Problem with a Henry single shot

[Jedman]

hmm.. any chance the fire pin spring is still set for 357.. ? rifle primer cups are usually harder than pistol. That and some headspace issues for a rimless cartridge.. AND the low fire pin protrusion all spell disaster.

I don’t know if Henry would use a different power hammer spring on a 357 rifle than something like a 243 or 308 ? I know the early guns had a 8 - 9 lb. trigger pull and most owners were changing out the hammer springs to lighten the trigger pull. I have heard that Henry was doing trigger jobs for those who complained and sent their rifles back for warranty work. The exploded view of the 015 rifle shows a double hammer spring like a spring in the center of another larger spring but you need to remove the stock to get at it and I have no idea what my gun has but it does have a fairly light trigger pull.
You may be right that between some excess headspace and a lighter hammer blow may be the problem.

Jedman

[Soundguy]

I've seen many pistol caliber carbine with lighter springs to prevent piercing thinner pistol primer cups.

[scattershot]

Possibly some grease in the firing pin channel. I notice you’re from Michigan, so perhaps shooting it in warmer weather vs. cold weather on the hunt might explain it.

[Moleman-]

Sorry I didn’t answer this question. With the factory firing pin holding the trigger back and pushing the hammer forward as far as it will allow I estimated that I was only getting .010 - .020 protrusion.
This stumps me how the rifle was firing fine at the range , but I must have been using different primers.

With the factory pin if you used a small screwdriver or an Allen wrench and pushed the rear of the firing pin forward as far as it would allow the protrusion was at least .100 so I thought it needed more length on the rear of the firing pin as the rebounding hammer is at least 1/8” back from the end of the firing pin at rest. Now with the new pin I made It looks like I am getting .050 - .060 protrusion .

I need to spend a lot more range time before I have a handle on the problem but that will have to wait until I have more free time. I have been fully retired since 1995 and it seems I have less time now than when I was working. Less energy is mostly the cause.

Jedman

That sounds like it also had an inertia firing pin and just wasn't getting smacked hard enoughIf it's going off now and cleaning the firing pin bore on the old one didn't help. As long as it won't go off if dropped on the hammer it sounds like you've got it fixed.

[FergusonTO35]

This is interesting to me as I have a Henry .45-70 single shot that goes bang no problem with LP primers, but has trouble with LR primers.

[Ramjet-SS]

This is interesting to me as I have a Henry .45-70 single shot that goes bang no problem with LP primers, but has trouble with LR primers.

I have two a 5.56 and 45-70 they go bang every time and are extremely accurate. I will be adding a 357 and 30-30 when the distributor has them in stock.