The Saga Continues

[Redthies]

What is involved in “slugging” the barrel?

I’d be overjoyed if my .44 could achieve that!
[/quote]

Big Al52 pretty well described slugging. For a .44 I use a 3/8" hardwood dowel and spin the last inch on both ends in sandpaper until a fired 9mm case can be slipped on. (40 S&W works on a .45) I slug from the breech end and with the Henry's the toughest part is getting it started because the transition from chamber to rifling is very abrupt. Make sure the bore is well oiled.
[/quote]

So you are ramming a 9mm case downr your barrel? That doesn’t sound like a wise practice. What is the point of it? Forgive my ignorance on the practice, but I’ve never had any reason to look into it before.

[Redthies]

If Dan responds it will surprise me. He has never responded to anything I have sent him

Dan responded with a “we’ll look into it”. He passed the buck down to Tom Kotz, and John Grech who is the Canadian warranty depot. I just got a “fill out this form, and send me the gun” from him. I replied with “Um, no”. I asked him to tell me if he had a barrel on hand, and if so, how long the turn around would be. I CC’D Tom Kotz. We will see what they say.

Frankly, these guys are really screwing up a great company. They should have just stuck with doing fantastic lever guns and left the shotgun, PCC and revolver market to others.

On another note, I had a brand new Ruger Marlin in .44 Mag in my hands today. It’s action isn’t near as smooth as a Henry, but I bet it shoots! They are beautiful guns. Henry best get their act together or they are going to lose a lot of business to Ruger/Marlin!

[5shot]

[/quote]

So you are ramming a 9mm case downr your barrel? That doesn’t sound like a wise practice. What is the point of it? Forgive my ignorance on the practice, but I’ve never had any reason to look into it before.
[/quote]

The brass case is much softer than barrel steel and is smaller in diameter than the bore. You have a hard surface to tap on and push with. Dimensions are important to bullet casters and to those of us that just have to have numbers. Of course, if the gun is shooting just fine there's probably no need for slugging at all.

[5shot]

Henry's recommended Federal 240 gr. loads, which I tried. At a dollar a pop, chasing accuracy via different factory loads would soon break my bank!

Such bullets have long been pretty much the standard. I believe that a fairly costly rifle should shoot these accurately.

I don't know if a refund is a possibility, but that is my hope at this point.

I agree and hope you get some satisfaction from them. Mine is heading to UPS tomorrow and I only plan to do this once.

[BigAl52]

If Dan responds it will surprise me. He has never responded to anything I have sent him

Dan responded with a “we’ll look into it”. He passed the buck down to Tom Kotz, and John Grech who is the Canadian warranty depot. I just got a “fill out this form, and send me the gun” from him. I replied with “Um, no”. I asked him to tell me if he had a barrel on hand, and if so, how long the turn around would be. I CC’D Tom Kotz. We will see what they say.

Frankly, these guys are really screwing up a great company. They should have just stuck with doing fantastic lever guns and left the shotgun, PCC and revolver market to others.

On another note, I had a brand new Ruger Marlin in .44 Mag in my hands today. It’s action isn’t near as smooth as a Henry, but I bet it shoots! They are beautiful guns. Henry best get their act together or they are going to lose a lot of business to Ruger/Marlin!

Im glad he responded as he should. I feel your frustration on the entire situation. Agreed the action isn’t as smooth on the Marlin but its not that bad either. As I mentioned Id buy one before I bought a new Henry

[Redthies]

I am of two minds on this whole thing. I want the Henry to shoot well, so I guess if they get a barrel, I’ll send it (based on 1:20 being a “proper” twist rate), but I also would love a new Marlin, so I’m not opposed to letting the Henry go and putting the money towards a Marlin. I think the resale value of my Henry would be slightly higher with a new 1:20 barrel as well. There at least wouldn’t be people like me who hear “.44 with 1:38” and immediately say “next”.

As you said Al, the Marlin certainly isn’t terrible, and I’m sure that like my 336BL, a disassembly and polish will have it much improved. My 336 is a early 2020 build, and Remington seemed to have it together a lot more by then. I didn’t even pull the trigger once on it before I stripped it, lightened the trigger spring a hair, and polished the whole shebang with wet and dry 800 and some gun oil. It is so close to as slick as a Henry now, I’m sure I can do the same with a Ruglin too.

[Vaquero]

To me the Marlin 1894 just screams Cowboy and is a more authentic looking old west gun compared to the bulky Henry.
If I were looking for a 44 mag rifle these days I sure wouldn't be looking at a Henry especially with all the woo's of late.

RP

[parson48]

Henry has agreed to refund the purchase price of my rifle so, I guess that this saga has come to an end.

[GFK]

Good for you! If you are still interested in a .44 Mag, you might fine in this link, you might like:

https://grabagun.com/firearms/rifles/le ... er=.44+Mag

[5shot]

parson48. It's good to see they made it right. They couldn't reasonably expect you to send it in again.

I sent mine in last Thursday morning, they got it Friday and I just got an e-mail it'll be here tomorrow. Fastest turn around I've ever seen from a gun company. I'm hoping it's fixed but I've got a range day Thursday. Fingers crossed.