Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots I Got a Henry

I dropped by a very good LGS today for a browse. There sat a Henry 243 that has been there a long time. I have dies, bullets and brass as I loaded for my son's Ruger years ago. They are asking $339 and it appeared to be little used. I took it up to the counter and asked what they could do. He headed over to the computer then came back and asked if $300 would work. Yep. It came with the original box and paperwork as well. With the 'fire hog hunt coming next month I am scrambling for scope mounts. The trigger pull felt reasonably good, my RCBS gauge shows 5# with little creep. Funny as when they came out I thought, really? If it shoots well I think I am going to really like it.

I wanna hear how she shoots for you!

-Jake

Order the rail and hammer spur from Henry. Their rail has more slots than some others. The hammer spur is a must. They ship pretty quickly IME.

You did good!

Watch your hand when you close it. Some have gotten a good pinch between the forend and receiver!

I used a Leupold 56515 scope base on mine.

Henry has found a batch of really good wood for these rifles. I have seen very few that didn't have some nice character. Keep us posted.

EdM. Keep us posted on how it performs for you. I’ve been kicking around the idea of getting one in .223 for vaporizing gophers. Actually, I would really like to see Henry come out with one in 22 hornet. That would be a fun little gopher plunker.😁

The Hornet was promised initially, but you know how THAT goes.

I'd like to see them drill a couple of holes in the shotguns for a short rail, and include the .410 in their youth models.

Hammer spur arrived today, scope base via a highly rated Ebay site should arrive Thursday. A Weaver 2.5-7X recently bought from Natchez on close out sits. I have some Burris QD rings that may work depending upon the height of the incoming base. I will be handloading tomorrow.

I put that same scope on my .308, after a brief fling with a 2.5x Leupold.

Now we're like twins!

The comb, alas, is a bit low for me and a scope, but 30+ years with a pre-64 have me used to that.

Congrats on a great rifle, I have one in 357 Maxi that shoots great and the wood looks good like yours.

Steve..........

My base I bought on ebay arrived today and looks great. No need to remove the rear sight. It is made in the USA by Northwoods out of Fairmont MN. It took two days to get here.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/122871835929

Nice, I'd like to get one of those in 30-30, neck down some stout 375 Winchester brass and fire 220gr Partitions at 2150 fps, a mini African stalking rifle!

FYI, the 357 Mag Henry Single Shot has a larger barrel contour compared to the 308 and 30/30 Henry SS Rifles.. Looks like a good candidate for threading and suppressing.
Anxious to get my 357 scoped to see what it can do.

Why not just buy a .308?

I just put a .410 on layaway with Darrik, btw. Gonna explore the mysteries of TSS shot on turkeys. Three boxes of the apparently solid gold Federal shells on the way too.

FOr a rifle that is priced as low as these are it is truly remarkable wood. It's better then what is coming on a few 1K+ wood spotters.

Okay, here's the Henry .410 info with regard to choke tubes:

The tubes I ordered from Henry on 2-27 came yesterday; a Skeet and a Turkey tube with a knurled ring. They're made by Briley, just like the nice lady said. The internal portion is 2" overall, but they're 1 3/4 from the front to the beginning of the threads, so Carlson's Invector tubes won't fit, which is fine.

Picked up the new .410 today. Nice wood, but not like EdM's .243. Fit and finish are excellent, checkering flawless. Needs a new spring real bad, but I know a guy with a few spares.

If those stocks have enough drop for the iron sights aren't they too low for scope use ?

A bit, but decades of using a pre-64 M70 and other guns stocked for irons have me well acquainted with the chin-weld. Not ideal, but workable. Various riser accessories can be had if it really bothers you. Last year, the opposite problem reared its head when my sons were outfitting for Colorado ML elk. Some modern MLs have high combs that don't let you get your eye lined up with the open sights; my TC Strike for one.

Same issue exists with most scope-able lever actions like Marlins and Win Angle-Ejects.

Swapped out the mainspring with one of the Grainger Specials. Hammer seemed too light without the inner spring, so I put it back in. Pull ended up averaging about 5lbs, good for a shotgun, especially one a kid may use, and he should be able to manage the hammer okay. Gooped up the turkey tube with anti-sieze and plugged it in.

Need to pattern-test it with the solid-gold turkey loads before the season.

My two week old Henry SS .44 Magnum has good , not great wood as the bottom is well figured but the comb is sapwood. Still pretty and straight grained. Will send photos when I figure out how.
Added Skinner sights and have zero for 240 grain Federals at 50 and 100 yards. With that Zero old 210gr. Federals and low velocity cast handloads shoot high.
Replaced 7+ lb mainspring with Grainger and it is now a 4.5 lb. trigger.
In my new in box rifle there was no middle spring, just the heavy mainspring.
With Skinners and 73 year old eyes getting 2” groups at fifty yards.

I want one in .41 Magnum. I can't afford a lever gun in .41, so this would be my next choice.

Sadly, I wouldn't hang my hat on that hope. The .41 remains a semi-orphan, good round or no. Henry never delivered the .22 Hornets either.

My wish is simpler; D&T the shotgun barrels. Turkey hunters would buy them I think, and deer hunters too. A rifled-barrel slug version in 12 and/or 20ga would be nice; the H&R models did pretty well.

I just picked up one of these yesterday in .223 that was on consignment at my LGS for $295. It looks like it had never even been taken to the field or fired. Very nice wood on it! I ordered a rail and hammer extension and am going to probably set it up for coyotes in the fall.

That was a good deal!! Do the trigger job to lighten the trigger. Mine absolutely loves the Hornady Black 75 gr 223. They seem kind of scarce right now.

Trigger job for sure! I was a bit surprised how heavy it was.

My 45/70 with a 2-7x33 Redfield Revolution scope. Shot it at 50 yards today with the new trigger spring, pretty windy but I’m happy. This is an experimental load of 30.0 gr of 2400, 300 gr Remington hp. Searching for a lighter kicking deer load and this may be it.

The trigger and hammer pull on my .410 were really heavy. I began by removing both original springs and replacing with the Grainger, but it felt too soft, so I put the inner spring back in. Just right for a shotgun now. That one spent turkey season on loan, but now it's back and I have slugs, buckshot, and rubber buckshot to try out in it, as well as the TSS loads.

Buy a .357 and have it rebored.

Does it say made in Wisconsin?