| Henry Rifle | |
|---|---|
patent drawing of the Henry rifle |
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| Type | Lever Action |
| Place of origin | USA |
| Service history | |
| Used by | United States (Union), CSA (Confederacy) |
| Wars | American Civil War, Indian Wars |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Benjamin Tyler Henry |
| Designed | 1850s |
| Manufacturer | New Haven Arms Company |
| Unit cost | $14,000 as of 2004[update] |
| Produced | 1850s to 1866 |
| Number built | 14,000 approx. |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 9 lb 4 oz |
| Length | 44 3/4" |
| Barrel length | 24" |
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| Caliber | .44 caliber rimfire |
| Action | Lever Action, breech-loading |
| Rate of fire | 28 rounds per min. |
| Feed system | 16 round tube magazine |
The Henry repeating rifle was a lever-action, breech-loading, tubular magazine rifle.
Contents |
The original Henry rifle was a .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 with a 216 grain (14 g) bullet over 25 grains (1.6 g) of gunpowder. Nine hundred 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.
For a Civil War soldier, owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride. Although it was never officially adopted for service by the Union Army, many soldiers purchased Henrys with their own funds. The brass framed rifles could fire at a rate of 28 rounds per minute when used correctly, so soldiers who saved their pay to buy one often believed it 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!" Very few captured Henry rifles were used by Confederate troops. Since those few Confederate troops who came into possession of one of these rifles had little way to resupply the special ammunition used by the weapon, its widespread use by Confederate forces was very impractical. The rifle was, however, known to have been used at least in part by some fifteen different Confederate units. These units included cavalry units in Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, as well as the personal bodyguards of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.[1]
While never issued on a large scale, the Henry rifle demonstrated its advantages of rapid fire at close range several times in the Civil War and later during the wars against the Plains Indians. Examples include the successes of two Henry-armed Union regiments at the Battle of Franklin against large Confederate attacks, and the successful defense by small U.S. Army detachments against overwhelming Sioux forces at the Wagon Box Fight and Hayfield Fight during Red Cloud's War — as well as the Henry-armed Sioux and Cheyenne's destruction of the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn.
Manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company, the Henry rifle evolved into the famous Winchester Model 1866 lever-action rifle. With the introduction of the new Model 1866, the New Haven Arms Company was renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
The Henry rifle used a .44 caliber cartridge with 26 to 28 grains (1.7 to 1.8 g) of black powder.[2] This gave it significantly less muzzle velocity and energy than other repeaters of the era, such as the Spencer. The lever action, on the downstroke, ejected the spent cartridge from the chamber and cocked the hammer. A spring in the magazine forced the next round into the chamber; locking the lever back into position sealed the rifle back up into firing position. As it was designed, the rifle was not a very safe weapon. A Henry rifle, when not in use, would either have the hammer cocked or resting on the rim of the cartridge. In the first case, the rifle had no safety and was in firing position. In the second, an impact on the back of the exposed hammer could cause a chambered round to fire.
In 1973, Louis Imperato bought the firearms company of Iver Johnson and began making commercial versions of the M1 carbine. In 1993, Imperato started a factory in his native Brooklyn to manufacture .22 caliber rifles under the newly recreated name[3] of the Henry Repeating Arms Co. which are currently manufactured in Brooklyn, New York. The current company, not to be confused with the original Henry rifles,[3] 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. These replicas are distributed through Navy Arms Company.[4] They are popular among Civil War reenactors, as well as competition shooters in the N-SSA.[5]