Henry Rifle Forums

First post!

I recently acquired a 45-70 henry and shot it recently and encountered some problems.

1: under recoil the magazine tube moves forward, extending past the muzzle maybe 2-3 inches. I doodled this as a example: 2: the ghost ring rear sight is loose enough to rattle on touch

3: the front barrel bad that goes up into the front sight has a gap inbetween the different halves, but if you tighten it together you no longer can open the mag tube. also it worked apart a little under recoil.

4: IDK is this is a problem but the action opens when i am loading the tube, sometimes far enough for a cartridge to get on the lifter.

Your suggestions? other than these, it is a good rifle, very beautiful!

first, welcome to the forum .... delighted to have you with us .... did you by this rifle new .. .. regardless, if you call them, Henry will make it right .... the barrel ban and the tube movement most certainly need to be addressed .... if the front sight is an after market addition, you might need to address its issue with its manufacture .... please take a look at our How Many ? thread (link below) and add your Henry to our community's total


http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 673#p67673

JEBar wrote:first, welcome to the forum .... delighted to have you with us .... did you by this rifle new .. .. regardless, if you call them, Henry will make it right .... the barrel ban and the tube movement most certainly need to be addressed .... if the front sight is an after market addition, you might need to address its issue with its manufacture .... please take a look at our How Many ? thread (link below) and add your Henry to our community's total


http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 673#p67673

It was a gift, and from what i can understand from reading the sights on this rifle were standard on the earlier big bore Henrys. they are the sights in this picture.

From the picture and your description of a barrel band front sight, I believe you have one of the early model 45-70 rifles. My .45-70 was a early model made at the Rice Lake facility. Many of those models had loading tube problems and the rifle was re-designed.

I contacted Henry and eventually they had me send mine back to them. When I received my rifle back, the barrel and loading tube were all re-designed. I have had no problems since then.

Contact Henry and they should make it right. If you have the XS Ghost Ring rear sight and like it, remove it before sending the rifle back. The new barrel and loading tube design will have the standard buckhorn sight. I did not remove my XS sight and I did not get it back.

Ah, to get a Henry as a gift is wonderful, Leverman. And to have this .45-70 with a stock ghost ring rear sight is a really cool configuration.

Agree with JEBar. I'd get with Henry. No doubt whatsoever that they will help set your rifle to "new" operating condition.
Keep us posted, please. And we'll look forward to your Range Reports, too!
PT7

PT7 wrote:Ah, to get a Henry as a gift is wonderful, Leverman. And to have this .45-70 with a stock ghost ring rear sight is a really cool configuration.

Agree with JEBar. I'd get with Henry. No doubt whatsoever that they will help set your rifle to "new" operating condition.
Keep us posted, please. And we'll look forward to your Range Reports, too!
PT7

I definitely will.

From my own experience and reading of others on the forum, #4 is common. I've gotten in the habit of griping through the lever with my left hand around the neck of the stock when closing the mag tube. Otherwise I would often see the lever pop open and a round shoved into the receiver. #3 sounds like the mag tube is crimped. Its a split tube with the seam under the barrel. The seam can be seen through the mag tube loading port. The seam is not welded, so getting the band too tight, the edges of the seam can bypass each other and the reduced diameter then squeezes the inner mag tube. The front band was possible over tightened in an attempt to keep the mag tube from moving forward during recoil. My opinion, the rifle needs to go back to Henry to be repaired. If you want to keep the XS sights remove them before sending to Henry. As 'steve51' shared the rifle comes back repaired but with buckhorn sights.

Welcome, and I echo the others. Contact Henry and go from there. By the way, nice gift!

so uh, where is the serial number on these?

Contacted Henry and one of their reps told me to take a warranty request on the rifle! so i did so.

And if i understand the serial number system it seems this was one of the first 1000 rifles, unless they use batch serials.

Not sure about their numbering system, but they strike me as organized enough that they're doing serial numbers sequentially by model number; others may be able to confirm.

You can be sure that Henry will make this rifle 100% for you, and I agree with all above on the ghost ring sight: 1. It's great to have; 2. You won't get it back, so 3. Remove it before you send the rifle back to HRA.

Look forward to tracking your resolution, which you no doubt will get.

And, WELCOME to the forum!

The rifle has been sent to meet its maker!

Leverman wrote:The rifle has been sent to meet its maker!

Good to hear! Henry will make it right for you, I'm sure. Please keep us posted when you get the rifle back.

Leverman wrote:The rifle has been sent to meet its maker!

nicely phrased ..

Leverman, welcome to the forum.
I sure would like a Henry as a gift, especially the .45-70 congratulations.

Alright, Henry has finished whatever they did to the rifle and are sending it back. Might have it Monday in UPS is to believed.

Leverman wrote:Alright, Henry has finished whatever they did to the rifle and are sending it back. Might have it Monday in UPS is to believed.

Great news. It will require a signature, so be prepared to have an adult available to receive it. I look forward to your next report.

Glad to hear you've got it inbound! Please post us on the outcome and what they did (if they'll tell you)! Congrats!

ESquared wrote:Glad to hear you've got it inbound! Please post us on the outcome and what they did (if they'll tell you)! Congrats!

I will for sure!

Just got the rifle back! Here's what they did:

Everything forward of the receiver has been replaced with the re-designed parts. Barrel, Barrel band, Front site now has a brass bead, Buckhorn sights have replaced the ghost ring.

Also have a new lever for whatever reason. I wont complain!

The wood is a darker complexion now. I dont know if they oiled it or if it is new wood.

Overall i am very happy with what they have done. I have 20 Winchester superX 45-70 to go through tomorrow.