Henry .360 Buckhammer Lever Action X Model Rifle Review

In my last Product Review, I described how to mount a scope on the new Henry .360 Buckhammer. After that article, we are now ready to review the Henry .360 Buckhammer itself. Not to sound like Mary Poppins, but let’s start at the very beginning.

Live Inventory Price Checker

	Henry X Model 360 Buckhammer Blued Steel Lever Action Rifle - 21.375in - Black	Sportsman's Warehouse	$ 969.99
	Henry Repeating Arms X Model .360 Buckhammer 21.375 Barrel 5-Rounds	GrabAGun	$ 866.99
	Henry Steel Side Gate, .360 Buckhammer, 20 Barrel, 5+1 Capacity, Rifle	BattleHawk Armory	$ 1088.00 $ 780.97
	Henry Steel Lever Action Side Gate 360 Buckhammer Blued Steel Lever Action Rifle - 20in - Brown	Sportsman's Warehouse	$ 919.99

Why Another New Caliber? What is .360 Buckhammer?

You may ask why is it a big deal that another new caliber hit the market. I live in Idaho, and it may not sound like a big deal if you live in a state like mine. But, if you live in a state where all that you can legally hunt deer with is a shotgun or a straight-wall jacketed shell, it suddenly becomes big-time important. Some overpopulated states feel that it is safer to only allow hunting rifles that have a shorter range.

To my understanding, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, and Illinois were, in the past, shotgun-only states but opened up to straight-walled cartridges. This allowed deer hunters a more efficient platform and cartridge to hunt with. With this, the .360 Buckhammer was born to solve the problem hunters in these restricted states face.

Testing the Henry .360 Buckhammer

When testing a new rifle, I always run an oiled patch down the barrel to ensure that there are no obstacles in the barrel and to remove any shaving from when they cut the rifling or factory grease if any inadvertently is left in the barrel. This is a bare minimum. Some of my buddies also run a brush down the barrel, and some lap the barrel. Even if you have never encountered the above problems, why not take a few seconds to clean the barrel just to be safe?

We are now ready to sight in the rifle. On a bolt action, you can bore sight the rifle, but not so on lever actions and semi-autos. So, I set up a large target at 25 yards to get it on paper. On the preliminary shooting, I don’t shoot three or five shots because it’d just waste ammo. I shoot once and then make adjustments.

When shooting at 100 yards, 1 click makes a ¼-inch adjustment. But at 25 yards, it takes 4 clicks to make a ¼-inch adjustment at 100 yards. Conversely, if it is shooting 1 inch high at 25 yards, then it will be shooting 4 inches high at 100 yards. Make sense?

At 25 yds. I was 8-inches high and to the left. So, theoretically, it should have taken 32 clicks to get on zero, but it took me three rounds of 30 clicks to get in the ballpark. I then moved the target out to 50 yards. When sighting in your rifles, it is imperative to have a super stable shooting bench. It drives me nuts when people say well, and I don’t always have a steady rest when hunting, so why have one when sighting in my rifle? We can talk about offhand shooting on another day, but right now, we’re trying to get a rifle sighted in and know what it can do. Not determining how steady you are.

So, after getting it tuned in, I got a 1-inch group at 50 yards. But to be fair to Henry, I was a hair shaky that day, so I‘m sure that you might be able to get a ¾’s inch group.

Now, to review the rifle itself. Who doesn’t love a Henry lever action rifle? You have to be anti-American not to, wouldn’t you? The Henry .360 Buckhammer holds five rounds. Mine operates as smooth as glass.

I wondered how bad the .360 would kick, but it doesn’t kick badly at all. I shot over a box of shells that day in a short amount of time and, at the end, was not flinching at all.

Like all of the other Henry rifles, I think that the Henry .360 Buckhammer is a nice-looking rifle. It is different than any of my other Henry’s since it is jet black so it is a different kind of good looking. Plus, it has many side attributes. 5/8×24 Threaded Barrel, Large Loop Lever, M-Lok Accessory Slots, Picatinny Rail Accessory Mount, Side Loading Gate, Sling Swivel Studs.

.360 Buckhammer Ammo

Remington makes the ammo for the Henry. It is a straight-walled shell that looks much like an oversized .44 mag shell. At first, I didn’t understand the reasoning why a few states only allowed you to hunt with rifles that use straight-wall ammo. But as described above, I finally figured out why. So, for those of you who live in those states, the Henry .360 Buckhammer is a much better option for deer hunting than a shotgun with slugs. The Remington CORE-LOKT (Which is what most of us old-timers grew up shooting in our 30-06’s as kids) is offered for the .360 Buckhammer in both a 180 gr. or 200 gr. bullet, so it should be a good round for deer hunting.

The Henry .360 Buckhammer is aptly named “The Buckhammer” since it should adequately hammer a buck, but I think it’d also be a great hog gun, and I think it’d work well on close-range shooting of bears.

The MSRP on the .360 Buckhammer is $1,091.00, and as is usual, we will close with the factory specs.

Developed in partnership with Remington Ammunition, .360 Buckhammer was created to rule the deer woods with a design optimized for lever action rifles, accuracy out to 200 yards and beyond, higher velocity, and less bullet drop than the competition. In short, it’s the ultimate straight wall cartridge for today’s whitetail woodsman, and there’s no better companion than this feature-packed rifle.

• Barrel Length – 21.375″
• Barrel Type – Round Blued Steel
• Rate of Twist – 1:12
• Overall Length – 40.375″
• Weight – 8.07 lbs.
• Receiver Finish – Blued Steel
• Rear Sight – Fully Adj. Fiber Optic
• Front Sight – Fiber Optic
• Scopeability – Drilled and Tapped
• Scope Mount Type – Weaver 63B
• Stock Material – Black Synthetic
• Buttplate/Pad – Black Solid Rubber Recoil Pad
• Length of Pull – 14″
• Safety – Transfer Bar
• Best Uses – Target/Hunting

About Tom Claycomb

Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoor writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net, and numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal, you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening #ad for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”