Henry rifle drawing

[Rob]

 Hi All, I have just got a full sized drawing of a Henry percussion rifle serial no 669.
the drawing was done by one Don.H.Brown in 1985 

it looks like a very nice target rifle and I have no doubt that it was but  I have a question which might upset some people a bit ..I am pretty much a flint shooter and the question is would I be too  much off side if I was to make up a rifle using the Henry dimensions and shape but in flint, a sort of  very late plains rifle if you like .. Rob

[Old Ford2]

Hi,
If you Google Henry Leman, you will see that he was a very prolific gun maker.
He produced flint plains rifles up to at least 1870, well into the cartridge era.
Many were in large caliber, .58 and larger.
Leman ( Lehman ) produced thousands of rifles for the western movement, and very little credit is given for his great efforts.
So you will not be too far out to make a very late flint plains rifle.
Good luck on your venture.
I have just finished a .58 flint plains rifle, 1/2 stock, and am starting a matching pistol and rifle plains gun in .69 cal.
Fred

[stuart cee dub]

 Hi Rob ,
Do you mean JJ Henry or H.Leman? Or is there another Henry besides ?

My recollection is JJ Henry made mostly all flints with one small batch of percussion guns for the trade after the American fur company was sold .
JJ Henry made the Scroll guard (New English ) ,Lancaster and English Patterns .All using a rather large  late flintlock with a round tail .

 H.Leman made both flint and percussion rifles for the trade. Far more prolific than JJ Henry in terms of output, Leman wasn't a one man shop either but a factory .Henry Leman was a student of Melchior Fordney .


PS I can give you special dispensation to build a flint gun .
from the Church of the Acolytes of the Lunatic fringe. (for what it's worth )

[T*O*F]

Do you mean JJ Henry or H.Leman? Or is there another Henry besides ?

The print he is referring to is Alex Henry and is of a late English sporting rifle and also contains lines for building a Henry long range target rifle, depending on what parts set was ordered from Don.  The former is not necessarily a target rifle.

He would probably be better served by building Chamber's English sporting rifle.

[okieboy]

 Is your drawing a half stock or a full stock?

[stuart cee dub]

Building an Alex Henry in flint would be a stretch .

I have seen nice flint target rifles using modern pistol grip stocks for off hand use at some of the formal matches but those really are not traditional but they are practical .

The idea of a Chambers English Sporting rifle would split the difference.The English were making modern stocks long before the modern era .The English style with the griprail works very nicely as a stand in for a pistol grip. Even as an 1840 rifle era half stock there were english customers who might have resisted the percussion lock in a bespoke rifle .Make a story up if you need to .

Ultimately we are all building fantasy rifles .

Is traditional even a concern?  

[Old Ford2]

My references to Leman ( Lehman ) was only to confirm that well known gun builders of the 19th. century did not necessarily jump on to the percussion wagon, as some would think.
Just ask many of the "Geezers " here if they are ready for the percussion change over.
I don't think all of my fantasies will be tolerated here!
Fred

[gunmaker]

Rob, if you are thinking of an Alex. Henry rifle project, I believe the gun works in Oregon can cut his rifling type out to 35" bbl. They do good work on bbl's.....Tom

[Rob]

Is your drawing a half stock or a full stock?

thanks for the input guys
 the drawing is of a Alex Henry  half stock with a pistol grip and thanks for the info on
 where to get a barrel but I will make my own
  sheer cussedness and shortage of funds also they probably dont ship to New Zealand  .. Rob