Henry Rifle Forums

I just got my copy (Spring 2017) of GUNS OF THE OLD WEST. There is a very interesting write up by Denis Prisbrey. He took a stock Golden Boy .22LR. and shot 28,00 rounds of mostly bulk .22 ammo through it with not cleaning it until after over 21,000 shots. So for all those that say "pot metal" the only part that broke was a 30 cent spring and the rifle still fired even with the broken part. A trip back to the factory found the headspace still within specs and the rifling still crisp . The trigger pull had smoothed up to 2 3/4 pounds.

fascinating ... thanks for posting

My H001 classic has a lot of rounds through it. I take it apart once a year and clean it. Other than that, it just gets a snake down the bore every now and then. It works just fine.

Thanks for sharing this story with us, Travlin. And for telling us about Guns of the Old West.

That's cool. 28,000 rounds is a long day at the range. My arm would be sore.


That sounds like a magazine I'd like. I'll check it out. Thks!

ditto1958 wrote:My H001 classic has a lot of rounds through it. I take it apart once a year and clean it. Other than that, it just gets a snake down the bore every now and then. It works just fine.

I must be pushing 50,000 rounds from my first H001. It was my only Henry for the first ten years.

Re the magazine. My late friend paid for my subscription to it for years starting in about 2006 otherwise I might not know it even existed. They have done several reviews of H.R.A. rifles and are going to raffle a special engraved brass 45-70.

That gentleman author (DP) had a long account aka long thread of his HENRY test shooting on Paco's old leverguns website.

http://www.leverguns.com/

I still read that old forum on and off. Many of the old posters have died, moved on and/or quit posting online. And if some of them still do post... it is a rare thing to see.

Thanks for the tip and name, GUNS OF THE OLD WEST.

Take care.

Cate

Ummmm 28K? and here I was thinking that my Browning BL-22 was a “workhorse” because it has about 11K
When I get my H004 and teach both my daughters in-law how to shoot, it will quickly catch up to my 10 year old BL-22.

Sir Henry wrote:

ditto1958 wrote:My H001 classic has a lot of rounds through it. I take it apart once a year and clean it. Other than that, it just gets a snake down the bore every now and then. It works just fine.

I must be pushing 50,000 rounds from my first H001. It was my only Henry for the first ten years.

I wonder how many it does have through it? I never kept track. I was shooting a 10/22 and kept track up to 100,000 rounds. One day I put it down and picked up the Henry.

I think I got tired of counting at 20K but kept on shooting. Summer weekends the two of us could easily shoot a full case.

Took several outings, blistered finger; during the hotter summer months when I started out I had to wear a glove to hold the receiver it got so hot. As Summer turned into Fall, outside temps cooled & kept the heat down enough to hold it bare-handed.
Load & shoot as fast as possible, repeat.

I worked up to speeds that I honestly believe rivalled Lucas McCain.

There's a trick to it, in how you work the lever & where you place your trigger finger.
Firing from the hip was fastest, and I could actually hit small chunks of debris out to about 30 yards occasionally.

The broken locking block spring (into 3 pieces, no less) didn't keep the gun from firing, it just let the lever flop a little loose. When I held the lever closed in a normal firing position, lockup was fine.

I was expecting some other parts to wear, but aside from the extractor I replaced myself near the end, nothing did.

The Henry people were interested to see how the gun would hold up, I took it farther than they ever had in their own testing.
I sent it back to them for a thorough specs analysis to see what was worn beyond specs & needed to be replaced, and it came back to me with a note saying the busted spring was the only thing needing replacement.

I COULD have done that repair myself, the Golden Boy isn't hard to break down.

The gun uses MIM parts, which many of us dislike.
I initially had reservations about the Henry rimfires when I first started working with them years ago, but as time went on, those died.
This endurance run, 22,000 without cleaning the action & all 28,000 without ever cleaning the barrel, was the final nail in the Coffin Of Doubt.
Henry's MIMs are extremely good-to-go, and I no longer have the slightest concern about how they'll hold up over the long run.

I wholeheartedly recommend Henry rimfire leverguns & I've given several as gifts to people I value.
And I still have the test rifle.
Bought it after the testing, it still has a lotta life left in it.
Denis

DPris wrote:Took several outings, blistered finger; during the hotter summer months when I started out I had to wear a glove to hold the receiver it got so hot. As Summer turned into Fall, outside temps cooled & kept the heat down enough to hold it bare-handed.
Load & shoot as fast as possible, repeat.

And I still have the test rifle.
Bought it after the testing, it still has a lotta life left in it.
Denis

Awesome story, Denis. You ARE the man! Thanks.

You are very welcome.

Henry & Anthony Imperato are unique in the gunmaking industry.
Many knock the "cheap pot metal guns", but as you can see, they are not cheap in quality & they do hold up.

I couldn't wear anything out on that GB aside from abusing the original extractor in forcing it to function in an absolutely filthy gun inside, and the busted spring. Both were user fixable at home, the gun's very easy to work on at the kitchen table.

In a helluva lot of handling when the thing was too hot to hold without a glove, I couldn't even wear the gold finish off anywhere.

Imperato also gives back; you won't find any other gunmaker that does as much as he does to promote the shooting sports, or as much charity work.

I have a 17-year-old buddy who's mildly autistic, high function. In regular high-school, fully connected with the world, but with some very slight learning disabilities.
He'll be getting his Eagle Scout award at a Spring Court Of Honor, after a lotta work & a lotta help & support from his parents, his church, and his Scoutmaster.

Two years ago Anthony helped arrange a Henry Scout Tribute with my buddy's initials and birthdate as the serial, to reward him & encourage him to keep going with his scouting.
I've never been hugged as hard in my life as when I gave him that rifle.


The Saturday before Christmas, his family invited me to go shoot .22s with them in a spot outside their small town.
I took my GB, Caden had his Scout Tribute, his 20-year-old college veterinary program student sister Jess was home for the holidays & had her American Beauty Henry along, and their Dad had his Golden Boy.
Had so much fun watching the "kids", spotting for them while they shot clay ashtrays against a berm, and generally enjoying the visit that I didn't fire a shot myself.

I sent a note to Anthony mentioning the pure fun he & his company creates for everyday people like us all across the country, and that I thought he oughta get a pat on the back for that.
Also mentioned my buddy shooting that Scout Tribute rifle he flat loves, and that he'll be getting his Eagle in the spring.

A display case arrived on my doorstep two days ago, and my gunsmith/dealer says there's a Henry Eagle Scout rifle waiting for me to pick up at his shop.
With Caden's initials & birthdate as the serial number again.
No charge.

Anthony's spontaneous & generous idea.

I am sooooo stoked it's hard to wait for Spring.
The Scoutmaster (sworn to secrecy by Caden's Mom) has OK'd the idea of a presentation during the ceremony, and it'll be listed as merely "Presentation" on the programme.

Besides getting his Eagle achievement, a fine reward for all of his hard work, and Caden will be over the moon.
This'll be fun.

What other gunmaker does this?
Denis

I definitely missed Travlin's thread, which he posted in February 2017. Duh...the very next month, March 2017, I "duplicated" his telling of the story in these two threads:

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... ds.#p35854

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... bey#p35896

When I got my copy of Guns of the Old West, I was reading a lot on RFC that winter. I followed Denis' complete story as he told it to the RFC members. I'd recommend that for a good read, too. The RFC links are in my posts. BTW, what was most incredible were the photos Denis had in the magazine when he disassembled the GB....it was so incredibly dirty, almost beyond belief!

NOTE to Denis. Thanks especially for your comments about Anthony Imperato, as well as your eval of Henry rifle quality. A lot of us on the Henry Forum agree that his leadership, and the great Customer Service he and his people provide, are almost beyond stellar. Quite similar to the GB test you performed.....Henry is in there for the long run with a great product, and giving his charitable best to other Folk, as well!

Appreciate your comments.
PT7

DPris wrote: Imperato also gives back; you won't find any other gunmaker that does as much as he does to promote the shooting sports, or as much charity work.
~~~~~~~~
The gun uses MIM parts, which many of us dislike.
I initially had reservations about the Henry rimfires when I first started working with them years ago, but as time went on, those died.
This endurance run, 22,000 without cleaning the action & all 28,000 without ever cleaning the barrel, was the final nail in the Coffin Of Doubt.
Henry's MIMs are extremely good-to-go, and I no longer have the slightest concern about how they'll hold up over the long run.
I wholeheartedly recommend Henry rimfire leverguns & I've given several as gifts to people I value.
And I still have the test rifle.
Bought it after the testing, it still has a lotta life left in it.
Denis

To see how long that GB would run without cleaning, I fired it till it started showing a feed jam, at which point a squirt of Break Free through the ejection port got it running again. Did that a handful of times.
The mess inside that was exposed was a solution of black sludge from the burned powder residue mixing with the Break Free.

At 22,000 rounds when it started to fail to extract, I broke it down, cleaned the guts (but not the barrel), swapped extractors, and finished the 28,000-round test.

I actually wanted to go farther, but couldn't scrounge up any more ammo.

Anthony had sent most of it, Brownells contributed some, and I used up some of my own stuff that had been sitting on the shelves for years.
One bunch of old Remington Golden had been there so long the bullets had oxidized to grey, no longer golden.
Gun ate up everything, with the handful of feeding issues corrected by a squirt of Break Free and the four or five extraction failures that led to cleaning & extractor replacement.

I was quite surprised that the GB was functioning at all when I took the cover off & found all that gunk inside.
The thing was not babied; between the sludge & high heat it was abused well beyond what anybody would normally do to one of those rifles.

Imperato does care about his customers, and while some scorn his alternative construction methods, they work & they do hold up.
Damn good man.
Denis

I will do everything possible to match and beat this guy with one of my .22LR

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 15, 2019 8:42 pm

Sir Henry wrote:

ditto1958 wrote:My H001 classic has a lot of rounds through it. I take it apart once a year and clean it. Other than that, it just gets a snake down the bore every now and then. It works just fine.

I must be pushing 50,000 rounds from my first H001. It was my only Henry for the first ten years.

I wonder how many it does have through it? I never kept track. I was shooting a 10/22 and kept track up to 100,000 rounds. One day I put it down and picked up the Henry.

I think I got tired of counting at 20K but kept on shooting. Summer weekends the two of us could easily shoot a full case.

That's a lot of shootin and even more impressive, is loading that many rounds in the tube. Lol

I do miss hearing from Sir Henry. Thanks for bringing him back into the conversation again.

dasmoeturhead wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 03, 2019 5:40 pm

That's a lot of shootin and even more impressive, is loading that many rounds in the tube. Lol

Sadly Dennis left this veil of tears a few weeks ago. There was a notice in a recent copy of the G.O.T.O.West magazine.