Comparing the Bearcat, Wrangler, and Single 6; 73, 92, and Henry 22 rifles.

[Doc Moses]

This video went long but it is a summary of a CAS class we did for 9 eighth thru 12 grade students here in East Texas.  What guns did they shoot and which ones did they actually like?  If you get bored, (very likely), you can skip to the last two or three minutes to get the student shooter's judgement of the pistols and rifles.  Thanks for watching!  It was a REALLY fun class and I hope some of you will be able to do something similar thru your clubs.  Here is a link to the video on You Tube.

 

[John E. Law]

FYI

 

Ruger and Henry both specifically advise that you CAN dry fire their guns. The Ruger Wrangler 22LR and the Henry Youth 22LR lever rifle have it in their manuals.

 

JEL

[Doc Moses]

Yes they do and, sadly, I followed that advice. The manual on the Ruger is wrong. There are several videos on youtube showing the damage that can be done by dry firing. I stopped dry firing the Henry after that just to be safe.

Manuals are great but I am telling you what actually happened and it wasn't just a single gun, maybe a 'lemon'.  I have 2 Wranglers and I had to fix the chambers on both AFTER dry firing. At 1st they were fine, then they were not. You could visibly see where the firing pin pinged the metal.  Still love them, I just don't dry fire them. 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

On the Henry .22, the recess in the bolt face for the rim is roughly .043

 

When the firing pin if fully pushed forward, it protrudes into that area anywhere from .025 to .035

This allows a 'safety margin' to dry fire from a max of .018 to a minimum of .008

 

Should you decide to dry fire the Henry, these are the numbers you have to safely dry fire without damage to the firing pin or the

chamber face edge.

 

Of the 100+ Henry rifles I have set up, I have yet to see one where the firing pin exceeded the .035 protrusion measurement.

 

..........Widder

 

[Doc Moses]

That is good to know about the Henry. I stopped on it because I kind of over reacted to the Wrangler issue.