Henry Single Shot Initial Impressions

[doghawg]

I went to the range with the Henry .44 and can report the 31# spring with the small spring inside works perfectly. With 70 rounds fired and quick lock time, plenty deep on primer indents, no misfires and no more pierced primers I'd say this combo works. Took chrony along and 320 LBT's over 2400 at 1370 fps shot into an inch at 50 yards, likewise Lyman 255 GC's at 1320 fps over starting charge of Blue Dot and...dare I admit on Cast Boolits?....240 gr. XTP's over starting charge of Blue Dot put 10 shot's under an inch at 50 yards. Surprised that a revolver plinking load with 245 gr. RCBS over 8.2 gr. of Unique at 1190 fps shot in a small cluster also. I don't think that this plinking load would bounce off a whitetail either and recoil is next to nothing.

All in all the little blued Henry is a pure joy to shoot with a nice trigger and it's currently my favorite rifle.

[megasupermagnum]

Nothing at all wrong with that. If I'm not shooting cast bullets, It's usually an XTP. That's good to hear that combo works. I was surprised too when I tried the lightest spring I bought, and the hammer still seemed plenty fast.

[rfd]

i might get a henry s/s in .223 chambering, get the barrel and chamber reamed out for .38-55 and load up some black powder PPB cartridges.

[Gray Fox]

That plinking load more than equals the old .44 Henry Flat round from a 66 Winchester and it killed lots of deer in its day. GF

[rfd]

i might get a henry s/s in .223 chambering, get the barrel and chamber reamed out for .38-55 and load up some black powder PPB cartridges.

i just did - got one on order!

[stana]

The Henry 223's barrel is too skinny to ream, dang!

[rfd]

The Henry 223's barrel is too skinny to ream, dang!

interesting. the .223 version weighs over 7lbs and the .45-70 version weighs under 7lbs, how did the big bore contribute to lost total weight?

[rfd]

fwiw, on the henry site the spex on their s/s iron mounted rifles decreases as the bores increase. i'll call uncle henry up tomorrow to see if the barrels on these guns have the same outside dimensions.

[stana]

"Skinny barrel" my Henry 223 measures .56 at the muzzle and .63 at 16". Anyway that's what the Chinese mic says.

[megasupermagnum]

My 308 is .575" at the muzzle.

[rfd]

henry tech support sez all the h015 single shot rifles have the same exterior dimension barrels, no matter whether it's .223 or .45-70 chamber and bore ream. that fact is borne out by the guns weights listed for each of these rifle cartridge iterations.

[stana]

Google. "Classis Barrel and Gunworks" check reboring and limitations. A minimum barrel wall thickness of .125 is needed. My 223 barrel could be reamed to 30 cal, but no more.

[rfd]

Google. "Classis Barrel and Gunworks" check reboring and limitations. A minimum barrel wall thickness of .125 is needed. My 223 barrel could be reamed to 30 cal, but no more.

henry tech support said the external barrel dimensions for all of their h015 series are the same. if so, whether a .223 or .45-70, only the bore would be different. if this is true, then that would account for the incremental decrease in the listed total gun weight of each cartridge model. or maybe the tech who replied to my initial email was just plain wrong. i have a phone call into henry ....

[rfd]

henry tech support was adamant that all h015 barrels are externally the same except for their bore and chamber ream dimensions.

i guess that's gonna need real world vetting.

can anyone with a h015-4570 accurately measure the muzzle and breech diameters, and perhaps the barrel thickness at the muzzle?

might be other folks wanting to make over their h015 to a different cartridge, too.

while a .38-55 would be keen, i wouldn't mind a .357max instead.

[rking22]

So the 45-70 has .058 wall thickness at the muzzle???? I think my 16ga M12 has thicker muzzle walls than that.
(.575-.458)/2= .0585

[doghawg]

My H015-44 measures .741" at the muzzle and 1.100" at the breech.

[rfd]

My H015-44 measures .741" at the muzzle and 1.100" at the breech.

be interesting to measure the 223 due to arrive next week at me.

[rking22]

Seems Henry tech support might be "under informed". Or know some things that are just wrong...

[megasupermagnum]

If the 223 remington has a muzzle thickness of .560", 308 winchester at .575", and 44 mag at .741", I'd say the Henry rep is wrong.

[megasupermagnum]

I ended up buying a trigger pull gauge, and found some surprising results.

I tried my Henry single shot after a little trigger work, and lighter spring. It has a 3.75# trigger pull now. I have not got to shoot it since I worked on it, but that should do for me, especially as it smooths out some. I also tried my Henry big boy, which I distinctly remember being lighter than the original single shot trigger. It is 5.75#. I'd say my guess of the single shot coming with a 7#-8# trigger is accurate.