Henry's Rifle with Octagonal Barrel, Civil War, USA 1860.1030/L

Henry's Rifle with Octagonal Barrel, Civil War, USA 1860.1030 / L

Dimensions: 111 cm
Weight: 2780 g

The original Henry's rifle was a .44 caliber, lever, slide-loading rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in the late 1850s. The Henry Rifle was an improved version of the earlier Volcanic Repeating Rifle. Henry's rifle used copper (later brass) rimfire cartridges containing 25 grains (1.6 g) of gunpowder for 216 grains (14 g) bullet. 900 Henry's rifles were produced between the summer and October 1862; by 1864, production peaked at 290 a month. By the time production ended in 1866, approximately 14,000 units had been produced.

For a Civil War soldier, possession of Henry's rifle was a source of pride. Although never officially accepted into service by the Union Army, many soldiers purchased Henry's rifles from their own resources. Brass-mounted rifles could fire at 28 rounds per minute if properly used, so soldiers who didn't save on buying them often believed that the rifle would help them survive. They were often used by scouts, flank guards, and raiders rather than by ordinary infantry formations. For the astonished Confederates armed with gun pouches facing this deadly "sixteen-year-old", it was "that damned Yankee rifle they load on Sunday and fire all week!" Very few of the captured Henry's rifles have been used on a limited basis by the Confederate army. Since the few Confederate soldiers who did come into possession of one of these rifles had little way of replenishing the special ammunition used by that rifle, its widespread use by Confederate forces was very impractical. It was known, however, that the rifle was used at least in part by about fifteen different Confederate units. These units included cavalry units in Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, as well as the personal protection of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Our replicas of firearms are made of special alloys, which makes it impossible to adapt them to firing any ammunition (our replicas do not have any features of a firearm within the meaning of the Act on weapons and ammunition). It is not a real weapon deprived of functionalities within the meaning of the Act on Weapons and Ammunition, where the process of decommissioning is strictly regulated by law (special gunsmith workshops, etc.). Our replicas are not weapons or their modifications and can be purchased as replicas without permission. The firearms replicas in our store are decorative items only.