Henry Rifle Forums

I'm getting ready to order my 1st Henry....Big Boy Steel carbine in 44mag.

I plan on using it here in SW Ohio for deer hunting.

I understand from talking to a technician at Henry the carbine is optimized for 240gr.

I'll most likely be shooting either JHP or SJHP.

Are there any brands of ammo this gun seems to prefer or brands it doesn't like?

Thanks in advance.

first, welcome to our community, delighted to have you join us .... our Henry 44 Mag hasn't proven to be picky about ammo .... we reload and use Nosler's 240 gr JHP's .... when you get yours, please be sure to add it to our How Many ? thread

I think you will find the 240gr is more than adequate for taking deer in the Midwest. If I have to buy factory ammo to hunt with, I usually prefer some sort of jacketed soft point. Some hollow points are designed to over-expand at handgun velocities at short distances, and don't perform well in hunting applications. I like an entrance and exit wound when hunting. You don't always get that with a hollow point handgun bullet. Velocity has a great impact on expansion, distance is the key. Some bullet designs expand more readily than others.

Other are more than happy with standard hollow point handgun ammo and have many success stories. Opinions vary.

Most guns shoot best when using bullet weights close to the original cartridge specifications. As you move lighter or heavier, some are more tolerant than others. The .44 standard weight is 240gr.

Welcome to the forum and ditto on the aforementioned about hollowpoints and handgun ammo. Also depending on where you are HP ammo may not be legal for hunting anyway.

Rangerhgm wrote:I'm getting ready to order my 1st Henry....Big Boy Steel carbine in 44mag.

Welcome to the forum from CT. You've got lots of company here. That's a very popular Henry. I'm glad you joined the conversation.

Frontiersman wrote:I think you will find the 240gr is more than adequate for taking deer in the Midwest. If I have to buy factory ammo to hunt with, I usually prefer some sort of jacketed soft point. Some hollow points are designed to over-expand at handgun velocities at short distances, and don't perform well in hunting applications. I like an entrance and exit wound when hunting. You don't always get that with a hollow point handgun bullet. Velocity has a great impact on expansion, distance is the key. Some bullet designs expand more readily than others.

Other are more than happy with standard hollow point handgun ammo and have many success stories. Opinions vary.

Most guns shoot best when using bullet weights close to the original cartridge specifications. As you move lighter or heavier, some are more tolerant than others. The .44 standard weight is 240gr.

agree as to the capability of jacketed 240 gr bullets out of a 44 Mag .... we have hunted deer, boar, and black bear with them for over 50 years .... hadn't really thought about it being that long until just now .. .. for as long as I can remember there have been two very different schools of thought on bullet penetration .... my Grandfather introduced me to big game (black bear) hunting and I still remember him saying that all of the energy a bullet expends from the exit wound on is wasted .... he wanted his bullets to expend all of their energy in the animal .... I pretty much still lean in that direction .... the issue with most 44 Mag ammo being designed for revolver velocities is valid .... according to our Chrony, our Nosler loads out of our Henry leave the muzzzle a couple of hundred fps over Nosler's recommendations .... that has never been an issue because we never get shots at such a close range and the bullets speed drops off rather quickly ....

First of all......thanks for the welcome to the Henry forum.....I'm glad to be here and super excited about getting the BBS carbine.

Where I hunt here in Ohio, 100yds would be the longest shot and that would be stretching it. Most of the area is wooded and thickets with openings here and there. The deer I've gotten there have been taken at 50yds or less.

Here in SW Ohio I've used my Mossburg 835 Slugster and my T/C Triumph muzzle loader, but decided I wanted to switch it up and try a lever gun.

I've always leaned towards HP bullets for hunting, but I have no experience at all with handgun cartridge guns....So I appreciate all the help I can get.

@JEBar.....you made made me stop and think about how long I've been hunting...58 years. A lot of that was in western PA just N of Pittsburgh.

Rangerhgm wrote:@JEBar.....you made made me stop and think about how long I've been hunting...58 years. A lot of that was in western PA just N of Pittsburgh.

mine started in the fall of 1964 in the mountains of Western NC .... so, I'm a few years behind you .. .. I'm pretty sure you are going to enjoy your Henry 44, for deer at the range you are talking about, it will do an outstanding job

I'm pretty sure Henry test fires the rifles with 240gr Winchester white box. That's what they used on mine. As far as factory ammo mine really likes Federal American Eagle 240 gr. The beauty of the 44 mag is there is plenty of different factory ammo to choose from. Just make sure you try your hunting loads in the rifle ahead of time. Hornady Leverevolution are very accurate and many like them for hunting. I think they are probably way overkill on whitetail. Many Henry's don't feed reliably with them. Mine included. Remington JSP are usually easy to find locally.

JEBar wrote:.... my Grandfather introduced me to big game (black bear) hunting and I still remember him saying that all of the energy a bullet expends from the exit wound on is wasted ....

I've said that on more than one occasion myself. In a perfect world, the bullet would fall just out the other side, or even hang up in the fur.

Distance (and therefore velocity on impact) is a challenge to plan for ... aside from abstaining on the trigger pull when the situation is less than ideal for your cartridge selection. It's real hard to do that when you have been waiting all season for the perfect shot, and even harder when the close of the season is creeping in.

I'll admit, I'd rather have a solid on black bear, hogs, and other such tough critters. I've seen hollow points come apart in the head and shoulders. But you can kill just about anything, with just about anything, using a well placed shot.

I have no doubt you can kill a whitetail with just about anything a .44 lever will throw. I think you will really enjoy that new rifle. You are well armed for mid-west deer.

Congrats and enjoy your new found friend. I love mine and shoot Win 240 gr JSP rounds in it- Again congrats and welcome to the club...

DaveShooter wrote:Congrats and enjoy your new found friend. I love mine and shoot Win 240 gr JSP rounds in it- Again congrats and welcome to the club...

Thanks.....Do you hunt with the Win 240 gr JSP rounds?

X2 on what Squatch said about Federal 240g - all three of our Henry 44's do well with that ammo. Also agree with Frontiersman that any well placed 240g 44Mag round will drop a deer within 100yds, or leave a blood trail that can easily be followed...Great cartridge for hunting whitetail.

I sure do hunt with the Win 240 gr jacketed sp- Sorry it took me so long to get back to ya...

NP......Thanks Dave