Our Test Rifle
Slinging those hulking 360 Buckhammer rounds requires more than the just the ammo. Our test rifle, provided by Henry Repeating Arms, is its Steel Lever Action 360 Buckhammer Side Gate. That’s a long name for a familiar rifle. How familiar? This is essentially Henry’s standard blued steel and American walnut lever-driven repeater that can be had in other chamberings, namely the venerable .30-30 Winchester.
The “new” 360 version wears a 20-inch round barrel with 1:12 rifling. Sights are the standard adjustable semi-buckhorn rear and brass bead front. The receiver is drilled and tapped for optics mounting, accepting the Weaver 63B base. Like Henry’s other levers, there’s a basic transfer bar safety and no manual crossbolt.
The side loading gate, indicated right in the model’s name, is a fairly recent addition to the company’s lineup. It adds an easy option to feed rounds via the receiver loading port and comes in addition to the tubular magazine loading port. Speaking of the magazine, the full-length tube holds five rounds of 360 Buckhammer.
The wood grain on our test rifle is basic yet attractive, being the standard Henry quality American walnut. The lever-action hunter culminates in a solid black rubber recoil pad, which helps with the modest, albeit present recoil. Sling studs come standard, as this is a rifle to be carried afield. With its 14-inch length of pull, the rifle is full-length. Couple that with the 7-pound unloaded and un-scoped weight, and this becomes one hefty, solid rig.
Like all other Henrys, the Buckhammer falls under the company’s industry standard customer service guarantee. Retail price on the young rig sits at $1,057, the same cost as the .30-30 version.
Henry’s Other Buckhammers
The big news at 360 BHMR’s launch was, and still is, the round itself. However, that’s all for naught if there are no readily available firearms. To that end, partner Henry announced four model variants at the time of the launch: our Steel lever, the polished Brass Side Gate Lever Action, the Lever X, and the Single Shot Steel.
At the time of this publication, all of the rifles are available except the Brass Side Gate, which has yet to hit shelves but should be seen soon.
A Bit About the BHMR
Due to time and space constraints, we won’t rehash the details of the 360 Buckhammer here, but the round draws a list of similarities to the .30-30 Win, yet with a straight-wall build that makes it legal in the handful of states with such casing restrictions. Its projectile dimensions and weights are more than reminiscent of the now hard-to-find brush-busting .35 Remington.
Speaking of straight walls, we’ve been crushing on Winchester’s 350 Legend, which has bagged its share of whitetails over the last year, so it seemed difficult to justify the need for another, similar round. However, with the Legend’s rimless, shoulderless design, it’s far from ideal in lever actions. And of course, lever actions are some of the most popular whitetail rifles ever to hit the American deer woods.
Related: 360 Buckhammer And The Straight Wall Hunting Craze
That’s exactly where the 360 Buckhammer will butter its bread, as a straight-walled, smooth-feeding, lever gun darling. It’s no secret that the 360 BHMR was optimized for use in lever actions, with Remington claiming its accuracy at 200-plus yards. There’s some crossover in this conversation, as Henry offers a single-shot rifle chambered for the competitor 350 Legend.
Field Notes
The blued steel and hardwood pairing looks and feels the part of an old-school deer rifle. The chambering, though, is purely modern. A major draw of straight-wall rounds, namely the recent 350 Legend, is the rounds’ low recoil against capable sub-200 yards performance. On paper, the Buckhammer improves on the 350 Legend while claiming to add minimal recoil.
Related: A Primer on 350 Legend for Hunters
On the range, though, perceived recoil is considerably greater than that of the 350 Legend. Now mind you, we’re not saying it’s a thumper in recoil by any means. In common deer hunting terms, it’s fairly mild. However, even in the hefty Henry lever gun, recoil is noticeably more than every 350 Legend we’ve fired, in every platform from single shot to AR to bolt action to handgun. On a purely subjective level, handling and firing the 360 feels like revisiting our old pal .30-30, and that’s never a bad thing.
The rifle itself is both attractive and practical. The laser checkering is a useful addition for hunters, as are the included sling studs. At the end of the day, this rifle is not built as a safe queen, but as an everyday hunter. Though certainly not a left-handed rifle, Henry’s side-eject levers are built to eject spent rounds more forward, keeping flying hot brass away from a southpaw’s face, with all other controls being ambidextrous-friendly.
Ammo Notes
One issue we want to revisit in the future centers on the ammunition itself. At the time of this writing, the 360 BHMR was very new. We sourced ammo – the 200-grain variety – from two sources: directly from Remington and from an outside retailer. Both boxes of ammunition raised some concerns, with light to moderate corrosion on the brass casings, bullet seating depth questions, and different colored primers in the same box.
To be clear, we verified correct overall length and had no problems chambering or firing any of the rounds. Once we grab a few more types, and eventually brands, of ammo, we’ll circle back with more in-depth accuracy testing. At the end of the day, though, the rifle mowed through all the rounds.
We set up at the 100-yard mark for our official accuracy test using only the factory iron sights. They required significant adjustments out of the box, but that’s an easy enough front sight drift and rear elevator process. Though we’d like to see a tighter three-shoot group than that in the video, we’re confident that adding a scope would bring the trio in considerably. We’re also looking forward to seeing how the 180-grain Core-Lokts will group.
Conclusion
Perhaps you’re considering Henry’s 360 Buckhammer because you hunt in an area with straight-wall casing limitations. Or maybe you simply appreciate Henry’s “Made in America” guarantee and quality. A few of you may even enjoy digging into new chamberings just to be different.
No matter what brought you to this Remington and Henry partnership of the 360 Buckhammer, we’re confident you’ll find a hard-hitting straight-wall round in a capable, quality platform. Though we seriously doubt it ever reaches the acclaim and lifespan of rounds like the .30-30 or .45-70 Gov’t, the 360 Buckhammer fills a niche in the hunter’s market and does so capably and with class.
