First Shots thru Henry 41 mag

S

stagpanther

New member
Before you read any further--this is nothing more than just a few shots and first impressions.

I've been going crazy waiting to get my first shots and today I couldn't take it any more. With ambiant air temperature hovering just above zero--and strong gusty winds with wind chills in the area of 20 below zero--I ventured out into the knee-deep snow drifts at the local quarry to get at least a few shots off. I set up a smallish shoot-n-see target at 65 yards and was shooting strictly with the stock irons--which while decidedly better than any other stock lever gun irons I've seen or used (except custom tritium sites) I still couldn't see front or back in anything more than a blur due to my poor eyesight. First two shots got me on paper, second two the elevation was right on but I still was 5" to the right of point of aim. That's when I discovered the pivoting windage adjustment on the back iron--if it means anything at all--at least the second two shots were just inside of an inch of each other. I was also wearing thick gloves but could still get a finger inside the trigger guard.

As far as felt recoil goes, I was wearing a thick jacket and sweater under that so that probably dampened a lot--but I've worn the same stuff shooting my other rifles so I feel confident in saying that it's definitely less than a 44 mag (big surprise) and less than any 308 platform I've shot as far as I can tell. Another nice thing is that there did not seem to be any propensity towards muzzle lift and the gun came straight back on firing.

Sorry I don't have more substantive info--I'll try to get out for a real session as soon as weather permits.
 
Last edited:
What pivoting windage adjustment?
Denis
Click to expand...
That was not correct language--sorry if I implied something other than a front screw and dovetail adjustment--which strictly speaking only moves sideways. My bad. Thanks for pointing out the needed info correction. : )
 
We've all been there...

3-17-12-shoot-011.jpg


Not me though...
 
The range I like is crowded on the weekend and closed Monday and Tuesday. I'll try mine later this week and report.

Interesting the sights were off. My 357 and 44 big boys were right on but they weren't first rattle out of the gate which I usually avoid but I couldn't hold out on this.
 
The range I like is crowded on the weekend and closed Monday and Tuesday. I'll try mine later this week and report.

Interesting the sights were off. My 357 and 44 big boys were right on but they weren't first rattle out of the gate which I usually avoid but I couldn't hold out on this.
Click to expand...
Keep in mind I was shooting in "howling tundra" conditions and generally never shoot a rifle without a scope of some sort due to bad eyesight--so the likelihood the accuracy issue has much more to do with me than the gun is very high.
 
Glad you braved the cold and got to shoot your gun. With the temps you listed in the other thread plus 2 feet of snow I wouldn't do my best shooting either. That photo posted just makes me cold looking at it. Pretty area though. Maybe JGLsprings will tell us where that was taken.

Right now it as 56* but it will warm up to about 72* later today. Gotta love Tx.:D
 
Thanks for the clarification, had me stumped trying to figure out what you had on that gun. :)
Denis
 
Denis--I just put a laser bore-site in the bore and the POA does in fact seem to be drifted to the right--so I'll get he ol drift pin out and give the dovetail a tap or two.

I also noticed Henry"s "micro elevation" adjustment for elevation on the buckhorn itself--the one with the screw on the right ear. My first thought was "wouldn't it be nice if they had a sideways spring-loaded screw so that you could also adjust windage."
 
Yeah, it'd be nice if those bucks had a spring detent, but that'd add complexity & cost to the unit.
Those are in-house Henry versions of the long-running Marbles sight, been around for many years, with the same adjustable notchplate setup.
Denis
 
Temperature here sky-rocketed from below zero to nearly 50 degrees--so I went out to try the new 41 mag Henry again. This involved hiking in to a shooting pit--which instead of being 2 feet in snow just a day later is now a mud bog.

My scope mount and scope won't be in til next week--and I already had a ladder of hand-loads ready to test. Due to poor eyesight I can't use irons normally--but I thought maybe if I got fairly close maybe I could get OK results. So I set my targets up at 50 yds and was shooting off a hunter's stool and shooting stick.

Unfortunately most of the shots were probably wasted, but this one group--a warm 22.7 grs of H110 driving a 210 xtp--is pretty decent, but I honestly had no idea where the bullets were landing while I was taking the shots.



Th trigger is a tad on the heavy pull side for my taste--maybe that will improve as the gun wears in--I don't know. But even with a warmish load the gun recoils very nicely with no muzzle flip and moderate felt recoil.
 
In case anyone is interested--I have a Henry scope base on the way--to which I will attach Leupold QRW rings and a Leupold VX-II IER 1.5-4X28mm. I have the fixed VX1 scout on my rossi 44 mag lever carbine and it works great--so I anticipate being really spoiled by this set-up.
 
Mine is also shooting several inches to the right, back to the dealer.
Click to expand...
I got mine to shoot centered but it involved tapping the rear marble sight far to left. My opinion now is that the front sight is probably not centered properly
 
They're Henry-made sights now, no longer Marble sights.

Juggle both front & rear till you get the right windage without one or the other being too far out on either side.
Denis
 
Had to re-position sights on a Henry steel .44, was shooting off to one side.
Not too hard to match up. :)
Denis
 
I know it's no big deal and can easily correct it--though I am a bit surprised they were that far off. Also checked the screws throughout--many of them were loose--caught on to that cause the forend was wobbling a bit.

I am the jedi-master of getting "problem child" weapons and parts LOL

An Ar upper I ordered recently I noticed today had a loose rail while I was replacing the scope rings. When I tightened it's lock-ring up I notice it still wobbled--and I was like what de heck? turns out the barrel nut was not tighetened and the barrel itself was wobbly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top