Going to try the 360 Buckhammer

[Lastmohecken]

I certainly didn't need it, but I bought a new Henry 360 Buckhammer, today. I like the idea of this caliber, and I am not one to very often try new cartridges. But being a 35 caliber fan, and leveraction fan, I decided to give it a try. Arkansas recently changed their laws, and modified the muzzleloading season to a straight wall rifle season. Not that I didn't already have it covered, with several 45/70's, not to mention 357's and 44's. I already bagged one deer with my Marlin 45/70 during that season.

However, I like the idea of the Buckhammer, being a shortened 30/30 case, and expanded to straight wall in standard 35 caliber. So, it doesn't look like handloading would be difficult at all for this round, and I could always covert 30/30 brass over to it, if for some reason I couldn't get the Buckhammer brass. And any 35 caliber bullet should work, as long as it feeds ok and doesn't have a pointed end, that might cause a detonation in the magazine tube. It's only 150 to 200 feet per second behind the 358 Winchester and I think the ballistics are slightly better than the old 35 Remington.

Anyway, I hope Henry has it figured out, as far as feeding goes in this gun. I have never actually owned a Henry before, but looks well thought out, and the workmanship is pretty good on it.

Has anyone else on here tried the Henry out yet in this caliber? The one I bought is the blued, walnut stocked model.

[.45colt]

I don't have one but been eye ballin a Henry at the local wally world. It is legal here in Ohio. The Remington ammo on the shelf there says the 180grn bullet is going 2400fps. ammo for it is $28.00 a box. I have had a Henry .22 for several years and it has been a Great rifle especially for the Grandkids to shoot. Henry is a Good company to deal with and customer service is A+. Good Luck with it, can't wait for Your Range Report!

[GunnyMack]

If I lived in a rifle state the 360 would be my pick. Sure I have a 44 Ruger carbine, a Henry 41, and a 450 bushmaster but just something about the 360 I really like. Not to mention that brass is much easier to keep control of unlike the semi autos.
Keep us posted on how you like it, how it preforms on deer.

[fourbore]

I just posted last week on another forum some idle speculation that the 360 seemed like one of the more useful and well though out new & improved straight wall. A true .358 based on 30-30 brass. Not much response. I think a lot of people kind of put off with all the crazy fad ctgs right now. The 360 seems to honestly edge out the 35 rem. Then the 35rem seemed just about my ideal woods deer rifle that does not need any improvement. That aside sitting mid way of the 358Win and 35Rem has to be a good place to be. Rimmed seems a lot better than a rebated rimless that looks like it was designed for the AR platform.

There are still a lot of hunters who want a bolt gun. If Remington is serious and I doubt they are, they could offer this in the Model 7. I know it is possible since savage used to build a 30-30 bolt action. If Ruger American and Marlin 336, Savage bolt, Remington bolt and Henry lever and single shot all joined the party this ctg would off to the races. To the die hard gun nut this has to better than the 350 Legend - under size bore , under size powder capacity and under sized rim. This would have been great option for the old H&R Handy at a price that would sell including buyers who use a lot of off the shelf ammo. That party is over.

[Lastmohecken]

Actually, I just picked it up, this morning. I had the shop set it back for me, yesterday, but I had forgotten my billfold, so I had to go back today. He gave me a free box of Remington 200gr roundnose bullets for it. I have not shot it yet, but I did want to know for sure that the gun would cycle the rounds, ok. And I am happy to say, that it fed and ejected them like butter, so, I am pretty happy with it so far. I am going to scope it so I need to find a scope mount for it.

I do like the 35 caliber rifles, a lot. I have owned a 350 Remington magnum for many years, and I used to own a 358 Winchester. Which this gun will shoot all of those same bullets, just not the pointed soft points, although I could shoot them also, if I only loaded one in the barrel and one in the mag to be safe. But I am partial to the big round noses anyway, like the big 200 grain Sierra roundnose. But I think its Hornady that is also making a polymer tipped 180 grain pointed bullet that would be fine in the tubular magazine.

One other note, so far: The trigger is really pretty good. It's not heavy, but not super light either. It's very smooth, but not the ice sickle break, of a fine boltaction, but very smooth, and I am guessing maybe 4 pounds. I see no need to try to improve on it.

[GunnyMack]

I say the 360 beats the snot out of the 350 'legend' . Like fourbore says it's not great by any means. Now the 400 legend is more to my liking!

I'm sure you will be quite pleased with your new Henry! Please post shooting results.

[Bill in Oregon]

I find the 360 very interesting as well. I can see running it as a black powder target cartridge with cast and or paper-patched boolits.

[Lastmohecken]

I find the 360 very interesting as well. I can see running it as a black powder target cartridge with cast and or paper-patched boolits.

I have a lot of cast bullets on hand, i might give that a try. They are not gas check, however. I wonder how fast I could push them before they started leading the barrel.

[Jeff H]

I find the 360 very interesting as well. I can see running it as a black powder target cartridge with cast and or paper-patched boolits.

Haven't posted here in a while - haven't had time and currently "between leverguns."

I've been watching this cartridge since it was announced and agree with the idea that it makes more sense than so many new "whiz-bang" bright ideas - which people seem to be getting tired of.

The comment on black powder (among several other things) runs alongside something I've thought about this regarding cartridge - OTHER smokeless powders.

Background info: I currently shoot a 18" TC Contender Carbine in 357 Mag almost exclusively, but have a 20" 357 Max on a SSK 50, which I've not had occasion to fire yet. WHAT?? I've only had the barrel for seven years, be patient.

I see nothing wrong with the 357 Max, in fact, it's quite a versatile cartridge and plenty sufficient for deer, where I live and in the environment in which I might have occasion to take a poke at one. It just make SO much sense too, since I can use my 357 Mag dies and have several suitable moulds in the 35 caliber, which would be ideal in it, from 170 grain to 200 grain. There's a 180 and 190 in there, either of which would be my first choice though.

Powder-wise, I can use to great efficiency, the same powders I have on hand for my top-end loads for the 357 MAG. I have focused on small pistol/small rifle primers in my hoarding habits and have experimented a fair bit in exchanging one for the other in revolver loads, so the 'Max is a shoo-in for ME.

HOWEVER, this new 360 BH makes a lot of sense too, because I also have a Contender Carbine in 30/30 and brass should not be an issue should things get even tighter than they are. LARGE primers are a bit of a sticking point.

MY thoughts are around the powders which seem to be ideal in the 360 BH, which seem a bit limited. SOME of what's good in the 357 Max is good in the 360 BH, but not all. I see no loads for it using H110, WC820 or Alliant 300MP, which are those I use most in the 357 Max - in previous 357 Maxs I've had. All carbines, by the way.

So, my thoughts keep coming back to powders which are good in the 30/30, 222, 223. Too slow for the 357 Max (as a general rule), but maybe if loaded in the 360 BH, I MAY be able to AT LEAST EQUAL 357 Max performance, which I've already determined to be sufficient for my own needs.

So, WHY buy a 360 BH (or rechamber an existing barrel) only to achieve 357 Max ballistics, when it's capable of considerably out-running the 'Max?

With the current, extended (poor) powder situation, and attendant ridiculous prices, the 360BH could expand the level of versatility of the powders I keep on hand. I'd not be disinclined to find/buy a can of 1680, and I have SOME 4227 (but, not a lot), so I could shoot top-end 360BH loads if I wanted/needed to.

BUT, if the powder/primer/brass situation refuses to improve, or worse yet - gets worse, I could live with 357 Max ballistics using a cartridge which uses relatively abundant and available brass and powders I have in quantity.

I fear that 357 Max brass will get pushed farther back on the production schedule with the 350L and 360BH popping up, so the sporadic production of 357 Max brass, which Starline corrected, may well slip back to the when-the-heck-will-we-see-it-again status.

Conjecture, speculation,... Hard to say, but I've been watching and trying to gauge things. I have enough 357 Max brass to last me a long time, plenty of appropriate powder and an (almost) comfortable supply of small rifle primers, so I can afford to sit back and watch. All it will cost me is a set of dies and a barrel or rechamber-job.

Then too, there's that new Rossi M95 I'm liking the looks of and, if that one is made as well as the RP63 Rossi 357 revolver I bought about a year ago, it should be very nice indeed.

[Ray]

It is interesting that a search of online distributors shows the rossi leveractions in the new .360 cost only $100 more than the henry & traditions break-open single-shots. At $500+ before tax, shipping and ffl transfer fee, those simple single-shots seem pricey but it is only money !

[Jeff H]

It is interesting that a search of online distributors shows the rossi leveractions in the new .360 cost only $100 more than the henry & traditions break-open single-shots. At $500+ before tax, shipping and ffl transfer fee, those simple single-shots seem pricey but it is only money !

Rossi's new single-shot is listed in several chamberings, from 357 Mag, up to and including the 6.5 Creedmoore.

I handled one at Rural King last week, but the only one actually available right now is the .350L. Its a very nicely put together little gun.

For $248, I could buy TWO for less than one Contender Carbine barrel and may just do that, whether they chamber it in 360BH or not. Might wait fro a 357 Mag and rechamber it.

Only thing I don't know is what twist rate Rossi uses and I'd be cautious, since they use 1:30 in the 92.

[Bill in Oregon]

Twist is 1:12.

Rossi R95 .360 Buckhammer Specifications

Barrel Length: 20 inches
Overall Length: 39 inches
Height: 7.40 inches
Width: 1.70 inches
Weight: 6 pounds, 15 ounces
Rifling Twist Rate: 6 grooves; 1:12-inch RH twist
Tubular Magazine Capacity: 5 rounds

https://www.shootingillustrated.com/con ... on-rifles/

[FLINT]

The 360 BH is certainly the most appealing 'new' cartridge to me. What's not to like. Sure, the 35 rem is awesome, but buying ammo for it sucks if you don't reload (which most people don't). And being a new round, ammo will likely be more available than 35 rem has been.

[TraderVic]

While we're admiring the virtues of a single shot rifle, Henry offers their single shot in 360 BH as well.

[.45colt]

A local dealer quoted Me $525.00 +tax on the Henry single shot two weeks ago. I've seen them a little cheaper on some other internet sights. The local Wally world has sold three Henry levers in the .360 in the last month. .

[Bill in Oregon]

I've looked at that Henry single shot more than a few times. With that short sporter barrel and action opening lever where it is, its hard to imagine mounting a Vernier tang sight and pretending it is a BPCR.

[AJMD429]

.
I like me a 357 Max Contender and a 375 Win 92BB, and a 444 Marlin 336 or whatever they call it. Seems like I’d like the Buckhammer too….

IMG_4193.jpeg

Image from AmmoGuide.com - very much worth the cost for load data (factory and user) and cartridge comparisons and design and so on…

[Ray]

In the most excellent "cartridges of the world" reference work, there are several obsolete .35/.36 cartridges that appear in the photos or sketched illustrations to be be more or less straight-walled but the text says that they can be formed from 30-30, 32-40, .32 spl. and 38-55 brass. This new fangled .360 is a dead-ringer for some of these old b.p. rounds.

Ignoring the original .35 maynard which was just a flanged case with a vent-hole for the flame from a musket cap, there was a center-primed.35-30 almost a decade later then the .35-40 (and -45) mentioned below.

https://www.blackpowdercartridge.com/35-40-maynard-1882

As for the .350 legend, a cva break-open single-shot was experimented with and successfully fired .samples of 380 acp, 9x17, 9x18, 9x19, 9x21, 9x23, 9mm magnum (yes, this is a real cartridge), 9mm makarov (despite the .37" bullet) and legend brass formed from .223 basic brass trimmed slightly when kosher legend brass was out of stock.

Yes, that is a lot of freebore distance for the bullet to rattle down to the rifling but in one instance, a whole box of fifty russian steel-cased and steel jacketed fmj 9x19 was shot without misfires with just the extractor holding the case back against the firing pin blow and obviously no case mouth headspacing. All fifty shots hit a normal 210mm x 297mm sheet of paper at 100 yds. with the aid of magnification. The chamber walls, leade/throat were examined under strong light and magnification and egregious wear/damage was not evident though there was not a "before" photo for comparison.

[FLINT]

Yes, I was thinking about that the other day actually. It's a straight-wall cartridge based on the 30-30. Wait a minute. The 38-55 is a straightwalled cartridge that the 30-30 was based on, but it is .375-.38x diameter, so the 360 buckhammer must be slightly tapered. Wait a minute, the 32-40 is a tapered 38-55. The 360 fits between the two but closer to the 38-55. And the 375 WIN is a slightly shortened 38-55 with the diameter standardized and pressure increased. So the 360BH can be thought of as many things, but maybe the closest (??) is a shortened, slighty tapered 375 win with increased pressure. And then there are the way obsolete/obscure cartridges that Ray referred to what are even more similar.

So I think the point is that the 360BH is in good company with an excellent pedigree.

(this is but one branch of the rabbit hole you can go down thinking about the relationships between all the other cartridges out there - it would be neat if someone made a phylogeny or evolutionary tree depicting the relationships between ALL of the metalic cartridges past and present,