Henry Single Shot Initial Impressions

[BigAl52]

I like RFD have a 357 with a 31lb spring and the small spring inside of it. Ive had no ignition issues. Im still working on loads but the gun shoots very good. Sure I think the trigger could have been done better like the rest of the people here. But if I was as unhappy as RustyReel and littlecmonkey are I think I would give Henry a call or at least email Anthony and tell him about youre feelings. They do have a guarantee of 100% satisfaction

[rfd]

the more calls, letters, emails are sent directly to the henry owner and CEO, anthony imperato, the better it will be for everyone, including henry. this is a fine gun, and it IS marred by the dumb trigger that absolutely should have been designed and built correctly, from the get-go. there is NO question that henry inc. will be responsive to their customers. so respond.

anthony@henryusa.com

[RustyReel]

...... But if I was as unhappy as RustyReel and littlecmonkey are I think I would give Henry a call or at least email Anthony and tell him about youre feelings. They do have a guarantee of 100% satisfaction

Actually, I thought the fit and finish on the first Henry I received was so poor that I sent it back to them without ever firing it. They replaced it with another rifle. These are the only two Henry Single Shots I have ever actually seen or handled and the replacement is better than the first one but not something I would rave about as most on this board seem to do. As far as not shooting worth a darn is something I can work on. Unless Henry is going to retrofit all existing rifles with any new trigger they might come up with, for free including shipping, I'm not interested.

Not bad mouthing Henry, it's just not what I was expecting or hoping for and had I been able to see and handle one before buying it I probably would have passed. But then there are lots of things I don't like. YMMV and probably will!

[rfd]

here's the thing about QC ... when ya get that rare lemon from what's already been known as a "good company", they'll stand by their product offerings. how could they possibly let a lemon go out their door? realize it ain't the CEO or his officers that do QC, and worker bee ethics can vary. by alerting the manufacturer about the issue and getting the serial number to them, that should satisfy all parties - except the QC employee in question.

[sghart3578]

the more calls, letters, emails are sent directly to the henry owner and CEO, anthony imperato, the better it will be for everyone, including henry. this is a fine gun, and it IS marred by the dumb trigger that absolutely should have been designed and built correctly, from the get-go. there is NO question that henry inc. will be responsive to their customers. so respond.

anthony@henryusa.com

I can attest to Henry's responsiveness personally.

I bought a Henry Big Boy steel in 357 magnum. I liked everything about it except the rough bore condition.

I emailed photos to Henry's customer service. Mr. Imperato responded personally and within 2 days I had a return shipping label and a full refund.

I am following this thread closely. I am close to buying a Henry single shot in 30-30 but the trigger issue makes me hesitate.

To compound the problem none of the gun stores locally have any available to inspect so I would have to roll the dice and order one.

[littlecmonkey]

Today went out to fire the gun again, with ORIGINAL spring and inner spring. Still two non fires. The primers I am using have never failed to ignite with any other firearm I own. I'm thinking now of substituting primers to see if another brand may work consistently. Anyone know of what primers are considered "soft" as opposed to hard?

Not interested in sending the gun back to Henry as so many others seem to have done. That's utterly ridiculous. Henry should send a product out the door that is reliable. A lemon here or there may occur, but I'm finding that the lemons in this particular configuration are like a citrus grove in Florida. I like to do my fair share of tinkering with guns, but with this one nothing works so far. One can't tell me that Henry isn't aware of the problem, by the likes of this and every other thread concerning their single shots denotes within a few threads. It's really sad.

[megasupermagnum]

Today went out to fire the gun again, with ORIGINAL spring and inner spring. Still two non fires. The primers I am using have never failed to ignite with any other firearm I own. I'm thinking now of substituting primers to see if another brand may work consistently. Anyone know of what primers are considered "soft" as opposed to hard?

Not interested in sending the gun back to Henry as so many others seem to have done. That's utterly ridiculous. Henry should send a product out the door that is reliable. A lemon here or there may occur, but I'm finding that the lemons in this particular configuration are like a citrus grove in Florida. I like to do my fair share of tinkering with guns, but with this one nothing works so far. One can't tell me that Henry isn't aware of the problem, by the likes of this and every other thread concerning their single shots denotes within a few threads. It's really sad.

I personally wouldn't mess with primers. As they come, they have a reputation for piercing primers the springs are such overkill. If yours misfires, it's got other problems.

[BigAl52]

Today went out to fire the gun again, with ORIGINAL spring and inner spring. Still two non fires. The primers I am using have never failed to ignite with any other firearm I own. I'm thinking now of substituting primers to see if another brand may work consistently. Anyone know of what primers are considered "soft" as opposed to hard?

Not interested in sending the gun back to Henry as so many others seem to have done. That's utterly ridiculous. Henry should send a product out the door that is reliable. A lemon here or there may occur, but I'm finding that the lemons in this particular configuration are like a citrus grove in Florida. I like to do my fair share of tinkering with guns, but with this one nothing works so far. One can't tell me that Henry isn't aware of the problem, by the likes of this and every other thread concerning their single shots denotes within a few threads. It's really sad.

Maybe you have one of those lemons you are talking about. All the car companies should send out cars with no recalls to. But they dont. Its all over in the work force. These companies depend on the people who work for them to all do there job. Its not the case anymore. People dont want to work and most dont give a d**m. If youre gun has misfires with the stock springs Im in agreement with MSM you have other issues. Send it back. Its free prepaid by Henry and insured. They will fix it or replace it. They will even give you youre money back.

[littlecmonkey]

Primer may be the problem! I was using CCI, and primed ten cases with Rem 9.5. All ten fired without a glitch. Also that was without the inner spring, and although I still would consider this a far from stellar trigger, it can be lived with. I'd take a little weight on the trigger over unreliable ignition. Will continue to report as tinkering progresses.

[crappie-hunter]

Primer may be the problem! I was using CCI, and primed ten cases with Rem 9.5. All ten fired without a glitch. Also that was without the inner spring, and although I still would consider this a far from stellar trigger, it can be lived with. I'd take a little weight on the trigger over unreliable ignition. Will continue to report as tinkering progresses.

If you like to tinker, try making a steel bushing for in the spring tower to replace the plastic one that is in there, I made a stainless steel one for mine and it greatly improved the misfire situation. Mine is consistent enough now that I am not concerned about hunting with it. I don't know, or can I prove anything, but I think there is enough give in that plastic bushing to effect consistent ignition.

I believe I would be cautious about dry firing with a steel bushing?????????

[koger]

cci primers are terrible. I shot them for years with great results, then on two different occasions I got some small pistol primers, and large rifle primers that were too hard. The pistol primers would not fire in a Ruger Blackhawk, and the rifle primers, were snapping on a .308 Mauser I had built, with a replacement #26 firing pin spring!! the rifle primers did not even have a dent, just a shiny spot. I went thru the whole 1000 of each type, taking a few from every hundred, and they all were the same. I called CCI, and they offered to exchange them for new ones, but I had to pay the hazmat shipping. They told me it just happened from time to time, I told them no thanks, I would dump them in water and discard them and make sure not to buy CCI primers again, and have not since that day.

[hc18flyer]

Last week I received my Henry .357 max back from Henry, repaired a creepy trigger. Today I changed out the original spring for the 32# version, left the small one in. It is lighter, still heavier than I would like. My grandson and I ran 40 rounds thru it without a hiccup. All CCI Sr primers, some Unique plinking loads and some hotter loads of Accurate 1680. The 26 grains of Accurate 1680 under 180 grain gc bullets seemed plenty hot, next time we'll shoot over a 'chrony'. My grandson really enjoyed shooting the Henry, maybe he'll hunt deer with it? hc18flyer

[onelight]

Primer may be the problem! I was using CCI, and primed ten cases with Rem 9.5. All ten fired without a glitch. Also that was without the inner spring, and although I still would consider this a far from stellar trigger, it can be lived with. I'd take a little weight on the trigger over unreliable ignition. Will continue to report as tinkering progresses.

You may find a primer that works , but it should with CCI to.
I hope thy get the gun lined out they are one of the nicest break open single shots commonly available that I can remember . If they sell enough perhaps some good after market solutions will show up.
Or I will keep reading this thread until you guys get it perfected.

[littlecmonkey]

Despite a knee injury, I had to get out today and give it another whirl. To my dismay, the gun still did not fire on more that six or so shots out of maybe 15 shells. It's not primers. It's not springs. The gun has got to go back to Henry. What an inconvenience and I'm very disappointed in the reliability of the gun. Form, fit, finish, and accuracy are fine, but what good is it if it doesn't go bang?

Sigh...take heed potential buyers, that you too may have to go down this same path. Shame on Henry. Proudly made with a piece of junk trigger and firing pin.

[doghawg]

littlecmonkey. I understand your frustration. My blued .44 made two trips back to Rice Lake and after the second trip it came back with a clean breaking 7 lb. pull which was big improvement from original. I tried a 31 lb. spring without the small spring and ended up with misfires. Putting small spring back in along with the 31 lb. puts the pull at a little over 5lb. and reliable fire. Obviously this fix doesn't work the same in every Henry.

I can't believe that Henry hasn't come up with a fix since this issue has probably cost them a lot of money in both lost sales and returns. I talked to Wolff last fall and told him there would be a big market with the Henry single. He said they'd be looking into it....either they don't want to touch this or just slow to respond.

When the .357 single was introduced I was planning to get one but now will wait till I find one in stock somewhere to try trigger first...

[littlecmonkey]

I won't buy another until I hear that Henry has made a fix. I may sell this one too.

[Foggy1111]

This issue is huge to me. Seems like it should not be this big of an issue.....but nobody has gotten to the root cause (and effect).....yet. While it may seem to be an easy fix....it appears that many have tried some easy fixes.....yet nobody has a cure-all for these guns.

I am away from my gun for another few weeks...but I respectfully submit that I continue to feel a good result "might" be found by altering the length of the bolt that attaches the stock to the action (or possibly by altering the "washer" that is found in the stock that serves as a "spacer" to that same bolt).

I hope to do some work on this issue when I return to MN and my gun....but I maintain that the bolt length may impinge on the small spring (or the large one) to some degree when the gun is assembled thus providing a significant change in trigger and hammer "pull weights" upon assembly of the gun.

To date, I have seen nobody that has sufficiently addressed these issues, nor reliably tested these issues....tho they seem to be of most significant importance to me.

I dunno....but it is not rocket science.....or izit? Com'on Henry....solve this issue! (******).

[megasupermagnum]

This issue is huge to me. Seems like it should not be this big of an issue.....but nobody has gotten to the root cause (and effect).....yet. While it may seem to be an easy fix....it appears that many have tried some easy fixes.....yet nobody has a cure-all for these guns.

I am away from my gun for another few weeks...but I respectfully submit that I continue to feel a good result "might" be found by altering the length of the bolt that attaches the stock to the action (or possibly by altering the "washer" that is found in the stock that serves as a "spacer" to that same bolt).

I hope to do some work on this issue when I return to MN and my gun....but I maintain that the bolt length may impinge on the small spring (or the large one) to some degree when the gun is assembled thus providing a significant change in trigger and hammer "pull weights" upon assembly of the gun.

To date, I have seen nobody that has sufficiently addressed these issues, nor reliably tested these issues....tho they seem to be of most significant importance to me.

I dunno....but it is not rocket science.....or izit? Com'on Henry....solve this issue! (******).

Don't rush. My shooting range has flooded worse than anyone can remember, some members have been there 30+ years. My yard was JUST about to dry out, and we are now sitting at 6" of standing snow, and building by St. Cloud. I doubt Nisswa is much better. The only good thing is that I can use the snowmobile again. The fields were too muddy to walk out and set targets to shoot.

[Foggy1111]

Started coming to OZ for a month or two each year. Now up to six or seven months a year.....and growing. Not sure I can remain a MN resident much longer. No good reason to pay MN taxes each year when I now love living in the sun belt of OZ....for most of the year. Golf is quickly replacing the need to shoot so much. Wudda never thought this to be the case some years ago.....but time marches on. I am not coming back to the tundra until sometime in May.....IF the ice is gone from our lake. . FORE!

Still....I got work to do at my deer property and fish to catch on the lake (?). MN can be a beautiful place to be for the summer. Life is good.

I will get that Henry SS to shoot reliably (and with a reasonable trigger and hammer pull) this summer. AND I will document the process over the next few months. Promise. .

[megasupermagnum]

I've been to Arizona in the summer, now that I think of it, it was only May. No good for me. Still not as bad as Florida. I'm sure the ice will be out here soon, it was well on it's way, and with the upcoming rain, they will be open in a week or so.