Big Toys for Big Boys - My New Iron Frame Henry

[Long Johns Wolf]

There she is in all her black, elegant beauty, my new Steel Henry. Arrived last week from HEGE/Uberti. Special assembly at the factory in .44 Special. But she will only be fed smokeless .44 Colt (the "new" one with .429 diameter bullets). The Magazine (just) holds 15 rounds like the original. Today I will give her a little workout in the range, check accuracy and functioning with 15 in the tube. Will see..
My old reliable military Brass Henry from the 1/1000 series was converted from .44-40 to .44 Colt a couple of years back. She is a real tack driver, great accuracy at up to 260 yards with Black Hills Ammo/230 gr. bullets! During the conversion process the chamber had to be cut, therefore the barrel is only 24" and the tube holds "only" 14 rounds.
Bootsie

[stepnmud]

Sounds neat, how do you get a "Special assembly at the factory in .44 Special"?

[Long Johns Wolf]

Had a chance to talk to the head honcho at the Uberti factory in September. Wanted a steel Henry in .44 Colt which he wouldn't want to do because that would require an extra license (CAT-Nr) in Italy. But he had some 5 Henry barrels left in .44 Special and he offered to make me one with the steel receiver. And that offer I accepted.
Here is another pic of my 2 Henries. Hope the CAS-City picture system works for me.
Bootsie

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Very Nice! If you look at the post on this page about my new steel framed case hardened Henry, you'll see that mine has the same rounded profile at the top of the crescent buttplate as yours does. Apparantly the original iron framed Henries had that rounded profile at the top of the buttplate.

[litl rooster]

My old reliable military Brass Henry from the 1/1000 series was converted from .44-40 to .44 Colt a couple of years back. She is a real tack driver, great accuracy at up to 260 yards with Black Hills Ammo/230 gr. bullets! During the conversion process the chamber had to be cut, therefore the barrel is only 24" and the tube holds "only" 14 rounds.
Bootsie

   I have an Iron frame with this,1/1000 what is the deal on that.  I have been asked, several times and don't have a clue. I bought the gun used.
Changed the springs out this past week to the Whisper Springs and cleaned up the toggle system. I will see if it's any better at this weekends match. So far it feels smoother.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Litl Rooster: 1/1000 = "One of a Thousand": Either HEGE, the German distributor, or Uberti themselves did a series of especially assembled Henries marked that way on the receiver. These were supposed to be extra inspected for excellent quality and accuracy. Within that progtram they also did rifles AND carbines with matching S/N's. I think it is kind of a promotion issue, like Winchester did in the old days with their 73's, because quality of the Henries was/is always good.
1st range experience: Took the new Henry to the 25 Meters range yesterday to check function and get a first impression of accuracy. 5O rounds of smokeless .44 Colt reloads (BHA specs, 200 gr. bullets delivering 700 fps in my 7,5" SAA's) were fired. Loading and cycling was a bit "stiff" first but improved during the process. First 5 shots were individualy laoaded into the chamber. Because of the weight of the Henry there is no recoil to talk about. Next step was loading the magazine starting with 5, 10, 14, and 15 rounds. Cycling and extraction was flawless up to 14 rounds.
When I loaded the maximum of 15 rounds into the tube it was too much for reliable cycling. When I went back to 14 everything was OK again. Remember this one is a .44 Special not a .44 Colt!
Shooting 10 rounds cowboy-style produced a pattern 10" diameter at 25 Meters. Witout really trying I shoot a couple of rounds for accuracy. That string was a 5 round group of 2" diameter, 5" below POA.
Driftwood Johnson: One comment is in order here - the Brass Henry shoulders more easily and more positive, stays more securely in place during cowboy-style shooting due to the pronounced crescent profile of the recoil plate, as opposed to the rounded profile of its iron frame sister
Next steps? De-burr and polish the critical "intestines" and sight-in to shoot POA at 50 Meters. Possibly exchange carrier and lever springs, definitively chemically remove the varnish from the stock and apply a nice oil finish. Talk to master gunsmith Klaus Mumme to make this one a reliable 15 shooter like the original if possible!
I am pretty enthusiastic about that piece now, might make it my match rifle once the action is light and easy.
Bootsie

[Long Johns Wolf]

2nd range experience at 50 meter yesterday: a couple of 5 round strings were shot, supported to sight-in the lady. She is shooting some 12"  low so I will have to file down the front sight 2-3 mm. This I couldn't do professionally at the range so I stopped shooting after 6 strings. Without trying too hard the pattern was a reproducable 3" for 5 shots which is sufficient accurary considering that the chamber is a might "too long" for the .44 Colt cartridge. I think 2" should be doable.
As experienced during the first test run cycling and extraction was flawless.
It appears that the sights as installed by the factory might be OK for .44-40 and/or .45 Colt but my .44 Colt has a flat(ter) trajectory.
Bad news: had to stop my attempt after the shooting to get the carrier and lever spring screws out of the receiver for a complete disassembly to clean, deburr and polish the intestines. Would probably have completely destroyed the srew heads! Had the same experience earlier this year with a newly purchased Uberti Musket 73. That must be Arnold Schwarzenegger's brother at Ubertis doing the assembly of their lever actions! Any suggestion how I can get the screws out without marring them or asking a gunsmith for help?
Bootsie

[Driftwood Johnson]

Bootsie

I have an original Winchester Model 1892 with a typical crescent shaped buttplate, an original Marlin Model 1894 with a crescent buttplate, and an Uberti 1873 with a crescent butt plate. The rounded top point of the crescent buttplate on my new iron framed Henry is such a minor deviation from the shape of the other 3 butt plates that I can detect no difference in how well it stays on my shoulder at all. The crescent is still plenty deep enough that it stays securely locked around the socket of my shoulder.

Here is a photo Happy Trails provided me with comparing the crescent shaped buttplate on my new Iron framed Henry at the bottom, and a brass framed Henry he was working on at his shop at top. Practically speaking, there was not enough difference in my Henry's crescent and the crescent on my '73 for me to notice.



P.S. To remove screws installed by Bongo, the late night maurauding gorilla at the Uberti factory, be sure you are using good hollow ground screw driver bits. I prefer the Magna-Tips made by Brownells. Try placing the bit in the slot and giving it several sharp raps with a hammer, almost like an impact driver. When applying reverse torque, be sure to lean mightily against the screw driver in order to help prevent it from riding up out of the screw slot. Don't attempt this with cheap hardware store screwdrivers. The wedge shape of the bit helps make it want to climb out of the slot. The parrallel surfaces of a hollow ground bit will help prevent the bit from rising up and out, and deforming the slot.

Another trick is to first remove the side plates, and swing the lever spring and the lifter spring out of the way. This relieves the tension on those two screws and makes them easy to remove. This is easy on a '73, because there is only one screw to remove to remove the side plates. Unfortunately it is not so simple on a Henry because removing the side plates is not as simple as on a '73.

[Capt. Augustus]

Best thing to do is order a cuple of the screws from VTI before trying to get them out.  That way they'll look good going in.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Good cowboy advice. Thanks
Bootsie

[Long Johns Wolf]

Driftwood Johnson: The swing-out trick did it, the lever spring screws are out. Thank you. But I had marred the slots already badly by my previous futile attempts. Have ordered a couple of new screws from HEGE so she will be looking shiny and new in a couple of days.
Incidentally after disassembly of the receiver there was less to deburr than expected. After the experience with my 1997 production brass Henry I expected the toogle links to be in particular need of some attention. This was not the case, however. After 15 minutes with a stone, a hand piece and some steel wool for the carrier all critical areas were done and polished. Cycling is smother now but I consider exchanging the mainspring someday.
Bootsie

[Long Johns Wolf]

The factory varnish is now chemically removed, the wood properly finished with steelwool and 800 sandpaper and I have applied a traditionally prepared oil finish, as per the instruction in another post. Now she looks cute and feels better.
M gunsmith-friend Klaus Mumme visited today. He slightly altered the angle of the carrier ramp plus roundd the sharp guiding "rails" on the right and on the left side of that ramp. Now I can not only load 15 rounds of .44 Colt but cylce them reliably through the action. This steel lady is now the true 15+1 shooter that you load on Sunday and shoot all week.
Bootsie

[Will Ketchum]

Bootsie, what chemicals did you use?  I tried Bix Strip and it didn't hardly touch the finish.

I just bought some Zip Strip because that is what I have used in the past but I'm not certain that the formulation is the same.

Will Ketchum

[Long Johns Wolf]

Will, I'll have to check and will come back! It is a bluish paste. Applied it, let it do it's job for 3 hours, scraped it and the varnish carefully off with the blade of an old knife (allways in the direction of the grains!), applied it again, etc., all together three times until all the varnish was gone. Watered the wood, let dry and started with steel wool and sandpaper. Again allways in the directions of the grains. That did the job!
With the oil finish which I applyed 3 times and sanded in between the butt is now soft as silk.
Bootsie

[Long Johns Wolf]

Will, the chemical stripper I am using on my Italian replicas including the Henry is
einzA
Abbeizer "Neu"
CKW-frei-biologisch abbaubar
einzA is the tradename. The manufacturer given on the tin is
einzA Lackfabrik GmbH
rotehhäuser Straße 10
21109 Hamburg
Hope it helps. However, I have no information if and who is distributing einza in the USA.
Bootsie

[Will Ketchum]

Bootse, do they list the chemical names in English?

[Long Johns Wolf]

No: German, Dutch. However, I'll see if I can translate the German.
Bootsie

[Long Johns Wolf]

Will - I checked the label: no ingredients mentioned at all. All I can say it is a pleasantly smelling, translucent and bluish jelly. And it says bio-degradable and water soluable. Sorry, no further hard data available.
Bootsie