45 Colt out of a Henry

[mrjckelly]

I want to shoot at least a few whitetail with my Henry rifle and wanted to know if any one had some good loads for a 45 Colt. All I can find are loads for pistols and nothing that has loads for a henry rifle. I feel like all the pistol loads should perform well in the rifle but want to get the best out of it if possible. Also wonder about the safe limits of the Henry as far as pressures go.

[steve smith]

As far a pressure goes, the henry will handle any of the 45 +p loads as well as 44 mag loads. Now as far as loads for rifle vs pistol well there's not a whole lot of difference unless you intend on running pressures above the set standards. Which would probably be fine in the 45 colt. Running the pressures up to 44 mag levels of 44 kpsi would work but you'd be on your own as far as load data, for the ones with the pressure testing equipment don't publish loads at those pressure levels.

[RT2506]

If I were you I would check out some of the loads listed for the Ruger/TC Contender. My Lyman manual does show that with some loads you actually loose velocity when going from a 10" to a 15" barrel. If I were you I would try to keep my shots inside 75 yards and use a Hornady 250 gr XTP or Speer Gold Dot bullet and work up from 19.7 grs to a Max of 20.8 grs of 2400 powder that the Hornady Manual list for the heavy Ruger/TC Contender. I know that the 250 Hornady XTP bullet will do a number on a deer. I have shot a few with it from my muzzleloader.

[mrjckelly]

Really do thank you guys for the help. Gonna dig up some loads out of my books for the stronger actions of the TC and the Ruger. I own a Ruger Beisly in 45 colt and would love to work up a load that performs well in both. The XTP that had loaded in my ACP didnt expand to well due to much slower velocity Im sure but I will surely try them in my Colt. Thanks again.