Friday, June 03, 2005

B List: Henry Survival .22


I was looking to get a "survival" firearm and this Henry model kept popping up on the internet. It seems like a good back up for the Ruger 10/22 that I want. I think it might be nice to have on ready in the car for emergencies, when there's nothing else. I'll have to check on the laws about that one though. Nice design and a handy caliber.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had a friend who's brother owned one of those survival .22's. The receiver actually fractured, beyond repair.

I have handled them at an NRA show where the manufacturer had a display. The metal the receivers are made out of is crap. I don't know what the metal actually is, and I'm certainly no metallurgist, but it seemed to my unskilled hands and eyes to be some kind of alloy. It is incredibly lightweight (significantly lighter than a BB gun!), which adds to its allure, but the metal portions are also extremely lightweight. Definitely the lightest rifle I've ever picked up, by far. If they were long-lived, I'd like to have one myself. But I've noticed that many gun manufacturers are slow to improve their fundamental designs, despite design flaws or areas for obvious improvements. So I will remain without one. This was all around 1998, so things could've changed since then, which may warrant some investigation, but I doubt it.

I suppose if you got one and yours broke, (beyond the obvious safety factor) there is a strong tradition of gun owners repairing failures of their pieces, so you could probably send it back. Then again, I'd be hesitant to use something I couldn't be sure wouldn't blow up in my face. I'd be interested to hear others' experience, but haven't come across any so far.

Anonymous said...

perhaps i should just stick with a marlin papoose. i haven't read much about them, but i've heard they are a good alternative - perhaps much better. thanks for the heads up.