Henry Rifle Forums

I've had my new HBB steel 357, 20" for about two months now and love it, however. Have put several rounds through it, I was displeased that the white diamond inlay under the lower notch is way off center to the notch. Henry sent me a new one. Same problem. Henry cust. service is the best. Don't know if anyone else has seen this, but it bothers me. Been shooting since I was 12, trained then by NRA instructors and I always use the lollypop or 6 o'clock picture. Therefore, my eyes train toward that center. This is part of why I'm putting an optic on.Has anyone else had this experience? If the white diamond is to be ignored, then why even put it on there??

that is just crazy

One thing Ive done Mark is take that piece out and turn it over face the diamond forward. Then Im not focusing on that only the notch.

Thanks guys. Gonna scope it anyway because of tired eyes. Just thought it was odd compared to the quality of the rest of the rifle. Good suggestion though BigAl. Will definitely do that if I ever go back to iron.

The buckhorn sights on these guns are the only thing I can fault on them. Why they put so much effort into everything else, and then stick on those crappy rear sights is beyond me. You could try a barrel mounted Skinner peep before going to a scope if you want to keep the rifle clean and simple? They are quite inexpensive and work well with older eyes.

Not hard to understand why Henry and other lever guns use buckhorn sights. After all, the buckhorn is a very traditional sight for a lever gun. Then, too, with some very notable exceptions, iron sights provided with a gun are cheap for the manufacturer to include and that includes most factory buckhorns.

If this sounds like I am bashing buckhorn sights, I'm not. Actually, I have a lot of respect for them. They were a very effective sight, back in their day, when snap shooting and shooting at moving targets was much more common. Also, that horn can be used for some long distance hold over work if you know how to do it. The small notch/bead front combo works well for me - when I have good light and my eyes are co-operating. Unfortunately, that's not often, these days.

I agree that they “work”, but I don’t think they are up to the standard set by the rest of the product.

Why they put so much effort into everything else, and then stick on those crappy rear sights

Probably a few reasons:
They don't expect the rifle to be shot much.
If it does get shot much the owner will or has already changed out the sights due to experience with better sights.
It seems Henry rifles appeal to new, inexperienced or 'neyophyte' shooters who probably are not aware of Better sighting systems and just struggle with the stock ones.
I have definately seen Better stock buckhorns on other rifles but they were higher priced as well.

No argument from me that a good rifle deserves good sights, especially these days, since a good useable set of open sights wouldn't cost much to include with the rifle, right out of the box.

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So what defines a good usable set of open sights? In keeping a Henry traditional what is there to improve in the design of a buckhorn sight?

North Country Gal wrote:No argument from me that a good rifle deserves good sights, especially these days, since a good usable set of open sights wouldn't cost much to include with the rifle, right out of the box.

Mags wrote:.
So what defines a good usable set of open sights? In keeping a Henry traditional what is there to improve in the design of a buckhorn sight?

North Country Gal wrote:No argument from me that a good rifle deserves good sights, especially these days, since a good usable set of open sights wouldn't cost much to include with the rifle, right out of the box.

All Henry has to do to improve the sights is copy what is on a Winchester - they have excellent buckhorn sights.

In keeping a Henry traditional what is there to improve in the design of a buckhorn sight?

Well when I see modern scopes and those ersatz
Red dots on Henry's (or any lever) well tradition is pretty much out the window.
The barrel, receiver or tang peep is probably the best upgrade to nearly any stock buckhorn however there are much better buckhorns out there. One of the best I ever looked down was on a new Miroku Winchester mod 73.
Also do not overlook a good used early buckhorn as a replacement. There are many available with people who deal in vintage sights. Also I see a lot on eBay for sale. If I would have known years ago I was going to get 'back' into lever actions as heavily as I did I would have never sold off the collection of vintage buckhorns I had
at one time.

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What does that mean? What are the specifics that make a Winchester buckhorn sight better?

tractortad wrote:All Henry has to do to improve the sights is copy what is on a Winchester - they have excellent buckhorn sights.

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What are the specific criteria that make one buckhorn better over another?

Mistered wrote:... there are much better buckhorns out there. One of the best I ever looked down was on a new Miroku Winchester mod 73.
Also do not overlook a good used early buckhorn as a replacement.

I guess most concur that the Henry Semi Buck Horns are maybe their only weakness. I'm glad I posted the topic. Glad it wasn't just me to poo poo them.

What are the specific criteria that make one buckhorn better over another?

Thickness and width of the actual adjustable blade, sharpeness of the U or V cut in the blade and ease of adjusting the blade for up and down movement. Heck the rear blade in my 1899 Winchester slides up and Down smoothly with no rocking side to side or other movements.
Also I think the stamped 'U' channel ladder to raise the sight is kind of cheesy. I much prefer the flat stock ladder that rides in the slot at the rear of the sight such as on the Winchester.
Quite frankly the stock Henry rear sight looks like a toy on the rifle.

Agreed!!! Shame, being a Henry. Small problem, would be relatively inexpensive to correct on future models IMHO.

I thought I already posted this, but not showing up..? Anyway, I agree. Glad I asked this question about semi buckhorns. Seems to me that with Henry's great reputation for their rifles, would not add a higher quality BH sight which seems to me would be affordable on future models. I still stand behind Henry and would recommend their rifles to anyone...just my $.02 cents.

118 years old and the blade fits well and slides up and down very smoothly - and this was after prying it out as it was rusted in place, cleaning and re -flattening it to fit.

All Henry has to do to improve the sights is copy what is on a Winchester - they have excellent buckhorn sights.

What specific year range and models of Winchester rifles' sights do you think they should copy? Winchester made a lot of different sights over the years!