henry loads in 45 colt

[ian45662]

I just thought I would ask what you guys were shooting in your 45colt henrys. I have the lyman 454190 mold that I shoot in my marlin so I was hoping that I could use this mold for the henry. What should the over all cartridge length be for this rifle as the loads for my marlin are to long to cycle the action?

[Paul Lampman 263V]

As you have noticed the max over all length of the cartridge in the Henry is limited by the carrier block. Turn your rifle upside down, open the action and measure the receiver opening. Reduce your measurement by a little so as to allow positive cycling.

[Scott w/1st Fla]

I had good luck with an oal of 1.58. The twist of my 45 was tighter than the 44-40s so it took a longer bullet to group well. It was a 454 Casull bullet - around 410 grains I think. Good luck.

[ian45662]

What bullet is that?

[DAVE FRANCE]

I have tried 230 gr, 255 gr (452664), and 325 (452651) grain bullets. I did a lot of work to get the best accuracy from the 325 grain bullet and it is very accurate. The 255 grain bullet is good also. You can buy the 452664 bullet mold with 4 cavities. That helps the casting speed a lot.

The 45 Colts leak gas past the shell case. You can reduce that leakage by just neck sizing the round, and by using a heavy powder charge of 3f powder. I keep rounds 1.590 or a little less, but 1.600 Overall Length long rounds will go through the action with no problem.

I tried dropping powder into the case to get more powder capacity, and that worked fine. But, I changed to just compressing the powder a little without dropping the powder, and that did just as well.

I don't think the powder charge is very critical. the pressure is so low in these rifles, that the barrel doesn't vibrate the same way a high power rifle does, and you don't have to search for the "sweet spot" that hight power rifles need to shoot their best. One proof of that is that with the same bullet, skirmishers use a wide range of powder charges.

make sure you buy a mold that makes a bullet with plenty of room for lube. Don't buy a semiwadcutter mold. You will notice in mold catalogs that the semiwadcutters are listed under pistol molds.

I have a 44-40 73 Winchester, and both rifles shoot about the same.

David

David

[Scott w/1st Fla]

The bullet I had luck with was a Lee 452-300 RF , cast in wheelweights. And it was 310 grains .