Henry rifle

The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action breech-loading rifle.

History

Original Manufacturing

The original Henry repeating rifle was an American .44 caliber rimfire, lever-action, breech-loading rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in the late 1850s. The Henry rifle was an improved version of the earlier Volcanic Repeating rifle. The Henry rifle used copper (later brass) rimfire cartridges containing 25 grains (1.6 g) of gunpowder to a 216 grain (14 g) bullet. 900 Henry rifles were manufactured between summer and October 1862; by 1864, production had peaked at 290 per month. By the time production ended in 1866, approximately 14,000 units had been manufactured.

The rifle's original list price was $42; as of 2004, an original 1862 Henry rifle may bring $14,000 (one sold in November 2006 for $60,000) in the collectors' market. For a civil war soldier, owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride. Although it was never officially adopted for service by the army, many union soldiers purchased Henry rifles with their own funds. The brass framed carbines could fire at a rate of 28 rounds per minute when used correctly, so soldiers who saved their pay to buy one often believed that the rifle would help them survive. They were frequently used by scouts, skirmishers, flank guards, and raiding parties, rather than in regular infantry formations. To the amazed muzzleloader-armed Confederates who had to face this deadly "sixteen shooter," it was "that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week!"

Manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company, the Henry rifle would soon evolve into the famous Winchester Model 1866 lever-action rifle. With the introduction of the new Model 1866, the New Haven Arms Company would be renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

Mechanical Workings

The Henry repeater is similar to several other lever action repeating rifles developed in the same era. Like the [Spencer repeating rifle], it loaded from a magazine in the butt of the rifle, accessible through a hatch in the buttplate. The lever action of the Henry rifle ejects the spent cartridge and cocks the hammer on the forward motion of the lever, and a spring forces the next cartridge into the chamber. The second stroke seals the breech and unlocks the trigger, rendering the weapon ready to fire.

Current production

Henry rifles are currently manufactured in Brooklyn, New York by Henry Repeating Arms Company. (The current company that uses the Henry name, does not produce the Civil War period firearm that this article defines. It produces lever action rifles that are more akin to later Marlin types.)

A. Uberti Firearms produces an almost exact copy Henry Model 1860, although it is not available in .44 Henry Rimfire. Instead, they are chambered for centerfire calibers such as .44-40 Winchester and .45 Long Colt.

References

Hartford Michigan Military History
Sword, Wiley. The Historic Henry Rifle: Oliver Winchester's Famous Civil War Repeater. Lincoln, Rhode Island : Andrew Mowbray Publishers, 2002.
Compared: .357 Mag. Henry Big Boy, Marlin 1894C and Uberti 1873 Rifles by Chuck Hawks

External links