Opinion on Henry rifles

9

9.3X62AL

Guest
1 MOA from a levergun is a lot to ask, with all of the things draped from the barrel.

I am still using the open irons on my 94CCL in 32/20. I can run those pretty well, having grown up using them. I have meant to attach a set of the Skinners on this rifle, but am short on roundtuits for that particular tasking. On the last couple desert jaunts I have managed almost a dozen jackrabbits with Lyman #311316 @ .313" and enough 2400 to produce 1650 FPS, which seems to be a sweet spot. Shots ranged from 20 to 125 yards, and batting average was about .700 or so. The buckhorns suffice for now.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
There is a lot of stuff draped on the barrel of a Swedish Mauser and an M1A, too, but somehow they shoot. The M1A is strung up like a bow and the barrel actually arced by action tension, not to mention the slide-hammer of the short-stroke gas piston slamming the barrel off-axis. The M1 has three chunks of walnut and a cleaning rod held onto it's barrel with spring clips and they shoot pretty well, too.

I don't expect a levergun to shoot MOA out of the box without a little fine-tuning of production fit tolerances to tighten up groups. What I DO expect is that the rifle will stabilize all bullets in the usual range of weights for the cartridge that fits the chamber to at least 100 yards, which we do not get with most .45 Colt and .44 Magnum rifles, seemingly because makers forget that not all big-bore PC leverguns are .44-40 stoked with black powder.
 
3

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
Anybody know offhand what the twist rate on the Henry 357 mag rifles is?
I was on their website earlier today, but didn't see it mentioned there.

I love octagon bbls., but their round bbl. versions sure are a lot lighter by almost a pound and a half with the steel frame and 20" bbl.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Heard back from Mr. Imperato early this morning, he indicated that they are looking into making a faster twist available, and would contact me when that happens. Hopefully those of us who contacted the company about it will be the first to know and might actually have a chance of getting one before they all get snapped up.

EDIT TO ADD: Mr. Imperato just sent me a follow up message indicating the twist rate of the .45 Colt Big Boy rifles is 1:16, is that awesome or what? I replied that it might improve sales if the specific information was more clear in the catalog.

Opinion keeps going up. I'm going to buy one.
 
Will

Will

Well-Known Member
If that's true I may get a 45 colt. Still kind of worries me about what I'm going to get with the website stating its a 1-38" twist.
 
9

9.3X62AL

Guest
I hear ya, Ian. The boiler-plate 1-38" pitch given A LOT of 44 caliber rifles is ridiculously slow for most 44 caliber bullets. 1-38" is optimized for the short/fat 200 grainers of the 44/40 WCF, and little else. My Miroku 92 in 44 Mag has a 1-24" twist, which has worked fine in all of the bullet weights I have tried, from 200-265 grains.

At the other extreme are 9mm and 40 S&W pistols, many of which have ridiculously fast 1-10" or 4 turns/meter twists for their short squatty bullets. I cannot understand why that persists, unless in the early days of smokeless powders the increased pressure caused by this rapid twist helped sustain combustion. My most lead-friendly 40 S&W is my CZ-75B, its 1-16" twist is sensible and the pistol shoots LIGHTS OUT. In essence--the 44 barrels should be pitched twice as fast as they are, and the 9mm/40 S&W barrels need pitching at half their usual rate. It is pretty obvious to me that most makers of firearms are not users of their own products.
 
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3

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
I did a search last night on another site and actual owners of 357 and 45 colt henry rifles all said the twist was 1/16 on those two.
Still 1/38 on the 44. I see from the last few posts, Ian already had the info on the 45 colt.

Ian is right...they need to make that clear on their website. It clearly gives the specs for the 44 and nothing for 357 or 45 colt. That's been holding me off from buying one.

I definitly want one now in either 357 or 45 colt sometime by next summer hopefully.
I can live with the tubular loading for range work and hunting, although would prefer side loading gate for battle or self defense work....quicker to top off the rounds before running dry.
I like everything else about the Henrys, so i'll just get used to the tube loading and enjoy shooting the heck out of it.
 
Will

Will

Well-Known Member
I handled a big boy in 45 colt at the gun shop today. I was really tempted.
I did throw out some Christmas gift ideas to the wife so we will see what happens.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
I've handled them a couple of times and still think they have no soul, they're "too perfect" if that makes sense. Plus they don't have a half-cock position which totally crosses wires with my muscle memory, and I've seen canoe paddles with more graceful lines than the buttstocks. And they're very heavy. But I'm going to buy one anyway and adjust my pre-conceived notions accordingly. Took me years and finally getting meaty enough hand webs to experience slide bite before I warmed up to the beavertail grip safety and commander hammer on a 1911.

My very first gun was a Winchester Model 37 .410, and I simply adore the H&R Handi rifles, so you'd think I could learn to live with a transfer bar safety on a levergun. Oddly, the tube insert magazine system doesn't bother me a bit, but my Dad's old 39A and a couple of Remington .22s over the years got me quite accustomed to it. Also, it makes unloading a cinch and brass doesn't get all scratched up like it does going through a loading gate. I'm left-handed anyway so the loading gate on the receiver never was of much advantage.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
if you want a 327 Lipsey's has them, or they did last week.

next time any of y'all contact Henry, splain to them a loading gate is just a piece of spring steel covering a hole in the frame.
it's not a mystery and it certainly won't break a patent by putting one on a rifle.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
What would change my opinion is if they put a loading gate on the BOTTOM. So much better than side-loading, and ambidextrous too.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Like a pump shotgun? Need to rethink the carrier but no reason it couldnt work.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
If the bottom load didn't have a flipper in the way kinda like the moss500 that would be something spectacular.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
isn't that how the 740/760? Remington loads.
the pump rifle they built for a while.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
My 59 760pump in 270 is mag fed as was the 90's 7400 I sent down the road
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Brad said:
Like a pump shotgun? Need to rethink the carrier but no reason it couldnt work.
Click to expand...

Yeah, like that.

Put that little spring/hook doohicky on the side to hold the stack in the magazine. The carrier would trip the cartridge retainer as it lowered to receive a cartridge and let the stack push down, then would hand the stack back off to the retainer as it lifted the cartridge up to the chamber. There wouldn't need to be a loading gate at all, but a hinged flapper like the 870 has could be used and maybe even sculpted to the shape of the bottom of the receiver.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
740 is mag fed .

Now you want an M37/BPS rifle ? Cool that would be sweet for folks with skinny fingers .
 
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