.44 mag Henry Big Boy accuracy struggles, solved.

[TheCreeper]

My wife bought me a Henry 44 Big Boy last year, right out of the box the accuracy was terrible with everything I ran through it. 5-7 inch groups at 50 yards. I sent it back to Henry and they replaced the barrel and action. When I got it back it seemed marginally better just plinking around. I did some bench shooting tow weeks ago and still got around 5-6 inch groups at 75 yards, better than before but not good enough for hunting. I bought a CVA single shot last week to fill the short range hunting needs. I took it out today to sight in for the deer season, and I took along the Henry just to compare. I learned some very significant for both guns, They like heavy bullets. The last time I took out the Henry I was shooting 180 grain Remington, today I started using 225 grain Lever Revolution, 240 g Hornady XTP, and Herter's 340 grain SP. I thought the Hornady Leaver revolution would work best, and it was reasonable 3-4 inch groups at 75 Yards with the CVA, but both guns did better with both of the 240s with the XTPs doing slightly better with 2&1/2 inch groups at 75 and 3 inch groups at 100 with the CVA, and 3&1/2 inch groups at 75 and 4&1/2 inch at 100 for the Henry, both guns good enough for out to 100 yards for Deer. I am looking forward to trying 300 grains just to see how well they do.

Lesson being for those that plan to buy or use a 44 Mag rifle. Expect better accuracy with heavy bullets.

 

[cuznguido]

My wife bought me a Henry 44 Big Boy last year, right out of the box the accuracy was terrible with everything I ran through it. 5-7 inch groups at 50 yards. I sent it back to Henry and they replaced the barrel and action. When I got it back it seemed marginally better just plinking around. I did some bench shooting tow weeks ago and still got around 5-6 inch groups at 75 yards, better than before but not good enough for hunting. I bought a CVA single shot last week to fill the short range hunting needs. I took it out today to sight in for the deer season, and I took along the Henry just to compare. I learned some very significant for both guns, They like heavy bullets. The last time I took out the Henry I was shooting 180 grain Remington, today I started using 225 grain Lever Revolution, 240 g Hornady XTP, and Herter's 340 grain SP. I thought the Hornady Leaver revolution would work best, and it was reasonable 3-4 inch groups at 75 Yards with the CVA, but both guns did better with both of the 240s with the XTPs doing slightly better with 2&1/2 inch groups at 75 and 3 inch groups at 100 with the CVA, and 3&1/2 inch groups at 75 and 4&1/2 inch at 100 for the Henry, both guns good enough for out to 100 yards for Deer. I am looking forward to trying 300 grains just to see how well they do.

Lesson being for those that plan to buy or use a 44 Mag rifle. Expect better accuracy with heavy bullets.

Right here is some info worth remembering. Thanks for posting.

 

[joshb]

Thanks for that. I just got some 300s to try in my Ruger. Fingers crossed.

 

[TheCreeper]

Thanks for that. I just got some 300s to try in my Ruger. Fingers crossed.

I talked to a Ruger representative last week and asked about the limited availability of the Ruger M77 in .44. She told me there had been some issues with people making hot reloads and the action could not withstand the pressure so Ruger had stopped production until they came up with a fix to strengthen them. Be careful if you are loading your own.

 

[Mark W]

My Henry 44 shoots pretty good with 240 grain XTPs. I smacked a doe at 100 yards last year with no problems.

 

[DShortt]

Had a Henry Big Boy in .357Mag. Accuracy was poor to say the least. Slugged the bore and found constructions at the sight and mag tube dovetails as well as at the roll stamp.

Sold it cheap, won't buy another.