Henry cold weather magazine test
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:26 am
In my post titled '.45 colt cold weather torture test' I talked about how in extreme cold the magazine tube would not operate allowing me to load the rifle and that I had to load each round individually through the action.
This week I banished my .45 colt and 45-70 to the woodshed to see how the brass magazine followers operate under different temperatures, here are the results (All temperatures are in Fahrenheit)
At +10 degrees the brass magazines of both rifles worked like it was summer, no problems.
The next day at -1 the magazines were stiff but worked fine.
Later in the week at -13 I noticed that the magazines were difficult to un-click, but otherwise, (although stiff) they worked fine.
This made me wonder if the problem that I experienced at the range was not an issue with the brass and steel, or with moisture, but with the rubber O ring at the end of the follower, so I left my 45-70 follower clicked in, but I released the follower of my .45 colt. The next morning was supposed to be -21 so I was interested to see what the results would be.
The next morning was -22, The 45-70 mag. follower would not budge, without forcing it I could not unlock it in order to load the magazine. But, the .45 colt mag. follower (which I had unlocked the previous day) moved stiffly but freely up and down the mag.
SO- the issue is not with moisture freezing, or with metal expanding, but with that rubber o ring becoming hardened in the extreme cold.
For most of us this isn't an issue. But, often times when hunting in extreme cold I will leave my rifle outside at night instead of exposing it to the heat and moisture inside the cabin. I think that when I do this with a Henry it would be wise to keep the magazine loaded for the next morning's hunt. (Or maybe just drink coffee until noon and then go hunting!)
I hope this has been helpful or at least interesting!
This week I banished my .45 colt and 45-70 to the woodshed to see how the brass magazine followers operate under different temperatures, here are the results (All temperatures are in Fahrenheit)
At +10 degrees the brass magazines of both rifles worked like it was summer, no problems.
The next day at -1 the magazines were stiff but worked fine.
Later in the week at -13 I noticed that the magazines were difficult to un-click, but otherwise, (although stiff) they worked fine.
This made me wonder if the problem that I experienced at the range was not an issue with the brass and steel, or with moisture, but with the rubber O ring at the end of the follower, so I left my 45-70 follower clicked in, but I released the follower of my .45 colt. The next morning was supposed to be -21 so I was interested to see what the results would be.
The next morning was -22, The 45-70 mag. follower would not budge, without forcing it I could not unlock it in order to load the magazine. But, the .45 colt mag. follower (which I had unlocked the previous day) moved stiffly but freely up and down the mag.
SO- the issue is not with moisture freezing, or with metal expanding, but with that rubber o ring becoming hardened in the extreme cold.
For most of us this isn't an issue. But, often times when hunting in extreme cold I will leave my rifle outside at night instead of exposing it to the heat and moisture inside the cabin. I think that when I do this with a Henry it would be wise to keep the magazine loaded for the next morning's hunt. (Or maybe just drink coffee until noon and then go hunting!)
I hope this has been helpful or at least interesting!
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Nicely prepped and executed.