USA Built 1976-1977 Henry 1860 44/40

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

I have found and have the Opportunity to purchase a American made 1976-77 three digit Navy Arms Henry 1860 Carbine  .

 

Several number under 200

So it's a pretty early model Henry .

 

From most of the info I can find on Cascity.

They are a bastard gun with No parts availability for them .

 

 

The first 50 or so was made in Henry flat rim fire .

Then they made 500 or so in 44/40 24" Rifle .

And 1000 or so in 22" Carbine .

After this they sold out to Uberti. 

 

This does have the lever safety. 

And short 22" barrel .

 

Gun is actually pretty tight and seen little use .

 

But not very well cared for with a lot of patina and spots of rust .

Magazine spring is broken.

Do to someone turning the end of the barrel with out lifting up the follower. 

I dont think it would be all that big of a deal to install a Uberti magazine spring .

 But that's about all you could fit from Uberti parts .

 

I can pick it up for about 900.00 .

I was looking for any kind of info I can get .

Thank you in advance. 

Rooster 

 

[El Hombre Sin Nombre]

That's very interesting. Who actually made it?

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

I Had '66 carbine, 3 digit serial number that I picked up at an auction and sold it a few years ago.  As stated above, no parts.  Navy Arms at the time, was run by Val Forgett, who was instrumental in getting Uberti to start producing copies of western style firearms.  Uberti made the guns, Navy was the importer.  The company was located in New Jersey, at the time, and had a well stocked retail store.  The company moved out years ago and is now a wholesaler, I believe and does no retail business.  Due to lack of parts availability I would be looking for something else to buy.  The price seems a bit high, in any event.

[El Hombre Sin Nombre]

2 minutes ago, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said:

I Had '66 carbine, 3 digit serial number that I picked up at an auction and sold it a few years ago.  As stated above, no parts.  Navy Arms at the time, was run by Val Forgett, who was instrumental in getting Uberti to start producing copies of western style firearms.  Uberti made the guns, Navy was the importer.  The company was located in New Jersey, at the time, and had a well stocked retail store.  The company moved out years ago and is now a wholesaler, I believe and does no retail business.  Due to lack of parts availability I would be looking for something else to buy.  The price seems a bit high, in any event.

Yes that's all accurate. But he said his is USA made, which I had never heard of. I once owned a Navy Arms 1866 made in 1976, a really nice battle of little big horn commemorative. Really cool gun, but no parts at all.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

56 minutes ago, El Hombre Sin Nombre said:

That's very interesting. Who actually made it?

Navy Arms Henry is an original Navy Arms (Val Forgett) US made in New Jersey 1860 Henry from the 1970s!  There were only a couple thousand made in the United States, before production was outsourced to Uberti in Italy.

 

Hear is some info I have found so far .

https://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,61751.0.html

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

Hear is some more really good info .

But Im still looking for more info if I can find any .

Thank you.

Rooster 

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

I have a rifle very much like you describe.  Navy Arms, 73 style lever safety, 3 digit serial number under 200, .44-40, but mine is a 66, not a Henry.   Apparently these very early ones had nearly identical dimensions to the originals.  So much so that they had to cut a notch into the frame to allow it to eject the empties, which are longer than the stock opening on the originals designed for .44 Henry Rimfire.

 

I got mine for about $400.00, and it was fully functional, a few years ago.  BUT, it had been given some kind of an action job.  The lever safety had been removed, and the hammer spring was much lighter than it should have been.  The hammer fell visibly slower than my Uberti Henry or Winchester 73, and far too often it did not hit hard enough to set off the primers.

 

I took the rifle to the great Happy Trails and said, "Can you restore it to factory specs?" and he did.  It now works flawlessly, and the action is very smooth.  A little stiffer than it was with the weakened hammer spring, but still comparable to the other 2 above mentioned rifles.  Maybe even a little better.

So, even if "authentic" parts are not available for the Navy Arms guns, clearly there are parts that can be made to fit without a lot of effort.   Granted, Hap could fix just about anything, but he's retired now.

 

If the gun was actually working, I'd say get it, as it's probably very similar to my 66.   But the fact that it's not working would give me very serious pause for that asking price.

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733]

My son has an early '66 carbine (used to be El Hombre's gun) and it works fine. He uses it in SASS matches, but I plan on having him move up to a short rifle, as he would be faster, hopefully, with a little heavier gun and a normal SS kit. Plus I would hate for him to wear out a critical part and not be able to shoot it again. If you don't plan on shooting that Henry carbine in matches, it would probably last you forever.  I think it is a bit over-priced, though, unless you really like the idea of having the safety, which Uberti Henry's do not have. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

Too much for a rifle that you can’t or have a hard time getting parts for. Myself, I’d pass.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

PLUS ONE to Springfield Slim.

 

Also, you have about all the information readily available.  Even fully functional, it is over priced.  WAY over priced.  Finding a magazine spring is doable, but if you wear out or break anything else, wall hanger.  A $900 price tag would be high even for a 98% Rifle.  Walk away. 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

I have two Henry's now .

I told him he was a little too high on the price for what I thought it was. 

I just did not know for sure if it had some real value I did not know about . 

To me it's just another shooter .

But I really wanted to ask hear  first .

Rooster