my henry and improved henry

[buckskin billy]

here are my henry and improved henry.
the henry is a navy arms in 45 colt. i call him ole henry
the improved henry is a cimarron in 44special. i call her sweet melissa.
they make a fine pair

[brass]

B.B. - Great idea to post pictures of your babies (they're very nice ones too I might add).

Here are my Henry & '66 repops, both in .44 WCF, yes - farb calibre for the rifles but finding a repro .44 Henry cartridge is beyond my capabilities.



Brass

[buckskin billy]

them things look original. very nice looking guns.
what did you antique them with?
my pard patriot is a cabinent maker by trade and does a dern fine job on building gun stocks. i ended up with a big chunk of black wal nut and he cut it out for me to go on the henry. we got the but plate fitted but still have a good bit of work left before its a finished stock.
the plan is to finish it with aqua fortis and linseed oil, but that will depend on how a piece of scrap from that wood turns out.
we built me a sweet box and i plan to rust blue the barrel. i'm getting a nitre blue kit from brownells and will nitre blue the screws.
then we'll do the improved henry like wise.
getting rid of that shiny modern blue and red colored wood makes them look a bunch better

[jameshunt]

All nice guys, and not to be outdone:

[buckskin billy]

very nice james. looks like you got some pretty wood on your '66.
my '66 is two different colors on each side. and it is very noticable.
i was gonna send it back but that was the only 44 special we could find at the time. so i figured it was easier to fix that than look for another

[patriot]

Does everybody but me got a pair of those?

[buckskin billy]

great looking guns girdi olmmi. thanks for sharing.

james i just took a second look at your richard masons, and noticed the cut out in the barrel for loading a ball. is this a original or did you have it converted? if so who did it?

[jameshunt]

Billy: The pistol shown with the Henry - a photo I had sitting on my lap top hence its appearance - is what collectors refer to as a "turned round barrel pocket navy". It is chambered for a .38 cf colt cartridge, which is less common than the rf. Made up of left over CW part they were manufactured about 1873 - 75. About 2000 were made. This little bugger still shoots like a champ.

There were colt pocket pistols made in this fashion from the 62 police and 1849 pocket pistols. The now out of print book "A Study of Colt Conversions and Other Percussion Revolers" by McDowell does an outstanding job of discussing these arms and is highly recommended if you can find a copy.

The wood on my 66 is whatever the Italians use. Not to period looking. Both it and the Henry were stripped and then re-stained, with a light coat of antique varnish applied. The 66 came out looking like that.

Indeed Brass' firearms could pass for originals. He is a master de-farber, with the affect greatly enhanced by his rather severe use of any weapon. I have watched him haul these things around in a period correct little wagon at a SASS event, all sort of rattling together. It was great to see your SASS main-streamer - usually the one wearing the plastic rain fly over his "Gus Crease" cowboy hat - gasp at such an authentic treatment of firearms.

[brass]

B.B. - I strip off the bluing coating or whatever the Italians use then reapply cold bluing solution. Unfortunately my firearms look too old to be period and occasionally I'll touch them up with cold blue so they don't look too old. For the wood I strip off the plastic finish and apply linseed oil. However, the fore stock on the '66 is an original I found that certainly adds a bit more character to the carbine.

Indeed, Mr Hunt is correct in that I use my firearms pretty hard though keep their internals clean and in good repair. It is fun to watch your typical SASS guy cringe at how my guns look, but to me a firearm is merely a tool. A few dings on a stock don't amount to much, it's keeping it clean and ensuring all the parts work right/are kept in good repair that make the difference.

Brass

[buffalochip]

Great collection of Guns. New to the site so sitt working out how to add pictures.
I have converted one of my Henry's to load from the side. Will try and post a picture.

[malpaso]

Buffalo Chip? is that you Mike?

[buffalochip]

It sure is.

[buffalochip]

This my henry convertion.

Attachments:

[buffalochip]

Closer look

Attachments:

[malpaso]

Always very nice to see your collection, at least you can still own them.
regards
Malpaso (Terry)