Henry Rifle Forums

I will keep you all posted. I have tested and checked all I can on my end. I have thrown over $250 worth of ammo plus handloads.

I have a brass frame 357 that hammers at 100. So imagine my surprise at this one! Tried same scope on this 44....well here I am.

Seems like us 44 owners may be getting short end of the stick. I am all for sticking to specs. I understand their point from manufacturing side. However the industry standard is .429 groove for 44.

I build custom long range rifles. If I chamber to max spec and charge 5k for a rifle, I can promise I won't be doing rifles anymore. Buyer will not be happy. If I told buyer chamber was in spec I would not be wrong but still be out of business.

Henry wouldn't tell me if barrels are hammer forged or cut rifled or button rifled. Just told me it was proprietary process. No matter what they do, target tells me something is off.

So stay tuned. It will be going back this week. I will post again with results of that outing when I get it back.

Let me add this. Henry has been great to deal with thus far. Not a knock on them and I know they are jumping to get rifles out.
I just think the 44 barrels could use some work to tighten up spec some. There doesn't seem to be same issues with other calibers as much.

Gault wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:56 am

rickhem wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:56 am

I too played musical sighting systems, and went through a number of different kinds of ammo, both factory and reloads, and eventually sent it back to Henry. I'm very happy with it now.

Any idea what they fixed?

I called and asked that specifically. I only spoke with a person that was NOT the person doing the repairs. She was very polite and said that their paperwork showed they replaced the barrel and some other parts, but she was not aware of any kind of diagnostic process.
Wish I could tell you more, but that's all they told me.

I'm guessing that from their perspective, with a certain number of man-hours involved, it is just easier and cheaper to replace the barrel and whatever other parts are part of the barrel change, and then get that back out to the customer.

rickhem wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 09, 2024 8:15 am

Gault wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:56 am

rickhem wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:56 am

I too played musical sighting systems, and went through a number of different kinds of ammo, both factory and reloads, and eventually sent it back to Henry. I'm very happy with it now.

Any idea what they fixed?

I called and asked that specifically. I only spoke with a person that was NOT the person doing the repairs. She was very polite and said that their paperwork showed they replaced the barrel and some other parts, but she was not aware of any kind of diagnostic process.
Wish I could tell you more, but that's all they told me.

I'm guessing that from their perspective, with a certain number of man-hours involved, it is just easier and cheaper to replace the barrel and whatever other parts are part of the barrel change, and then get that back out to the customer.

Yes the nice ladies that answer the phones there are always nice and polite, but are clueless about whatever repairs are and were very vague on the answers. A couple years ago I had to send my '07 made 44 BBB back because the mag tube had pulled loose at the front end where it attaches to the barrel. Since mine was made to the present they had changed the design on how they are attached, so they changed the barrel and tube. Upon receiving it I noticed that right off. So I called right off as I was curious as to which twist rate barrel they had installed.
No clue and all she said was it was replaced for the obvious reasons I stated above. Then she proceeds to tell me how to check, to which I told her I knew the routine. I know other companies document such repairs for future references. But then again I don't really consider the Henry's to be of any real collectible value such as old Marlin, Winchester, or Savage rifles. But I could be wrong, maybe when they decide to drop a certain caliber then it might could, I do know that most collectors of the old Marlin and Winchesters really don't give two hoots about the Henry line of lever guns.

Boltgun, I hope they get your rifle fixed and back to properly functioning quickly and on the first try.

RP

Does Henry keep the good .429 barrels only in the Return Repair station? Production .44 Mags get the run of the mill barrel and if a customer has an issue with it then it is replaced with a correct one.

Sure seems to me that there is alot more of customer quality control than there should be. This wasnt as frequent a few years ago.

Saami actually has different specs for groove diameter in 44 mag revolvers and rifles. Rifle standard is about .002 larger for reasons unknown.

Quick update. Rifle is en route now. Hopefully I'll get it back in a reasonable time. I will jump back in here and give a verdict once it comes back. I did ask for a replacement barrel but no guarantee that will get done.

More to follow. I just want to say thanks for the responses and info from you folks. I will keep you posted. Seems like it's not just me with 44 issues.

My 30-30 has just gone wild, groups were ok, never great and now just terrible. I’m going to try 1 more ammo swap then send it back. The 22 and 357 hammer shots on top of shots, the bigger brother is rather disappointing. Looks great, action is smooth but I’ve had bench rest flyers at 50 yards that missed the paper!

Based on past discussion with Henry rep thier barrels are button rifled, at least they were at the time of my query. My 44mag single shot rifling seemed shallow to me, but it shoots well so I passed it off.