Henry Big Boy Steel.45 Colt RifleBy Illustration courtesy of Henry Repeating Arms Co.Chambering a lever action carbine or rifle in what is traditionally thought of as a handgun cartridge is certainly nothing new. The Winchester Models 1866, 1873 and 1892 were and are popular throughout the world. Cartridges, such as the original 1873.44 Winchester (.44-40), still enjoy a wide following for hunting and other sporting purposes. The.45 Colt cartridge, although not adopted as a carbine round in the 19th Century, is chambered in nearly all short action lever actions today. More modern revolver rounds, such as the.357 Magnum,.41 Magnum and.44 Magnum enhance the performance of these handy carbines and are excellent for short range deer and predator hunting.
These rifles and carbines are popular because they are light, compact, quick handling, low recoiling and accurate.I have taken many whitetail deer and feral hogs with all of these rounds using historical replica and original carbines at ranges out to 90 yards without a problem. Few deer or hogs have gone more than a few steps before going down after well placed heart and lung hits. I have not experienced a serious wounding of any deer with these rounds, because the vast majority of shots were taken at 70 yards or less.Any of these rounds, including.45 Colt,.357 Magnum,.44-40, or.44 Magnum, will do the job if the hunter does his part. The hunter must get close, carefully place his shot and use adequate bullets. I advise using a jacketed bullet in the.357 Magnum, but a lead bullet will work well for whitetail deer in the other three rounds.The Marlin Model 1894, Rossi Model 92 and Winchester Model 1873, 1866 and 1892 replicas are the most popular choices for modern hunters. Originals of most of the Winchesters have become valuable collectors items and are seldom seen in the woods today.
That's fine, because the replicas are just as good as the originals and a hunter can still enjoy the challenge of deer hunting, 19th Century style. In fact, that is why I enjoy hunting with any of these rifles.Deer hunting is not very interesting or difficult for me when it involves long range sniping with a high powered rifle. I like the challenge of the still hunt, the thrill of the stalk and the element of surprise that comes from woods whitetail hunting. Several states have enacted new deer hunting regulations that allow straight-walled cartridge use, because of their (relatively) limited range potential.Henry Repeating Arms of Bayonne, New Jersey is a relatively new company (despite its historic name) to enter this market and is enjoying increasing popularity. Beginning with an excellent.22 lever action two decades ago, the company has dramatically expanded its offerings. They now offer classic style, tubular magazine, centerfire lever action rifles in.44 Special/.44 Magnum,.38/.357 Magnum,.45 Colt,.30-30 Winchester and.45-70 Govt. Henry has even recently unveiled a detachable magazine lever action, the Long Ranger, in.223,.243 and.308 Winchester that should compete favorably with the Browning BLR.
Henry has built its reputation by manufacturing attractive, innovative, reasonably priced, dependable and 100% American made lever action rifles.I have owned three examples of Henry rifles, a Classic.22,.45-70 Steel and, most recently, a Big Boy Steel chambered in.45 Colt. I have shied away from Henry's very attractive and popular brass framed models, preferring a more subtle matte steel finish for hunting.I don't believe that a brass framed rifle will greatly affect or hamper a deer hunter, as is so often claimed. I have never witnessed any deer reacting to, or spooking from, shiny surfaces while hunting with brass receiver 1866 Winchester replicas or some heavily brass ornamented muzzleloaders. The same can be said of the stainless steel rifles I have used. I just prefer the subtlety, economy and weight advantages of an all steel rifle and there is a lot to like about the Henry Big Boy Steel.The Big Boy Steel model is available with either a 20 inch or 16.5 inch carbine barrel. Carbines are supplied with a large loop lever. Available calibers include.38 Spec./.357 Magnum,.41 Magnum,.44 Spec./.44 Magnum and.45 Colt.
Uncommonly reliable and surprisingly accurate, the Colt Defender would be at the very top of my list of short-barrel, short-butt 1911.45 pistols. It carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $1,098.
The.450 BushmasterBy Chuck HawksRemington.450 Bushmaster cartridges. Illustration courtesy of Remington Arms.The.450 Bushmaster was designed by the Hornady Manufacturing Company for Bushmaster Firearms International when the latter wanted a.45 caliber cartridge that would work through the short AR-15 action. The result of this collaboration is the.450 Bushmaster.The Bushmaster is based on a sawed-off.284 Winchester case.
It is a rimless, straight wall case with a rebated.473 inch diameter rim and a.500 inch diameter head. The case is 1.70 inches long. It uses.452 inch diameter bullets, as used in.45 caliber handguns, not standard.458 inch diameter rifle bullets. The loaded overall cartridge length is 2.250 inches and the case takes small rifle primers.The.450 Bushmaster's MAP is 38,500 psi, considerably below that of the.223 Remington. However, the Bushmaster has much greater back thrust against the bolt face, so be careful not to exceed the SAAMI pressure limit.Lacking a rim, shoulder or belt on which to headspace, the case must headspace on its mouth, like a typical autoloading pistol cartridge (.45 ACP, etc.).
This prevents the use of a roll crimp, as used by most big bore rifle cartridges, to keep the bullet in place during recoil.Hornady warns:'It is important NOT to use a heavy roll crimp when loading bullets with cannelures, like the 240 and 300 grain XTP-MAG. Using too much roll crimp can allow the cartridge to travel too far into the chamber and not fire, or worse yet fire with too much headspace, which can create an unsafe condition.' This is a warning from the people who developed the cartridge, so take it to heart.
As you can see, the limitations inherent in the AR-15 action necessarily resulted in a compromised cartridge design. The rebated rim, short case length,.452 inch (handgun) bullet diameter, poor bullet sectional density (SD), lack of a roll crimp and headspacing on the case mouth are all inherent design limitations that degrade the cartridges reliability, performance and (potentially) safety.Typical bullets used in the.450 Bushmaster weigh between 240 grains (SD.168) and 300 grains (SD.210). Hornady designed a 250 grain FTX bullet (SD.175) without a cannelure specifically for the.450 Bushmaster.
This is probably the bullet of choice for most purposes, despite its poor SD. Hornady made this bullet tougher than normal in an attempt to somewhat mitigate its inferior SD and get the bullet into the vitals of larger animals.The importance of sectional density is something that has continued to escape the notice of most hunters, although it is difficult to understand why. Sectional density relates directly to penetration (a higher number being better) and normally a SD of.205 would be about the minimum for hunting Class 2 (deer size) game.
A SD of around.250 is generally regarded as the minimum acceptable for Class 3 game (elk, moose, etc.) and a SD around.270 or greater is preferred.450 Bushmaster cartridges are factory loaded by Hornady and Remington, among the Big 4 US ammo makers. Remington offers a 260 grain AccuTip bullet (SD.183), while Hornady offers their 250 grain FTX bullet.The latter claims a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps and muzzle energy of 2687 ft. From a 20 inch barrel. At 100 yards the numbers are 1835 fps and 1868 ft. Lbs., and at 200 yards the remaining velocity is 1515 fps and the remaining energy is 1274 ft. The 2016 MSRP for a box of 20 Hornady.450 Bushmaster cartridges is $42.45, so the.450 is definitely a cartridge worth reloading.Zero the Hornady factory load at 171 yards (i.e. +3 inches at 100 yards) to take advantage of its maximum point blank range (+/- 3 inches) and the trajectory looks like this (sight height 1.5 inches):-1.5' at muzzle, +1.83' at 50 yards, +2.99' at 100 yards, +1.53' at 150 yards, -3.11' at 200 yards, -11.59' at 250 yards.The.450 is about a 200 yard cartridge for Class 2 game and perhaps somewhat less for Class 3 game.
The limiting factor is the short, fat, light for caliber bullet's poor sectional density. Take care to drive the bullet directly into the heart/lung area with a broadside shot, especially if hunting big animals like elk. Do not attempt raking shots.The reloader with a.450 Bushmaster rifle can use just about any jacketed bullet intended for the.45 Colt revolver cartridge, as long is there is enough power to reliably operate the AR-15 rifle's autoloading action. For this reason, loads below the minimum published in the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading should be avoided.However, for hunting big game, the 250 grain Hornady FTX is the obvious choice. It is the only.452 inch bullet Hornady recommends for large (Class 3) game in their.450 Bushmaster cartridge.For reloaders, the Hornady 300 grain XTP-MAG bullet offers superior SD and is about as heavily constructed as.452 handgun bullets normally get. It is intended for use in.454 Casull and.460 S&W revolvers. However, Hornady recommends this bullet only for medium game.
For short range Class 2 game hunting, I suspect it would knock the stuffing out of deer, hogs and black bear, much as does a 265 grain.444 Marlin bullet.The technicians at Hornady reported that excellent results were obtained with Hodgdon Lil' Gun powder. Hornady reloading data shows that, using Hornady cases, Winchester WSR small rifle primers and the 250 grain FTX bullet, a minimum charge of 25.2 grains of Lil' Gun powder gives a MV of 1700 fps. The maximum charge of 37.9 grains gives a MV of 2200 fps, equal to the factory load velocity. A reasonable compromise for most woods hunting would seem to be 32.8 grains of Lil' Gun for a MV of 2000 fps.The.450 is certainly a much better deer cartridge than the.223 Remington For use on Class 3 game, the.450 Bushmaster is probably about as good as any cartridge you can stuff into an AR-15 type rifle.Note: An more in-depth article about the.450 Bushmaster can be found on the page.