Henry Long Ranger at the range

357lover

Active Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2018
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29
Location
Winston Salem, NC
My shooting buddy had an itch for a Henry Long Ranger.
He quietly slipped and bought one, I guess to keep his wife from knowing.
He put a Redfield scope on it and off we go to the range.
Being new, I expected it to take a few shots to zero the scope and it did. Once zeroed it shot consistently at 3/4" groups at 100 yards.
Now to the point. Any hesitation in closing the breech that allowed the bullet to loose its place would result in the bullet being dropped into the barrel and the the breech would not close.
The bullet had to be shook out of the barrel, put back into the magazine for a second try. This happened more than once.
I am sure some of the problem was the way he cycled the lever. Too slow I thought.
Now to touch on a few other things that I took notice of. The magazine release is a small flush button on the right side of the breech. It is difficult to push and would be next to impossible to push with gloves on. To put the magazine back in required some effort to seat it.
With the lever in the open position, the magazine was blocked by the lever, which means no extended magazines for this lever gun.
OK, so for my last observation and one that he complained about numerous times. Trigger pull had to be in excess of 7 pounds. He refuses to send it back and plans to have a gunsmith fix the trigger.
Anyone that plans to buy might consider the outcome he had.
 
What caliber?

Although he doesn't want to send it back, I'd encourage him to call Henry and discuss said issues. No doubt he doesn't want to have them trade it out and not get back a shooter but it's gotta function and a 7# trigger is pretty darn bad. Henry has a very good reputation in the Customer Service side of things.
 
Nice post 357 , I can see him taking it to a smith for the heavy trigger , but not the other things , I agree call the company,after all he bought it and payed good cash to own said rifle , hope it all works out for the Best ,Great job thks !
 
I'm hoping this year they release one in 338 Federal. I will be saving my pennies to buy one if/when it is released. I'd like to get my hands on one to see what it would take to have an extended mag button fabricated.
 
From what I saw when my buddy tried to remove the magazine with the lever in the open position it would be impossible to put an extended mag in the rifle. The lever blocks the magazine from being removed when in the down position. That being said, if an extended mag would fit, the lever could not eject the shell because it could not go all the way to open as it would hit the extended mag. Check it out for yourself before you buy.
 
If you choose to go lever action for your huntin gun you should automatically accept that it has a limited capacity . If you want a extended mag buy an ar 10 or something like it. The henrys limited capacity is part of the package . Dang how many rounds do ya need to kill a deer?
 
I have waiting to see if they offer more chamberings. I own a few Browning BLR's and like them. The trigger will never be ideal but can be worked on. I am quite used to them now.
 
On the extended mag release issue I found a sheet of thin aluminum with a rubber adhesive back on it. Took a 50 caliber punch and punched out a nice 50 cal coin out of it. Peeled the paper backing off after degreasing, the mag button I applied the punch out. It made it easier to release the mag and has stayed attached now for months. Probably raised the buttons profile by 25 thousandths . I have the 223 version I use with lead bullets for sage rat hunting and it's nice to be able to do quick mag changes when the shooting gets fast.
 
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