Another Henry Single Shot Question....

[BillTell]

So I got my first Henry. A .45-70 Single Shot. Shot pretty nice out of the box, took 6 rounds to hit well enough that I could hit steel targets at will, at 100 yds. Now that I know the iron sights are on, I don't want to drive them out of the dovetail just to mount my scope rail. (as Henry suggests) After a bit of research, the answer seems to be a Leupold 56515 base, that I now have to cut about 1/8" off the end to make it fit flush to the back of the rear sight. I now have the base, and got some Aluminum Black to cover the cut end, but here's my question:

Is there an alternative method or rail that fits the Henry Single Shot where I don't have to modify anything? And can leave my rear sights on for emergency? If I have to make my own solution I will, but I don't understand why a better rail doesn't exist for this... or does it? Thanks in advance.

 

[wiscoaster]

On Henry's scope bases parts page https://henrypride.com/collections/rifle-parts/products/rifle-scope-mounts they recommend a Weaver 63B.

In the past I've also used their contact form and they were pretty good about responding to my question.

 

[BillTell]

I believe those are only for their lever guns. The base mount screws are different spacing. Only one base for the single shots, and they require the rear sight to be removed. I wrote to Henry, and got a totally standardized corporate response, stating that " the fact that you can't retain sights on the H015-4570 with an optic mounted is not a scope base design issue". I sent my response, saying that I don't think it's ANYTHING BUT a scope base design issue! I don't see why they couldn't have a scope base cantilevered over the folded down rear sight. This way, if the scope failed in the field, you could still remove it, the base, and use the iron sights.