Best way to plug a Henry magazine

W

Willie Lowman

New member
In light of Ohio allowing pistol caliber carbines for deer hunting, a friend of mine has decided to use his Henry .357 to hunt deer. We are only allowed a 3 shot capacity. What is the best way to reduce the magazine capacity of a Henry without permanent modifications?
 
Assuming it uses a coil spring...and... that the end of the magazine tube is removable....

If you laid x-number of cartridges end to end to have a full magazine....
then determine how long a dowel rod you would need to keep all but the last two and a half* from loading? (Assuming two in mag and one in chamber)
Cut a thin dowel to that length and insert inside the coil spring from the front.

* I say two and a half because you do want a little play, just not enough to load a full cartridge.
 
Not sure you can use the dowel approach on a Henry by putting it
inside the spring like a shotgun. Don't you have to compress the
spring all the way into the nose cap, swing it out of the way and
drop in the cartridges?

Maybe a dowel as long as capacity minus 3 rounds, dropped
on top of the 3 live rounds and under the follower? Not sure
if that would satisfy the authorities.
 
Sounds like this is a modern Henry Big Boy with slip tube magazine like a big .22; not the 1860; I don't think they make repros in .357. (If it IS a repro of an 1860 then BillM is right.)

He is going to have to get inside the inner tube and plug it so that it will only let the outer tube accept three. This will take some trial and error.
 
Jim Watson is correct.

From the looks of things, we have to drift out the retaining pin at the muzzle end of the spring tube/rod. Then pull the end cap off. Then find where the spring shot itself off to. Put a dowel that is as long as 7 1/2 rounds of .357 inside the spring. Pack the spring back into the tube. Push the end cap on. Put the pin back in it.

I could be wrong on this. We haven't taken it apart yet. Henry sells spares for about $22. If it works he'll probably get another so he'll have one for hunting and one for full capacity.
 
If it works he'll probably get another so he'll have one for hunting and one for full capacity.
Click to expand...
If one is going to be permanently modified, don't use wood. It'll absorb moisture in the air and cause corrosion problems.
Use a piece of brass or steel tubing, or a delrin rod, instead.

Choosing tubing or polymer over solid metal rod will save weight, and reduce the amount of mass in front of the magazine follower (avoiding bullet setback and/or beating up the mag tube cap). All it has to do is retain its shape and not bind the spring, while keeping the shooter from loading too many rounds.
 
Check with the manufacturer, as they may have..

modified the mag cap to hold a smaller rod without sliding around.

Or consider doing yourself, drill and tap the cap and thread the end of a aluminum round stock and screw it in, consider adding a nut to lock it in place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top