Ever since I first found out this rifle existed, I was awed by it. That a repeating rifle actually existed in a war dominated by muzzle loaders was absolutely shocking. Just imagining the insane power this would give to a rank and file soldier who was lucky enough to get his hands on this made me want it instantly. Well it took years of saving up and 1,400 dollars, making this the most expensive gun I've ever bought. But now I finally have what the Confederates called That damn Yankee rifle you could load on Sunday and keep shooting till the end of the week.
The one I've got is an Uberti .45 Long Colt, which holds 13 rounds in the tube. 3 less than the original capacity of 16 rounds the original had in .44 rimfire. While not a big deal since I don't intend to use this for anything other then an occasional trip to the range, I got it almost entirely for the nostalgia value so I would have liked to have the original capacity for that reason alone.
I just picked it up today so I haven't taken it to the range yet. Initial impressions based just on appearance are pretty much what I thought of it. I found the magazine tube to be a bit of a pain to open up. It takes some effort, which could be a problem in the heat of battle. Of course, it's unique open bottomed magazine tube is the main knock against it, as it is highly vulnerable to fouling. Another noteworthy thing is that it has no handguard under the barrel, so I'll be sure to bring some shooting gloves when I fire this thing Also maybe this is just because I've been spoiled by modern polymer guns, but I found it uncomfortably heavy. So much that my support arm would feel tired after only about 10 seconds of aiming. And that's with no ammo in it. I guess maybe this will be my motivation to spend more time in the weight room. Also another downside for its day was that the Henry did not have a bayonet attachment, which was a bit of an issue since bayonets were still occasionally used in that war.
Still there is just no denying the incredible feeling of power I have by holding it, knowing how vastly superior it was to every other rifle in its day. Just picking it up makes me want to run off and blow away some rebels. I can't wait to take this to the range.
As a side note, it really is a shame the U. S. Army never took full advantage of the Henry, or repeaters in general. Only a few thousand of them were issued during the war. After the civil war, it didn't see any further use for the Army. There were many 1860 Henry rifles at the 1876 Battle of Little Big horn, but unfortunately for George Custer and his troopers, it was just the Indians who had them. Amazingly, the Army would completely ignore repeaters and go to the single-shot Trapdoor Springfield as their standard issue rifle in 1873. Then in 1893 they went with the bolt-action Krag Jorgenson, which did at least hold 5 rounds, but did not have a detachable magazine and could not use stripper clips, meaning after those 5 rounds it was basically a single shot gun. Honestly I might prefer the 1860 Henry over that. Overall the Army's use of rifle technology in the 19th century really is pathetic when you look at the big picture. They went into pretty much every major war with obsolete rifles. Their final two, the Trapdoor Springfield and Krag-Jorgbenson, were obsolete before they even went into production.
