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Henry Big Boy 44 Mag. vs. Ruger Super Redhawk 44 Mag.

Bowhunter57

Bowhunter57

Senior Member
5,433
195
Roaming the country side....Retired.
Apparently, the Ruger Super Redhawk is a beast and is deserving of the name "Super". Recently, I tried to shoot some reloads that I had been using in the Ruger SRH, in my Henry B.B. The Henry would shoot them well, but you had to work the lever like you were cocking a Daisy Red Rider, to get them to extract. The higher pressures are not handled well in a Henry, compared to the Ruger SRH.

This is the group at 50 yards with open sights. The target dot is 1 1/4" in diameter.
Not bad, but the extraction issues were nothing less than horrible.



After reloading some very mild loads with the same Hornady 240gr. JHP, there were NO extraction issues and the groups shrank to 3/4", center to center, at the same 50 yards and open sights. The yellow highlighted group is the final 3 shot group, after some sight adjustments.



I'm ready to kill a skin head!!! :smiley_blink:
Bowhunter57
 
Nice shooting. It appears the Henry design has some spring in the action and probably tightening up when shooting hot loads.
 
I have a super red hawk, a super blackhawk, a trip 4 marlin, and a 336 marlin. at one time owned a 44 marlin. I just look at Henry's and just don't get excited at all. The henry groups though sure would give confidence out in the woods.
 
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Many thanks for the shooting compliments, it's greatly appreciated.

The load is 17.0gr. of 2400 and the manual's suggested starting load is 16.8, so I just rounded it up. The sight is at the bottom for elevation, but one "click" up on the tray type steps puts the P.O.I. at 6" high. Perhaps, after the Deer Gun Season, I'll try an 18.0gr. load, to see if it puts the P.O.I. in the center of the target dot...and it still cycle smoothly. For now...I'll live with it and be happy. :smiley_blink:

Bowhunter57
 
You may want to rethink your increased load. Opposite of what we may think a slower load will raise the impact. The reason being that the bullet is going slower and is in the barrel longer giving the recoil more time to raise the bullet impact on target.
 
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