Henry Long Ranger .308

[Ohiopatriot]

Anybody have one of these? Picked one up last weekend. Love lever guns and .308s, so to me it's the best of both worlds.

Anyhow, got it home cleaned it up and function tested with factory ammo. Sighted in, shot well, cycled well, all good.

Then attempted to use my loads and..... problems, they would not chamber! What the....? These rounds work in all my guns. I've shot thousands of them.

I tried to chamber an empty prepped case. Nope. So i smoked it and tried again. It solidly hits the shoulder. Stuck it in a Wilson case gauge, perfect. Check die adjustment, it's OK. Went ahead and adjusted it down, no joy. More, nope.

Have a couple extra shell holders, so I carefully removed .003, then .005 and finally. 007". Still won't chamber.

Is this a common lever gun issue? I've got .357, .44 Mag, 30-30 and a 45-70 with no issue.

As a last resort I ordered a RCBS small base die set, tried it today and wouldn't you know? It worked!

Just curious if anyone has a Henry LR and if the chambers are tight?

As an added benefit to the RCBS, the bullet seating die doesn't put a ring around the tip of a lead bullet.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Input appreciated.

[TNsailorman]

Sounds like your Henry has a tight chamber and that's not all bad. I had a .300 Savage 99E that would chamber full length size brass but it took a firm cycle of the action to do so. I bought a small base .300 die and it cycled smooth and easy. Shot excellent, no trouble getting 1 to 1 1/2 inches out of several handloads. I had a 6x Leupold Compact scope on it. Green makes good stuff, I really like their dies. james

[cbennett]

Ohio, I have a Long Ranger in .308 and had the exact issue with used brass. I actually have the same issue with a steel BLR also in .308.
My RCBS Small Base dies cured both problems. I also bought an RCBS Precision Mic and measured the fired brass, and fired brass from the Henry was just over zero and not quite to .001 on their gauge. I measured brass from my 1958 Winchester 88 and it was at .005.
Over all I am very satisfied with the Long Ranger, feed and function have been perfect and I average under an inch with most of my loads.
Chris

[cwlongshot]

Beautiful rifles!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXFNn5vkW18

CW

[atr]

I had a similiar problem with a savage 99C....tight chamber that a small base die solved.

[Ohiopatriot]

Glad it worked with the small base dies. RCBS does appear to make nice stuff, I've got the Chargemaster and other odds and ends, but these are my first dies from them.

That precision mic looks like it would have been handy.

Thanks for the replies, never ran across that before, but most my guns are surplus until a couple new bolt actions and a Henry SS and i thought the small base dies were for semi autos. That's part of why i like casting and loading, always learning something.

[northmn]

Those that had the semi auto also used dedicated brass for the rifles. Then they worked also. The older manuals recommended starting laods for the pumps and autos also.

DEP