Testing Hornady .41mag LeveRevolution

Picked up a couple boxes of this ammo Monday, and tried it out this morning. It's a 190gr polymer tipped JHP. Loaded up the mag Monday to see if it would deform, and checked this morning - no noticeable deformation of the polymer tip, and no dents in the primers.

Out to my backyard to punch holes in paper. Cycled well, and more accurate than I am these days. Also somewhat less felt recoil than the Underwood. Had to make a couple small scope adjustments from using the Underwood 210gr XTP, which I expected, but after that, here is the result of 14 rounds (what remained in the box) on a separate target. The 3 fliers outside the 2" bull were me. I'll be going back right 1 click for the next session. Really need to cut back on the caffeine. :wink:

Bottom line is that I'm very pleased with this ammo in my Henry, and would recommend it as a hunting round (in a rifle) for ranges up to 150yds or so (less in a revolver), but like all pistol caliber ammo the trajectory starts to drop quickly after 100yds. With a 50 yd zero, it will drop nearly 8" at 150yds, but will remain supersonic and have decent terminal energy up to 175yds +-.

Good shooting and report Gunny, I like revolver calibers in lever guns also! ps

powder smoke said:

Good shooting and report Gunny, I like revolver calibers in lever guns also! ps

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One thing to keep in mind: If you shoot +P or other hot loads in your revolver, you may have difficult extraction problems when using that ammo in a rifle. I had this issue with the Underwood ammo I initially used. I suspect that it's because none of the pressure is relieved thru a cylinder/bore gap as it is in a revolver, and also due to the longer barrel. Nearly every round of the Underwood swelled the case so tight in the chamber that I was worried about breaking the extractor.

Not a good pic below, but if you look close you can see some signs of over pressure on the Underwood Star-Line cases.

I've always been reluctant to leave a lever gun tube loaded for very long, since it tends to deform the tip on various bullet designs within a day or 2 - JHP, LRN, etc. But I have deliberately left my Henry fully loaded for the past 10 days with Hornady LeveRevolution as a experiment. Dumped them out this morning and compared them against the ones left in the box, and was pleasantly surprised that there was no discernible flattening or other deformation of the plastic tip on them or indentation of the primers.

So y'all with centerfire lever guns can probably rest easy about leaving this ammo in the tube for extended periods.

Thanks good to get more conformation! I'm thinking of going to a 45/70 and that's nice to know.

grobin said:

Thanks good to get more conformation! I'm thinking of going to a 45/70 and that's nice to know.

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One of my wife's relatives has a 45/70 Henry that's her favorite deer gun. Don't know if she uses the Hornady ammo tho.

I had to install a taller front sight on my 41 Magnum Henry to make it shoot correctly with my handloads. Mine was out of the very first batch to leave the factory, so maybe they corrected that issue. BTW, it shoots 41 Specials just as good and holds an additional round. Bob!! :mrgreen:

rangerbob said:

I had to install a taller front sight on my 41 Magnum Henry to make it shoot correctly with my handloads. Mine was out of the very first batch to leave the factory, so maybe they corrected that issue. BTW, it shoots 41 Specials just as good and holds an additional round. Bob!! :mrgreen:

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Hadn't heard that about sights. Mine was fine, except my old eyeballs weren't up to the challenge of the factory buckhorns, so mounted a scope on it.

GG, what scope did you select for your Henry? Bob!! :?:

rangerbob said:

GG, what scope did you select for your Henry? Bob!! :?:

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I had a Simmons 8 point (Model 510513) 3-9x40 that was previously on my old Win 9422M. Not the best scope by any means, but it has decent glass & holds sight in. Gudnuf for my needs. Had to buy a Weaver base from Henry, and some cheap Weaver rings from my LGS.

I may get better scope later on and put the Simmons back on the Winchester.

This is the final sight in using the scope @ approx 50yds (1" red bull). Not from a bench, just sitting in my hide with a makeshift barrel support.

GG, that works for me. Off the bench, it'll probably be one big hole. Bob!! :mrgreen: