Henry 1860 for Home Defense?

M

Model12Win

Moderator
Hello guys, what do you think of a Uberti 1860 Henry chambered in .44-40 for home defense use?

henry.jpg


I am planning on buying said gun, mainly for range use and plinking, but also am considering it for home defense. The gun holds 13+1 and the .44-40 is pretty potent out of the gun's 24" barrel. I know it's probably not the most modern choice for the task, but how do you think it will do?

I am going to handload for the gun but will not be using my reloads for defense use, I'll use some kind of factory load, most likely a hollow point if I can find them. I'm also going to run a couple hundred through the gun to be sure they are absolutely reliable first.

So what do you guys think? Will it be enough, or is this not a good idea?

Thanks!
 
sure

You may get comments about over penetration, but a pistol caliber lever CARBINE seems like an adequate SD/HD long gun to me. For about 100 years they were so used by all sorts of folks, good and bad.

My only concern with your rifle is its length. A 24" tube, indoors, could be a real drawback.

I'd like to hear more about your experiences loading for 44-40.
 
Other than being a trifle awkward because of its length, it oughta work quite well. And you can play around with it unloaded, working out the "how to" of dealing with the length issue--if it's actually an issue.

http://gundata.org/cartridge/100/.44-40-winchester/ for factory loads.

For handloads:

"Hand loading brass is available for the .44 WCF for pistol and rifle loads. The ballistic performance for a .44 WCF on a 24 inch rifle barrel for a 200 grain bullet muzzle velocity is 1,800 ft/s."
 
I keep a 336 Marlin 30-30 loaded with Federal 125gr HP's so sure, why not. Maybe just a little bit long?:rolleyes:
 
I'll diverge from the prevailing opinion & say it's a very poor choice.

The barrel's too long for indoor work in tight spaces & working corners and other angles.

It's a heavy gun, awkward & slow to maneuver.

That split-tube magazine uses a follower with an external tab that's too easy to jam up against your support hand if you get distracted (bad in a high-stress situation with lots of other things for you to be focusing on).

Extremely slow reloading, and you pretty much have to have the muzzle (and more of you than with other designs) elevated and exposed at a higher angle to insert rounds in the forward end of the magazine. You don't reload that gun from a flat prone position behind cover.

Nor can you reload from an at-ready position. With a more advanced levergun, you can maintain at least a semblance of readiness to fire while reloading through a side loading port, topping up the magazine with a loaded chamber and the gun pointed forward in case you suddenly need to fire it. The gun is not rendered out-of-service while you're thumbing a round into the loading gate.

The 1860 cannot be topped up while maintaining any kind of a ready-to-fire position.
It has to come off the shoulder, the follower has to be run fully forward, the front sleeve has to be rotated, the follower's trapped while this is going on, you don't load single rounds (no point), you reload the entire mag, then you reverse the sleeve to cover the end of the mag & release the follower, after which you regain your shouldered firing position.

While all this is going on, the gun's out of the game.
With a side-loader, it's not.

Repeated firing, should it come to that, heats up the barrel & with no wood fore-end to shield your hand, it can & does get uncomfortably hot.

All of these factors are merely a part of the rifle's character in a RECREATIONAL setting.
In a life or death scenario, they are handicaps that can so easily be avoided with so many other choices that banking on one for HD is excessively ill-advised.

I've worked buildings with a variety of weapons, I've worked with two different 1860 repros.

I would never deliberately use an 1860 for HD unless it was absolutely my only option.
I quite like 'em, but...

It was a revolutionary design when it was introduced, but it was only 6 years before technology overcame its mag follower and loading deficiencies with the 1866 Winchester, and the '66 also became available in carbine form.

If you insist on a levergun, a more modern (stronger, lighter and shorter) design would be more advisable.
If you further insist on a repro of an antique design, a '73 carbine with 16-inch barrel would be infinitely more practical.

The 1860 was a superior weapon when introduced, but that was compared to even more primitive technology.
Today, its shortcomings remove it from serious consideration as an HD tool.
Denis
 
Is it ideal, well no. But I would sure hate to get shot by it. A loaded lever gun in your hand is a LOT better than the best of anything else locked in a safe.
 
I hope it is not serious.

Indoor- semi auto shotgun best with short barrel and at worst, short barrel 4 or 5 rounds.

Outdoor- any semi with magazines. You get off your number of rounds in the tube with the lever gun and you are done, literally. AR, AK with 20 -30 round multiple magazines. If they jam, easy to eject, drop the mag and insert a fresh one.
 
I am sure that you deserve to own this Henry for any number of good legitimate reasons, bragging rights would be off the dial for me.

However, you ALSO NEED a 12 ga. riot gun loaded with appropriate shot loads. I like BBs because they will not kill any of my neighbors down the street like 00 buck or 44-40 might. Yet inside they house they are 100% lethal.
 
All technical reasons against it aside, even though they are quite valid, do you really want a $1200 rifle stored in some evidence locker for an undetermined length of time should you ever have to use it? Or would you rather allow a $300 shotgun "disappear" in the hands of who knows who?
If a $1200 Bertie reproduction of a 150 year old gun is all you can afford, maybe you need to get a modern antique of a lesser cost, and a HD shotgun, or handgun for that purpose.

I'll use some kind of factory load, most likely a hollow point if I can find them
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Good luck with that one. I doubt you will find anything other than unjacketrd lead bullet rounds.
 
I've used jacketed .44-40 softpoints, but never seen any HPs in that caliber.


Re the cost of a gun that might end up in Evidence, I could not care less.
I base my defensive guns on efficiency (which covers quality, among other aspects).

If a $2500 gun saves my life & goes into Evidence, it's paid for itself many times over & I will not cheap out and compromise based on what might happen to a defensive tool AFTER it saves my butt.

What happens WITH it during that incident is infinitely more important to me than what happens TO it after the incident.

But, we all assign different values & thought processes to our own selection criteria, and I have no problem with a levergun (despite the availability of more efficient machinery).

I do have a problem (several, as mentioned) with THAT levergun. :)
Denis
 
Or.... you could get a Mare’s Leg Lever Action Pistol from Henry, with a brass receiver, but it only holds five rounds.
That would work in house.
Just a thought.
 
Re the cost of a gun that might end up in Evidence, I could not care less.
I base my defensive guns on efficiency (which covers quality, among other aspects).
Click to expand...

I do have a problem (several, as mentioned) with THAT levergun.
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So buying an expensive replica of a 150 year old gun is a good idea for a home defense gun, but buying an expensive replica of a 150 year old gun is not a good idea.:confused: DUH!:D

Didn't say a HD gun should be based on bargain basement pricing. But "that gun", your own words, is the wrong one.:D
 
Cheap,
You're off in the woods somewhere.

I said I can see a levergun for HD.
I said I can NOT see THAT levergun for HD.
I said I do not base the choice of ANY defensive gun on its price and the risk of losing it to Evidence.

Nowhere did I say buying an expensive replica of a 150-year-old gun is a good idea for HD.
I did say that IF he insists on an expensive repro of an older levergun, a short '73 would be a much more viable package.

My comments about the price of a defensive gun not being a consideration were directed toward your commentary regarding the price/evidence thing, not his desire to use that Henry for SD.

Denis
 
Please! The OP is talking about HD. Unless he deals drugs or such he will have a thief trying to steal something to sell for drugs. The rifle is a deterant not an attack weapon. The boogieman will run when he sees a gun. JMHO Bob
 
My comments about the price of a defensive gun not being a consideration were directed toward your commentary regarding the price/evidence thing, not his desire to use that Henry for SD.
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Maybe I'm reading too much into the choice of the Uberti Henry. Maybe the price is inconsequential to the OP. But if I were to put that much into a fine replica of a classic collector, I would not want to take the chance of it ending up in an evidence locker.
There are many better choices for a HD firearm than that kind of beautiful rifle.
That's all I was trying to say.:D
 
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