Henry 41 mag scope drama

S

stagpanther

New member
My new Henry 41 mag has been stumping me lately; the problem is after I put a new loopy 3 x 9 scope on--using Henry's mount and loopy rings--I was getting horrible groupings. I have double-checked the scope rings and mount screws, they are all quite tight, no movement.

Frustrated, I took the scope, rings and mount off getting ready to ship the rifle back to Henry. At the last second I thought I would go ahead and try shooting using just the irons, even though I have very bad far-sightedness and irons on a barrel are blurry to me.

Much to my surprise, this is what I got at 60 yds with my nosler handloads. I guess I should reconsider the inherent accuracy thing, though I'm a bit stumped since I find the odds of something wrong with a brand new loopy highly unlikely.

 
Remount the scope and try again. If there is accuracy issues again then a call to Leupold may need to happen, remember that a scope is a mechanical device and every manufacturer is prone to let a bad one slip out once in a while.

But I'm still betting on the mounts and scope rings.
 
it could come down to two differant things: improper mounting (not staight, not level, ect) or the quality of the scope. some scopes just wont hold a group and are impossible to sight in. i would suggest getting a scope from vortex, but it will cost you an arm and a leg. what kind of scope are you using exactly?
 
it could come down to two differant things: improper mounting (not staight, not level, ect) or the quality of the scope. some scopes just wont hold a group and are impossible to sight in. i would suggest getting a scope from vortex, but it will cost you an arm and a leg. what kind of scope are you using exactly?
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It's a VX1 3x9 x 40--their low-end scope but I've used others and they are generally very reliable and accurate. I've never had a problem with any loopy I've purchased.

While I didn't bed the mount--it went on tight and snug into Henry's 3 pre-drilled and tapped mount holes on the receiver. I did notice that the mount seems to have "legs" on either side of the screw holes--looking back along the underside of the mount you can see the raised areas to either side of the screw holes. I did loktite the screws to the receiver, so I guess it's possible that they could feel tightly threaded while in fact maybe loose, but they were quite tight when I removed them.

 
I switched the loopy scope to my 300wm tack-driver and it seemed to shoot fine, so I guess somehow the mount must be moving around on my Henry. Took me a couple hundred rounds to figure all that out. : )
 
Check after each time using it. I've noticed about scope mounts, after you Fire em for a while the screws will get knocked loose and will shift your scope just enough to screw up your sights.
 
I've been thinking about scoping my Henry .41 as well, but it shoots so nice with the iron sights, and I really like the iron sights I've decided to just let it be. I guess I just love the classic look of a lever without a scope. So far the longest distance I've been able to shoot it is at 25 yds but if I'm on my game I can keep most of ten rounds touching shooting off hand so I figure that's plenty good for me. Plus for me sight acquisition with the factory sights just are so automatic and natural.
 
I've been thinking about scoping my Henry .41 as well, but it shoots so nice with the iron sights, and I really like the iron sights I've decided to just let it be. I guess I just love the classic look of a lever without a scope. So far the longest distance I've been able to shoot it is at 25 yds but if I'm on my game I can keep most of ten rounds touching shooting off hand so I figure that's plenty good for me. Plus for me sight acquisition with the factory sights just are so automatic and natural.
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The results I got are exceptional--for me, because all I can see is a shifty blur but it does have a sharper colored core. The mere fact I could get 5 shots to group like that is a testimony to how good the factory irons must be. I might try some out to 100 and if I can by some stroke of luck get them to group well (here in Maine a woods shot at a deer is rarely more than 30 to 50 yds) I may just forget about the mount altogether.
 
I also took both of my Henry's apart yesterday and polished the trigger and sear. Now instead of the gritty trigger they are very smooth, just the way I like it. I really like these rifles and one or the other goes to the range every trip.
 
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