I was at the range today with my Henry Frontier (model H001T). It has a cheap $45 Simmons fixed-magnification 4x scope. The octagonal barrel makes it a little front-heavy, but its weight helps giving the rifle a very light recoil and it just look great on a lever-action.
I was shooting from a bench, with a rest under the tubular magazine and a sandbag under the stock. I shot several brands of ammunition to try to see what the difference would be. Happy to say that there was not a single misfeed, misfire, dud or bad extraction. 100% reliability. Here's the results at a glance for 20-rounds groups:
LRN = Lead Round Nose (aka "Solid"); CPHP = Copper Plated Hollow Point; CPRN = Copper Plated Round Nose
Note that that last result was made using 5-rounds groups (it did about 3 MOA on the 20 rounds group and I decided to try 6 x 5-rounds groups). This is the result for it:
Now, before you rush to buy crates of that RWS ammo... it was $15 for a box of 50, so $0.30 a round. Good to try once, but not so good for practice unless you're competing. Those rounds were so well lubricated that they wanted to squirm out of my fingers when I was loading them.
The Federal American Eagles and CCI Mini Mag cost about $0.10/round, the Federal Game-Shok $0.14/round and the Winchester Wildcat was under $0.07/round.
So as for anything else, you get what you pay for. I don't think I'll buy any more Wildcat.
Some more notes:
1. I sighted my scope using the Game-Shok ammunition. Then I discovered that the Winchester Wildcat and American Eagle rounds were consistently shooting about 1.5" higher than my POA, the CCI Mini Mag about 2" higher but the RWS Special Match about 1" lower. All that at 50 yards, with not much wind. Afterward, I shot a second control group with the Federal Game-Shok to validate this observation and yep... right on target with 19 rounds in 3 MOA with no vertical deviation (and one flyer 2" high).
2. At one point, some poltergeist made the rifle slip from the sand bags while my back was turned. The rifle actually landed on its butt and stood upright against the bench, all by itself. Good boy! However, this caused the cheap scope to completely lose it's zero, I had to move it back 5.5 MOA leftward to re-sight it. I may have to splurge for a better quality sight, sigh.
3. Another weird thing: about half way into the shooting session, I was feeling the rifle's action start to grind... getting less and less smooth. That was at about 300-350 rounds total shot from that rifle. Then I noticed a few flecks of metal dust on the lever close to its pivot (where it would have collected anything falling off the internal action). That I didn't like... So I squirted some WD40 into the action and the whole thing became smooth as glass again. Weee!
4. Last observation: the Henry Frontier is plenty accurate enough for a lever action plinker! It may not be an Anschutz, but now that I've proven that it can do <2 MOA from a stable rest using match ammo, I can really start working on my shooting technique (first without rear bag, then without front bag, then sitting, kneeling, standing, jumping, upside down and finally eyes closed while doing backflips).
Damn that addiction...
I was shooting from a bench, with a rest under the tubular magazine and a sandbag under the stock. I shot several brands of ammunition to try to see what the difference would be. Happy to say that there was not a single misfeed, misfire, dud or bad extraction. 100% reliability. Here's the results at a glance for 20-rounds groups:
LRN = Lead Round Nose (aka "Solid"); CPHP = Copper Plated Hollow Point; CPRN = Copper Plated Round Nose
| Winchester Wildcat 40gr LRN | ~5 MOA |
| American Eagle 40gr LRN | ~5 MOA |
| American Eagle 38gr CPHP | ~4 MOA |
| Federal Game-Shok 40gr CPRN | ~3 MOA |
| CCI Mini Mag 36 gr CPHP | ~3 MOA |
| RWS Special Match 40gr LRN | ~2 MOA |
Note that that last result was made using 5-rounds groups (it did about 3 MOA on the 20 rounds group and I decided to try 6 x 5-rounds groups). This is the result for it:
Now, before you rush to buy crates of that RWS ammo... it was $15 for a box of 50, so $0.30 a round. Good to try once, but not so good for practice unless you're competing. Those rounds were so well lubricated that they wanted to squirm out of my fingers when I was loading them.
The Federal American Eagles and CCI Mini Mag cost about $0.10/round, the Federal Game-Shok $0.14/round and the Winchester Wildcat was under $0.07/round.
So as for anything else, you get what you pay for. I don't think I'll buy any more Wildcat.
Some more notes:
1. I sighted my scope using the Game-Shok ammunition. Then I discovered that the Winchester Wildcat and American Eagle rounds were consistently shooting about 1.5" higher than my POA, the CCI Mini Mag about 2" higher but the RWS Special Match about 1" lower. All that at 50 yards, with not much wind. Afterward, I shot a second control group with the Federal Game-Shok to validate this observation and yep... right on target with 19 rounds in 3 MOA with no vertical deviation (and one flyer 2" high).
2. At one point, some poltergeist made the rifle slip from the sand bags while my back was turned. The rifle actually landed on its butt and stood upright against the bench, all by itself. Good boy! However, this caused the cheap scope to completely lose it's zero, I had to move it back 5.5 MOA leftward to re-sight it. I may have to splurge for a better quality sight, sigh.
3. Another weird thing: about half way into the shooting session, I was feeling the rifle's action start to grind... getting less and less smooth. That was at about 300-350 rounds total shot from that rifle. Then I noticed a few flecks of metal dust on the lever close to its pivot (where it would have collected anything falling off the internal action). That I didn't like... So I squirted some WD40 into the action and the whole thing became smooth as glass again. Weee!
4. Last observation: the Henry Frontier is plenty accurate enough for a lever action plinker! It may not be an Anschutz, but now that I've proven that it can do <2 MOA from a stable rest using match ammo, I can really start working on my shooting technique (first without rear bag, then without front bag, then sitting, kneeling, standing, jumping, upside down and finally eyes closed while doing backflips).
Damn that addiction...
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