Henry "U.S. Survival Rifle"

The key to any of the AR7 models really, is to use the hottest 22LR ammo you can put your hands on - that is what it was made for.

I use the CCI Velociter, or Mini Mag stuff. The cheap value pack stuff is a waste of time in the AR 7s.

 

I will disagree on using the hottest stuff out there. The manual for mine specifically stated not to use the top end stuff. Mini mags worked great.

When I bought mine (for the cost of a background check), it was in non-working condition. Included with the gun was some "hyper velocity" rounds. I send the gun back to Henry and they fixed it, free of charge, they even paid shipping. When i got it back the only thing I shot through it was mini-mags & Fed bulk, both worked great. I suspect that the hyper velocity the previous owner used messed up something, all rounds were ejecting to the left instead of the right.

 

Hmmmmmm? I suspect you may be making assumptions about the hyper velocity stuff, especially the Velocitor from CCI among others. The only difference between the Velocitor and the Mini Mag is 10 fps and the fact that Velocitors are loaded with Gold Dots.

I have a couple of the Armalite versions, one Charter Arms and one Henry ... I bought all of them used - had a couple more but I sold those to relatives, one of them a Henry.

I've only got one owner's manual and it is a Henry version, the same as yours I am assuming ... I am looking through it right now and cannot find anything about not using "high end" stuff? I do see where it states the recommended usage of high velocity ammo, which is the "hotter stuff." And the Velocitor, Stingers and Mini Mags are almost identical and all three are CCI.

Matter of fact, in my manual, and I am reading from it this very minute, it clearly states, and I type this verbatim from under title heading:

If that is not enough, I just called 201-858-4400, spoke with Sondra, she said Wildcats and Golden Bullets are the ones they test fire all of their AR7s with, but that they have heard over and over again from customers that the Velocitors, the Mini Mags and the Stingers seem to work the best.

Hope that helps clarify any concerns you may have had with regard to what it was that may have caused issues with your Henry?

I'm originally from Memphis myself - still have a lot of family out there that we visit regularly spread all over from Frayser to Raleigh-Egypt Central, Bartlett and Germantown. I lived nearby in Olive Branch out in Maywood in my younger adult days over on Sylvan Lake.

 

All I can say is what I read from my manual (I no longer have it as I sold the rifle, I needed the money and I only had $10.00 invested in it anyway).

My manual specifically stated "no hyper velocity ammo". Which was the only thing the previous owner put through it. Maybe the gun was broke from the factory, dunno, maybe something has changed in the mfg process of the rifle since mine was made. Lots of what if's and maybe's. Which is why it's best to have a manual for the specific year of the manufacture of your firearm.

 

Hey guys just wanted to chime in here. I just purchased a new us survival and after reading posts calling it a jam-o-matic i was concerned. I emailed Henry with my concerns and received this email from president Anthony Imperato.



"From 1959 to 2009 yes that was an issue, the gun was not the best action. We
learned and retooled competely and made some design changes to finally
put that all to bed. Any rimfire semi auto is a tough action, but we now have this nailed down. Its very reliable.

Sincerely,
Anthony Imperato
President"


I didn't think that they would spend all this money to retool and make improvements like the rails for your optics and not address the issue that is probably killing sales for them on what i think will be a great little plinker/backpacker. Also i could be totally wrong and it's still the same.



I will let you guys know when i get it and fire some rounds through it.

 

Anyone know of a fix for the cheesy orange plastic front sight they are currently using?

On the three I have handled lately, they were "finger driftable". Not something I want a packable .22.

 

I want to thank you for sharing that and I look forward to your review.

I know Tony from my days of helping him get his Henry Big Boys approved for SASS competition. We always speak at the Shot Shows and I've spoken with him on more than a few occasions by phone ... even had him join us in a board discussion one time, a thread on another site, about his rifles.

Shame on him for typing that above and I'll clarify why ... and Monday and I am going to copy what he sent you, back to him, and then follow-up with a call as well.

The pre-73 Armalites were not known for reliability issues as long as high velocity, "hotter" ammo was used ... which was pretty much the standard back in the sixties before ammo manufacturers decided they could slow them down for plinking and make more money doing so. It took Aguila and their custom line of ammo that caught on with some of the competition shooters for other manufacturers to step in and start following suit in the mid eighties, bringing back the hot stuff. So I am going to call "Anthony" on his fifty year "1959-2009" claim.

I'm also going to tell him that is one of the stupidest things I have ever read because I distinctively remember him stating that they had solved all the Charter Arms issues within two years of purchasing the company in or around the early to mid 80s. So he either lied then or he is lying now. And not only that, but why has it remained such a profitable line in continuous production for fifty years if it was such a piece of crap little survival rifle? Certainly not because James Bond used it in From Russia With Love in 1962 or because Captain Kirk used one to smoke a hostage taker ... "Denny Crane."

And finally I am going to remind him that all of us collectors told him what the problems were with the Charter Arms long ago .... simple. Barrles were junk. Magazine issues caused by the feed-ramp being an integral part of the magazine, piss poor chamber machining evidently bored with dull wood chisel, (and Charter was notorious for this), along with excessively stiff recoil springs which has been somewhat of a malady for all three versions, but it never mattered when everyone was firing hot 22LR.

Now, his Dad (or his brother) was a fool for machining to the same specs as Charter Arms when they bought out the company - or bought the design rights, whichever it was, I don't remember. They should have fixed ALL of the problems at that point instead of band-aiding them and urging everyone to shoot high velocity ammo out of them ... which most AR7 super secret agents owners do not have the good common sense to do. I know they tried slicking up the chamber some, and dropping it inline with the feed-ramp ... but they failed to take into account the cheap foreign made mags they were issuing with the firearm and thus they failed to realize how quickly knuckleheads can and will muck up a cheap mag ... especially the weakest point at the lips. So that little problem continued.

And since they had X number of 1,000s of surplus recoil springs sitting in the bins and boxes they continued to ride the old stiff springs until they realized the issues they were causing when attempting to cycle the cheap value pack low velocity ammo that everyone was trying to feed the darn things.

Tony's cop-out response to you is, I am sure, his attempt at honesty and honor and his PC political approach to admitting some mistakes and taking blame and the public will forgive you ... but if a good attorney got a hold of that there would be a line out his wahzoo wanting to exchange both their old Charter Arms AR-7s and their 1980-2009 Henry so-called "U.S. Survival Rifles."

He would not have to worry about those of us who own Mr. Stoner's original models because, 1) we understand the little rifles and feed them what they like and 2) we know how to maintenance the little fawkers and keep them running smoothly.

He's basically just admitted he's been selling crap for the better part of 30 years. Now I wanna see him make it right. He really irritates me with that response of his ... not the fact that he is admitting he was selling crap, but for the fact that he had the audacity to include the originals (Stoner/Armalites) in his little confession. Reminds me of Obango running around apologizing for everything America has ever done ... he doesn't have the right imho.

 

I wrote Henry and here is the response:

My reaction is "no sh*t!" I understand it should be driftable, but finger driftable is not what I would call an advantage. The standard for driftable is with a sight tool or brass punch and mallet. I can't think that loctite would hold it too well for any length of time. Its an object with flat sides- not a threaded bolt in a threaded hole with little room between threads.

Of the three I handled, 2 were in one shop (brand new) and 1 was at a gun show (also brand new).

So, my search for a packable rimfire continues.

 

Not having read all the postings here, and being a dealer, here goes what happened to me: first off, most people don't have more bad guns because most dealers check out what they get in and send back the obvious junk. That said, some stuff does get through, more often than not. I COMPLETELY disregard the idea that the factory test fires and passes anything!! THEY DO NOT! A FEW industry insiders, once they are on the outside, admit the factories fail to test fire MOST guns (some companies are far worse than others) and my experiences support this.

Now since this thread is about HENRY AR-7 rifles, and not Armalite or Charter Arms AR-7s, I will skip them. The HENRY AR-7 that I ordered for a buyer is JUNK. PERIOD. I sent it back to Henry and they rasped at the rear of the chamber with looks like a worn out rat tailed file and sent it back. NOT a huge improvement! OK, that DID improve the gun 100%. Instead of jamming every other shot, that is when it could be made to chamber a round with out jamming to start, it now jammed every other shot! I was able to get it to fire seven rounds in a row exatly ONCE! Off a bench rest with the gun being held down from the top, it did fire seven times with out jamming. I was never able to get it to do that again, ever. The Henry was tried with Henry mags, Charter Arms mags, after market mags, and never fired more than one round before jamming before being sent back to Henry, and after being returned, it fired two rounds before jamming. And I am expected to believe the factory test fired the gun and it jammed every other round and they thought that was acceptable, and after being returned they felt that two rounds and jam was OK!

I am NOT picking on Henry, I can tell you about CURRENT S&W, WILSON, KIMBER, RUGER and other makes that obviously were just boxed up and shoved out the door and never saw a test fire or quality control person. Buying a gun in this country, or at least ones made in this country, is a total crap shoot.

 

Agreed. I am about a month away from giving up and buying a Ruger Mk II looooong barreled semi-auto pistol. I hunt with a S&W model 63 for fun, but when it counts I'd rather have a rifle. I just can't seem to find one that's up to it (and packable). There are some mods to an AR7. For instance, there is a company that sells steel barrels. I think their front sight pattern is similar to my old Charter Arms that had a fixed metal front sight. It would work great as long as the windage shoots dead on.

I'm still eyeballing a Ruger Charger too. The local shop has a used one right now. It's a bit on the heavy side, though.

 

Broker, I did not read every posting here, most that I did were dealing with items other than the Henry and many had nothing to do with Henry. I don't need to read six pages of ranting to know that the majority of the posters didn't have a clue what they are talking about. Sorry if that offends you.

Your response to my posting, which you called "drawn out" was nearly as long as my posting and had nothing to do with the thread. What you called "complaints" are merely facts. There are actually quite a few industry insiders who are now outsiders who will admit that many factories do not bother test firing guns, and as a dealer I can tell you that is true. Returning the rifle to Henry did nothing to fix the problem. The 'solution' is for Henry to fix the rifle, but since that isn't going to happen any time soon, the real solution is to buy a quality product, which the Henry isn't.

 

the rear sight is a JOKE, the lockwork is made of soft steel, the front and rear sights are on different parts of the gun, so the slightest amount of wear on that pot metal receiver and barrel sleeve mean that you get no accuracy. so taking the gun down and reassembly better be VERY rare! The rear sight is nothing but a stamped pc of flat steel. It is held on the gun by a screw, with an "x" of a hole thru the sight. you are supposed to "adjust' your sights by loosening the screw, wiggling the sight around and then retightening the screw! good luck with that. Get a Marlin Model 70P Papoose. It is out of production, but it is the best. Or, much better indeed, learn to really use a 22 handgun, and get a sound suppressed one.

 

Wow, Gunkid's reincarnation walks among us.

 

I still think it's good old Rictus! Unless they are one and the same.

 

Yes, they are. One John Melvin Davis - AKA Gunkid/rictus/meyah. Infamous. Intelligent beyond all belief. We should bow to his awesomeness.

 

He's never had any real-world experience with any of the guns he puts down. Too obvious. The Henry ain't perfect, but it does it's job.