Henry Rifle Forums

This is a great old Winchester made back when they were all made in the U.S.A. I don't like the sights but it would ruin the value of the rifle to update them.

Very cool! And it will be 100 in only six short years.
Have you had it appraised by any chance?

PT7 wrote:Very cool! And it will be 100 in only six short years.
Have you had it appraised by any chance?

No appraisal. I bought it two years ago when it was covered in flaking, cracking varnish. I removed the varnish with boiling water and kept applying Froglube to the outside metal to get the varnish off without touching the actual finish on the rifle. The outside looks old and the inside looks brand new. I suspect it spent its life behind the seat in an old farm truck but seldom ever shot.

Beautiful old rifle, you are fortunate to have that.

When I bought it I wasn't even sure if it would shoot. The firing pin and trigger mechanism was frozen into place with oil that had collected so much dust it turned into a paste. It looked like a parts rifle and was priced as such. I paid $200 out the door for it. Boiling water removed all the caked on oil and it is a great shooter although I can't hit anything with it because of the buckhorn sights.

Maybe a dumb question, and maybe pulling this thread a little off track. Why does Henry mount rear buckhorn sights when most folk don't/can't use them, and need to go to scopes, or tangs, or peeps? Is it because of the original Henry style/builds during the Civil War?

PT7 wrote:Maybe a dumb question, and maybe pulling this thread a little off track. Why does Henry mount rear buckhorn sights when most folk don't/can't use them, and need to go to scopes, or tangs, or peeps? Is it because of the original Henry style/builds during the Civil War?

My peep and globe sights are ten times more accurate than old buckhorn sights but those buckhorn sights are ten times quicker to get on target. So they make a better hunting sight. At 100 yards you just need to be within six inches on a deer. Hitting within two inches isn't going to make the deer any deader. If you use a large enough peep that just translates into being an open sight that is covered. Hope this makes sense.

Sir Henry wrote:

PT7 wrote:Maybe a dumb question, and maybe pulling this thread a little off track. Why does Henry mount rear buckhorn sights when most folk don't/can't use them, and need to go to scopes, or tangs, or peeps? Is it because of the original Henry style/builds during the Civil War?

My peep and globe sights are ten times more accurate than old buckhorn sights but those buckhorn sights are ten times quicker to get on target. So they make a better hunting sight. At 100 yards you just need to be within six inches on a deer. Hitting within two inches isn't going to make the deer any deader. If you use a large enough peep that just translates into being an open sight that is covered. Hope this makes sense.

Yes, makes perfect sense about the quicker sight acquisition for hunting, Sir Henry, and answers my question as to Henry's purpose. Now in my thinking, that means Henry puts a good hunting sight on most of their rifles, whether rimfire for smaller varmints, or centerfire for larger game. Way to go Henry.