Henry Single shot and Fly Hunt & Corona Venting

[airedale]

Got the Henry Single shot 357 out on the range today to fire some of the 38 special handloads I put up described in the big case load thread in the reloading section. I fired 6 different loads three 38 special and three 357 mag. The 38 special target loads sucked especially the swaged lead semi wadcutters, the same type of bullet in hard cast form was a bit better and copper washed Berry lead HPs shot the best of the 38 special loads which were all loaded exactly the same. It is the first time I have ever loaded or fired Berry's bullets and I can say I like them way better that swaged or cast lead.

I had some of my old 357 mag handloads stashed away that are close to 40 or 50 years old, 146 gr Speer half jackets and 140 gr Speer HPs and a few 158 gr HP Remington factory. All three loads shot pretty well and I was satisfied with their performance, So the Henry had a definite preference for the 357 mag ammo over the 38 specials. 

Also got out one of my favorite rifles, a Remington 541 S 22 and did a bit of fly hunting as per crappyice's request for a couple of photos. Used honey for bait and splattered three at 25 yards.

Al

[ny hunter]

Love the fly splats.....That Henry looks real nice...

[Pygmy]

Good shooting Jethro  !!  maybe you should get Miss Hathaway down to the bench and let her squeeze your trigger....  I want ELLY MAE  to squeeze mine....Hehehe....

Edited June 25, 2020 by Pygmy

[Nomad]

Ha , I should try that with my Henry .22 !  But iron sights and old eyes, would be a challenge for sure !

[Daveboone]

How is your trigger pull/action on the Henry Single Shot? I had a .308 and was totally disgusted with it....extremely heavy, horrible let off, and nothing can be done with it. As well, major problems with ignition/hammer fall, also not much to be done with it. 

I hope yours is much better than mine, which was intolerable, and I traded off. Put a big bad impression on Henry to me.

[mowin]

Got a better pic of the 541s? Would love to have one... 

[airedale]

2 hours ago, Daveboone said:

How is your trigger pull/action on the Henry Single Shot?

Before purchasing the Henry I did a lot of online research as to what I was getting into. The heavy trigger pull was a main complaint of Henry owners and I read Henry's explanation as to why it is heavy. Typical liability issue to keep the company from getting sued, the rifles have to be able to survive a 4 foot fall with the hammer cocked without going off. For that to happen with absolute reliability Henry used heavy weight hammer springs, so in a nutshell that is why the trigger pull is heavy and it should be noted the rifle can not be fired unless the hammer is cocked. One can not blame Henry for wanting to cover their butt especially after seeing what happened to Remington and their model 700 trigger fiasco. 

After shooting the rifle yesterday I will confirm that the trigger pull weight is way heavier than I like but I got used to it and had zero misfires and shot some decent groups. Also I would rate the firing pin strikes on the cartridge primers as very heavy. That being said I do not own a rifle that I have not opened up and done trigger work on and this Henry will be no exception. Along with some careful stoning of sear mating surfaces I also found a spring fix online that changes out the heavy weight hammer spring and according to those that have done the mod it will cut the trigger pull weight in half. This spring called a Grainger will be arriving in my mailbox this morning and I will be installing it shortly.

I wanted to wait to shoot the rifle first before installing the spring because the reloaded ammo I was firing. I used up some very old primers I had laying around for many years, forty to fifty years old and to be honest I did not know how reliable they would be because of their age. I wrote a post about old ammo here on the board some years ago and this again has proven as long as components and ammo are stored properly they will retain their reliability and still be accurate.

So all and all I do like the Henry and with a little work on the trigger and some fresh new reloads in 357 geared to this rifle I think I have a winner.

Mowin below a  little better photo of the Remington 541S, they were discontinued quite a few years ago but they can be found online for sale. Based on the Remington 541X target rifle's action these are high end well made sporters that shoot about as well as any and you will not be disappointed if you can get your hands on one.

Al

Edited June 26, 2020 by airedale

[Daveboone]

Before I purchased my .308, I read up on pretty much the same stuff as you. I got the springs from Grainger, which helped somewhat but not enough to make it worthwhile: There is a big trade off on hammer strike and trigger weight. I tried multiple combinations along with different brand of primers...none made enough difference to live with. I Also happily am used to stoning and honing my triggers, but from multiple sources I learned this was not an action conducive to such, and the darn step is almost impossible to remove. I was heartbroken, but between the issues ….and I had never had a rifle that had so many,  and the total loss of confidence in it, I traded it off for what I had in it. Granted, I do a lot of bench shooting and for most general hunting purposes probably the gun is fine, just not what I am used to.

[airedale]

So I installed the Grainger hammer spring today in the Henry single shot and I am pleased with the improvement in the trigger's pull weight, I would say at least one third less than the factory spring, she is letting off at a fairly crisp 5 3/4 lbs, no match trigger for sure but not bad for an entry plinker-hunting rifle.

Got it back out on the range to check reliability, used the same ancient handloaded ammo I had lying around which was loaded for revolvers I had back in the day. Accuracy was not in the fly hunting category but not too bad, I have rifle specific loading data and I believe I can get this Henry shooting better with some fresh ammo. My main concern was the reliability of the Grainger spring giving light primer hits but that was not the case. The strikes were nice and hard and every shell fired.

Al

[airedale]

Loaded up some high octane rifle loads for the Henry using Winchester 296 powder and Hornady 140 gr XTP bullets, they should be somewhere in the 2000 fps area. I sighted in at 50 yards, these loads shot better than the old revolver loads and I guess they are what I am going to stick with for now. I am disappointed that this rifle does not shoot the 38 special target ammo but that is the way things go. So I am still in search of a 357 revolver to play with and shoot those target loads, they are a bit hard to come by right now. Anyway I think in this Henry I have a rifle that will take deer no problem out to 100 yards and even a tad farther, I love single shots.

Al