Genesis Of The Henry Rifle

Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson teamed up in 1852 to form the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. The lever action firearms they developed was designed around a caseless Rocket Ball cartridge consisting of a hollow base bullet containing a powder charge, reported by some sources as fulminate of mercury, and capped with a primer. It was a terribly unreliable round producing large belches of gassy flame.

Much of the havoc was due to the gap between the bolt and breech, a fault that has long since been eliminated in lever action rifles by the addition of a locking bolt aft of the primary bolt to press it into tighter contact with the barrel breech. It might have been due to all the fire and smoke it produced with every shot that Horace and Daniel decided to call their pistol "Volcanic" and named their new company after it.

Despite being revolutionary in its use of caseless ammunition and le- (A) indicates the follower. Pictured below the Henry is the Volcanic Arms lever action pistol. ver action technology, the Volcanic was a failure. It was unreliable, not always effective due to the loss of propellant gas, awkward to operate and it had no extractor. Each misfire required using a separate rod—not included—to dislodge a stuck round from the barrel.

It is reasonable to assume the problems with the pistol played no small role in the demise of Volcanic Repeating Arms. Before that fateful day, a shirtmaker entered the scene. His name was Oliver Winchester. He came to know and greatly admire Volcanic’s leading technician, first name Benjamin, who had been working closely with Smith and Wesson in eliminating the problems with their firearms, not the least of which was the caseless ammunition.

Like Benjamin, Winchester believed a highly profitable future was to be had with the perfecting of self-contained cartridges. He bought the S&W patents and "encouraged" Benjamin to leave Volcanic and join him at New Haven Firearms. There, he promised, Benjamin could continue work on ammunition full blast. As a bonus came the opportunity to devote ample Atime to eliminating the mechanical problems of the Volcanic design by transforming it into anew lever action rifle.

Benjamin Tyler Henry accepted and joined New Haven. What resulted was the ancestor of a legendary line of Winchester lever action rifles. If you haven’t guessed by now, it was the Henry. The year was 1860. The faithful duplicate of that rifle being featured in this article is made in the U. S. A. by Henry Repeating Arms, an admirably appropriate undertaking.

Ah, you ask, "How faithful is it?" Putting it mildly, Henry Repeating Arms went about the project as though Benjamin Tyler Henry was supervising it every step of the way. H. R. A. did make improvements. The 1860 Henry had a bronze receiver. So does the 2016 Henry, but it’s of proprietary composition and much stronger. The caliber stamped on the 1860 was .44-40. Ditto the 2016. The 1860 was a black powder rifle capable of firing thirteen .44 caliber rounds without reloading.

The 2016 Henry can fire the same number of rounds of .44 caliber S&W Special Smokeless Cartridges. Why not chamber the 2016 Henry for .44 Magnum you may ask? Because there was no such thing in 1860. So, it isn’t.

(A) indicates the lever release. Right now I want to mention a caution most owners of tubular magazinefed rifles have been aware of for years. For the most part, they have avoided using spitzer/pointed tip bullets. Why? Recoil can cause the tip to impact the primer of the cartridge in the magazine ahead of it. If the impact ignites the primer a chain reaction begins in the lineup of rounds remaining which no tubular magazine can withstand. Get the picture? It’s catastrophic.

The best way to avoid it is using only flat or round nose bullets. Field Stripping This is a first. There are no instructions given in the owner’s manual, or elsewhere, for field stripping the The two screw indicated (C) play key roles in removing the side plates from the receiver. rifle. Here’s the best suggestion I can make. A Henry has been brought in soon after it has been fired.

Be certain the magazine is empty by cycling the action several times, pull the hammer back one click, leave the action open, and reach for your Otis Technologies insulated .44 caliber bore-to-muzzle cleaning cable. If you don’t have one for the most popular calibers brought in to you for cleaning, you really should. Bore to muzzle is the best way to clean up the barrel or cylinder of any gun. Otis makes the job an easy one. Easy and well done.

On the other hand, if the Henry hasn’t been maintained by its owner, read the detailed field stripping details included here. You’ll need them in order to rid the gun of its accumulated crud. The minimum you have to learn and recall is how to remove the side plates. Owner’s Manual Notes A quick commentary on the Henry owner’s manual. There’s an inherent, right-out-of-the-box problem with the 2016 Henry: The owner’s manual that comes with it. I’m going to be working with Henry Repeating Arms to improve the content.

Presently, the manual fails to live up to the quality of the gun. One improvement will be to spell out the correct way to load and unload the rifle. The way it’s related at present is insufficient. Until the manual is republished, keep the directions appearing next here on hand. Copy and present them to any Henry owner. It is my initial contribution to the rewrite. Unloading/Loading The Henry Begin to unload by disengaging the lever hook (#45) with the lever (#23). Swing the lever forward to open the action.

Move the magazine follower (#38) forward until its brightly colored buffer (#39) has cleared the narrow seam between the barrel (#36) and barrel sleeve (#32). Hold on to the follower. Turn the barrel and sleeve clockwise to-

Henry Repeating Arms Henry Rifle (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 01 Receiver 02l Side Plate, Left 02b Side Plate, Right 03 Hammer 04 Trigger 05 Left R_Link 06 Left F_Link 07 Right R_Link 08 Right F_Link 09 Trigger Spring 10 Trigger Pin 11 Hammer Link 12 Hammer Link Pin 13 Hammer Spring 14 Hammer Screw 15 Lock Extension 16 Bolt 17 Firing Pin gether as though you were observing the rotation from the muzzle point of view. This will open the magazine to the outside world.

Tilt the rifle downward over a padded surface to allow any cartridges within to slide out. Cycle the action two or three times or until no cartridges are extracted/ejected and none appear on the carrier. A secondary method is simply to cycle the action until no cartridges appear on the carrier. Slower? For sure.

But that could be the safest way to confirm there’s an empty gun in the immediate vicinity. 18 Extension 19 Extractor 20 Firing Pin Spring 21 Extractor Pin 22 Bolt, Rear Link Pin 23 Lever 24 Lever Pin 25 Lever Spring 26 Lever Screw 27 Carrier 28 Carrier Feed Lever 29 Spring, Carrier Feed Lever 30 Screw Lever/Carrier Spring 31 Link Pin 32 Sleeve, Barrel 33 Sleeve, Latch 34 Sleeve, Latch Rod 35 Spring Sleeve Latch In loading, the Henry differs not from its myriad of lever action, tubefed descendants lacking aside door in their receivers.

It happens up front. The rifle is tilted slightly upward, the follower grasped and moved forward until the buffer clears the barrel/sleeve seam. Said barrel/sleeve is then rotated clockwise while the follower remains firmly held captive to allow the feeding of a hungry magazine tube. Maximum capacity is 13 rounds. The follower remains under considerable pressure from the compressed magazine spring (#37).

Load 36 Barrel 37 Magazine Spring 38 Magazine Follower 39 Buffer, Magazine Follower 40 Front Sight 41 Blade, Front Sight 42 Screw, Front Sight, Trigg. Spr 43 Screw, Hammer Spring 45 Lever Hook 46 Spring, Lever Hook 47 Screw, Spring Lever Hook 48 Tang Screw GBH1053 Buttplate Screw 50 Buttplate 53 Stop Screw, Follower 55 Buttstock 61 Rear Sight Ass’y American Gunsmith Reader Services 1.

A B R. A. plus the author recommends Otis Technologies breech to muzzle cleaning system on all Henry rifles. in the number of rounds desired after easing off a little on the tilt to slow the travel of the rounds being introduced. Control the follower. Do not allow it to slam into any live ammo building up in the magazine. After its buffer comes into contact with the last cartridge to have been loaded, release the follower.

Firing The Henry When firing the Henry, as the magazine is emptied the follower will be pushed back by the magazine spring. Avoid placing your hand between the follower and receiver. Should you cause an interruption of the follower moving cartridges back to the carrier, you’ll be rudely advised you have messed up when the hammer falls on an empty chamber. Detailed Disassembly Position the rifle trigger side up. Loosen but don’t remove the two lever/carrier spring screws (#30).

Back out the tang screw (#48) and lever Both were generously provided by the NRA National Firearms Museum (NRAmuseum.org, screw (#26). Remove the left hand side carrier spring screw. Push upward on and remove the left side plate (#22). Caution, its edges are very sharp. Pull out and set aside links #5 and #6. Remove the lever spring (#25). Flip the rifle over to its right hand side and pull out the lever pin by hand. Remove the carrier feed lever (#28) from the receiver.

Restore the rifle to upright and extract the carrier (#27) downward. Slip your hand under the rifle to retain the right hand side plate (#02R). Be careful of more very sharp edges. Slide the plate up and off the receiver. Lay the gun down with the exposed links showing. Pull out #7 and #8. Remove the second #30 screw, then the carrier feed lever spring (#29). Locate the hammer spring screw (#43) on the left side of the gun. Back it out. Next are the hammer spring (#13) and hammer screw (#14).

Lift out the hammer (#3) to the top. Drift out the front bolt pin (#22) left to right. Do the same with the aft bolt pin. This frees up the bolt and lock extension (#15). Press inward on the extension (#18), angle the bolt out, and slide the extension to the rear. The firing pin (#17) may join it. Undo the trigger spring screw (#42). Drift the trigger pin (#9) left to right. Remove the trigger (#4) downward. The lever hook (#45) is next. It’s spring (#46) and screw (#47) come out right afterwards.

The butt plate screw (#1053) plus two more (#50) retain the butt plate. A very small screw (#53) connects the buffer and its follower. About all that remains of your detailed disassembly on the bench are the butt stock (#55) and rear sight assembly (#61). Only one component among all those you’ve drifted, slid, lifted or unscrewed from the 2016 Henry is restricted. The bolt. Can you order replacement parts for anything attached to or housed in it, such as an extractor (#19)?

Yes, but only if ordered with an entire assembled bolt. Otherwise, such apart has to be replaced at the factory. Recommended Reading One of the most valuable gunsmithing volumes in my reference library is the profusely illustrated Antique Firearms Assembly/Disassembly: The comprehensive guide to pistols, rifles & shotguns by David Chicoine (pronounced "shequin".) The author was an old acquaintance of mine, a master restorer of old guns, and American Gunsmith contributor.

A stroke forced him into early retirement and I, as well as many others, miss him and his wise, freely-given counsel. Appearing in the volume are 45 pistols, 16 rifles, and 5 shotguns, and every one of them is considered a prized addition by the majority of collectors. The book is published by Gun Digest GunDigest.com) and available on Amazon.com and other book sellers. AG