Henry rechambering

[Molasses Mike]

The Smith Shop is taking no new work due to illness. Where can I get a Henry rechambered from
44-40 to 44 special?

[Dusty Morningwood]

Boy, that's a shame.  Hope Hap gets up and running again real soon.  He did an outstanding job converting my Henry to .44 Special.  But it seems on my runup to having this work done, I had some communication with another smith who does this work.  Wish I had kept those emails.

[FriscoCounty]

BTT, no point in posting it a a new topic..  I am looking at getting either an 1866 in .44 Special or a .44-40 1860 Henry and having re-chambered to .44 Special.  Can anyone provide some gunsmith recommendations?  A California based one would be particularly convenient.  Any input as to the expected cost of such an endeavor?

[Advertising]

[Coffinmaker]

What your asking is not all that difficult for a full service Rifle gun smith.  I don't personally know of anyone in your neck of the woods, but, I would suggest you contact the Cowboys & Indian Store in California.  I don't know if Jim Lincoln does it, but if he doesn't, he'll sure know someone who does.

Coffinmaker

[FriscoCounty]

Thanks.  I will contact him.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Hap is not ill. At least he was not when I saw him last. He has closed his shop and turned in his FFL. He was going to have to move his shop for the 2nd or 3rd time and just got tired of the hassel. I think he is still sending out his parts and his kits, but he is no longer offering gunsmithing services.

[Long Juan]

Same question.  I'm in Austin, TX, and am interested in having a .44-40 Henry rechambered to shoot .44 Special.  Any recommendations for gunsmiths in Central Texas, anywhere in Texas, anywhere in the U.S.?  Thanks in advance. 

[Trailrider]

I'm sure converting a .44-40 M1860 Henry Repeating Rifle to .44 Special can be done.  I'm not sure just how practical it is.  The base diameter of the .44-40 is larger than the .44 Special.  So you have to remove the barrel (with the integral magazine tube), set the barrel/magazine tube back by cutting off the rear end, and then re-chamber the barrel.  Not sure about modifying the elevator for the shorter cartridge.  Don't know who would do the job...right, so I can't help you there.  Maybe a good smith wouldn't charge an arm and a leg, but maybe your hand and big toe.

Might be better off to trade the rifle off...

[Abilene]

Long Juan,
give Lonnie Ammann (Tejas Long Rifles) a call.  He's in Hearne, TX (near College Station).  He can do pretty much anything.  I would imagine he could sleeve the chamber.  His numbers are 979-279-5859 ; 979-279-3400.  You could even drop the rifle off at WJ Cowboy Co. (512-778-6778) just north of Leander.  They make runs up to Lonnie at various times to take/pick up guns for repair or action jobs. 

[Dead I]

I hope that I don't sound like a stick in the mud...but why change a perfectly good 44/40 into a 44 Special? 

I've got an old 44/40 Colt Lightening and it shoots pretty hard.  It doesn't feel like a 44 mag, but it's not toy either and I love the old gun.

I suspect that some of you are shooting pistols in 44 Special and you want a rifle that does the same...that makes sense to me.  (Not that what makes sense to me matters.)  But I'd go the other way and shoot 44/40s. 

Sure the 44 Special case is stronger/thicker, but why care? 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Dead I;  As the original Henrys & 1866`were in .44 Henry rf, a rather short round, and a lot of 66`s were made up in .44 Henry cf in 1889, there was some hope in coming closer to the original chambering.  As .44 Henry cf is a clone of the .44 S&W American, a round no one makes anymore, thoughts turned to the .44 Russian.  Outside a few Ubertis made in .44 Spl, no factory stepped up to the plate.

When a way was developed to alter the lifter on a 1866 or Henry for short rounds the marriage was concluded.  Chambering to .44 Special allowed use of a regular chambering reamer, and allowed use of .44 Russian or .44 Colt at will, oal permitting. Most conversions I,ve read about used a chamber sleeve.

Use of any of these rounds in a revolver is a convenient bonus.  .44-40 cannot be shortened as it is a bottlenecked round, `though it is a great round in its own right.

[Long Juan]

Thanks for all of your replies.  As one or more of you have guessed, I am wanting to rechamber because I plan to start shooting Conversions or Open Tops next year in .44 Special and want a rifle to match.  Makes reloading and not loading easier and will help avoid loading the wrong cartridge in the rifle at a match.  The Henry I have is .45LC.  I was thinking of purchasing a 44-40 to convert.  I have an 1866 in .44 Special.  Just thinking it would be nice to have a Henry also, back-up, plus something else fun to shoot.  I know Lonnie and he has worked on other guns for me in the past.  In fact, he is working on a Spencer for me right now.  I will check with him when I drive over to Hearne to pick up the Spencer.  Bottom-line, it's not a big deal, but something I would like to do.  Thanks again to all. 

John, aka Long Juan

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Long Juan;  You can use short lifters in both rifles.  .45 Cowboy Spl in the .45 and .44 Russ on the .44 Spl.  If you have extra gold in your money belt, I could sure use it!

[Long Juan]

Sir Charles,

Not sure I understand that one.  I have a .44 Special 1866 and shoot .44 Special in it.  I have a .45LC Henry and shoot .45 LC in it.  I would like to have a second Henry that shoots .44 Special.  To my knowledge, the Henry is not available from Uberti or anyone else in .44 Special, only .44-40 and .45LC.  I was thinking about purchasing a .44-40 Henry and having it converted to .44 Special.  Understand short lifters will let me shoot, e.g. .45 Cowboy Colt in a .45LC rifle, but not sure short lifters would solve my problem.  I do not think a short lifter would let me shoot .44 Special in either a .44-40 or .45LC Henry or any other rifle for that matter.  Am I missing something?  Entirely possible, but I guess I need some help understanding if I am.  Thanks

John, aka Long Juan

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Short lifters allow .44 Russ in a .44 Spl. or .45 CS in a 45 LC.  You are right, the only way to deal with .44-40 is to sleeve & re chamber.

As you have both possibilities already, why buy another rifle, unless you REALLY want it!

[Long Juan]

"... why buy another rifle, unless you REALLY want it!" 

Curses!  Caught yet again. 

[FriscoCounty]

Sir Charles,

Not sure I understand that one.  I have a .44 Special 1866 and shoot .44 Special in it.  I have a .45LC Henry and shoot .45 LC in it.  I would like to have a second Henry that shoots .44 Special.  To my knowledge, the Henry is not available from Uberti or anyone else in .44 Special, only .44-40 and .45LC.  I was thinking about purchasing a .44-40 Henry and having it converted to .44 Special.  Understand short lifters will let me shoot, e.g. .45 Cowboy Colt in a .45LC rifle, but not sure short lifters would solve my problem.  I do not think a short lifter would let me shoot .44 Special in either a .44-40 or .45LC Henry or any other rifle for that matter.  Am I missing something?  Entirely possible, but I guess I need some help understanding if I am.  Thanks

John, aka Long Juan

The 1866 is available in .44 Special.  To shoot .44 Russian in a .44 Spcl 1866 all you need to do is get a cowboy .45 special carrier for the 1866/1873 from Adirondack Jack (or the Smith Shop) and fit it in.

You are right that you can not get the 1860 in .44 Special right now.  It was available at one time.  Now, you would have to take a .45LC or .44WCF version of the 1860 and have its barrel sleeved.  After that, to shoot .44 Russian, you would get the 1860 version of the short carrier.  In the modern Uberti 1860 the .44WCF actually has a .429 barrel groove, so you might get away with just having the chamber sleeved instead of the entire barrel.  Personally, I don't think the cost savings would be worth it though.

I just got an 1866 in .44 Special and fitted the short carrier.  It allows me to shoot .44 Russian in my rifle, S&W No 3 Russian, and 1872 Open Top.

[Dead I]

Dead I;  As the original Henrys & 1866`were in .44 Henry rf, a rather short round, and a lot of 66`s were made up in .44 Henry cf in 1889, there was some hope in coming closer to the original chambering.  As .44 Henry cf is a clone of the .44 S&W American, a round no one makes anymore, thoughts turned to the .44 Russian.  Outside a few Ubertis made in .44 Spl, no factory stepped up to the plate.

When a way was developed to alter the lifter on a 1866 or Henry for short rounds the marriage was concluded.  Chambering to .44 Special allowed use of a regular chambering reamer, and allowed use of .44 Russian or .44 Colt at will, oal permitting. Most conversions I,ve read about used a chamber sleeve.

Use of any of these rounds in a revolver is a convenient bonus.  .44-40 cannot be shortened as it is a bottlenecked round, `though it is a great round in its own right.

Thank you for the explanation.  So the 44 Special is about the same length as the .44 Henry Flat?  I did not know that!
Are people reeming original '66's to take the 44 Special?  I thought that all 1866 Wins where in .44 Henry.

Years ago I bought some Spencer cases that had a place to seat a CB cap with the bullet pulled to shoot in my old Spencer.  You had to load it so the CB cap fit underneath the Spencer firing pin (which isn't a "pin" at all)  I never did it though and I've lot those cases (it was over 30 years ago).

I wish they'd make Henry's and 66's in the old Henry round and load rimfire rounds for them too.  They could also shoot them in SAA's since there were made in that caliber too.  Fat chance.

[Major 2]

In the 70's Val Forgett offer the Uberti Henry in RF course there were no rounds available, still you could get a Rim Fire Henry.
Actually early on , they were US made then Val had Aldo Uberti make them...they still do.
I had a choice when I bought my 1st. one , RF or 44-40, I chose 44-40 to shoot ,not a wall hanger.
I sold that one in 88 and bought it back, in 09, 21 years later.
In the mean time, I was gifted a Military model in 45 at Christmas 99 by my wife, and swapped a Armi Sport Spencer for Steel frame also in 45 colt in 07...
My old 44-40 was about 12 years old when I sold it, and now 33 years later it's back in my battery 
It's seen many many thousands of blanks Reenacting, and many more live fired.

I also had some of the Spencer Rounds you mention, I got them at Dixie Gun Works used a 22 cal short with the lead pulled.
It worked, but not all that well on my orginial Spencers , I bought the S&S upper block.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Dead I said; `So the 44 Special is about the same length as the .44 Henry Flat?  I did not know that!"

Here is the data from Cartridges of the World, 3d Ed.;

cartridge            case L.        overall L.
.44 Henry  rf       .875             1.345
.44 American      .91               1.44
.44 Russian         .97              1.43
.44 Colt             1,10              1.50
.44 Special        1.16              1.62
.44 Magnum      1.29              1.61