REAL Henry Rifles In Old Westerns

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Wyatt Burp

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Yeesterday I watched part of 1961's How The West Was Won. George Peppard and Richard Widmark were tossing real Henry rifles to each other during an impending indian attack. I think Henry Fonda used one of the same ones too in the movie. In the original True Grit "Tom Cheney" used a real Henry. Joel McCrea uses one in "Union Pacific" from the thirties. In an old High Chaparral "Buck" carries around a real Henry but the crate it shows it came from are those weird modified Winchester 92's.All the ones I mentioned though, were the real thing.
It's interesting seeing guys handling these guns so casually that would later become $30,000 to $40,000 rifles later. And these are real Henry's. Not converted 92's. Now I want a replica...if they were only made in .44 Special.
 
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Just a small thread drift here. As a publicity stunt for the movie Winchester 1873 the studio placed adds in several gun magazines looking for original Winchester 1 of 1000 model 1873’s. A local establishment, Ellison’s guns in San Mateo had one and replied. They gave him a Winchester model 94 for his trouble. The 1 of 1000 was prominently displayed in a case attached to a pillar in his store along with a newspaper article telling the story. I talked to the store owner and he told me that a customer brought the rifle in for a minor repair and when he returned to pick it up he decided he did not want the rifle. He told them they could have it. Being a wise man he gave the owner $5.00 for to make it a legit sale. At the time the 1 of 1000 had no meaning to him but he told me that he thought it just might be something special so he kept it. Not that many years ago I saw an original 1 of 1000 model 73 sell for in excess of $250,000 at the Greg Martin Auction in San Francisco. There were two bidders on the phone and they had a bidding war. Ellisons closed their doors in the 1980’s. I sure do miss that store.
 
EQGuy said:
Just a small thread drift here. As a publicity stunt for the movie Winchester 1873 the studio placed adds in several gun magazines looking for original Winchester 1 of 1000 model 1873’s. A local establishment, Ellison’s guns in San Mateo had one and replied. They gave him a Winchester model 94 for his trouble. The 1 of 1000 was prominently displayed in a case attached to a pillar in his store along with a newspaper article telling the story. I talked to the store owner and he told me that a customer brought the rifle in for a minor repair and when he returned to pick it up he decided he did not want the rifle. He told them they could have it. Being a wise man he gave the owner $5.00 for to make it a legit sale. At the time the 1 of 1000 had no meaning to him but he told me that he thought it just might be something special so he kept it. Not that many years ago I saw an original 1 of 1000 model 73 sell for in excess of $250,000 at the Greg Martin Auction in San Francisco. There were two bidders on the phone and they had a bidding war. Ellisons closed their doors in the 1980’s. I sure do miss that store.
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I'm 55 and from the Castro Valley and I never heard of that store. But had I been there it sounds like I'd sure remember it.
 
nawilson said:
Henry's website says the Big Boy will chamber the 44 Special... Does it not work well in reality?
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The Henry Big Boy, made by the Henry Rifle Company, in New York, has nothing whatsoever to do with the 1860 Henry Rifle. They don't come right out and say it, in their ads, but they imply heavily that they are the direct descendents of the original Henry Rifle. They Lie.

Wyatt, in The Man from Laramie (Jimmy Stewart) there's a fat little old lady in a buckboard, in one scene, welcoming Jimmy to town. She's got a real Henry.

Starts at 23:35 into the flick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1p50vVd7Eg
 
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Wyatt Burp said:
I'm 55 and from the Castro Valley and I never heard of that store. But had I been there it sounds like I'd sure remember it.
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Wyatt:

I have got 12 years on you and I currently reside in Sunnyvale. It was quite a store. It was fairly large, about the size of an old JC Penny's and he had several hundred guns for display only on the walls and the walls were probably 15 -20 feet tall. He had a large used long gun rack out on the floor so you could examine the guns up close. I bought my Winchester model 71 deluxe off of that rack just before I moved to Alaska in 1977. The store was on El Camino Real not too far from highway 92. I often wonder what happened to all of those old guns he had on display.
 
If you compare the frame of a real Henry to the frame of a replica in .44-40 , you will see a difference in proportions. They had to make changes in the replica frame to accommodate the .44-40 cartridge, which is longer than the original .44 Henry Rimfire.

When Winchester developed the Model 1873, they started with an iron frame, then shortly changed to a steel frame to accommodate the more powerful .44-40 cartridge. If the iron frames were not strong enough for the cartridge, then I question if a brass frame will hold up to extended shooting.

Now I would love to have a good replica of a Henry, but I would like it to have the proportions of the original. What cartridge to use? I would start with a .44 Russian cartridge case loaded to a moderate velocity with a 200 grain flat nose bullet. This cartridge would be fairly close to the size of the .44 Henry cartridge. Of course the replica Henry would have to be made as a centerfire rifle.

Two problems: the first problem is the cost. It won't be cheap. The second problem: since the Henry was the original high capacity assault rifle, I may not be able to own one in California.
 
Alpo said:
The Henry Big Boy, made by the Henry Rifle Company, in New York, has nothing whatsoever to do with the 1860 Henry Rifle. They don't come right out and say it, in their ads, but they imply heavily that they are the direct descendents of the original Henry Rifle. They Lie.

Wyatt, in The Man from Laramie (Jimmy Stewart) there's a fat little old lady in a buckboard, in one scene, welcoming Jimmy to town. She's got a real Henry.

Starts at 23:35 into the flick.
The Man From Laramiefhk 1955
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And what a great patina it had! That was a great scene. I've seen parts of that movie before including that scene, come to think of it. I wonder where that rifle is now?
BTW. In an early Cimarron online ad they said their "Henry's" were also in .44 special but then they removed it. Musta been a misprint. I like their Model 66 and 73's being in .44 Special but a Henry would be even better. Especially aged to look like that old lady's gun.
 
Jag312 I have an Umberti 1873 in 44 special to go with a pair of Umberti No. 3 Russians. A friend kept telling me the step in the elevator would keep the next Russian in the magazine, just tried out-no go. You'll have to get a Henry/Russian length reciver, the cases are the same length (or real close), but the Henry bullet was hollow based and long round nosed, so OAL length is a little different. I think I read that Winchester made a few Henrys in 44 Russian, it would be logical. I would believe an orginal Henry from the later 1800's in an odd cartridge would be worth large dollars. Wouldn't be shooting it much would you? Sorry,I had a similar dream dashed. Ivan
 
jag312 said:
If you compare the frame of a real Henry to the frame of a replica in .44-40 , you will see a difference in proportions. They had to make changes in the replica frame to accommodate the .44-40 cartridge, which is longer than the original .44 Henry Rimfire.

When Winchester developed the Model 1873, they started with an iron frame, then shortly changed to a steel frame to accommodate the more powerful .44-40 cartridge. If the iron frames were not strong enough for the cartridge, then I question if a brass frame will hold up to extended shooting.

Now I would love to have a good replica of a Henry, but I would like it to have the proportions of the original. What cartridge to use? I would start with a .44 Russian cartridge case loaded to a moderate velocity with a 200 grain flat nose bullet. This cartridge would be fairly close to the size of the .44 Henry cartridge. Of course the replica Henry would have to be made as a centerfire rifle.

Two problems: the first problem is the cost. It won't be cheap. The second problem: since the Henry was the original high capacity assault rifle, I may not be able to own one in California.
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That would make the gun a true sixteen shoot, most likely, being in .44 Russian. Find a good flatpoint bullet that feeds good and I'd be all over that.
 
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