Checking the Henry sights with a LaserLyte Bore Sighter

Tonight after work I decided to give the Henry its first good looking over outside the factory. I brought the rifle to my gun table and after carefully checking to be sure it was unloaded, I took a look down the barrel.

ALWAYS FIRST CAREFULLY CHECK TO BE SURE THE GUN IS UNLOADED. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WITH A LEVER ACTION.

The Henry Repeating factory had obviously fired a test round through the rifle, so I took out the Hoppe's No. 9 and gave it a good cleaning followed by a light coat of oil. I then examined the sights by getting out my LaserLyte Bore Sighter kit. First I checked the instructions to see which fitting needed to be screwed into the end of the laser to snug it in the barrel. The kit comes with 4 fittings and the largest is correct for the 44 caliber. I then threaded one of the four tiny hex screws that come with the kit into the fitting, followed by threading it into the hole in the end of the laser. As the fitting and screw assembly are rotated, it slowly expands and increases in diameter. It's time to stop screwing it in when the fitting just begins to feel snug in the barrel. Then push the laser in as far as it will go and slowly rotate it clockwise. This causes the screw to thread deeper into the laser and expands the fitting. Don't overtighten. When it begins to feel snug, turn the laser until the rotating switch is facing up. Now you're set to test the sights. These steps are for iron sights. If you're mounting a scope, you'll want to first use the scope leveler that comes with the kit.

Now that the laser is snug in the barrel, I pointed the rifle in a safe direction across my basement to see where the green dot on the wall is landing in relation to the sights. At this short distance it looked good, but I also what to see where it's hitting at a longer distance. Since I'm checking the sights at night, here's my method of going out to about 50 yards. I open my basement door and turn on an indoor basement light. That light is on so I can see my black iron sights. I then put the green laser dot on a tree that I know is about 50 feet out. The sights and the green laser dot should line up. I was amazed to see that the dot landed exactly where it is supposed to be without adjustment. They must have lasered it at the factory, which makes things really easy. Now just rotate the laser counterclockwise to reduce the grip of the fitting on the inside of the barrel and the laser pulls out. That's it until I take the Henry it to the range to finish sighting it in.

Here's a photo I took of a box of Remington 38 Special cartridges next to Remington 44 Magnum. That's one heck of a difference, and I'm sure glad I'm not shooting those babies out of a S&W J-frame Airweight! I plan to start reloading the 44's in a week or two, so check back then.