Henry AR-7 high round torture test?
- Thread starter cdncowboy
- Start date
Wild_Thing
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- In the thick of it!
Exactly, And while you are eating said grouse, toss the rifle in your fire. The thick black smoke from the burning plastic will attract the attention of SAR personnel and aircraft. Thus aiding in your survival. Mission accomplished!
When I was no longer able to post photos with Photobucket I kind of gave up on the product. I had planned a bunch of other tests, but only completed one.
AR-7 Total Weight - 1242 grams (Receiver 395g, Barrel 340g, Stock 443g, Butt Cap 30g, Magazine 34g)
Henry Survival Rifle Total Weight - 1496 grams (Receiver 634g, Barrel 271g, Stock 485g, Butt Cap 34g, Two Magazines 72g)
Total Weights included everything that would be packed in the stock so the AR-7 had one magazine and the Henry Survival Rifle had two. Total weight for the Henry Survival Rifle total weight would be 1460 grams with one magazine. All components were weighed on a digital kitchen scale and were weighed several times and the average weight was used.
Floatation Test
I filled a large Rubbermaid bin with water and placed the stock flat on the surface as gently as I could with all components packed in the stock.
Henry Survival Rifle float time 21.42 seconds. Water immediately started to enter the stock at the butt cap and it started to sink butt down. Air bubbles came out both ends where the bolt that attaches the butt to the receiver goes through the stock. The butt came to rest on the bottom of the container. I can only assume it would continue to sink if I had a deeper container.
AR-7 float time unknown. The stock slowly filled with water. At 40 seconds air bubbles came out of the stock between the stock and the butt cap. The rifle was floating butt down. No air bubbles came out where the bolt that attaches the butt to the receiver goes through the stock. After 30 minutes the rifle was still floating butt down with several inches remaining above the water. At 30 minutes I was bored and stopped testing.
The was some water in the AR-7 stock but obviously the amount of water was limited because the stock is foam filled. This also aided in floatation. The Henry Survival Rifle stock is hollow and it had a lot of water in it, several cups probably but I didn't measure it.
An Armalite original or the Charter Arms? Nice rifle either way. I've seen a few Charter Arms floating around the gun shows and like everything the prices keep climbing. Never seen an Armalite before. I am actually thinking of using my Henry in the next club 2 gun match just to see how it goes.
Hit the range today. Fired 188 rounds pretty much as fast as I could reload the two 8 round magazines I was using. A mix of ammo mainly Federal 36gr CPHP and Federal 40gr LRN with a few odd rounds in my range bag.
Total Rounds Fires - 1451
Failure to Feed - 55
Failure to Eject - 42
Misfire - 8
Failure Rate - 7.2%
Total Rounds Fires - 1451
Failure to Feed - 55
Failure to Eject - 42
Misfire - 8
Failure Rate - 7.2%
Cleaned the rifle last night and dumped 469 rounds through it today.
312 rounds Winchester M-22 40gr BCPRN
- 6 misfires, 5 fired on the second attempt, one would not fire with three attempts
- 1 FTF - bolt travelled over the cartridge in the magazine
70 rounds CCI AR Tactical 40gr CPRN
- 4 FTF - three cartridges partially fed but the cartridge case was dented by the bolt and the bullet was bent out of line. I didn't try to retire these. One the bullet caught on the edge of the chamber and stripped some lead off. This one was refined.
45 rounds Federal 40gr Solid 711B - these had much less force ejecting than the other ammo that was fired. These are rated at 1080 fps.
- 3 FTE - cartridge case stovepipe
- 1 FTF - bolt travelled over the round in the magazine
45 rounds Winchester T-22 Solid - no failures
Round Count - 1920
Failure to Feed - 61
Failure to Eject - 45
Misfire - 14
Failure Rate - 6.3%
312 rounds Winchester M-22 40gr BCPRN
- 6 misfires, 5 fired on the second attempt, one would not fire with three attempts
- 1 FTF - bolt travelled over the cartridge in the magazine
70 rounds CCI AR Tactical 40gr CPRN
- 4 FTF - three cartridges partially fed but the cartridge case was dented by the bolt and the bullet was bent out of line. I didn't try to retire these. One the bullet caught on the edge of the chamber and stripped some lead off. This one was refined.
45 rounds Federal 40gr Solid 711B - these had much less force ejecting than the other ammo that was fired. These are rated at 1080 fps.
- 3 FTE - cartridge case stovepipe
- 1 FTF - bolt travelled over the round in the magazine
45 rounds Winchester T-22 Solid - no failures
Round Count - 1920
Failure to Feed - 61
Failure to Eject - 45
Misfire - 14
Failure Rate - 6.3%
So I decided that if I ever had to use my Henry US Survival Rifle in a SHTF scenario it would have to be paired with ammunition the was reliable even in adverse conditions. I had 13 different types of ammunition available and decided to test them for reliability and for reliability after being submerged in water for 24 and 72 hours.
The process was the same, 24 rounds of each type were selected to test reliability. A further 40 rounds of each type were submerged in water, 16 rounds for 24 hours, 16 rounds for 72 hours and 8 rounds which were submerged for 72 hours and then removed from the water and allowed to dry for three weeks.
The 13 types of ammunition were:
1) CCI Green Tag 40 gr LRN 1070 fps
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr CPHP 1260 fps
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr CPRN 1235 fps
4) CCI Velocitor 40 gr CPHP 1435 fps
5) CCI Stinger 32 gr CPHP 1640 fps
6) Federal Premium Target 711B 40 gr Solid 1080 fps
7) Federal Game Shok 710 40 gr CP Solid 1240 fps
8) American Eagle 38 gr CPHP 1260 fps
9) Winchester M-22 40 gr BCPRN 1255 fps
10) Winchester Wildcat 40 gr Lead 1255 fps
11) Remington Yellowjacket 33 gr TCHP 1500 fps
12) Hornady Varmint Express 40 gr LRN 1070 fps
13) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard 40 gr LRN 1066 fps
24 ROUND RELIABILITY TEST
1) CCI Green Tag - 1 FTF, 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr - no failures
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr - no failures
4) CCI Velocitor - 3 FTF, two were damaged and could not be fired
5) CCI Stinger - no failures
6) Federal Premium Target 711B - 3 FTF, 12 FTE
7) Federal Game Shok 710 - 2 Misfires (1 fired on 2nd attempt, 1 fired on 3rd attempt)
8) American Eagle - 1 FTF(M), 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
9) Winchester M-22 - 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt) this ammunition left a lot of lead shavings under the mag well
10) Winchester Wildcat - 5 FTF, 4 FTE, 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
11) Remington Yellowjacket - 1 FTF(M)
12) Hornady Varmint Express - no failures
13) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard - no failures
Federal Premium Target 711B and Winchester Wildcat were dropped from further testing due to the high number of failures.
16 ROUND 24 HOUR WATER IMMERSION TEST
1) CCI Green Tag - 1 Misfire (fired 2nd attempt)
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr - no failures
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr - no failures
4) CCI Velocitor - 2 FTE, one had such a light recoil the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction
5) CCI Stinger - 2 Misfires which would not fire after 3 attempts. 1 round had very light recoil but the cartridge case ejected
6) Federal Game Shok - 4 FTE, 6 Misfires (1 fired on 2nd attempt, 5 did not fire after 3 attempts)
7) American Eagle - 1 FTF, 11 FTE, 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
8) Winchester M-22 - 3 FTE, 11 Misfire (11 did not fire after 3 attempts)
9) Remington Yellowjacket - 3 Misfire (1 fired on 2nd attempt, 2 did not fire after 3 attempts)
10) Hornady Varmint Express - no failures
11) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard - 1 FTF, 3 FTE, several rounds had light recoil and the cartridges cases were extremely dirty on the outside.
Note: FTF(M) - failure to feed while manually cycling the action.
16 ROUND 72 HOUR WATER IMMERSION TEST
1) CCI Green Tag - 1 Misfire which would not fire after 3 attempts.
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr - no failures.
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr - 1 Misfire which would not fire after 3 attempts.
4) CCI Velocitor - 5 FTE, 2 Misfires which would not fire after 3 attempts. Two rounds that fired were delayed in firing (click, pffft, bang) Three of the FTEs recoiled so lightly the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction.
5) CCI Stinger - 3 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts.
6) Federal Game Shok - 11 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts.
7) American Eagle - 12 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts. One round which fired recoiled so lightly the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction.
8) Winchester M-22 - 15 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts
9) Remington Yellowjacket - 13 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts
10) Hornady Varmint Express - no failures
11) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard - 2 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts. Five rounds that fired ejected the cartridge case but the recoil was so light the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction.
Tomorrow the ammunition that has been drying for three weeks will be tested. Based on the results from the immersion tests only three types of ammunition will be tested for accuracy. They will be CCI Mini Mag 36gr CPHP, CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN and Hornady Varmint Express 40gr LRN.
After the immersion test I blasted of a bunch of different types of ammunition. Misfires from the immersion test were not counted toward the rifles failure rate as these misfires were attributed to wet gun powder and not the rifle. I disassembled some of the cartridges and water had obviously entered the cartridge case. The FTF and FTE were counted even though most FTEs were also likely a result of moisture in the cartridge case. Totals for the rifle are now:
Rounds Fires - 2950
FTF - 85
FTE - 81
Misfire - 24 (not including immersion test misfires)
Failure Rate - 6.4%
The process was the same, 24 rounds of each type were selected to test reliability. A further 40 rounds of each type were submerged in water, 16 rounds for 24 hours, 16 rounds for 72 hours and 8 rounds which were submerged for 72 hours and then removed from the water and allowed to dry for three weeks.
The 13 types of ammunition were:
1) CCI Green Tag 40 gr LRN 1070 fps
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr CPHP 1260 fps
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr CPRN 1235 fps
4) CCI Velocitor 40 gr CPHP 1435 fps
5) CCI Stinger 32 gr CPHP 1640 fps
6) Federal Premium Target 711B 40 gr Solid 1080 fps
7) Federal Game Shok 710 40 gr CP Solid 1240 fps
8) American Eagle 38 gr CPHP 1260 fps
9) Winchester M-22 40 gr BCPRN 1255 fps
10) Winchester Wildcat 40 gr Lead 1255 fps
11) Remington Yellowjacket 33 gr TCHP 1500 fps
12) Hornady Varmint Express 40 gr LRN 1070 fps
13) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard 40 gr LRN 1066 fps
24 ROUND RELIABILITY TEST
1) CCI Green Tag - 1 FTF, 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr - no failures
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr - no failures
4) CCI Velocitor - 3 FTF, two were damaged and could not be fired
5) CCI Stinger - no failures
6) Federal Premium Target 711B - 3 FTF, 12 FTE
7) Federal Game Shok 710 - 2 Misfires (1 fired on 2nd attempt, 1 fired on 3rd attempt)
8) American Eagle - 1 FTF(M), 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
9) Winchester M-22 - 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt) this ammunition left a lot of lead shavings under the mag well
10) Winchester Wildcat - 5 FTF, 4 FTE, 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
11) Remington Yellowjacket - 1 FTF(M)
12) Hornady Varmint Express - no failures
13) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard - no failures
Federal Premium Target 711B and Winchester Wildcat were dropped from further testing due to the high number of failures.
16 ROUND 24 HOUR WATER IMMERSION TEST
1) CCI Green Tag - 1 Misfire (fired 2nd attempt)
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr - no failures
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr - no failures
4) CCI Velocitor - 2 FTE, one had such a light recoil the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction
5) CCI Stinger - 2 Misfires which would not fire after 3 attempts. 1 round had very light recoil but the cartridge case ejected
6) Federal Game Shok - 4 FTE, 6 Misfires (1 fired on 2nd attempt, 5 did not fire after 3 attempts)
7) American Eagle - 1 FTF, 11 FTE, 1 Misfire (fired on 2nd attempt)
8) Winchester M-22 - 3 FTE, 11 Misfire (11 did not fire after 3 attempts)
9) Remington Yellowjacket - 3 Misfire (1 fired on 2nd attempt, 2 did not fire after 3 attempts)
10) Hornady Varmint Express - no failures
11) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard - 1 FTF, 3 FTE, several rounds had light recoil and the cartridges cases were extremely dirty on the outside.
Note: FTF(M) - failure to feed while manually cycling the action.
16 ROUND 72 HOUR WATER IMMERSION TEST
1) CCI Green Tag - 1 Misfire which would not fire after 3 attempts.
2) CCI Mini Mag 36 gr - no failures.
3) CCI Mini Mag 40 gr - 1 Misfire which would not fire after 3 attempts.
4) CCI Velocitor - 5 FTE, 2 Misfires which would not fire after 3 attempts. Two rounds that fired were delayed in firing (click, pffft, bang) Three of the FTEs recoiled so lightly the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction.
5) CCI Stinger - 3 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts.
6) Federal Game Shok - 11 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts.
7) American Eagle - 12 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts. One round which fired recoiled so lightly the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction.
8) Winchester M-22 - 15 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts
9) Remington Yellowjacket - 13 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts
10) Hornady Varmint Express - no failures
11) Sellier & Bellot SB Standard - 2 misfires which did not fire after 3 attempts. Five rounds that fired ejected the cartridge case but the recoil was so light the barrel was removed to verify there was no barrel obstruction.
Tomorrow the ammunition that has been drying for three weeks will be tested. Based on the results from the immersion tests only three types of ammunition will be tested for accuracy. They will be CCI Mini Mag 36gr CPHP, CCI Mini Mag 40gr CPRN and Hornady Varmint Express 40gr LRN.
After the immersion test I blasted of a bunch of different types of ammunition. Misfires from the immersion test were not counted toward the rifles failure rate as these misfires were attributed to wet gun powder and not the rifle. I disassembled some of the cartridges and water had obviously entered the cartridge case. The FTF and FTE were counted even though most FTEs were also likely a result of moisture in the cartridge case. Totals for the rifle are now:
Rounds Fires - 2950
FTF - 85
FTE - 81
Misfire - 24 (not including immersion test misfires)
Failure Rate - 6.4%
If you are lost for more than a day, you would be SOL.
Not just these, IMO a Henry rifle is like a cheap suit; look and work good, but not for long. Zinc, plastic and tin with a good barrel. Their top end stuff is like a Chrysler Lebaron; underneath all that bling, it is still a K-Car:
Bella Twin, an Indian girl, and her friend Dave Auger were hunting grouse near Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta. The only gun they had was Bella’s single-shot bolt-action .22 Rimfire rifle. They were walking a cutline that had been made for oil exploration when they saw a large grizzly following the same survey line toward them. If they ran, the bear would probably notice them and might chase, so they quietly sat down on a brush pile and hoped that the bear would pass by without trouble. But the bear came much too close, and when the big boar was only a few yards away, Bella Twin shot him in the side of the head with a .22 Long cartridge. The bear dropped, kicked and then lay still. Taking no chances, Bella went up close and fired all of the cartridges she had, seven or eight .22 Longs, into the bear’s head. That bear, killed in 1953, was the world-record grizzly for several years and is still high in the records today.
Once in a life time lucky
I like to use optics on my Henry U.S Survival Rifle but optics prevent the rifle from being stowed in the stock. I am still determining which optic I want to keep with the rifle and once I do I will test how well it maintains zero when being removed and re-installed.
I painted a white line horizontally across the receiver and the rear sight so I can remove the rear sight and then re-align it when putting it back on.
The rear sight screw is centered in the receiver and lines up with the bore. When the screw, bolt, return springs and return spring guide is removed you can look through the receiver and bore. The hammer must be in the cocked position. Placing the rifle in a stable mount you can look through the rifle at a point at whatever distance you want to sight the rifle in for and the adjust the scope to that point. It is easier to do with the stock off the receiver. One or two rounds to confirm zero.
I painted a white line horizontally across the receiver and the rear sight so I can remove the rear sight and then re-align it when putting it back on.
The rear sight screw is centered in the receiver and lines up with the bore. When the screw, bolt, return springs and return spring guide is removed you can look through the receiver and bore. The hammer must be in the cocked position. Placing the rifle in a stable mount you can look through the rifle at a point at whatever distance you want to sight the rifle in for and the adjust the scope to that point. It is easier to do with the stock off the receiver. One or two rounds to confirm zero.
Actually, I am quite happy with mine. 2950 rounds through it. Most of the stoppages attributed to 1 magazine. The trick to bore sight it makes it even more interesting. This trick can also be done on most AR15s and 10/22 with the receiver mod for cleaning the barrel without removing it.
Bella Twin, an Indian girl, and her friend Dave Auger were hunting grouse near Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta. The only gun they had was Bella’s single-shot bolt-action .22 Rimfire rifle. They were walking a cutline that had been made for oil exploration when they saw a large grizzly following the same survey line toward them. If they ran, the bear would probably notice them and might chase, so they quietly sat down on a brush pile and hoped that the bear would pass by without trouble. But the bear came much too close, and when the big boar was only a few yards away, Bella Twin shot him in the side of the head with a .22 Long cartridge. The bear dropped, kicked and then lay still. Taking no chances, Bella went up close and fired all of the cartridges she had, seven or eight .22 Longs, into the bear’s head. That bear, killed in 1953, was the world-record grizzly for several years and is still high in the records today.
Even back then there was "Fake News"!
