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This is specifically for the Henry Big Boy 357 Magnum - Does anyone load the 'standard' 158 grain GM/Hannam Lead Round Nose Flat Points to shoot in one of these rifles ?
I'm having all horrible jamming issues with rounds going from the tube onto the carrier using these bullets - no problem with chambering. When a round is going onto the carrier it seems the next round in tube which should be held back by the carrier is frequently sticking out a fraction too much and it's rim hangs-up the carrier.
The reason why I'm looking at the bullet is that A-Zoom dummy rounds work perfectly and have a slightly different profile - I've even loaded dummy rounds to exactly match the overall length of the A-Zoom and still get the jamming issue.
I've measured every dimension on my reloads and everything is comfortably within spec.
These bullets and complete rounds work perfectly fine in Marlins, and I'm assuming they work in other Henrys and mine must be faulty. I'd like confirmation off someone that they use these bullets in a Henry without a problem.
Smurf me up!
Its the case head profile that is usually to blame
I had some Norma cases that had a decent chamfer round the rim lip - and they caused the classic Marlin jam - doing exactly what you describe
You don't mention what cases you are using - or if you have tried different brass - but I will guess that they are different to the dummies you are trying ??
Roy
Last edited by harricook; 03-04-2014 at 03:09 AM.
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I've only tried Privi brass so far. I'll get some other brass to confirm its not something weird with the Privi brass. I've even measured the rim thickness etc and it all looks fine.
Registered User
Although not directly relevant I have a Henry but in .44 Mag.
When I first got it I found an issue with the last round from the mag causing a jam. The follower wasn't pushing it fully onto the lifter and the nose of the bullet snagged on the frame. I cured it by removing the follower from the tube and removing a bit of metal to allow it to extend flush to the inner face of the frame so it would fully push the round onto the lifter.
Since doing that it feeds all three bullet profiles that I use - RNFP / TC and SWC - just fine.
On my .357 Winchester I favour the 158 Truncated Cone as the feeding seems to somewhat smoother and more reliable.
People who have been there focus on the fundamentals. People who sit at keyboards all day focus on the trivial and inane.
Window Licker
ditoOriginally Posted by rockdrill
"Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened" Winston Churchill
http://planetairgun.com/index.php
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I'll try some different profile bullets, but I think its reasonable for me to expect to able to use the same bullets used in 99.9% of all 357 lever actions in the UK.
When the jam occurs I can just reach inside the action and poke the offending rim back into the tube 1mm and the carrier frees up.
No idea if its some sort of friction or burr causing this. The tube looks and sounds smooth, but I've not had the gun apart to look at the carrier or where the tube joins the action.
Registered User
Update
Tried some Winchester brass - with 158g Truncated Cones it works 100% and with the original 158g RNFP its 90+% working.
With the original Privi brass and the 158g Truncated Cones it still jams.
Everything all loaded on the same press with same dies.
The privi brass all measures fine so I'm really struggling to justify why it jams when the Winchester brass doesn't.
I've also got some S&B factory ammo I'll try this weekend so thats a 3rd type of brass. If the factory ammo is also fine then I may just live with it and swap the Privi brass with someone whose gun likes it.
Edit - Just measured some more and the working rounds all have a rim thickness of 0.052 and the failing privi is 0.058 - this is still under the standard of 0.060 but I guess is going to be significant when the jam is due to a bit of rim sticking out and jamming the carrier.
Last edited by Rollo; 03-04-2014 at 07:32 PM.
Another update to Rollo's thread.
As he was having issues with PPU, we swapped some of his brand new PPU for some of my once shot S&B brass.
The issues became clear when I reloaded them yesterday, the new PPU brass is of very poor quality with siginifcant differences in case length out of the box to the point where some were so short my dies (set up on S&B brass) were seating the bullet so high the cannelure was sitting proud and clear of the case by twice its width!
How poor these cases are has been highlighted to the extreme at the range today where we tried some of them in my gun.
The cases were loaded with a very low target load of 3.5grains of Viht N320 (this is a low 38spl cowboy action load which the book says works in 357 cases) with a 158grn TC head.
After 72 shots the 73rd, well.... half of the case is currently stuck in my chamber.... the other half is in the photo link below
http://www.evansaviography.co.uk/stuff/case.jpg
There was no audible change (two witnesses watching) and no felt change in recoil so was definitely not a double change, must be bad brass.
What have I learnt? I will never ever buy anything with a PPU logo on again. That and I now need a trip to a gunsmith to try and rescue my gun!
Andy
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How bizzare! Were these PPU cases bought as new cases or fired once from factory loads? The PPU .44Mag cases I've got within the last 6 months both from new cases and factory once fired have been a-ok.
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Make sure you get the pictures and let them know, not heard of that with PPU before all the brass I have had from them has been fine,
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