Posted on 12/23/2017 3:25:37 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
The eyes of soldiers, notables and frontiersmen, posing with their sleek, efficient Henry repeating rifles in century-and-a-half-old photographs, typically reflect pride and confidence, and imply that the rifle’s users know they’re holding something special. Such feelings are understandable. The 16-shot Henry lever-action set the owner above the norm. It was truly one of the mechanical wonders of its era.
During a time when most military and sporting arms were single-shots or cumbersome percussion repeaters, a gun that effortlessly spat out a rapid stream of bullets with only one charging of handy, self-contained cartridges was something to be admired and coveted. Originally made in relatively limited numbers between 1860 and 1866, the Henry .44 Rimfire rifle, which was devised, built and primarily carried in the United States, eventually fell into disuse. Nearly a century-and-a-half later, a modern resurgence of interest in Civil War arms and the rise of cowboy action shooting have given many vintage arms a new lease on life-including the Henry. Replicas of the rifle began to be successfully made overseas in the 1970s. Now the process has returned full-circle thanks to Henry Repeating Arms of Bayonne, N.J., which has brought the manufacturing of this all-American firearm back home.
The Henry rifle has one of the most tortuous histories of any firearm ever. Even though its official production lasted a scant half-dozen years, its antecedents and descendants extended for many years. In 1848 inventor Walter Hunt introduced an odd-looking lever-action long arm that chambered an early incarnation of the metallic cartridge.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanrifleman.org ...
It’s the thought that counts :)
Whatever its faults were it was still the M14 of its day!
If you read owners comments from the day there’s never anything but praise for them.
Meanwhile, the troopers were armed with trapdoor Springfields.
That’s what I thought. It was a Sharps. With a peephole tang sight, if I remember correctly.
Be nice to have one like it.
With copper cartridge cases that came apart while being extracted after firing several rounds in battle. Some of Custer's troopers tried to dig the cases out with their knives while being fired upon by the Indians with .44 rim fire Henry rifles.
Do the replicas shoot center-fire cartridges?
Not round nose bullets, those are fine in tube mags, or flat nose. it’s the pointy ones you can’t use, although now they have them with soft plastic points that are safe and shoot a lot farther than round or flat.
Classic gun, but it had a couple problems corrected in the later Winchester. For one you have to remove the magazine to reload it, whereas on a Winchester you load through the side port and can top off as you shoot. Also if you shoot a lot of rounds the barrel gets hot, and there’s no fore stock to keep your hand from being burned.
Bless you for that! The M-14 was a damn fine weapon and I'll always cherish that beast.
Yes, the Henry had its flaws - but it was still far and away the most advanced rifle on Earth for years after it was first introduced.
Yes - they all do: .45 Colt. .44-40, .357 are available.
"Remove the magazine"? All you do is slide the magazine follower forward towards the muzzle and the twist the muzzle cap to the side and pour rounds down the tube, base first. Not totally convenient to do from the prone but fast and easy with practice. Actually faster than the side gate loading, which is one at a time.
As far as barrel heating goes, you'd have to be in an all day firefight to get a Henry to heat up enough to burn your hand. It's a small cartridge and that barrel is a giant heat sink: no way will it get hot after a single magazine load. Or even two or three.
The real problem with the lack of a handguard was that the magazine follower could stop on your hand if you weren't paying attention and cause a failure to feed. That, and the magazine had that slot in the bottom which left the magazine vulnerable to dirt and impact damage.
I didn’t phrase that exactly right. What I meant is you have to pull the tube out of firing position and you can’t shoot and reload at the same time.
I looked around a little bit, and I can’t find any evidence of that. Maybe they were just talking about making a run; but it never happened?
About thirty five or so years ago I saw an add in SHOTGUN NEWS selling newly manufactured .44 Henry rimfire ammo.
I believe you. I wonder if it ever turns up on gunbroker?
Man, I was intrigued by this. Can’t find any mention anywhere other than the original stuff, and it’s going for about $40 a round, or more if you want a whole box/box itself to go with it.
More than a few people have asked where to find .44 Rimfire over the past several years in different shooting forums, if Remington or anybody ever really ran off a batch, nobody has ever seen or found any. It’s the grandaddy of all the metallic cartridges! A little anemic but I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of it, no way. Just ask those 7th Cav guys.
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