Henry U.S. Survival

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micSarfati

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I past by Baron sport a couple of days ago and saw this little toy. I'm planning on going on many camping into the wild trips and couldnt see myself going without a rifle. When I saw this "thing" i had to buy it, its extremely light, small and all fits in to the butt. Does anyone else have one? How is it? Is it reliable?

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.... Not exactly a Target Rifle ! But good for the intended purpose; try different ammunition to get the most out of it. If you do decide to pull the side plates off, be very careful not to lose the springs, and believe me it's not a "quickie job" to put it all back together again ! ( Been there done that ! ) Make yourself a "spacer that supports/fills in the the two "fingers" of the stock when it's all packed up, otherwise, pressure on the "fingers" can break them! ( A piece of Styrofoam, would probably work, jammed in there ) .... 'Fun gun and handy in the pack, boat etc.etc. ! .... David K.:)
 
I have the exact same one,threw it into the bush a few times then smacked up up against a tree to make an L out of the barrel.
That's how happy i was with it...

A gun that doesn't shoot strait is utterly useless
 
Well there's no substitute for shooting it and finding out just how well it does for what you want. It's sure not a target rifle but could be a life saver. Started out as a USAF survival rifle. It's gone through maybe three different incarnations with three different manufacturers, the latest being the best. Seen early and late but never one with an L-shaped barrel! Clearly Ronin wanted more out of it than he got. Personally I think you're better off with one of the short barrel Savage 24 Campers in 22LR/20ga which breaks down for backpack carry, that is if you can find one. You'd be giving up some lightness and repeat 22 shots for birdshot in the 20ga barrel and for insurance a couple of slugs in your pocket.
 
The problem with the ar 7 design is its lack of feed ramp.
Ramline solved this problem with an integrated feed ramp built into their proprietary magazine.
One need only use a dremel polisher and some jewellers rouge to make a light groove in the exact bottom of the barrel face. A 70 degree angle is optimal.
 
kershaw said:
The problem with the ar 7 design is its lack of feed ramp. Ramline solved this problem with an integrated feed ramp built into their proprietary magazine.

Yes, but too bad the Ramline mags are hit-or-miss with regards to durability. They're also elusive!

One need only use a dremel polisher and some jewellers rouge to make a light groove in the exact bottom of the barrel face. A 70 degree angle is optimal.

I really encourage people to try several ammunition types before working on the dremel/file route. Some older (Charter/Armalite) AR-7's love to chomp on Rem T-bolts, some Henry's fire & feed like pigs on CCI Minimags. Just testing 50-shot samplers of ammo can save you the "Frankenstein" operation, sometimes. Plus, with the capacity of those mags, you're unlikely to exhaust a brick too soon - usually - so cost/brick shouldn't be too much of an issue when you find the .22 ammo that works best in your rifle.
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Own one (Henry), love it, shoot it frequently. Took some time finding its preferred ammo, though. Light as anything; you can always get a heavier-than-stock barrel if you want more accuracy/the ability to shoot hyper-vel ammo.
 
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I had one of the Charter Arms AR-7 Explorer's (same as that one) years ago.

I was young, and thought it was pretty cool. Saved for a long time, to buy it. Sold it, not very long afterwards. Was happy to be rid of it.

For a "survival gun" it's probably OK, provided you can afford the space. There are better choices that will take up a lot less space in your kit, though.

About the only thing this POS has going for it, is floatation.

Mine was minute of barn door accurate, and had a poor trigger. It compensated for the poor trigger, by having a magazine release that would happily drop the mag on the ground if you so much as brushed against the release while you were shooting it. I don't have huge hands, and this was still an issue.
It would not have been too bad if it dropped the mag immediately, instead it would hang in the well, until you were walking. Ugh!

Oh, and it fed anything I could fit in the mag. It just wouldn't hit anything. Failures to feed, were inevitably due to a mag hanging loose in the well.

Rapid fire of any sort resulted in a leaded barrel, and lots of work to get it clean.

Get an aftermarket steel barrel, and a spare mag or two.

YMMV, of course, but I won't own another one.

Cheers
Trev
 
David K said:
Make yourself a "spacer that supports/fills in the the two "fingers" of the stock when it's all packed up, otherwise, pressure on the "fingers" can break them! ( A piece of Styrofoam, would probably work, jammed in there ) ....
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Huh? Explain, if you don't mind? :confused:

trevj said:
I had one of the Charter Arms AR-7 Explorer's (same as that one) years ago.

A Charter Arms one? Ah, there you go - notorious QC on those...;) They are not quite the same as the Henry - the barrels differ, and the functioning is...more spotty.

Get an aftermarket steel barrel, and a spare mag or two.

I fully agree - the best accessories are those that let you (a) shoot more ammo and/or (b) let you shoot ammo more accurately. However, if you don't mind reasonable accuracy (close groupings, but the holes won't touch) and the inability to use hyper-velocity ammo on a sustained basis, then the factory barrel ought to do you fine until fall into some more $$$.
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Two cents worth...
 
The Henry version got a better rating in Gun Tests than the AR7 industries version and the Charter Arms quality seems to be hit and miss. Gun tests also compared it to the iconic M6 Scout which sadly is no longer in production. The only comparable rifle is now the Marlin Papoose autoloader .22 and I have no idea of relative prices & performance.
 
....Where the receiver attach's, via a thumb screw, to the stock, there's an extension of the stock on either side of the receiver. Guess to prevent lateral movement of the stock/receiver when attached. Anyway, those two "fingers" ( Stock extensions ) can be broken in transit so to speak. To avoid the crushing that would cause the fingers to break, either a piece of wood or perhaps Styrofoam jammed between the two would prevent the chances of damage. I'm speaking from experience when I say that this part of the stock can be easily broken ! It's so long ago, I really don't recall just how I broke mine, probably in packing it away with household effects when moving. Anyway, "an oz. of prevention" etc.etc. ! Mine was one of the very early versions, and perhaps the newer ones are stronger when the butt joins the receiver. .... David K.
 
Cyclone, you are probably right about the newer ones having better QC, but the whole design is centered around cheap and nasty engineering. All die cast and stamped parts.

Not something I'd spend money on again.

If I have room for that big fattie of a stock, I have room to tuck in any of a number of different .22's that will provide for me, what that one can or better than, without any aggravation.

The Browning takedown semi-auto comes to mind first, or, if I was not concerned about semi-autos, any of dozens of designs of what used to be sold as "Boys Rifles", to get the light weight, and still allow accuracy to creep into the equation.

Cheers
Trev
 
I have a Camo Henry that I bought last fall for a small ugly gun for the truck to get a partridge or rabbit and a light carry gun. It's fun because nobody has seen one around here but for a survival gun I hope my life never depend's on this course peice of work. Myne shoot's .410 shot pattern's at 40 yard's but it will away's get the rabbit if it's within 20 feet or so. Would never have bought it if I handeled one first but no place has them here so I mail ordered. If you carry it taken down into the fron't stock the fron't sight get's moved and if you break through the crust or get a flip snowshoeing you away's hit the mag relase. And the cheap camo flakes off around the barrel from contact in the stock Just my oppion.
 
Mr. Friendly said:
you can buy aftermarket barrels for the Survival Rifle? :eek: that the first I've heard of that. do they aid in the accuracy? do they fit into the stock properly w/o modifications?
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I was thinking AR-7 Customized Accessories, LLC, among others. Yes, the after-market rifle barrels usually usually fit any and all make of the AR-7, and the "more sturdy" ones (read: anything not the Henry AR-7's factory barrel) allow for hyper-velocity ammo to be used. A barrel w/shroud is an oft lusted-after item, for the AR-7 man/woman.:cool:

Majestic Arms can set you up with a real lovely barrel/scope mount setup, able to handle any ammo and really fix-up your accuracy, if you so choose. At that point, the argument becomes one of "is it worthwhile to turn this into a target rifle" - a topic the 10/22 owners (and 10/22 haters) are familiar with, no doubt...:D

Dino's a good guy, anyhow - I got my "extended AR-7 bolt-handle" from him, and he was friendly and helpful. Ordering a barrel from the US...well, he'll help you arrive at some legal way, I'm sure. :)

The Explorer II (i.e. AR-7 pistol, aka the Mini "Mauser C-96")'s barrel is indexed differently than that of the rifle, so some "operations" will be required to fit it to an AR-7 rifle. And the pistol-barrels are scarce-enough in their own right, so think before modding one up...:rolleyes:

David, thanks for your advice. I'm a little hesitant to admit I carried my AR-7 in my briefcase-satchel for the better part of two years, contained only in two "8 1/2 x 11" bubbled-interior package-envelopes, but I did! :eek: I guess it was the soft "walls" of the briefcase-satchel that perserved the 'fingers' of my Henry AR-7. And yes, it was trigger locked...I kept the receiver locked and out of the stock...snuggled next to 2 of the 100-round boxes of Minimag also in the satchel. Ah, those were the days...:p

Um, yea...I guess that's all I got for now. E-mail the guys at Henry if you've got any doubts - Anthony was very open about the AR-7's shortcomings, and he put me in touch with a foreman there who (when I was getting a lil frustrated in my search for reliable-feeding ammo) offered to send me any replacement parts myself & my gunsmith deemed necessary, including a brand-new barrel. Maybe I'm too honest for my own good:redface:, but I declined the barrel/parts offer after discovering Minimags gave me 100% reliability. Perhaps some future E & E fellow will appreciate my candour? Hint, hint, hint...;)

Happy shooting, folks.

P.S. Yes, the Henry was my first .22; that explains why I say I discovered Minimags at that point in time - this was still very early in my shooting career!
 
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... In general, just accept it for what it is ! A handy, self contained .22 S/A rifle ! It's compact enough to be carried all day in a pack, protected enough to be thrown in the bottom of a canoe without worries, fun to shoot, and most times, goes Bang when the trigger is pulled ! Accuracy leaves something to be desired, but if the barrel nut is kept tight, and ranges to 25 yards or so, it's adequate, for head shots on Rabbits. .... I got good, for an AR7 anyway, accuracy with standard velocity rounds, 'can't think of the brand unfortunately, most likely a cheap target type! A cloth cover, or "sock" for the whole thing is easy to make and helps minimize scratches and scrapes ! .... David K.:)
 
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