Henry Rifle Forums

Long story short, New Years Eve I was shooting with some new shooters on my private range on my ranch.

Passing my brand new Henry 45-70 to guys who never have shot a lever gun and it was going back and fourth between us. Thank God it was me but one of us had a squib and I fired the next shot and boom!!
Hand guard is vaporized, barrel ruptured and the magazine tube bent.

It took a second to realize what happened and I was in shock. My hand felt like I just caught a fastball from Andy Pettit with no glove on.

Thankfully no one was hurt.
Lesson learned when running a turret press check every single round for powder at that stage. Number two I new signs of a squib I’ve been loading and shooting for 21 years and just missed it in all the fun. “Be observant”

Finally Henry offered to repair my gun for a very fair price and I will be a customer as long as the good Lord wills it.

Thank goodness nobody was seriously hurt.

Glad you are okay.

Yes, what the others said, glad no one was harmed.
And glad that Henry is willing to repair it for you.
In all my time loading and shooting I've only had one squib.
Luckily I could tell something didn't sound quite right and checked and found it before shooting another round.

RP

Yea if had note been so loud (even with ears on and passing the gun back and forth I should have caught it. It’s my fult and this is my first squib. But I’ve had a bad factory round once and the bullet literally went 10 feet and hit the ground. I sill checked for obstruction and it was clear and everyone had a good laugh. That was years ago and I think surplus 7.62 or something like that I used to shoot a lot of mill surplus when it was cheap.

Henry was literally the most pleasant customer service experience I’ve ever had.

I told them I was running trapdoor loads and they told me that probably saved my receiver, but the gun can easily take Marljn 1895 loads.

I only shoot trapdoor loads because I have a trapdoor and it’s easer to keep everything safe and if a 405 grain bullet doing 1400 fps does not kill it I need to move up to a 416 rigby.

It is good that neither you nor your guests were injured. That's the important part.

I had one experience with Henry customer service. I have a couple of Henry single shot rifles and I contacted Henry to get an extra pivot pin since, for some reason, I think that if I ever lose a part, it would be that one. I spoke to a very pleasant lady and she mailed one to me without charge. Good folks.

Wow, glad you are OK. That is scary. At first glance I thought you had an Original Henry, then realized the wood was “disappeared”. What powder? It isn’t available right now, due to production issues, but if you could locate some, Trail Boss would be much safer, it fills the case and you won’t be nearly as likely to get squibs. And a turret press isn’t really the best solution for this caliber. When I loaded .45/70, I used the Rock Chucker and took it slow and easy, and inspected all the charged rounds while they were sitting side by side in the loading tray. Just saying, a change of equipment and technique might make you worry a little less.

John Davies
Spokane WA

I agree I’m going back to my single stage for 45-70

I was using 4895 and unfortunately trail boss has been discontinued.

The nice thing about 4895 is double charges are not possible in this carriage and it goes a long way.

After reloading for 20 years I messed up. I’m just glad the gun blew up in my hands and not in someone else’s.

Honestly the customer service was so nice. Frankly I was expecting to be told quickly how
I messed up. So I just was honest and said it was me on this one. They did not criticize or jump on me and how it’s my fault. They just kindly gave me an unbelievably good price for rebuild.

What press are you using. Im guessing a Dillon 550

I use a Lee 4-hole turret for all my loading, but I removed the auto advance rod and use it as a glorified single stage.
I like the idea of having All the dies pre set, and makes for quick change over to what ever cal. I want to load next.
I have a single stage also but 90% of the time I have an universal decapping die in it.
When I cast I change it out for whichever sizing die I need.

RP

Wow!
Glad no one was seriously hurt.
I have experienced two squib loads in handguns - both with factory ammo. Shells had no powder, just the primer. Both times the bullet stopped in the forcing cone locking the cylinder from turning. The reduced muffled sound when firing was a clue something wasn't right.
Thank goodness, I've never had a squib load in a rifle.

I am running a lee turret press, my guess is the powder bridged with the charge die.

Really Glad no one was seriously injured in your incident.

I have a Dillon 550b, but I added a cool feature to my press, it's a nice LED light fixture that fits in the center hole of the tool head and shines down into the turrent. It provides a brightly lit working area and you can see right into the charged shell casing. Peace of mind. I learned years ago from my "mentor" that rushing isn't the way to load, so I always LOOKED into the charged case at the powder station.

The only failure I have had with reloaded ammunition was a compressed load. THIS was caused by a double feed. When the round was jammed into the top of the chamber mouth it set back the bullet in the case, decreasing the size of the space in the case for the powder to occupy, GREATLY increasing the pressure if the round was fired. (I had no way of knowing.) I picked up the rounds off the ground, reloaded them in the magazine, and when I fired the second round the gun came apart in my hand. I'll share more about the experience if anyone has questions. (My hand was badly bruised, and I had cuts on my face from powder, but thankfully was wearing eye protection.)

EVER since that day, if I have a double feed, both rounds go into the shirt pocket and are disposed of.

So wonderful that the only injury was to the rifle. I had my first squib earlier this year (no wait, last year ). I talked about here on Henry and I’ll post a picture if I can find it. I was shooting a Ruger Single Seven 327 Fed Mag and heard the pop instead of a bang so stopped and looked. Yep the bullet was sticking out the end of the barrel. Whew, a close one indeed.

Glad everyone was okay!
Jake

WOW!!!!!!!!!

Yep that is scary. Sure glad you are alright and good for Henry.

Yea I may have a flinch for the first round when the gun comes back lol.

Thanks guys for not beating me up.
My dad passed last year and I traded one of his m1’s for this gun with the goal of hunting with it and with it completed one of his goals. He always wanted a Henry.

So it punched extra hard when it came apart.

Hatch dog
Yes I’m still learning this forum I think I hit the wrong button but that is one cool pick man.