Spring has sprung. Get out and shoot your Henry

New Henry, advice

dlw
Tenderfoot
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:15 pm
United States of America

New Henry, advice

Post by dlw » Fri Jun 29, 2018 9:56 pm

Just brought home my first Henry. A Long Ranger 223.
Feels strange that Henry doesn't want owners to disassemble and clean.
Any advice on lubrication of mechanism?

Also, any place on instructions for disassembly and how to improve the action?

Thanks
David
0 x

User avatar
JEBar
Town Marshal / Deputy Admin
Posts: 19272
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:58 pm
Location: central NC
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by JEBar » Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:04 pm

it is my understanding that Henry's Long Ranger is patterned after Browing's BLR .... we own an early generation BLR and were told day one to not disassemble it ... the reason given is the synchronization of the leaver / bolt mechanism .... over the years I've asked gunsmiths and none have been willing to take ours apart .... they universally say to take it to a Browning certified shop .... I do not know for certain if that is also the case with Henry but can see how it might be
0 x

dlw
Tenderfoot
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:15 pm
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by dlw » Fri Jun 29, 2018 11:44 pm

I'm going to start making contacts at Henry hoping to find the right engineer or gunsmith willing to help.
Knowing myself I'll be tempted at some point to break the gun down if only for the challenge.
Want to shoot it for awhile to see if and what modifications are needed to improve.
Already I see it needs a better magazine release and bottom plate on the mags. Possibly some tapering of the magazine well for easier insertion.
Need to get some rounds downrange first though.
Ordering my picatinny rail to mount an eotech on it to experiment with it. May not like it and will stay with iron sites but will need to run some drills to see.
I'll keep you'll posted.
Thanks
0 x

User avatar
Mags
Ranch Foreman
Posts: 6883
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:40 pm
Location: Tualatin Valley Oregon
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by Mags » Fri Jun 29, 2018 11:59 pm

dlw wrote:Just brought home my first Henry. A Long Ranger 223.
Feels strange that Henry doesn't want owners to disassemble and clean.
Any advice on lubrication of mechanism?

Also, any place on instructions for disassembly and how to improve the action?
Please share your source for "Henry doesn't want owners to disassemble...". I've not seen that before.

Henry provides disassembly and cleaning instructions for some of their rifles here: https://www.henryusa.com/henry-instruct ... eo-series/
Although there are no videos specific to the Long Ranger yet, you'll see that from the videos for the large caliber rifles they all come apart almost identically, so I expect it is likewise for the Long Ranger. As already mentioned there are also HenryTV videos on YouTube.

For lube of the moving parts in the action I use Rem Dry Lube. It's a silicone aerosol with a spray straw. A slick dry silicone residue is left behind after the aerosol evaporates. I like the 'dry' because unlike wet lubes, dirt doesn't get oil/gummed into the moving parts. For bore protection I do use a light wipe of wet gun oil as I do on exterior blued parts. On the wood and receiver exterior metal (brass on my Henry) I use Renaissance Wax. Others like to use a silicone laced cloth, which I have to admit is less work than waxing/buffing.

Improve the action? Are you having an issue with it? If so contact Henry customer support, their reputation for making it right is outstanding.
0 x
UPDATES: OR passes 114, "one of strictest gun control measures in U.S." https://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic. ... 34#p213234

User avatar
PT7
Drover
Posts: 4889
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:32 am
Location: The Show-Me State
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by PT7 » Sat Jun 30, 2018 7:09 am

Here are the sources for "Henry doesn't want owners to disassemble...".

These manuals came with my H001TLP and H012MR rifles. Henry provides some info for those folk who want to take an H001 model apart, but nothing on the Big Boys.
PT7

https://d1o1eopb8uxoq1.cloudfront.net/u ... Manual.pdf
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR HENRY BIG BOY RIFLE
You do not have to disassemble this rifle in order to clean it sufficiently and to keep it operating properly.

https://d1o1eopb8uxoq1.cloudfront.net/u ... Manual.pdf
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR HENRY LEVER RIFLE
IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO TAKE YOUR HENRY LEVER ACTION APART TO KEEP IT CLEAN. SHOULD YOU WISH TO TAKE IT APART, YOU MUST UNSCREW THE RECEIVER COVER TANG SCREW (PART #50) AND REMOVE THE BUTTSTOCK FIRST. THEN UNSCREW THE FOUR RECEIVER COVER SCREWS (PART #42) AND LIFT OFF THE RECEIVER COVER WHICH WILL EXPOSE THE INTERNAL PARTS

With some other manufacturers' manuals I've had (Benelli shotgun for an example), the instructions are almost as thick as a novel! The s/g manual was very detailed, and provided step-by-step instructs on how to completely disassemble and re-assemble the gun. I really enjoyed learning this, and had a blast the first time I took the s/g completely apart. My Ruger Vaquero manual was pretty detailed, too.

The two manuals I listed were last revised in 2015. I would like to see some more detail instructions coming from Henry, and specific to the different model guns they are producing. Not really a complaint since Henrys are easy to operate. But it would be nice to have such info to help us be better "back-yard" gunsmiths. :lol:

I also know that it would take a lot to ramp up these manuals. In my profession, I often wrote detailed instructions in academic catalogs to help university students navigate their degree work. Hard to write those accurately, and easy to goof. And with the number of Henrys now available, a F/T manual writer would be kept fairly busy. ;)

My less than 2 cents.
PT7

Mags wrote:
dlw wrote:Just brought home my first Henry. A Long Ranger 223.
Feels strange that Henry doesn't want owners to disassemble and clean.
Any advice on lubrication of mechanism?

Also, any place on instructions for disassembly and how to improve the action?
Please share your source for "Henry doesn't want owners to disassemble...". I've not seen that before.

Henry provides disassembly and cleaning instructions for some of their rifles here: https://www.henryusa.com/henry-instruct ... eo-series/


Improve the action? Are you having an issue with it? If so contact Henry customer support, their reputation for making it right is outstanding.
0 x

~Пока~

dlw
Tenderfoot
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:15 pm
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by dlw » Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:09 pm

Thanks guys for the links and input. I'll be looking through them after work.

When I requested a disassembly manual for the rifle in one of the reply emails it was stated:

"Sir just so you know that rifle is not meant to be field stripped.  We have a full mechanical warranty for a lifetime so if anything happens to it you can send it in to be repaired."

Not sure if that is standard response per company policy or just a precaution.

As far as the action goes. I haven't found many firearms or mechanical assemblies that can't be improved on. Maybe Henry is different.

Thanks for the great information, I think I'm going to get along with this group.
0 x

User avatar
Mags
Ranch Foreman
Posts: 6883
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:40 pm
Location: Tualatin Valley Oregon
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by Mags » Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:08 pm

The manuals do not say 'we don't want you to take your rifle apart' to clean. They say you don't need to. That means it's optional, owners discretion. Henry's own videos, as already shared, even show owners how to do it. Henry's lever action mechanics are very clever in how they were able to keep the mechanism fairly simple with a minimal number of parts. Box versus tube magazine differences aside, other than variance to accommodate caliber differences, the lever mechanisms are very much the same.

As per the advice dlw got from Henry on field strip, I wouldn't do that either. There are a couple small parts that might sneak away unnoticed. Easier to find the sneaky parts on the shop bench or floor than in the grass or dirt.

BigBoy disassembly on Henry's website: https://www.henryusa.com/henry-instruct ... -boy-h006/

I have a Mossberg disassembly manual that has had a gazillion revisions to it. Mossberg has gone though the entire alphabet starting with single character revisions and are now up to double letter revisions currently starting with H. I guess that means they've covered the alphabet about 9 times over. 9x26 is a lot of revisions. I'm glad Henry does their instructions by video. Likewise with HenryTV and other indepedent videos on YouTube.

Anyway, my followup nickels worth (accounting for inflation).
0 x
UPDATES: OR passes 114, "one of strictest gun control measures in U.S." https://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic. ... 34#p213234

User avatar
Petey
Cowhand
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed May 03, 2017 8:36 am
Location: Placerville- State of Jefferson
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by Petey » Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:01 pm

This may give you some insight....seems a bit involved to me
https://www.midwestgunworks.com/field_s ... manual.pdf?


Good Luck & Happy SHootin!
Petey
0 x

User avatar
Mags
Ranch Foreman
Posts: 6883
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:40 pm
Location: Tualatin Valley Oregon
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by Mags » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:39 pm

Hey dlw if you decide to disassemble your Long Ranger, take some pictures for us. Will definitely be interesting to see how close the internals match up with those shown in the Browning manual Petey gave us. For patent infringement reasons I would think Henry did the internals different.
0 x
UPDATES: OR passes 114, "one of strictest gun control measures in U.S." https://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic. ... 34#p213234

User avatar
JEBar
Town Marshal / Deputy Admin
Posts: 19272
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:58 pm
Location: central NC
United States of America

Re: New Henry, advice

Post by JEBar » Sat Jun 30, 2018 6:04 pm

because of its unique rotary bolt design, there is no way I'd tackle completely disassembling a Long Ranger without first calling Henry .... I'd really hate to get one apart and find I had to box them up and sent them back to Henry .. :?
0 x

Post Reply