henry rifle specs

[tfirth44]

I have a friend that has a henry rifle that i would like to buy but its not listed under the approved arms. what would i have to do to find out if it is approved? is there a spec sheet i could get somewhere to determine if i could get a sac card for it before i buy it? it is a beautiful gun that looks identical to the navy arms and the uberti but i want to know if i can get it approved before i buy it. not that it would be a waste of money because i could resell it somewhere but more or less a waste of time if i do have to sell it. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Frog]

Someone with more knowledge can correct me if I am wrong but I think that Uberti is the only manufacturer of reproduction Henry rifles. There have been several importers that have had their name placed on them but they are all manufactured in Italy by Uberti.
Hope this helps clear up your question. (no SAC card required).

[Michael Bodner]

Technically speaking, you can make a rifle in your basement to the proper specifications, submit it to the SAC and receive a card (if approved). The Uberti's et al, are all PRE-approved because they are production-made guns.

With that said, the big-picture question here is: How does one discover the dimensions, features, etc BEFORE they bring a gun to the SAC? Reasons given are very relevant - So you don't buy a useless gun that can't get approval

I know that there is a book used by the Inspectors, but to date, this book has not been digitized nor placed on-line for all Skirmishers to use. Sure would be invaluable for everyone to have access to the knowledge contained therein so we don't buy un-approvable guns...

-Mike

[John Holland]

tfirth44 -

You said you couldn't find the Henry Rifle you are interested in listed in the Approved Arms List.

If there is an Importer's ID that isn't listed in the list, and the Henry is made by Uberti, then it is approved.

Can you tell me how is marked?

John Holland
SAC

[tfirth44]

Thanks for all the info. After reading the posts and not knowing what or who the manufactured is I guess I need the spec sheet so I can make all the necessary measurements to make sure its approved. Does anyone know where I can get them?

[Wayne Shaw, 1985V]

What you are looking for is who imported the Henry. There should be a name, like Navy Arms, Cimeron etc marked on the barrel. Is it Brass or steel framed and caliber .That will let you get what you need. If it's on the approved list or not. Wayne Shaw 1985V

[tfirth44]

Thanks for the info Wayne but I guess I should have been a little more thorough. He lives four hours away and knows nothing about guns and was given to him. It is a brass frame but that is all he can tell me... it would probably be just as easy to get the measurements and get him to measure it. He doesn't know much but I know I can talk him through that. Thanks.

[Michael Bodner]

Heck, since someone GAVE it to him, maybe its cheap enough to just buy the darned thing and worry about it later! At the very least, you can turn around and sell it on Gun Broker.

BTW: You did not mention if its 44-40 or 45LC. Folks around here will tell you that the 44-40 is the way to go for accuracy. The 45LC is darned near impossible to get shooting well. Has to do with the thickness of the brass casings and their ability to seal well in the chamber with the low pressures of black powder.

-Mike

[tfirth44]

Sorry about that. It is a 44-40. The only reason he could tell me that is because there was a box of them in the case with it. It was given to him by his father who was all about western movies and the guns. He has no interest in any. Of it.

[Michael Bodner]

Get him to measure the barrel: If its 24 1/4" long (and not the 18 1/2" barrel), you're on the right track.

-Mike

[DAVE FRANCE]

Mike,

You mentioned that the 45 Colt is diffiicult to get to shoot well. And the 45 colt does not seal well in the chamber.

I have owned Henrys in both calibers. Both shot very well, and I did a lot of careful bench shooting to make sure the 45 colt did shoot well. And I don't know any reason why they should not shoot well.

My 45 colt Henry did leak badly with low powder charges, but I did the following to get it to seal better.

Neck size only so that once the case has been used, it will be larger and fit the chamber more tightly. The case sizing die used for sizing can be used to size the neck only.

Load 3f powder only (no filler). Use a drop tube to get more powder in the chamber, and compress the powder slightly.

Size the neck and use a neck expander that gives a tight bullet to neck fit and use a tight roll crimp. These two steps give high neck tension and raise the pressure in the cartridge to help sealing. After I did that, the rounds sealed well.

I don't prefer one round (44-40 or 45 colt) over the other. I plan to buy a Uberti 73 winchester soon that uses 44-40 ammunition. The only disadvantage for the 44-40 is that the neck has to be sized with a separate neck sizer if the rest of the case is to left unsized to fit the chamber better (helps accuracy). I think the 45 colt is a little easier to use.

When I loaded 44-40 ammunition, I used a special seating die (made by Redding) that aligned the bullet and case better that the standard dies will do. Bullet canting in the case can reduce accuracy. I plan to continue doing that.

All this loading stuff sounds harder than it is.

David