Question about the side gate on my new .357 Carbine

[Coach]

I read the manual.

Looking for some clarification.

Can only one bullet be loaded in the side gate or can you fill to maximum capacity?

Any tips and tricks are appreciated.

Also should the lever be up or down?

[Mags]

I read the manual.

Looking for some clarification.

Can only one bullet be loaded in the side gate or can you fill to maximum capacity?

Any tips and tricks are appreciated.

Also should the lever be up or down?

You can fill to maximum capacity specified in the manual through the gate. Lever closed. Hammer forward.
Push each cartridge in part way to keep the gate open overcoming the gate spring. Use the next cartridge to finish pushing in the previous one. Push the last one all the way in.

[Vaquero]

What Mags said.

RP

[Coach]

Thanks

When I read the manual it actually confused me a little bit.

Gave it the first cleaning yesterday and put it in the safe.

Now I have to go out and shoot it…

[Vaquero]

Be curious to your first impressions of shooting it as well as the 357 round it's self.

RP

[Coach]

The reason why I got the .357 is because I already have 2 S&W revolvers in .357 and I can use them for all 3 guns.

One is my Dad’s 66-2 service revolver from his time as a Deputy Sheriff and the other is a series 19 2” barrel.

I found that I just don’t shoot my Henry 30 30.

[Coach]

The reason why I got the .357 is because I already have 2 S&W revolvers in .357 and I can use them for all 3 guns.

One is my Dad’s 66-2 service revolver from his time as a Deputy Sheriff and the other is a series 19 2” barrel that my uncle passed down to me when he moved into a retirement community.

I found that I just don’t shoot my Henry 30 30.

[cooperhawk]

I found that I just don’t shoot my Henry 30 30.

Gee, wonder why? Oh I know. 30-30s kick and it hurts.
I have one too and never shoot it for fun.

[BigAl52]

I found that I just don’t shoot my Henry 30 30.

Gee, wonder why? Oh I know. 30-30s kick and it hurts.
I have one too and never shoot it for fun.

Thats because you are in your 22cal year of life

[clovishound]

.357s out of a Henry rifle kick a little more than a .22lr. Just enough to let you know you are shooting a "real" rifle. I don't know about the Henry side gate, but the only side gate I ever loaded quickly made me glad my Henry was a tube loader.

[Mags]

.... I don't know about the Henry side gate, but the only side gate I ever loaded quickly made me glad my Henry was a tube loader.

Henry side gate rifles can be loaded through the gate or the ole' tube method. Loading through the gate is for the laid back nostalgia of doing so, not speed.

[clovishound]

Well, for me it wasn't about speed, it was about pinching my fingers, and the outright difficulty of loading through a side gate. I'm sure it would have improved somewhat with practice, but still, I was not impressed. I'm sure the preference of tube load over side gate has a lot to do with what you started out with.

[BigAl52]

Side gates are overrated

[Hatchdog]

Side gates are overrated

Main reason I switched from Marlin to Henry. Tube loading! My thumbnail is happy.

[Redthies]

Gee, wonder why? Oh I know. 30-30s kick and it hurts.
I have one too and never shoot it for fun.

Whaaaaat?

[Redthies]

Loading through the gate is for the laid back nostalgia of doing so, not speed.

I don’t sit around practicing (maybe I should), but I’m probably faster at loading my side gates than I am my tubes. Probably because my side gates are all “long” cartridges like .30-30 and my tubes are all pistol caliber. It’s far easier to load a long tapered cartridge than a short stubby one through the side gate.

[Mags]

Loading through the gate is for the laid back nostalgia of doing so, not speed.

I don’t sit around practicing (maybe I should), but I’m probably faster at loading my side gates than I am my tubes. Probably because my side gates are all “long” cartridges like .30-30 and my tubes are all pistol caliber. It’s far easier to load a long tapered cartridge than a short stubby one through the side gate.

I mentioned this in a post somewhere soon after I got my 30-30 side gate. Henry didn't make the side gate long enough on the 30-30. The insertion angle is too steep and risks bending the bullet on the end of the cartridge when its making the turn through the gate and into the magazine. Quite a bit of additional force has to be applied to make the cartridge make that turn.

As far as loading through the tube, I can pick up and drop 5 rounds in the tube notch faster and easier than working them through the side gate. Even faster if I have the rounds preloaded in a speed loader tube. That said I get more fun out of loading via the side gate.

[Redthies]

I don’t have a sidegate Henry, and I’m happy to learn this before I spend cash on one. My .30-30s are all Marlin or Winchester. I’m eyeballing the new 336 Trapper pretty hard, but it’s virtually identical to my 336 BL, aside from being stainless and 2” shorter. Not sure it’s worth the big coin to lose 2”s.

[fortyshooter]

If the gate tension is correct and I mean by soft it is a joy to load a lever rifle that way. I have a Rossi Ranch Hand in 45 Colt and went thru the whole thing when I got it. Everything on it now very slick and no pinched finger loading. Have an old 1892 Winchester made in 1895 and it loads very easy. Manufactures today just put way too much tension on the loading gate. I have an older pre gate model 357 and 45 Colt Henry Carbines and wish they were side gate loaders but they both shoot and look too good to sell and get newer gate models.

[Mags]

The gate tension spring is very stiff on both my Henry 30-30 and 45 Colt. One of my shooting buddy's 1970's Winchester is similarly very stiff.