Companion gun fr the 1860 Henry

Molasses Mike · December 01, 2008, 11:07:09 PM

I use a pair of 1858 Remingtons converted to 45lc. as companion guns for my Henry. How about you?
MM

Oddman · December 02, 2008, 02:21:44 AM

I shoot a pair of Pietta 1860's pistols with the Henry. Some days cap & ball other days 45 cowboy, all days black powder.

Major 2 · December 02, 2008, 03:41:17 AM

a pair of Richards Type 1's mostly

Dusty Morningwood · December 02, 2008, 07:15:03 AM

Open Tops and Henry both shooting .44 Russian. May add another Type I Richards in .44 Colt to one I already have.

Long Johns Wolf · December 02, 2008, 08:34:07 AM

Pair of OTs in .44 Colt, same caliber in the Henry.
Long Johns Wolf

Coffinmaker · December 02, 2008, 08:36:51 AM

All My Henrys (4) are .45s so ............. I shoot .45 Squirt in the Henry and in my (originally) .45 Schofield Open Tops as well. Having 16 rounds in the Henry is just plain ........ KOOL!!!!!

The .44 Russian would be closer to "almost" and "sorta" correct, but for me, the only option was the "squirt." Works a treat!!

Coffinmaker

Will Ketchum · December 02, 2008, 04:55:52 PM

A brace of Smith & Wesson New Model Number 3s in 44 Russian. I have considered having the Henry "sleeved" to chamber the 44 Russian but as of now haven't done so. I do have a 66 that shoots 44 Russians.

Will Ketchum

kurt250 · December 02, 2008, 05:59:31 PM

have 1860 conversions that i shoot 44 russians in, have my 1860 henry and 66 yellowboy both modified to shoot 44 russian. would like to get a barrel for both the henry and 66 with a 44 russian chamber. may be have both barrels sleved in 44 russian. anyone with ideas on that? or were i could find 44 caliber barrels that are unchambered so i could have that done. kurt250

Ransom Gaer · December 02, 2008, 08:45:19 PM

I'm partial to the 1860 Army. I use a pair of Uberti made 1860 Armies with my Henry at matches.

Ransom Gaer

Molasses Mike · December 03, 2008, 05:54:19 AM

Quote from: Coffinmaker on December 02, 2008, 08:36:51 AM
All My Henrys (4) are .45s so ............. I shoot .45 Squirt in the Henry and in my (originally) .45 Schofield Open Tops as well. Having 16 rounds in the Henry is just plain ........ KOOL!!!!!

The .44 Russian would be closer to "almost" and "sorta" correct, but for me, the only option was the "squirt." Works a treat!!

Coffinmaker

Wow..A lot of nice companion guns! When I first thought about this I was thinking about the 1860 Henry. I forgot about the 1866. Mine is in 44 spl. and I use with it a couple of open tops in 44 colt. I am fitting them for 44 spl. cylinders.
What is this .45 squirt? A .45lc trimmed back some? How well would the 44 Russian work in my 44 spl. 1866 Henry? Or the 44 spl. open tops?
MM

Major 2 · December 03, 2008, 07:59:00 AM

What is this .45 squirt?....AKA 45 Cowboy or 45 short

Coffinmaker · December 03, 2008, 08:08:53 AM

K250, Getting an un-chambered .44 barrel ? ? ? Probably not in our lifetime. About a year or so ago, Uberti still had 4 - 5 .44 special Henry barrels left. Long Johns Wolf got one, his rifle shoots .44 Colt. For the .44 caliber, the only choices on this side of the pond are to have a your barrel sleeved to .44 Special or have the barrel cut and re-chambered. For that work, I recommend Happy Trails in Rhode Island.

M Mike, The .45 Squirt is a .45 Schofield case cut down to the same length as the .44 Russian. I then have to modify the Carrier Block to cycle the short (real shot) round. Option "B" for the Carrier Block is to get a .45 Cowboy Special Carrier Block form Adirondak Jack. AJs Carrier limits you to a round the length of the .45 Special or .44 Russian. My modified carrier will cycle all interchangeably.

The .44 Russian cartridge will work just fine in any of the handguns chambered for .44 Colt or .44 Special. It will NOT cycle in an un-modified '66 or '73. Same choices as the Henry, Adirondak Jack has a Carrier Block for the '66 and '73 that will allow you to run .44 Russian in a '66 or '73. I can also modify a carrier block for the '66 & '73 to run .44 Special, .44 Colt & .44 Russian interchangeably.

Coffinmaker

Coffinmaker · December 03, 2008, 08:19:46 AM

Major 2,

As above, the .45 "Squirt" is the .45 Schofield case cut to the same length as the .44 Russian. I have to use .45 Auto Rim dies to load it.
The only real hassle is loosing cases at a match. After the time you put in cutting them little suckers down, really hate to loose them to the brass fairies in the grass.

The .45 Cowboy Special from Adirondak Jack is about a 1/16 inch shorter than my "Squirt" cartridge. It's fun at a match 'cause the other shooters call my guns modified for the little short .45 ........ "Squirt Guns."

I am planning a Winter Project, once the Doctors let me go back to work, to build a '66, 16 inch barrel rifle (octagonal barrel) into a "Trapper" in .44 and shoot a pair of Richards Transitional conversions in .44 to go with. I don't really know why, 'cause my little short .45s do the same thing ........... but you cant have too many toys!!!!!

Coffinmaker

Major 2 · December 03, 2008, 11:51:03 AM

I stand enlighten and corrected

I don't remember hearing you were under the weather

Here is wishing you a speedy recovery

Coffinmaker · December 04, 2008, 08:23:22 AM

Major 2,

THANK YOU!!

November 6th, I went for a 3 AM Life-Flight ride in a Helicopter. Not fun. Everything is on the mend and I hope to be back to work in another month or so. Cardiac re-hab is a pain, but the alternative REALLY sucks

So I'll be a good boy and do what I'm told!!

Coffinmaker

Dusty Morningwood · December 04, 2008, 03:47:14 PM

Quote from: Coffinmaker on December 04, 2008, 08:23:22 AM
November 6th, I went for a 3 AM Life-Flight ride in a Helicopter. Not fun. Everything is on the mend and I hope to be back to work in another month or so. Cardiac re-hab is a pain, but the alternative REALLY sucks So I'll be a good boy and do what I'm told!!

YIKES! Glad to know you're OK. Take 'er easy and work through the pain.

Abilene · December 04, 2008, 09:04:15 PM

Regarding the idea of sleeving a Henry barrel to 44 Spcl, is it possible to just sleeve a chamber (sleeve a 44-40 chamber to 44 Spcl)? If so, this should be less expensive than sleeving an entire barrel.

Dusty Morningwood · December 05, 2008, 09:50:31 AM

Quote from: Abilene on December 04, 2008, 09:04:15 PM
Regarding the idea of sleeving a Henry barrel to 44 Spcl, is it possible to just sleeve a chamber (sleeve a 44-40 chamber to 44 Spcl)? If so, this should be less expensive than sleeving an entire barrel.

This is what I had done to my .44-40 Henry. Happy Trails did the work and for a reasonable fee.

Coffinmaker · December 05, 2008, 10:06:41 AM

Abilene,

Dusty beat me to it, but to reiterate, YES. Sleeving the entire barrel would be foolish unless you were changing caliber completely, say from a .45 down to a .44 which is also a bit more cost prohibitive.
Bill English just cuts out the chamber area, installs a sleeve and re-cuts the chamber. Once the sleeve is in, it's decision time. The alternatives are to have the gun chambered .44 Special, or .44 Russian. My suggestion would be .44 Special as it allows you to use any of the .44 CAS rounds, .44 Russian, .44 Colt and .44 Special interchangeably, once the Carrier Block is modified.

Coffinmaker

Seamus · December 05, 2008, 02:28:22 PM

My standard battery with my Iron Frame Henry is a Colt Open Top 7.5 inch bbl. in .44 spl and a 2d Model Dragoon with a .45LC conversion cylinder carried in a Huckleberry shoulder rig (they won't let me bring a pack mule to the shooting line) along with my Mule Ear 12ga TTN. Backup pistols are 1858 Remington's also with .45 LC cylinders.

But my favorite longarm is still my .577 Snider carbine, perfect for Plainsman.