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Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Discussion about the AR-7 and all of it's versions before and since Henry
armycat
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Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by armycat » Fri May 01, 2020 2:59 am

I have had a Charter Arm AR-7 for many years and it has served me well and I carried it for years backpacking, canoeing and kayaking. It was for emergencies and occasional plinking.

Reading numerous firearm related forums I noticed a lot of negative comments towards AR-7s regardless of who they were manufactured by. I am surprised him many posts I saw about breaking or shattering a stock but never a single photo.

I am going to address some of these comments based on my experience with the Henry AR-7 in a series of posts.

Obviously anyone can add to this thread but I would request comments are kept to first hand experience.
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by armycat » Fri May 01, 2020 3:23 am

Myth and Rumour 1 - How many rounds can you put through a Henry AR-7

Comments in the forums include "...on a steady diet of ammo 10-20 rounds ok but run it over 100 without cleaning and it's extremely unreliable", "10 rounds tops with 4 stoppages before the final one", and "pot metal on hollow plastic wouldn't take long for something to break or melt".

As of today I have fired 3683 rounds through my Henry AR-7. I have had a total of 95 FTF, 86 FTE and 25 misfires. Most of the FTF are attributed to one magazine. My total failure rate currently is 5.62%.

On the last two range trips I have fired 495 rounds and had 5 FTF, a 1.01% failure rate. I used 19 different types of ammunition with manufacturer rated velocities ranged from 1070 fps to 1850 fps. The rifle was cleaned before these range trips so thats 495 rounds without any cleaning.

Using two magazines I fired a serial of ten 8 round groups changing magazines and refilling magazine as fast as I could using CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN. Total time 282.69 sec. (4min 42.69 sec)

I also did two 25 round rapid fire using CCI Mini Mag 36gr CPHP, the first 25 rounds in 17.30 sec, the second in 17.95 sec.

Nothing broken or melted and I consider 5 FTF in 495 rounds to be reliable.
Last edited by armycat on Fri May 01, 2020 3:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by leverjc » Fri May 01, 2020 7:21 am

Armycat, good factual post. I haven't shot an AR7 since the 1980's but I believe your results were similar to what I remember. The reason I sold mine was the accuracy problems I had with it not that it was really bad but I think I was spoiled by a Model 60 that was a real tack driver and just more fun to shoot.
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by ChefDuane » Fri May 01, 2020 10:59 am

armycat wrote:
Fri May 01, 2020 3:23 am
Myth and Rumour 1 - How many rounds can you put through a Henry AR-7

Comments in the forums include "...on a steady diet of ammo 10-20 rounds ok but run it over 100 without cleaning and it's extremely unreliable", "10 rounds tops with 4 stoppages before the final one", and "pot metal on hollow plastic wouldn't take long for something to break or melt".

As of today I have fired 3683 rounds through my Henry AR-7. I have had a total of 95 FTF, 86 FTE and 25 misfires. Most of the FTF are attributed to one magazine. My total failure rate currently is 5.62%.

On the last two range trips I have fired 495 rounds and had 5 FTF, a 1.01% failure rate. I used 19 different types of ammunition with manufacturer rated velocities ranged from 1070 fps to 1850 fps. The rifle was cleaned before these range trips so that 495 without any cleaning.

Using two magazines I fired a serial of ten 8 round groups changing magazines and refilling magazine as fast as I could using CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN. Total time 282.69 sec. (4min 42.69 sec)

I also did two 25 round rapid fire using CCI Mini Mag 36gr CPHP, the first 25 rounds in 17.30 sec, the second in 17.95 sec.

Nothing broken or melted and I consider 5 FTF in 495 rounds to be reliable.
OMG. Now you've done it. You've muddled the discussion with all these facts!! Look for the naysayers to immediately begin denouncing you as a rotten person with a personal agenda of mean and nasty intentions buy using FACTS of all things!!
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by Mags » Fri May 01, 2020 12:48 pm

armycat wrote:
Fri May 01, 2020 3:23 am
...
ChefDuane wrote:
Fri May 01, 2020 10:59 am
OMG. Now you've done it. You've muddled the discussion with all these facts!! Look for the naysayers to immediately begin denouncing you as a rotten person with a personal agenda of mean and nasty intentions buy [BY] using FACTS of all things!!
I don't think that would happen from the members of this forum. But watch out, if the know nothing CNN/FOX talking heads find out, then you'll be in for a good meaningless thrashing. :mrgreen:
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by North Star » Sat May 02, 2020 1:53 am

I am not trying to derail the thread, but I wanted to ask about the AR- 7 . My Dad worked for Fairchild Industries back in the mid 60's. At that point Fairchild Industries owned Armalite Industries. I believe that Armalite was the first to manufacture the AR-7. He purchased one during that time and I now own it. It was known then as the "Survival Rifle" then. The Survival Rifle made a debut in the movies in a James Bond 007 movie about the same time. "From Russia with Love" I believe. I was just curious as to know it's history up to the time that Henry started manufacturing . My experience has been very positive with this version of the AR-7. It has been very accurate and I have enjoyed shooting it over the years. I have not experienced any FTF or FTE 's ever. Great little rifle .
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by armycat » Sat May 02, 2020 9:00 am

The Armalite AR-7 was designed by Eugene Stoner at Armalite Inc and division of Fairchild Aircraft in 1959. It was designed as a survival rifle for the U.S. Airforce, but I have read conflicting information about weather it was actually adopted. It has several features that the AR-5 rifle had but the AR-5 was bolt action and chambered in .22 Hornet.

Several companies have manufactured versions of the AR-7 and I have read conflicting information on the interchangeability of parts. I have a Charter Arms and Henry H002B version and the stocks are not interchangeable. I have not tried the internal parts.

Copied from Wikipedia which referenced the Blue Book of Gun Values
1959-1973: ArmaLite
1973-1990: Charter Arms
1990-1997: Survival Arms - Cocoa, Florida
1998-2004: AR-7 Industries - LLC, Meriden, Connecticut (bought by ArmaLite in 2004)
1997–2007: Henry Repeating Arms Co. - Brooklyn, New York
2007–present: Henry Repeating Arms Co. - Bayonne, New Jersey

Henry has made several changes from the original design including increasing the size of the stock so it can hold two spare magazines as well as a magazine in the receiver when it is stowed. They also added a small feed ramp to the barrel. However the Armalite and Charter Arms versions had foam filling the voids in the butt stock and these rifles truly float. The Henry version does not have the foam and is buoyant but in my experience will sink after a period of time.

I am jealous of your Armalite AR-7. I don't have one yet but someday. I know nothing about the Survival Arms and AR-7 Industries versions. Original Armalites seem to have a good reputation for functioning correctly. Charters Arms versions seem to have a reputation for not working well however, mine has served me well and I am happy with it.
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by North Star » Sat May 02, 2020 12:42 pm

Thanks armycat for the history lesson. I really appreciate it.
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by armycat » Sat May 02, 2020 2:49 pm

MYTH AND RUMOUR 2 - Rapid Fire Will Cause Parts to Melt / No Foreend You Will Burn Your Fingers on the Barrel

Comments in the forums include "no foreend so you burn your fingers on the barrel", "actually left some burn marks on the inside of the stock where the plastic touches the barrel", and "I actually did 8 one time swapped and did the second magazine of 8 so fast I scorched the inside of the plastic stock from the heat."

Firstly the stock does not touch the barrel so the second quote is clearly false. As far as heat, yes the barrel will heat up when fired. Today using two magazines and reloading the magazines as fast as I could I fired 72 rounds in 4 min 10.47 sec (250.47 sec) and another 70 rounds and cleared two misfires in 4 min 8.53 sec (248.53 sec) with no noticeable damage to any plastic component. After each serial the barrel was hot, but not hot enough to burn my skin. I grabbed the barrel with my fingers completely around it. It was hot but not uncomfortable to hold.

I would like to repeat this test with a IR Temperature Gun just to get an accurate reading of the barrel temperature. CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN were used for this test.

Today I fired 295 rounds and had 5 FTF and 5 Misfires. Failure rate 3.4%. Total for the rifle is 3978 rounds, 100 FTF, 87 FTE and 30 Misfires. Failure Rate 5.46%. 754 rounds have been fired through the rifle since it was last cleaned.

2 FTF were with CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN as the action was being manually cycled while using Mag 2 a magazine I have had lots of problems with. 3 FTF were with Remington Yellow Jacket 33 gr TCHP while manually cycling the action.

2 Misfires were with CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN and occurred during the rapid fire serials. I lost one round when it was ejected. The other looked like a good strike from the firing pin and fired when tried again. The other 3 Misfires were with CCI AR Tactical 40gr CPRN and might have been light strikes. Photo is a fired cartridge case on the left and misfired cartridge on the right.
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Re: Henry U.S. Survival Rifle AR-7 - Myths and Rumours

Post by Cofisher » Sat May 02, 2020 3:48 pm

Good info brother. We all appreciate first hand experience. I have always wanted an AR-7. Maybe someday.
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