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I bought a Henry AR-7 for my father-in-law for Christmas. We have about 1000 rounds through it at this point. Its great for its intended purpose but it is not a target rifle.
The trigger pull is ugly. I'd guess at least 8 lbs. It flatly sucks at least to me. Spend time behind the trigger and you'll notice yourself becoming a lot more competent as your groups tighten up (2-3 inches at 50 ft). That's using the peep sights. Barrel is light but came a little unfinished. That is, there were some burrs in the chamber that caused some feeding/extraction issues. We polished this CAREFULLY not taking off metal and the feeding issues seem to have gone away (using CCI and Federal bulk). Since i couldn't talk my father-in law into obtaining a decent 1 piece removable scope mount, i have little to say about repeatability. A scope once zeroed will tighten groups up substantially but plan on keeping it mounted if that's how you want to use the rifle. And a person is asking A LOT from the light barrel. It is after all a steel sleeve surrounded by aluminum.
An after market heavy target barrel can be bought here. A scope using its Cantilever Mount gives you a repeatable zero, but the heavy barrel defeats the purpose of storing everything in the stock. Groups with the heavy barrel were under a penny at 50 ft. YMMV.
Just my opinion but buy the rifle for its intended purpose then spend a lot of time behind it shooting so that any rough edges smooth out, and so that you become accustomed to the heavy trigger. Its a great little rifle if bought for emergencies, backpacking, or to store in a Jeep but if you plan on shooting benchrest, spend the money on something else keeping purpose of use in mind. Buy multiple rifles, each for a different main purpose.
The trigger pull is ugly. I'd guess at least 8 lbs. It flatly sucks at least to me. Spend time behind the trigger and you'll notice yourself becoming a lot more competent as your groups tighten up (2-3 inches at 50 ft). That's using the peep sights. Barrel is light but came a little unfinished. That is, there were some burrs in the chamber that caused some feeding/extraction issues. We polished this CAREFULLY not taking off metal and the feeding issues seem to have gone away (using CCI and Federal bulk). Since i couldn't talk my father-in law into obtaining a decent 1 piece removable scope mount, i have little to say about repeatability. A scope once zeroed will tighten groups up substantially but plan on keeping it mounted if that's how you want to use the rifle. And a person is asking A LOT from the light barrel. It is after all a steel sleeve surrounded by aluminum.
An after market heavy target barrel can be bought here. A scope using its Cantilever Mount gives you a repeatable zero, but the heavy barrel defeats the purpose of storing everything in the stock. Groups with the heavy barrel were under a penny at 50 ft. YMMV.
Just my opinion but buy the rifle for its intended purpose then spend a lot of time behind it shooting so that any rough edges smooth out, and so that you become accustomed to the heavy trigger. Its a great little rifle if bought for emergencies, backpacking, or to store in a Jeep but if you plan on shooting benchrest, spend the money on something else keeping purpose of use in mind. Buy multiple rifles, each for a different main purpose.
Thanks for the info btw, very very useful info.
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