Henry Rifle Forums

I am curious if anyone has experienced this problem - - I have BBB .44 Mag rifle which I bought new in 2015, and I have fired approximately 1,000 hand loaded rounds through it. My handloads consist of 250 gr Bear Tooth hard cast lead, gas checked bullets over 16 grs of Accurate #9 powder. This is an ideal Whitetail hunting cartridge up here in central Massachusetts where, in our hardwood forests, the normal shot is no longer than 75 yards. Last week at the range, I fired 18 rounds sighting in a Skinner Express peep sight I recently installed.

When cleaning the rifle, I noticed an 8mm crack in the thin metal at the top of the outer magazine tube where inner magazine tubes locks into the outer tube. I immediately called Henry's warranty department and their service rep said she has never before encountered this defect. The rifle is now in transit back to Henry's repair facility for repacement of the outer tube. Please let me know if you have ever had this problem. Thanks!

Had that on a new .45/70 . It apparently happened on test fire. When I got it home
I couldn’t remove the mag follower rod without using pliers. Henry sent a new rod, but didn’t help. I took it back to Cabelas.

It's always disappointing, but metal fatigue and manufacturing defects will happen with any product. The good news is that yours is a Henry rifle. HRA will repair it and make certain that you're satisfied with it for the life of the rifle. Your particular CS rep may never have heard of the condition, but Henry has certainly dealt with similar issues. They will turn it around quickly. Please keep us posted.

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:18 am

The rifle is now in transit back to Henry's repair facility for replacement of the outer tube.

and their service rep said she has never before encountered this defect.

Thats odd considering a few on this forum have experienced the same problem

Should have just had them send you a new tube. Its about a 10 minute job to replace it.

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:18 am

I am curious if anyone has experienced this problem - - I have BBB .44 Mag rifle which I bought new in 2015, and I have fired approximately 1,000 hand loaded rounds through it

did it look something like he one below .. .. ours split last December .... Henry repaired and returned it .... has worked perfectly every since

The split on my rifle looks exactly like the one in your picture, Thanks

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:48 am

The split on my rifle looks exactly like the one in your picture, Thanks

should ours ever have the same failure again or the failure of most every other part, I wouldn't hesitate to send it back again .... some folks choose not to and that's fine with me ....as I see it, the only down side to sending it back to Henry is I won't have it for a few days .... with Henry paying for all repairs and the shipping, both ways, my preference is to ensure the repair is done right .... looking forward to hearing your assessment after you get yours back

I'm sure Henry never expected this to happen and hopefully it has been resolved with a better quality of steel for the tubes.
I really wish Henry had found seamless, drawn steel tube stocks to make the load tubes instead of the rolled steel tubes they use. I suspect they found dimensional brass tubing for the inner tube and then made the outer tubes sized to the inner.
If Henry had suspected this as a potential problem a solution would have been to machine a sleeve to fit the end of the tube as s 'collar'.
This would dramatically strengthen this area but I am just thinking in hindsight.

Mistered, Appreciate your perspective on this quality control issue. Do you think anyone at HRA monitors this forum for reoccurring situations like the out magazine tube problem?

.
Some of the Henry rifle models use a machined dove tail mounted collar. So they seem to be aware now. They could probably retrofit the other Henry's but then the mag tube would be shorter.

Mistered wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:21 am

... a solution would have been to machine a sleeve to fit the end of the tube as s 'collar'.

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:07 am

...

Some of the Henry rifle models use a machined dove tail mounted collar

I previously noticed this change on the side gate models and really liked it.
I was thinking a machined sleeve could be installed on the ends of existing Length tubes to strengthen the area where they split.
The 'Achilles Heel' with the split tube is the seam in the load tube. With the load tube twist lock recess cut where it is, and the seam in the tube close by, this is a 'built in' weak point.

Do you think anyone at HRA monitors this forum for reoccurring situations like the out magazine tube problem?

If they do it's probably incidental and not used for any business decisions. Typically manufactures do NOT like forums specific to their products for a variety of reasons.

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:07 am

Mistered, Appreciate your perspective on this quality control issue. Do you think anyone at HRA monitors this forum for reoccurring situations like the out magazine tube problem?

I don't believe it to be a quality control issue .... rather, a design that most probably serves well on the vast majority of their 44's .... in noting the comment below from the first post in this thread :

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:18 am

I have BBB .44 Mag rifle which I bought new in 2015, and I have fired approximately 1,000 hand loaded rounds through it. My handloads consist of 250 gr Bear Tooth hard cast lead, gas checked bullets over 16 grs of Accurate #9 powder.

the magazine tube failure with our 44 came after 10's of thousands of rounds .... I'd be willing to bet that many , if not most, never see a thousand (much less 10's of thousands) rounds run through them .... the question then becomes, which is more cost effective ? .... a complete redesign and retro fit (which they did wit early 45-70's) or to repair the ones that fail and are returned

the magazine tube failure with our 44 came after 10's of thousands of rounds .... I'd be willing to bet that many , if not most, never see a thousand (much less 10's of thousands) rounds run through them

And this is correct and the rational behind it.
Heck there are some gun mfgs. that actually admit to expected 'failures' on certain models after say a certain number of rounds has been fired in it.

Barrels, springs and mags (tubes & followers too) are consumable items.

All's Well That Ends Well. Another superb customer service experience from HRA. I sent the rifle back to Bayonne this past Monday, 9/16. Today, Friday, 9/20, UPS delivered the rifle back to me at noon. I figure the rifle arrived at HRA'S repair shop on Tuesday...Bayonne, NJ is about 220 miles from my home. The rifle was repaired on Wednesday or Thursday morning and was picked up by UPS Thursday PM.
In my original post I was too embarrassed to mention that when I took the rifle apart to see if I could replace the split magazine tube, I was unable to reassemble it. So, when I shipped to HRA, the rifle was in pieces. This is not the first time that's happened; once before I took the rifle apart to clean out the receiver and couldn't get it back together. And, yes I have watched the video on HRA's website on how to disassemble and reassemble the H006B model.

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:38 pm

All's Well That Ends Well. Another superb customer service experience from HRA.

no surprise but always good to hear again .... looking forward to your comments after having an opportunity to get reacquainted with your 44