Henry Revolver I got one!

[shooting on a shoestring]

For posterity, it’s a .357 Magnum 4” exactly (measured from muzzle to cylinder face). Mine is the bird’s head grip. Bought from my LGS at retail price $799.00.

Barrel to cylinder gap is very tight. Before shooting it was pass 0.002” and hold 0.003”. After shooting, cleaning, disassembly and reassembly, measured with a different set of feeler gauges it was pass 0.0015” and hold 0.002”. No perceptible end shake. No cylinder binding or rubbing.

Cylinder exit holes measured by Starrett split ball and 0-1 micrometer (I grew up in a machine shop and I know how to use them) from factory are 0.359”, very round and all within 0.0005” of each other. Barrel groove diameter is 0.357”.

It’s a transfer bar gun. The transfer bar more than covers the top of the firing pin. The firing pin is retained by a removable plate by spanner wrench from hammer side of the frame. Nice!

Forcing cone is the best I’ve seen on a modern production revolver except for Freedom Arms.




More next post.

[shooting on a shoestring]

The stocks (or grips if you prefer) are each held on by their own screw. The screws go into the steel grip frame. The screw bosses extend outward to contact the back sides of the stocks when the screws are tightened. Means you can’t crack the stocks by over-tightening the screws.




More next post.

[shooting on a shoestring]

The cylinder is removed by swinging out the cylinder then pressing the cylinder release button in the front inside of the trigger guard. Apply a slight forward pull on the yoke/cylinder assembly and it slides right out the front of the frame. To reassemble don’t push the button and the yoke clicks nicely back into place.

The front of the yoke has a ball detent that clicks into a notch in the frame to hold the front of the cylinder in the frame. The major cylinder lock is the cylinder pin into the frame at the rear.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Removing the rear grip frame screw does not allow the brass grip frame/trigger guard to be removed. In fact it appears the grip frame/trigger guard is not removable after assembly at the factory. Inside the action behind the trigger is what appears to be a press fit or swaged retainer on a brass post holding the brass frame to the steel frame.



It appears the front and rear of the brass trigger guard slides into the steel frame and then the 1/4” thick “washer” is installed. I applied twisting pressure to that washer and it felt solid as not un-screwing. There are no threads visible looking down into that washer. It does appear the brass frame post was swaged inside the washer to retain it. Further disassembly would require cutting that washer as a sacrificial part.

That’s sad because the trigger return spring is a coil/leg spring that is wrapped around the trigger pivot. The trigger pivot pin is pressed in from the right side of the frame into a blind hole on the left so it cannot be removed. That trigger return spring also retracts the transfer bar. So it is quite strong which makes the single action pull heavier than a typical S&W and there is not an easy way to lighten it.

[shooting on a shoestring]

The double action pull locks the cylinder considerably before the hammer falls. It’s very easy to stage the trigger in DA. The single action pull fired shortly after purchase and before disassembly/lube, was very heavy for SA. So much so I only fired a few cylinders and quit to open it up and see what the problem was. I was very disappointed when I saw that I could not lighten the SA trigger pull. But I lubed the sear with 30w motor oil and was pleasantly surprised after reassembly the SA trigger was much improved. The hammer and trigger are MIM and consequently so is the sear. A bit of oil made a big difference. I’m also thinking it may polish itself with use and lighten up.

Trigger creep is very small. Not as little as a 1970’s S&W K-Frame but better than most Security Sixes. It’s plenty short so that I have no desire to improve it.

[shooting on a shoestring]

The cylinder stop notches are offset very much like the Security Six.


The extractor has a guide pin.

[scattershot]

Thanks for posting. Interesting construction details, how does it shoot?

[shooting on a shoestring]

Overall the revolver is a quality piece. The dimensions are very much in line with what cast boolit shooters desire. The internal design is a very solid design and I forecast it will be very durable.

I’m not fond of the bird’s head grip. It’s hard for me to get exactly the same grip (grab) on the gun from shot to shot. For small targets at distance that’s trouble. I do think it looks cool. I’ll keep this one. It does ok in DA. It’s not my first choice for a target revolver. But I’ll carry this piece a bit.

In size and feel it reminds me a lot of the Security Six.




The stocks on the Henry are much more hand-filling than S&W service panels or magnas. And better than the Security Six.

The sights are very much like a Model 10 rear and a thin front. Lots of light comes in around the front sight. I’m happy enough with the sight picture.

[shooting on a shoestring]

My first outing was only 3 cylinder fulls. The first group fired unsupported at 17 yards was 3&1/4”.
That’s not really a good indicator of the gun. I’m pretty shaky these days. I’ll try to get some bench rest groups in the next few weeks. Now that I have the sear lubed I may be able to cut that down a bit.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Oh, one other negative is have is the hammer spur is small and a bit of a reach. I have had my thumb slip off the hammer a few times. It’s not as easy a reach as a K-frame. I may get used to that….or not.

This gun is a keeper for me and I’m very happy with the B/C gap, forcing cone, 0.359” throats and a chatter-free barrel. If that SA trigger is good enough now that’s is lubed, the gun should be a good shooter.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Great write-up. Thank you for the effort, time, and photos. Looks like a lot of design genius and quality went into the making of this new revolver.

DG

[Electrod47]

Wonderful review, very helpful. Here's my thought. The birdshead grip on a rig like that might really shine, one handed and double action.

[Targa]

Very nice!

[shooting on a shoestring]

Wellllll……….
That SA trigger is a bummer.
The trigger shoe is long and moon-shaped. I measured the pull at the middle of the trigger from top to bottom.

My pull gauge is a water bottle suspended from the trigger by a length of heavy wire with #12 bird shot dribbled into the bottle. The revolver was held muzzle up in a vise allowing the shot filled bottle to swing freely from the trigger. When the hammer dropped the bottle was weighed on a grocer scale.

I repeated the measurement 10 times. Low was 5.75 lbs. high was 7.25 lbs. average was 6.25 lbs. This is in single action.

The double action pull is in excess of 10 lbs measured by my system.

However, the SA pull does not feel that heavy to me when I dry fire the gun. I’m thinking my center of effort using my finger is a little farther down the trigger increasing my leverage.

In any case, I helped the SA trigger by lubing it. I’ve dry fired it appropriately 50 pulls and it seems better than when I fired it on its first outing.

[shooting on a shoestring]

One more thing.
Speed loaders for the GP100 fit the Henry just fine.

[Tall]

The birdshead grip frame and the crappy fixed sights will keep me from buying one. I am assuming both of those issues will be cleared up eventually. Nice review.

[pworley1]

Nice review. Keep us updated.

[Rusty Goose]

Very nice, well thought out review. Thanks for bringing us along on the journey.

The 'ole boys at my former club would squirt Topol smoker's toothpaste in their revolvers inner working and spend an evening in front of the TV working the action and dry firing. Then flush it all out with boiling hot water and a brush. I guess the toothpaste had just enough grit to finely polish the sear and pivot points to a beautifully smooth action.
As a plus I guess firing it after left a pleasing minty fresh aroma...

[bedbugbilly]

Great review with a lot of thought put in to it. Looking forward to you thoughts on it as you get more range time with it. Thank you for the great post.

[derek45]

Looks like it's got potential

I would be a lot more interested if it had a shrouded ejector rod, and adjustable rear sights

kinda like this