New Long Ranger .308 Owner

[Pottsy]

Hey Folks - I am new to Henry and new to the forum. Wanted to stop in today hello, introduce myself, as well as start a thread on the Long Ranger .308 I just picked up yesterday. I figured, like me, there are a lot of folks out there with questions about the long ranger... Aside from a lot of press, and a few good reviews here and there, there still ins't that much out there on the long ranger.

First off, this is my first centerfire rifle. I bought it for hunting and target shooting. I had decided that I wanted to go with something in .308, and started looking into lever actions after I got disappointed in some of the left handed options out there. I have a Savage Mark II G .22 that is left-handed, and I love it too much to ever force myself to use a right handed bolt gun. Us lefty's don't get much love, I'll tell you that. The lever action is perfect for me, aside from the right side ejection port, but that's something I can live with.

I picked up my Long Ranger yesterday from Cabelas coming in at $889. Fit and finish Looks really good. The oiled American Walnut is simply gorgeous. I think I got a really nice stock on the one I ended up with (had to Order to the store since they weren't in stock,so I am glad I ended up with a grain pattern I loved). The grain goes with the gun, not up and down (which I don't like), and has some really nice red and green tones in some of the grains.

I won't get to fire her until next weekend, and will provide some range reports once I do. I have a Nikon M-308 4-16x42mm coming on Monday, and will mate that up with some Warne rings. The rifle came with Skinner mounts and I plan to use those. Initially I am going with a 0 MOA setup, but might look at going with 20 MOA at some point if they ever open the 1,000 and 500 yard ranges at my local gun club.

The trigger feels incredible. There is just the tiniest amount of creep, and then a very small amount of travel and the break is really crisp. I cannot wait to see what kind of groups I can get out this thing. I am planning to zero at 100 yards, and then immediately get her out to 300 (300 this is the farthest range I have access to right now)

I do have one question I think I am going to call Henry about. In the manual they mention that a hammer extension is included for use with a scope, but there was no hammer extension in the box. I am curious if any of the other long ranger owners out there received a hammer extension.

So anyway, I'm excited I found this forum. This is my first Henry, but after holding the Long Ranger, I suspect it won't be my last.

Cheers
Pottsy

[2fewdaysafield]

That is a real nice-looking gun. You won the wood lottery! Not sure, but I don't believe the hammer extension comes with the rifle. I checked their website and they offer one for $11. https://henrypride.com/collections/rifl ... extensions. Before you spend the money though I'd mount the scope and see if you really need one to comfortably operate the gun. CONGRATS AGAIN! That is one fine looking rifle!

[Pottsy]

Thanks, I appreciate that. Definitely my most expensive firearms purchase to date so I am pretty psyched about it : )

And good to know about the hammer extension. I'll take your advice and see if I think I need once I get the scope on it. It's getting delivered tomorrow so I should have her all setup by the end of the week. I'll post most pics when I do.

[North Country Gal]

Plus one on the wood. Gorgeous rifle. Congrats. Look forward to a range report when you have the chance.

[PT7]

A++ on the wood....what a exquisite-looking stock on your Henry! Congrats.

I agree with Pottsy on waiting to see re. the hammer extension. But if needed, the Henry part will be fine. I bought one from them for my Big Boy, and it worked out great.....solid part.

Enjoy sighting that .308 in -- should be a lot of fun.

[2fewdaysafield]

Maybe it was just coincidence, but I looked at a few Long Rangers on Gunbroker today and the few that had pics of the actual gun rather than "stock pics" all seemed to have nicer than average wood. I suspect HRA is making a deliberate effort to put better than average wood on the Long Ranger.

[JEBar]

congrats on your purchase and welcome to our forum .... the reviews on Long Ranger 308's have been very positive .... looking forward to your range reports

please consider going to our How Many ? thread at this link http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 377#p36377 and add your Henry to our community total

[Ziggidy]

Very nice......I'm jealous

[ditto1958]

That's a purty one. Looking forward to a range report.

[Fri]

I've got both the 223 and 308 versions. Both came with a hammer extension. Have only had time to get the 308 sighted in. Hoping to get out with the 223 this week. I think you will really like your new rifle!

Chris

[Les]

Hi Pottsy .... welcome to the Forum from Runcorn, UK!

Congratulations on your new Henry Long Ranger. It looks like a superb rifle, and that stock is beautiful.

[Pottsy]

Hey Chris - Do you happen to remember how they packaged the hammer extension in the box? I don't think I Threw anything away so wondering if I missed something. Maybe Henry will send me one in good faith, since it seems like it is supposed to come with it based on the manual and your confirmation.

As to everyone else, thanks! I am super pumped about this rifle. Nicest gun in my cabinet for sure. The .223 I checked out in the store had a grain I didn't like so I'm real happy with the one I ended up with.

My scope came early - showed up yesterday - I mounted it up with the Warne rings loosely just to check the fit and everything looked good. One night this week I'll do it right and have it ready for the range either Friday or Saturday.

I'm a little concerned about the size of the 4-16 Nikon M-308 on it. I was between this scope and a Leupold VX II but I wanted the extra zoom for shooting at the 300 yard lane at my range (and they are trying to get approvals for building a 500 and 1000 yard ranges). But for regular deer hunting I feel like I over scoped it. Curious what people think about that. The VXII would save me about 7-8 ounces over the Nikon, but it doesn't have zero reset turrets (which I really want) or the extra zoom. I really want to get solid at 300 yards, and felt like I needed the 16 power. Plus, I have a BDC reticle on my .22 and I really like that setup. It works really well and helps a newer long distance shooter like myself gauging bullet drop once I get out past my zero.

Thanks for all the comments. I've got about 250 round a of .308 ready to go for the weekend. Can't wait.

And great forum you guys have here.

[BigAl52]

Welcome from Corlorado. I really like the 308 caliber myself. Your rifle looks really nice. I dont think a 4x16 is to much scope probably would have been one of my choices also. The 308 is quite capable at 300. Al

[2fewdaysafield]

Pottsy...My apologies for giving you incorrect info on the hammer extender. Since it seems that it was supposed to be included I'm confident HRA will send you one. Just call CS or send Mr. Imperato an email. If you send Mr. Imperato an email he'll probably also send you some additional HRA bling.

On the Nikon 4-16...I don't see a problem with it for deer hunting. The 4 power setting will be a touch high for really close work in heavy woods but not unmanageable. The only situation where I would expect it to be a problem would be on a running deer at under 25 yards otherwise you should be fine. In addition it sounds like your main focus is going to be long range target shooting so if you are going to use only one scope use one that is suitable for what you will do the most of. Besides if you decide the 4X is too high for your kind of deer hunting you can always buy a lower power scope and just mount it for deer season then take it off after the season and remount the Nikon 4-16. Plenty of quite affordable scopes in 2-7 or 3-9. For hunting I prefer a 2-7 but then the vast majority of deer I have shot have been at under 30 yards and I just don't shoot at running deer unless I have already wounded one in which case I'll throw a shot at it any time I get a chance until it's down for good.

[Pottsy]

No worries, 2few. I actually emailed Henry this morning and happy to report without question are sending me one in the mail free of charge. My first experience with Henry's customer service and it was an excellent one.

[2fewdaysafield]

They are great folks to deal with. I used to spend a fair amount of time on the HRA Forum on RFC and I heard a ton of stories of HRA's great customer service. From the top to the bottom they honestly care that each and every customer is satisfied. No matter what a company builds they are always going to turn out a dud from time to time. It's unavoidable. What separates the great companies from the not so great is how a company handles things when they turn out a dud. IMO HRA has the best CS in the firearms industry. Not including the hammer extender is a pretty small mess up in the grand scheme of things and easily fixed, but HRA will make it right--and quickly.

What really shows what a great company they are is the way they have expanded in the last few years. When I first got interested in the HRA rifles all they offered were several rimfire rifles and they had very recently introduced the brass .357, .44 mag and .45 long colt. Now just a few years later they are offering as many or more centerfire rifles as they do rimfire. You have to be doing something right if you can afford to do that kind of expansion.

A story about how much HRA cares about it's customers...The owner, Anthony Imperato is actually a member of RFC and has posted there as has one of his plant managers. He saw how many people were tinkering with and making their own cosmetic improvements to their HRA rimfire guns. He saw that a lot of them were taking the receiver cover off their guns, stripping the coloring off it and then coloring them brass like the "Golden Boy" rifles. Others were coloring them silver. Many people were even ordering extra receiver covers to do this with. Next thing you know the manager of the plant where the "Golden Boy" rimfire rifles are made comes on RFC and offers to do a limited run of the regular receiver covers in brass for members of RFC at the same cost as the black ones. Since then HRA has introduced it's rimfire rifles with silver receiver covers. They really LISTEN to their customers. Many of the new models they have introduced were actually first suggested to them by customers asking them if they would produce a certain gun. MANY of the new models they are currently offering are actually models I heard people wish for on RFC a few years ago. JEEZ!!! I do ramble on sometimes.

To stop this tirade....how can you not love a company with great CS whose motto is "Made in America or not made at all"?

[Pottsy]

That's an awesome story! Smart business too! In this day and age, there's not enough companies like that left. I'm feeling better everyday about my decision to join the HRA family ; )

[Deadwood Dutch]

Congratulations on your new Henry rifle and welcome to the forum! The wood certainly is beautiful.

[Tweet]

My .308 came with the hammer extension. I would check with Henry. Awesome customer service!

Wade

[Fri]

Looks like I am late to reply. If I remember right, the hammer extensions were in a small plastic bag that was stapled to a post card sized card in the box. I believe the scope bases were stapled to the same card.

Chris