about 8 cents a piece our practice 158 gr JHP's from Rose Distribution cost us about 10 cents each .... for us, over time, a few cents a shot adds up

What kind of velocity are you getting in your practice bullets?
When I was checking around most companies were stating not to exceed 1400fps, even Berrys plated bullets has the same warning. That's why I started using Gas Checked bullets.

in our Henry 44 Mag :
240 gr Missouri Bullet Company Lead practice ammo ---1250 fps
240 gr Nosler JHP hunting ammo --- 1850 fps

Henry 357 Mag :
158 gr Oregon Trail coated SWC .... 1510 fps
haven't gotten around to working up a hunting load with Nosler 158 gr JHP

Henry 45-70 :
just starting working up hunting ammo with 300, 400 & 500 gr bullets (they will also be max loads)
practice ammo will be 405 gr lead bullets loaded to around 1375 fps (cowboy action loads)




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JEBar wrote:in our Henry 44 Mag :
240 gr Missouri Bullet Company Lead practice ammo ---1250 fps
240 gr Nosler JHP hunting ammo --- 1850 fps

Henry 357 Mag :
158 gr Oregon Trail coated SWC .... 1510 fps
haven't gotten around to working up a hunting load with Nosler 158 gr JHP

Henry 45-70 :
just starting working up hunting ammo with 300, 400 & 500 gr bullets (they will also be max loads)
practice ammo will be 405 gr lead bullets loaded to around 1375 fps (cowboy action loads)




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I looked on Oregon Trail's website and I don't see any "coated" bullets being offered. Did you mean the Missouri Coated bullets that you mentioned before?

Hogstir wrote:I looked on Oregon Trail's website and I don't see any "coated" bullets being offered. Did you mean the Missouri Coated bullets that you mentioned before?

sorry, my ooooops .... no surprise that I'd make one .. .. I usually try to provide a link but got in a hurry and didn't ... so, http://missouribullet.com/details.php?p ... &keywords=

JEBar wrote:

Hogstir wrote:I looked on Oregon Trail's website and I don't see any "coated" bullets being offered. Did you mean the Missouri Coated bullets that you mentioned before?

sorry, my ooooops .... no surprise that I'd make one .. .. I usually try to provide a link but got in a hurry and didn't ... so, http://missouribullet.com/details.php?p ... &keywords=

I'll buy a sampler pack of those and see how they shoot in my rifle.

Thanks.

JEBar wrote:

Hogstir wrote:I looked on Oregon Trail's website and I don't see any "coated" bullets being offered. Did you mean the Missouri Coated bullets that you mentioned before?

sorry, my ooooops .... no surprise that I'd make one .. .. I usually try to provide a link but got in a hurry and didn't ... so, http://missouribullet.com/details.php?p ... &keywords=

Funny. I just checked my bullet stash and discovered a box of the Missouri coated bullets for my 45 Colt unopened. I guess I need to start loading. I've been concentrating on the 357 too much, lol..

they make a similar coated cast bullet for a 45-70 that I'd love to try ===>http://missouribullet.com/details.php?p ... &keywords= <=== if the Barnes Buster 400 Gr Flat Nose Flat Base ===> https://www.midwayusa.com/product/55066 ... -box-of-50 <=== bullets don't work out, I'll probably order some from Missouri Bullet company .... I can buy a couple hundred for less than the cost of 50 from Barnes .... that said, I really like the look of the Barnes Busters ..

JEBar wrote:they make a similar coated cast bullet for a 45-70 that I'd love to try ===>http://missouribullet.com/details.php?p ... &keywords= <=== if the Barnes Buster 400 Gr Flat Nose Flat Base ===> https://www.midwayusa.com/product/55066 ... -box-of-50 <=== bullets don't work out, I'll probably order some from Missouri Bullet company .... I can buy a couple hundred for less than the cost of 50 from Barnes .... that said, I really like the look of the Barnes Busters ..

That's a BIG bullet!

Hogstir wrote:That's a BIG bullet!

at 400 grains, it most certainly is .... that said, my personal favorite is the Acme 500 gr RNFP ..

Hogstir wrote:That's a BIG bullet!

at 400 grains, it most certainly is .... that said, my personal favorite is the Acme 500 gr RNFP ===> http://www.acmebullet.com/bullets-reloa ... uct_id=446

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Have you ever tried lighter 357 bullets like 125gr? With the slower twist of the Henry ( 1/38 ) it seems like the Henry would be able to stabilize the lighter bullets better.
All the online calculators show good stability with that twist rate and bullet weight and only marginal stability with 158gr bullets.
Also I found out that Henry uses 125gr ammo when accuracy testing their rifles.

Hogstir wrote:Have you ever tried lighter 357 bullets like 125gr? With the slower twist of the Henry ( 1/38 ) it seems like the Henry would be able to stabilize the lighter bullets better.
All the online calculators show good stability with that twist rate and bullet weight and only marginal stability with 158gr bullets.
Also I found out that Henry uses 125gr ammo when accuracy testing their rifles.

The Henry Repeating Arms Company website states that both the Steel and the Brass Big Boy .357/.38 have a twist of 1:16.

The only Big Boy having a twist of 1:38 is the .44 Mag/Spl.

https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/big-boy/

CT_Shooter wrote:

Hogstir wrote:Have you ever tried lighter 357 bullets like 125gr? With the slower twist of the Henry ( 1/38 ) it seems like the Henry would be able to stabilize the lighter bullets better.
All the online calculators show good stability with that twist rate and bullet weight and only marginal stability with 158gr bullets.
Also I found out that Henry uses 125gr ammo when accuracy testing their rifles.

The Henry Repeating Arms Company website states that both the Steel and the Brass Big Boy .357/.38 have a twist of 1:16.

The only Big Boy having a twist of 1:38 is the .44 Mag/Spl.

https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/big-boy/

Whoops! Guess I got that info mixed up. Lol. Thanks for the correction.
I wonder why Henry is using 125gr ammo to check accuracy on their 357 rifles?

I finally have received my 300 gr bullet mold from RCBS, I now have a 5oo, 450 gr,405fpfb(flat point flat base) ,405 hbrn(hollow base round nose) ,340 and 300 gr molds..I have fired the 405 and 340gr bullets many times with excellent accuracy..The 405 fn I load to mimic the HSM 405 gr cowboy action the 340 run a bit faster (close to 1550 fps) with a might more kick. The hollow base round nose I am shooting in the HI Wall tho I have not fired for accuracy cause I am still waiting fer the Lyman sight.