Henry Rifle Forums

Yornoc3 wrote:That's definitely not right. The pin should be snug enough to require a punch to tap it out. That one never should have got past quality control. Henry should replace it without question. And they should send you some other stuff for your trouble .

The pivot pin on a Henry Single-shot is designed to be removed by lightly pushing/tapping it out - it does not require a punch. Mine comes out by pushing it with a finger/pencil eraser. There is a ball-detent on the receiver to hold it in place because it is designed to be a little loose. My 44 Single is also a little loose when it is open, but it locks up tight when it is closed. I think this is the way it is supposed to work...

That's definitely not right. The pin should be snug enough to require a punch to tap it out.

No it shouldn't - a PIVOT pin should be a very light press fit to be able to be removed relatively easily.
A tight press fit pin is typically holding an internal component in and is intended to stay in place with out any movement.

The pivot pin on a Henry Single-shot is designed to be removed by lightly pushing/tapping it out - it does not require a punch.

This sounds correct.

bandit1250 wrote:I hate to say it but some of these Henry problems sound more like being on the Marlin forum. ............ I think there seems to be more center fire issues than the in Henry rim fire rifles.

Come to think of it, bandit, it's the same with the Marlins. You seldom hear of a problem with the rimfires, Model 60 and XTs. They're all complaining about the centerfire lever actions. My XT .22 has been a great gun and very accurate.

I stand corrected. I haven't disassembled either of mine, yet. Fortunately, it hasn't been necessary. I assume they're like driving out the pins holding the trigger mechanism in a pump or SA shotgun. I use a brass punch and light hammer for that. Snug, not press fit tight .

Still, there shouldn't be a lot of movement of the opened barrel within the action.

No there shouldn't be.
For comparison I opened the action on my NEF Handi-Rifle and the movement at the pivot is probably in the 'thousands'.
Now, at the barrel end it seems like a little more due to the movement 'transmitting' out to the end of the barrel but it's still not near a 1/4".

I was out of town yesterday and not around where I could check my new 357 single shot out. But I did last night when I got home. Im not an engineer or machinist so I can only go by feel and guess. The pin in my gun has some resistance to it but can be moved with some thumb pressure. When I break open the action there is very little play at either end on mine. It is very snug.The gun breaks open freely with no resistance like I would expect a single action to do. As far as trigger pull and hammer pull goes its like Tractor Tad has described. The hammer pull back is heavier than I have experienced before but its not annoying to me. The trigger pull I could only guess at as I have no gauge. Its probably in the 7lb range but thats just a guess. I have read alot of complaints on the trigger and hammer on other forums. The only way you can change this from what I have read is do it yourself. Some guys are changing out there hammer springs for lighter ones. Its a fairly easy thing to do by taking off the pad and butt stock. They have ordered springs from a couple of different places. People who have bought the single shots and complained to Henry about there triggers are not going to get lighter triggers by sending them back. They may smooth the action up some but there not going to lighten the pull. I have never been on the liability side of a gun company but I can just imagine what might go thru that part of the business. Sure maybe the trigger is a little on the heavy side. But maybe they are erring on the safe side. Just my 02 cents worth.

Yes, the liability fears keep the trigger pull weights up there. It almost seems like they've increased the pull weight, though, based on the chatter. My two have trigger pull weights well under the nominal 7 lbs weight of the rifles, both about 4.5 lbs, based on using a pull scale with snap caps chambered (I don't have a trigger weight gauge, either). Contrast that to a Brno Effect single shot .308, that comes with an adjustable single set trigger which, when set, reduces the weight from about 4 lbs to about 12 oz. . It's so light I have difficulty shooting it for the first couple shots, it takes some getting used to. I can't imagine using it hunting in cold weather, or while wearing gloves. I suspect the hammer spring strength is to overcome the rebounding hammer spring, to assure ignition. I don't find it to be objectionally strong, either, but I imagine that it could get tiresome in a longer range session than I put in sighting in, or hunting. I don't even remember cocking it the other day, when a deer showed up .

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I was looking up some info on the SS Henry and it appears the barrel hinges entirely on the pin, meaning the barrel tang has a complete hole through it as opposed to other single shots which have a half radius in the tang for the barrel pin to pivot on and the forestock being radiused on the rear end provides the support and lockup for the barrel. In this case the forestock has to be removed to remove the barrel but the Henry simply needs the pin removed to remove the barrel. I base this on the instruction that stated the 'The rifle is disassembled by simply tapping out the hinge pin'
If this is in fact he case, and the barrel pivot is supported ONLY on the pin it wouldn't take much to mess this fit up during manufacture. As such I suspect the barrel tang is only maybe a 1/2" wide and that is not a lot of 'width' and will require a very close fitting pin to provide minimal movement when assembled - and any loose fit up at this point is going to result in what will seem like a lot of movement.

Another look at a picture of the rifle reveals the 'block' that supports the barrel has the pin hole through it and therefore should be wide enough to rest on what looks like about 2" of the pin width (I am guessing on the width) If this is the case then the barrel should be fairly well supported.

Here is mine apart on the bench. The block on the bottom of the barrel that the pin goes thru is roughly .625 thousands according to my dial gauge. There is no need to remove the forend to take the barrel out of the stock end of the rifle.

The block on the bottom of the barrel that the pin goes thru is roughly .625

SO basically 5/8" wide.
This should be wide enough to provide pretty good support but it is still going to be an area that is going to experience some wear over time but that would be negligible.
I am suspecting the OPs problem is an oversize or out of round hole in this area resulting is his excessive movement.
Its possible someone 'on the line' discovered this and tried to band-aid it by filling it with something and this resulted in the stiff opening he reported and then whatever was in there fell out and revealed the loose fit.