The Henry AR-7 Survival Rifle...

[Riomouse911]

I posted in another thread on the AR-7 that my experience with 5 different guns over several years was that the newer Henry is the most reliable of the bunch, but the Armalite and Charter versions I fired were jam-o-matics. The Charter Explorer pistol I fired was better than the AR-7 rifles (10" barrel), that would be one that I would buy if Henry (Or another maker) remade them.

I will admit that I didn't do a massive amount of ammo testing to find if there was a happy place with a particular brand with these guns, but the same ammo ran in other semis with no issues at the same time we were plinking with the AR-7's.

I think the new Henry's are heavier or the stock is different, rumor is the newest ones won't float as well the originals did. Not owning one, I have no idea how long (or even if) the gun will still float. The new Henry's do have an optic rail, which would make it pretty nifty with a compact red dot should you be in a situation that required a survival rifle to get out of a scrape.

Stay safe.

 

[jmorris]

The new Henry's do have an optic rail, which would make it pretty nifty with a compact red dot should you be in a situation that required a survival rifle to get out of a scrape.

As I noted earlier, the one I have is a bit different then the one in the OP but does have a 3/8 rail. I have never mounted anything to it though. Seemed absolutely pointless as it could no longer be returned to “stored” condition, might as well have a regular rifle at that point.

It’s bad enough for repeatability to have the front sight and rear sight on two different parts that come apart, add having to store them separately or worse removing optics so you now have 3 different parts that need to be restored to original position and it just gets worse.

The takedown 10/22 has the same issue when receiver mounted optics come into play.

Same thing Browning learned with the Belgium SA-22’s where the dovetail was in the receiver.



vs the later cantilever, barrel mounts used on the Japan ones.