Henry .22 rifle problem: FIXED

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I'm posting this info on the Wire because there are some of our younger shooters who use these at SASS matches.

 

Of late, I have had a couple Henry .22's in which the last round in the rifle would fail to feed smoothly up.   The lifter spring and plunger were working great but THE LAST round would have trouble either feeding upwards or sluggish to feed upwards.

 

So I experimented and hopefully solved the issue.   If your rifle is having similar issues,  this might help solve your problem.

 

The gremlin was in the magazine FOLLOWER.    Yep, that little orange piece.    The tip of that Follower is Concaved.   The tip of the bullet seems to get lightly 'stuck' in that Concaved shape.    With the rifle in a horizontal position, the tip of the Follower would look like this:   (     and the bullet tip would sit inside that concaved tip.

 

SOOOOOOOOO,  I lightly sanded that tip and reshaped it to be Convexed and now, in the horizontal position,  it looks like this:     )

 

Where there was a previous feeding problems with the last round, I am now getting 100% feeding reliability with the last round.

 

Hope this helps.

 

..........Widder

 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

Thanks for the great info .

Rooster 

[Goliath, SASS #41359]

Thanks, widder!

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Widder-Might be worth a call to Henry, about this. 

OLG

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Howdy Lumpy.

 

Yea, I thought about sending them a picture of the 'before & after' situation.

 

There are a couple other areas I need to bring to their attention.

 

..........Widder

 

 

[Pat Riot]

Great info Widder.

 

Ya know...you are a nice guy.

 

Good on ya, Pard.

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Howdy PATRIOT.

 

Henry produces a great .22 rifle.   All in all, I think they do a very good job.

 

But as with about anything, sometimes little stuff just doesn't function as it should with good consistency.

 

My guess is that its possible to keep the magtube full of ammo and the tip of a bullet pressing against the plastic follower could cause a slightly deeper

concaved tip that forms to the tip of the bullet.   Therefore, the bullet tip could get a little sticky trying to feed upwards when its the last one in

the mag.

With the Convexed shape, even a bullet pressed against the follower for an extended period of time would probably not effect the feeding reliability.

 

When we look at a problem, its always good to see what might cause the problem(s) in order to help make the right/best solution.

Hopefully, this info might help someone.   I'm sure the couple I have seen and fixed are not the only Henry .22's that have experienced this problem.

 

And there no need to ship them off to a gunsmith just to remedy the situation.

 

I might add that I have also tested those followers with a flat tip and they didn't work as well as the Convexed shape tip.

 

..........Widder

 

[Barkeep Casey]

Thanks Widder! I will keep an eye on Cowgirl Casey's Soft Stroke.

[John Boy]

Quote

Widder-Might be worth a call to Henry, about this

Widder - agree with Grits and they will with out a doubt send you new followers.

There service Great and can attest to it: my Golden Boy would shave the bullet edges off from original UMC Match bullets that I cast & reload with BP.  Sent Henry the several issues why - they sent me a prepaid mailer - they re-engineered a new rifle tapped for a scope and sent it to me... in about a week & a half's time

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

8 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Howdy Lumpy.

 

Yea, I thought about sending them a picture of the 'before & after' situation.

 

There are a couple other areas I need to bring to their attention.

 

..........Widder

 

 

PLZ-Let's hear about these areas of concern.

OLG

[Widder, SASS #59054]

59 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

PLZ-Let's hear about these areas of concern.

OLG

 

Bolt length vs. firing pin length.

 

Most of the firing pins I have miked were all close to the same, including NEW factory pins.

BUT, I have tested some Henry .22's that were giving inconsistent ignition and upon observance of the rims, very light strikes were being produced from the firing pins.

SOOOOOOO..... I measured the bolt slot in which the firing pin sits and found some bolts were longer than others and basically, to long for the FP to move forward enough to give a good 'smack' on the cartridge.

 

THEREFORE....... I filed down the rear section of the bolt where the hammer strikes to the approximate length of other 'good bolts' and those inconsistent ignitions disappeared all together.

 

When I work on Henry rifles, I now measure the width of the bolt, the length of the bolt area that holds the firing pin, and the firing pin length.

 

I've also discovered that about 1/2 of the rifles I work on have slightly bent firing pins and various degrees of 'drag' inside the bolt slot.

So, on EVERY Henry I work on, I polish the bolt slot and the firing pin.   And if the pin has any bend in it, I flatten it.  I set up the firing pin to freely fall in and out of the bolt slot.   This allow the complete hammer 'smack' on the pin to transmit its full force to the cartridge rim.   

 

One other thing I discovered last year:   If you tighten the 4 cover plate screws too much, the rifles might not function smoothly because those cover hoods can (but not always) flex inward and put a little squeeze on the bolt.

Basically, all you need to do is just 'snug' those screws.

 

All in all, I think I perform about 25 task when working on the Henry .22, both in polishing, spring changes, and smoothing up important parts to insure better reliability and functioning.

 

..........Widder

 

 

 

[Tennessee williams]

   That there is $100.00 worth of free information. I appreciate it.

   I have another lever 22 rifle that has the same problem with feeding the last round. If I want to fire 10, I have to load 11. I tried messing with the tube spring and that didn't work. Reckon I may try convexing the follower on that one and see if it helps. Can't hurt anything. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

5 hours ago, Tennessee williams said:

   That there is $100.00 worth of free information. I appreciate it.

   I have another lever 22 rifle that has the same problem with feeding the last round. If I want to fire 10, I have to load 11. I tried messing with the tube spring and that didn't work. Reckon I may try convexing the follower on that one and see if it helps. Can't hurt anything. Thanks for the tip!

 

 

Just remember:  I didn't share the secret 'Incantation' I say over each Henry while I sprinkle my special mix of 'Anti-VooDoo' dust on it.

 

 

..........Widder

 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Widder-I would also be looking at the headspace of the case rim in the bolt.

You want .044-.045 deep from the boltface. 

This will really help in ignition, and the target will like it.

OLG