Henry steel 357 range report

[chaz12]

I tried out my new steel 357, and the report is not good. The rifle would not eject at all if it was held even slightly past 90 degrees. I got the best results by making sure that the receiver was angled slightly down before trying to eject. You did not have to worry about ejecting on the 20% or so of rounds that jammed on an incoming round before you could even get the lever open.

I was shooting American Eagle .357 only. I didn't bring any .38 special since I have an Uberti 1866 for shooting .38. I got this Henry specifically to shoot .357.

One other issue is that the lever latch spring is extremely stiff. It takes noticeable force to open the lever.

I will say the .357 makes a very satisfying crack and the accuracy was fine. The rifle was shooting two or three inches to the right at 25 yards, but the front sight is dovetailed so I should be able to move the sight a little bit to center the shots.

I will have to send it back to Henry to see if they can fix it. I hope it is not an issue with being unable to effectively chamber and eject .357 length cartridges.

Chaz

 

[Waspinator]

Aww man. That sucks. I'm sure Henry will fix it up right. I was at the store today checking out Henry rifles (new thread on that coming shortly). They didn't have a .357, but did have a 44 mag big boy steel. Looked good and the lever seamed to work well. I liked the checkering and over-all fit and finish of the rifle.

Like I said, Henry CS is reported to be outstanding. With a new model, I'm sure there might be some hiccups along the way (they only started shipping those models this month or last month). Be sure to update when you hear from Henry.

 

[ckpj99]

Before you send it in, I'd clean it really well and try a couple different types of ammo. There might be something weird about Federal that your gun doesn't like. At the very least, cycle some .38 special through the gun (even without shooting) to see if that has the same problems. If it cycles fine, then I'd definitely just try a different brand of .357.

Also, people get all hung up about having a "stiff" lever that's a little hard to break open. This part of the gun literally will wear faster than anything else. I'd much rather have a gun with a lever that's a little stiff to start with. Having one that's easy to break open when the gun is new only means that you'll have trouble keeping it locked up sooner.

All machines operate within a given range of specifications. If your Henry rifle was only made to use ammunition provided by Henry and you cycling problems, then sure, get mad and return it right away. But you're dealing with two different companies who in all likelihood use different ranges of specifications.

Just because a gun doesn't cycle all ammunition from all brands flawlessly doesn't mean the rifle is flawed. In fact, if a rifle worked exactly the same with all types of ammunition that would indicate some sloppy tolerances and probably poor performance. Ever heard of an AK-47, eats anything you can fit in the mag, also is infamous for poor accuracy.