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I have over the years owned many Henry lever rifles and a few Rossi's. The ownership does not however classify me as an expert on lever rifles. I do know a smoothe rifle action when I handle it. That brings me to the new Henry Long Ranger that I observed my buddy strggling to shoot this week.
I gave some thought about not putting my evaluation of the Henry Long Ranger on this forum, But a buyer needs to be aware of what I saw, so here goes:
We set up to shoot at the PHA range near Salisbury, NC.
I was going to help him set his scope and watch his hits on target.
So he loaded the drop in magazine with four .243 100 grain bullets and that is where his problems began. Before loading he had a difficult time getting the magazine out of the rifle. There was a button less than the size of a dime on the right side of the breech that had to be pushed to drop tha magazine. If the weather had been cold and gloves were needed that would have been next to impossible to do. Now as I watched him, he put the magazine back in the rifle but struggled to get it seated. He had to squeeze the magazine by holding the scope to apply enough pressure to seat it.
OK, so we are set to load. He levers down to open the breech and I noticed he was slow to cloose the lever and the .243 was too loose in the loading chamber to suit me. Had he been hunting it is possible that the round would have dropped out, and then it happened.
The round slid into the barrel and the lever would not close on the round. He did exactly what I would have done. He relevered the rifle which as you know put another round into the chamber. Uh Oh I thought. Sure as snuff he had to roll the rifle over and drop the extra bullet. Now, I am thinking that first bullet is in the barrel. I told him to turn the barrel up and drop the round that was in the barrel. He did so. He continued to have this problem with the breech lacking 1/4" closing on numerous times.
Now there is another thing I want to report.
With the lever down it is impossible to get the magazine out as the lever blocks its removal.
Add to that: An extended magazine will not work in that lever gun due to the lever hitting any extension of the mag. That limits the number of rounds that can be avaliable for that rifle to have ready in case of a need.
He at times commented about the heavy trigger pull, but that can be fixed I think although that is added expense.
I can say that if I were hunting with that rifle, I would certainlty hope I made a kill with one of the first five shots especially if confronted by a mad as hell wild hog.
So, You make your own decision about the report.
I gave some thought about not putting my evaluation of the Henry Long Ranger on this forum, But a buyer needs to be aware of what I saw, so here goes:
We set up to shoot at the PHA range near Salisbury, NC.
I was going to help him set his scope and watch his hits on target.
So he loaded the drop in magazine with four .243 100 grain bullets and that is where his problems began. Before loading he had a difficult time getting the magazine out of the rifle. There was a button less than the size of a dime on the right side of the breech that had to be pushed to drop tha magazine. If the weather had been cold and gloves were needed that would have been next to impossible to do. Now as I watched him, he put the magazine back in the rifle but struggled to get it seated. He had to squeeze the magazine by holding the scope to apply enough pressure to seat it.
OK, so we are set to load. He levers down to open the breech and I noticed he was slow to cloose the lever and the .243 was too loose in the loading chamber to suit me. Had he been hunting it is possible that the round would have dropped out, and then it happened.
The round slid into the barrel and the lever would not close on the round. He did exactly what I would have done. He relevered the rifle which as you know put another round into the chamber. Uh Oh I thought. Sure as snuff he had to roll the rifle over and drop the extra bullet. Now, I am thinking that first bullet is in the barrel. I told him to turn the barrel up and drop the round that was in the barrel. He did so. He continued to have this problem with the breech lacking 1/4" closing on numerous times.
Now there is another thing I want to report.
With the lever down it is impossible to get the magazine out as the lever blocks its removal.
Add to that: An extended magazine will not work in that lever gun due to the lever hitting any extension of the mag. That limits the number of rounds that can be avaliable for that rifle to have ready in case of a need.
He at times commented about the heavy trigger pull, but that can be fixed I think although that is added expense.
I can say that if I were hunting with that rifle, I would certainlty hope I made a kill with one of the first five shots especially if confronted by a mad as hell wild hog.
So, You make your own decision about the report.
