Henry Lever mods/accessories/etc...

evanphi

evanphi

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I just got the base model H001 yesterday, and I am in love. Great gun.

I know there are a few common mods to make it different/better: Skinner peep sight, removing paint from the receiver cover and polishing to mirror finish, adding a scope (silly on a Lever, IMO), big loop lever...

Has anyone else done things to them? I have heard some issues with feeding/jamming due to the aluminium feed ramp. Can it be deburred/smoothed? Or is it normally a case of just poor quality ammo? I will be starting off with Winchester Super-X 22LR and CCI 22 Shorts.
 
If your looking for ideas Rimfire central has a good section on Henry's, besides what you listed there's not much more you can do to it! I've got a frontier model and haven't experienced any feeding issue's ( picked a good one i guess) but the only suggestion i would make is to try as many brands as you can because with mine it really likes certain brands...no ftf/fte just accuracy with certain brands was horrible (.5"-3"@ 50 yards) cci minimags 36gr are amazing and for bulk stuff Blazers did really well but federal was terrible and AE was so so never tried shorts so let me know how they do.
I love my Henry as well!
 
You can do this mod for free and it shoots well.

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Yup but with more finer adjustment than what you need and free,a skinner is a well made item but will be around the 100.00 mark .This way you experiment for free and then make a choice.I am also not sure the skinner works with a stock front sight.50/50 chance.This one does use stock front sight. My2¢.

R
 
Chefhunter said:
If your looking for ideas Rimfire central has a good section on Henry's, besides what you listed there's not much more you can do to it! I've got a frontier model and haven't experienced any feeding issue's ( picked a good one i guess) but the only suggestion i would make is to try as many brands as you can because with mine it really likes certain brands...no ftf/fte just accuracy with certain brands was horrible (.5"-3"@ 50 yards) cci minimags 36gr are amazing and for bulk stuff Blazers did really well but federal was terrible and AE was so so never tried shorts so let me know how they do.
I love my Henry as well!
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I checked out Rimfire Central. Good resource! Thanks!
 
I much prefer a rear mounted peep so the small aperture aids my "old guy eyes" somewhat. But I have to say that this simple peep insert swap mod is brilliant. I still would consider it a "second best" compared to the receiver mounted small aperture peep but it's so simple and easy to do that it's worth a try even if it is just for the time it takes to order and get a receiver mounted rear sight.

As for other mods if the rifle cycles smoothly as mine did from the very first time the ONLY thing is to keep feeding it ammo.

The paint on the receiver cover of mine has a couple of scuffs now so one day I'm going to remove the paint and do the faux colour case hardening treatment then clear coat it with the model shop clear suggested over on RFC. I'm not a fan of the "simple silver" look. Also I wouldn't bother removing the paint right away. Just go and shoot it.

The varnish on the wood is a little cheezy as well since it's tinted and hides much of the grain. At the same time I remove and faux finish the receiver cover I'm likely going to strip the wood and go with either straight rubbed tung oil or stain the wood with leather dye and then tung oil finish as required to get a much more desirable look for my eyes.

But these are options. There's really nothing at all that NEEDS to be done.
 
Skinner has 2 different peep sights. One fits the receiver dovetail, that one requires a taller front sight. They have another model that fits the dovetail for the original rear leaf sight, that one works with the original front sight. I went the whole hog with a front brass sight, dovetail adapter to hold a spare peep and the receiver dovetail peep sight in black and gold. Waiting to finish coating the receiver , barrel band and front sight band before assembling it all.
I did almost exactly as BCRider suggested above, I have stripped the wood and finished with boiled linseed oil. Instead of doing the case colored finish, I am armacoating the receiver in FDE.
Are you a mindreader BCRider??
 
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I'd like to say that it's a varnish. But these days with the wide variety of industrial coatings it's hard to say. HOPEFULLY it's not one of the two part mix clears since some of those are highly chemical resistant. Bottom line is that I won't know until I try.

I haven't stripped mine yet but the plan is to start with an aircraft stripper first since I've got some and if that doesn't work so well to switch to the Circa 1850 stripper. If that doesn't cut it I'll have to look into other options.

Baldabe, what did you use to strip off the finish?

By the way, when I refinish my own the plan is also to switch out the super shiny and super slippery butt plate for something else. Not sure what yet but I want to put on something with at least a little bit of texture so it doesn't slide on my shoulder so easily while cycling the lever. Or I might just make up a leather cuff similar to the one I did for my cowboy action rifle.
 
evanphi said:
How about refinishing the wood? What did you use to strip the current finish? What is it finished with normally?
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I used a paint stripper Circa 1889 or something. Let that bubble for 10 mins, then used an expired credit card as a scraping tool. Make sure you wear gloves, full sleeves and eye protection. No compromise there. Its nasty stuff. Then washed it off and let the wood dry for 4 days. Then sanded it with 150 grit and 220 grit sandpaper. Made sure to wipe it clean and final dusting with microfiber cloth. Do not use tack cloth. Then if you want to stain, now is the time. Otherwise, rub in a coat of pure turpentine and while it is wet, rub on a coat of Boiled linseed oil. It is important to use a thin first coat so that it penetrates the wood well. let it dry completely, then put on a coat of linseed oil straight and rub in and let it dry. I use a string and hook from the joists to hang the stock and forearm while drying. Put on as many coats as needed.
 
Just a note that it's normal to flood on more of the boiled linseed than needed then to rub off the excess. The oily paper towels from this should be laid out flat until dried hard. Do NOT bunch them up and wad them down into your trash bucket. I had a bag of such oily towels burst into flame. They are not kidding when they say to treat the oily rags or paper with care.

I think that the stripper you used is the "Circa 1850" I mentioned. And thanks for confirming that it's the stuff that did the job.
 
BCRider said:
Just a note that it's normal to flood on more of the boiled linseed than needed then to rub off the excess. The oily paper towels from this should be laid out flat until dried hard. Do NOT bunch them up and wad them down into your trash bucket. I had a bag of such oily towels burst into flame. They are not kidding when they say to treat the oily rags or paper with care.

I think that the stripper you used is the "Circa 1850" I mentioned. And thanks for confirming that it's the stuff that did the job.
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Absolutely right BCRider, I neglected to mention the flammability of the rags. The same applies to turpentine rags as well. Thanks for correcting the Circa 1850! I had a winchester 1889 on my mind!
Another thing, rub away all excess Boiled Linseed Oil, it forms a nasty sticky coat if excess is applied. The only way to get out of the mess is to use turpentine and "dissolve" the excess coating.
 
Thanks for the info about turpentine being in the same boat. I hadn't known that one. And needless to say I'm a little gun shy after trying to burn down the house about a year back.... :D

I'll just poke in one more comment and then I suspect we're all but done here. I've used both boiled linseed oil and Lee Valley's Polymerized Tung Oil. Of the two I far and away prefer the PTO. It builds quicker, doesn't stink like BLO does and seems to be more able to shed water with less coats. It also builds up more quickly than the BLO so fewer rubbed in re-coats are needed. It's thick like a light honey so thinning with low odor paint thinner or perhaps some of that deadly :D turpentine is desirable for the first coating to encourage a deeper penetration.

Whichever oil is used I like to use a pad of 0000 steel wool to apply the oil with a firm rubbing pressure. This cuts away any wood fuzz or dust spots left on the previous coat as it dried. But it's soft enough to not cut away the film from the previous coating.

Also in terms of drying these oils don't so much dry as they oxidize. The oils react with the oxygen to polymerize from a liquid state to a solid one. It's that reaction that gives off the heat that can be so dangerous when confined and allowed to build up. But it means that we often need to be patient. Warmth and UV light aids in speeding up the process. Cool and dark slows it down. On a warm sunny day I can put a freshly oiled project out on the deck and turn it every couple of hours and it'll be ready for the next coat by the evening. In winter the same oil coating can take a few days to fully harden. So be patient if working in a cool shop.

The key is that both BLO and PTO change their odor during the curing process. If you let your nose be your guide you won't be fooled into re-coating prematurely.

Baldabe, hopefully there's something in there to re-pay you for the turpentine info. Although I suspect you already knew all this.
 
Cool thanks everyone. My dad is a cabinet maker and furniture restorer so I will run the Qs by him too, and see if he has anything else to offer.

I also want to do the same with the butt plate. Plastic. Bleh.
 
BCRider said:
Thanks for the info about turpentine being in the same boat. I hadn't known that one. And needless to say I'm a little gun shy after trying to burn down the house about a year back.... :D

I'll just poke in one more comment and then I suspect we're all but done here. I've used both boiled linseed oil and Lee Valley's Polymerized Tung Oil. Of the two I far and away prefer the PTO. It builds quicker, doesn't stink like BLO does and seems to be more able to shed water with less coats. It also builds up more quickly than the BLO so fewer rubbed in re-coats are needed. It's thick like a light honey so thinning with low odor paint thinner or perhaps some of that deadly :D turpentine is desirable for the first coating to encourage a deeper penetration.

Whichever oil is used I like to use a pad of 0000 steel wool to apply the oil with a firm rubbing pressure. This cuts away any wood fuzz or dust spots left on the previous coat as it dried. But it's soft enough to not cut away the film from the previous coating.

Also in terms of drying these oils don't so much dry as they oxidize. The oils react with the oxygen to polymerize from a liquid state to a solid one. It's that reaction that gives off the heat that can be so dangerous when confined and allowed to build up. But it means that we often need to be patient. Warmth and UV light aids in speeding up the process. Cool and dark slows it down. On a warm sunny day I can put a freshly oiled project out on the deck and turn it every couple of hours and it'll be ready for the next coat by the evening. In winter the same oil coating can take a few days to fully harden. So be patient if working in a cool shop.

The key is that both BLO and PTO change their odor during the curing process. If you let your nose be your guide you won't be fooled into re-coating prematurely.

Baldabe, hopefully there's something in there to re-pay you for the turpentine info. Although I suspect you already knew all this.
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Always willing to learn BCRider, thanks for the information about PTO, I now hate BLO with a passion. I plan to do a BRNO#1 stock next. I will use your tips for that one.
The Henry project was pretty much "learn as you go" for me. Every time I ran into a roadblock with something I would have to ask a buddy or check in the RFC forum for advice. That meant lots of missteps, backtracks etc. Now I have a fair idea of what and how to do
 
Yeah the plain plastic butt plate is a bit of a let down. It would be nice to replace it with a neatly done steel one. Or if the fore end barrel clamp could be replaced with a Golden Boy band then perhaps the butt plate could be done in 1/8 brass.

Another nice way to cover up the plastic and give the butt some more grip on the shirt to avoid slipping around during rapid cycling would be a leather cuff similar to the ones used by the cowboy action shooters. I've done one for my Rossi 92 and it wasn't that hard to make.
 
BCRider said:
Yeah the plain plastic butt plate is a bit of a let down. It would be nice to replace it with a neatly done steel one. Or if the fore end barrel clamp could be replaced with a Golden Boy band then perhaps the butt plate could be done in 1/8 brass.

Another nice way to cover up the plastic and give the butt some more grip on the shirt to avoid slipping around during rapid cycling would be a leather cuff similar to the ones used by the cowboy action shooters. I've done one for my Rossi 92 and it wasn't that hard to make.
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I do not think the buttplate from the Goldenboy will fit a regular Henry. The GoldenBoys have a crescent shaped butt stock, while the regular Henry's are straight. Maybe I am wrong and someone will correct me.
 
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