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Don Brown Alexander Henry Rifle

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doccarver

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20 years ago I bought Don Brown’s Alexander Henry .451 rifle kit which I have finally had made up. The gunsmith who made it up for me did a superb job with beautiful colour case hardened furniture and blued barrel. I would like to shoot the rifle and would appreciate any information on suitable loads.

Regards

Doc Carver
 
I had good results with a Parker-Hale Volunteer with a Henry barrel out to 600 yards using 80 grains of TPPH (UK proof house powder - close to an FFG grade powder), a plain card over powder wad and a 535 grain grease grooved bullet.

David
 
David

What kind of muzzle velocity did you get with that load? What twist? Do you use a false muzzle for loading?

Bob
 
I use a couple of similar bullets in my Navy Arms repro. of a .451 Rigby target rifle which has a 1:24" twist. The first mould I used was a Lyman 457121PH which throws a bullet of about 480gns. I had a hankering for a nose-pour bullet so had one made that is quite similar to the Lyman but has a slightly longer bearing surface & shorter nose, & weighs about 10gns less. Both will shoot sub-2MOA groups at 100yds fired prone with a sling, with the NP mould being slightly more consistent. I use 65gns Goex 2Fg with a wonder wad between bullet & powder, & wipe between shots. Have not shot this rifle at any longer range than 100yds/meters, but feel it should do well with either of above bullets out to 600m, but 1000m might be stretching things a bit.
I size my bullets to just under bore size, in my case .452", & start them into the muzzle by hand, the rifle came with a starter but have not found a need for it. I also pan lube my bullets with SPG before sizing. Hope this helps.
 
Sorry, I don't know the muzzle velocity and I sold the rifle a few years ago. Not sure of the exact twist, but probably around 1 in 20. Henry used 1 in 22 but I am not sure how closely Parker-Hale followed that. No false muzzle was provided with the P-H, and those on original match rifles were really muzzle protectors; the bullet is just under bore size and loads without the need of a starter.

David
 
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