44 rim fire

[kurt250]

has anyone ever seen one of those 44 rim fire henrys that navy arms made? i saw one years ago at a gun store. the owner of the store was telling me he thought he would never sell the thing because there was no ammo for it. of corse this was in the 1980's i think. kurt250

[Sean Thornton]

I have a fried that had one.  I think there were a limited of only 50 made in 44 rimfire.  I was able to take this Henry apart and look at the bolt and firing pin.  It did have the 2 prong firing pin.  My frined bought a .44-40 bolt and converted it to shoot center fire blanks.  He never shot any live round through it in centerfire.   

[SGT John Chapman]

I seen one marked UPRR down the side of it,......it was 44 RF.....

[Fox Creek Kid]

I have a buddy who had four and when I showed him my new Allen Arms/Uberti Henry in 1982 he literally cried as the Navy Arms one are not very authentic.

[Sean Thornton]

I have a buddy who had four and when I showed him my new Allen Arms/Uberti Henry in 1982 he literally cried as the Navy Arms one are not very authentic.

1. The carrier plates are held on by 2 screws instead of one.
2.  It has an internal trigger spring instead of external.
3.  It has an internal lever safety spring that was part of the trigger spring and the lever had to be depressed all the way
4.  The carrier block is totally different being shorter
5.  The frame itself is different
6.  These were manufactured in the US instead of Italy by Navy Arms

[Fox Creek Kid]

Sean, let me ask you when the Uberti Henry first became available? I remember them being first advertised in the Spring of 1982 when I bought mine from Primitive Arms in Ozark, MO. At that time it was marked Allen Arms. Another poster on this forum says he bought his Uberti Henry in 1980 but I could swear they were not made then. 

[Grizzly Adams]

I saw one in a shop in Albuquerque a few years back.  It was fully engraved.  Wish now I had bought it.

[SGT John Chapman]

I wish I'd have bought the one I run into,....But I couldn't get bullets,.... and couldn't shoot it,.... so I didn't want it .....

[kurt250]

srg.chapman, thats why i didn't but the rim fire henry also.. wish i had today we could get it shooting. kurt250

[Sean Thornton]

Sean, let me ask you when the Uberti Henry first became available? I remember them being first advertised in the Spring of 1982 when I bought mine from Primitive Arms in Ozark, MO. At that time it was marked Allen Arms. Another poster on this forum says he bought his Uberti Henry in 1980 but I could swear they were not made then. 

I am thinking that Uberti started the end of 1981 or early 1982.  I have a friend that bought one of the 44 rimfire Henry rifles and wanted to shoot it with blanks.  He purchased a .44-40 complete bolt/firing pin and he had not trouble.  I am not sure on this but I think that maybe all of the 44 rimfire Henry rifles were actually chamber for the the .44-40 and they just used the rimfire bolt.  I have a Word document from several years ago that has pictures that I took when I took his Henry apart including the bolt complete with the 2 prong firing pin.  Unfortunately the pictures were just copied into the document instead of inserted as jpg and I am not smart enough to post them.

[SGT John Chapman]

Me too Kurt,....With what I know now,...I'd grab another up and be shooting 44 russian in it within the week,.....

[Sean Thornton]

I am pretty sure that the frame and the barrel/magazine were for the .44-40 on these rifles.  The idea of making these .44 rim fire was mostly a "gimmick" so a person could say they had a .44 Rim fire Henry and then hang on the wall.  I don't think they were marketed as "Shooters" since no .44 rim fire ammunition was available for them.  I do not believe that the shorter .44 rim fire rounds would feed through these rifles unless the carriers were modified and the bolt modified since the rounds were too short.  That modification is pretty much what we do with our Henry rifles for Civil War reenacting.  We then use the .44 magnum case to make our blanks from.  That way it is cheaper to make blanks, fast to make them and the magazine hold 16 plus one in the chamber makes it a 17 Shooter.  However mine will feed both the .44 Magnum brass blanks as well as blanks made from .44 special brass, then it becomes a 19 shooter.

[Joe Lansing]

    I think that the frames were correct for the 44rf. I have a Uberti 22LR Yellowboy, serial no. XX, and the cartridge elevator is precisely the correct length for the 44 Henry Flat cartridge.

                                                   J.L.

[Sean Thornton]

    I think that the frames were correct for the 44rf. I have a Uberti 22LR Yellowboy, serial no. XX, and the cartridge elevator is precisely the correct length for the 44 Henry Flat cartridge.

                                                   J.L.

The Navy Arms Henry .44 RF that I took apart and photographed was not correct for the original .44 rf round.  They were bulit exactly the same way and demenisions that the Navy Arms manufactured Henry rifles were made in .44-40 except for the bolt and the .44 RF markings.  In fact this Henry was converted by replacing the bolt to fire full length .44-40 blanks. While I have not handled a .22 Yellowboy I have seen pictures of them and they do look like a smaller frame but not the frame used for the .44 RF.

[Grizzly Adams]

I also have a 1866 Uberti yellowboy, and the frame is exactly the same as the center fire versions. 

[Buck Stinson]

Val Forgett of Navy Arms fame, first introduced a Henry reproduction in 1979.  By the  mid 1980's, Uberti also added the Henry to their product line, which shortly thereafter, ended the life of the Navy Arms Henry.  The first Uberti Henry's were brought into this country and destriduted by Allen Firearms Company in Santa Fe.  I bought mine in 1983 or 1984.  In 1981 Navy Arms, through the coaxing of gun writer Rick Hacker decided to offer a UPRR commemorative Henry in both .44 Henry Rim Fire and .44-40.  Limited to 500 guns total, only 100 of these commemoratives were chambered in .44 Henry Rim Fire.  This run of commemoratives was made in the US and rim fire guns could be shipped directly to the customer, where as the .44-40 guns had to go through an FFL dealer and sold for $695 in either caliber.   The guns were marked UPRR to commemorate the Union Pacific Railroad and one Henry in particular that was lost in a running gun battle with Indians near Hillsdale, Wyoming in 1867.  That story in itself is one for the books.  See Guns & Ammo magazine article by Rick Hacker, February 1981.  Amazing! 

[Joe Lansing]

    My 38spl Yellowboy, ser. no. 5XX and my 22lr , ser. no. XX both have the same frame except for the cartridge carrier (channel).

                                                                                       J.L.

[Henry4440]

The guns were marked UPRR to commemorate the Union Pacific Railroad and one Henry in particular that was lost in a running gun battle with Indians near Hillsdale, Wyoming in 1867.  That story in itself is one for the books.  See Guns & Ammo magazine article by Rick Hacker, February 1981.  Amazing! 

Just found this issue at ebay for $4.50.

[Buck Stinson]

When you've read it, let me know what you think.  This is an amazing piece of history.  Hillsdale is just a few miles east of Cheyenne.

[Fox Creek Kid]

In the Spring of '82 I paid $440 (dealer cost) for an Allen Arms Uberti Henry. That was a LOT of money for a rifle then.