Blanks for the Henry
Cartridge Crate by: Todd Koster
Henry Blanks:
The first blanks that I started with were made from .30-40 Krag brass. The brass had to be cut to the length of a full length .44-40 and the rims had to be turned down a little. I also used .444 Marlin brass cut to length. Another unusual case that worked was the .410 shot shell case cut down. All of these worked well. I would pick up my empty cases to reload and use again. Picking up brass got to be a major pain in the butt. Then came
Starline Brass for making 5 in 1 full length blanks for the Henry cost $321 per 1000. These can be loaded with black powder and crimped however the crimp should not be closed all the way bringing it to a point for obvious reasons. If you are using these to load your own blanks the total cost for a blank round will be 32 cents for the case, 3 cents for the primer and 5 cents for the powder depending on the cost of the powder per pound. That is 40 cents a round or $40 per 100 blanks. You will need the loading press and the crimp die to load these. These will work in both a .44-40 and a .45 Colt Henry.
To buy 5 in 1 brass blanks from Swanson’s with paying postage would be an estimated $60 per 100 or very likely more. Even plastic 5 in 1 blanks are going to be around $40 per 100 plus postage. The plastic blanks have several problems and some of these involved safety related issues. I would not use plastic blanks. Some places are charging $1.00 per brass full length blank or $100 per 100 blanks.
The cheapest way to go is to buy once-fired .44 Magnum brass, modify your Henry Rifle and load your own. Once-fired .44 Magnum brass will cost 10 cents each, 3 cents for the primer, and about 5 cents for the powder for a total cost of 18 cents per round or $18 per 100. That is a big difference in buying brass 5 in 1 blanks at over $60 per 100, but probably more. A savings of over $40 per 100 is a very real thing. A Henry had a large appetite during the Civil War. One example was at
Starline .45 Colt blank brass cost $156.56 per 1000 and are not long enough to feed through the Henry rifle unless the carrier has been modified. These cases have the enlarged flash hole for loading blanks. These take large pistol primers. Again these cases will not work in your Henry, they are too short, unless the carrier has been modified. The cost per blank would be 16 cents for the case, 3 cents for the primer, around 5 cents for the powder for a total of 24 cents per blank or $24 per 100. This is if you load your own and have the equipment to do so and you also must have the carrier modified and probably the bolt depending on what modification you are using. I should mention that these will only work if you have a .45 Colt Henry.
So there is a break down on how to feed your Henry rifle.
1900 Henry Blanks made from .44 Magnum cases packaged and ready to use.
How many blanks to carry at a reenactment??
How many blanks should you carry for a reenactment, an interesting question? If we look at what a Civil War soldier would have carried, and use this as a base, then we can come up with a reasonable answer. At one recent reenactment the round requirement was that no one could carry more than 40 rounds, this also was the limit for those carrying a Henry Repeating Rifle. This amount might be accurate if those Civil War soldiers had just come from a battle, but this amount was grossly inaccurate and unauthentic if men were to be out foraging for food etc. Those armed with Henry Repeating rifles were resupplied with ammunition soon after a battle was over. With 16 cartridges in the rifle means that you only carried 24 extra rounds if you could carry no more than 40 rounds. This would not be correct or authentic if you are out in enemy territory foraging. Henry Rifle owners were not stupid; they used their repeater as a repeater, not as a muzzle-loader. At reenactments there is too much “muzzle-loader mentality” when it comes to how some think a Henry Rifle was used. Your first goal, if foraging, would be your own self protection as well as the protecting of those with you. Your second goal was to get food. Without the first goal you do not make it back to camp to fulfill your second goal.
So what did the Civil War soldier carry for ammunition if armed with a Henry? Strangely enough there is no mention of rounds issued to those armed with a Henry Repeating Rifle. The government did provide ammunition but the individual soldiers also purchased their own privately. Henry cartridges came packaged either 100 cartridges to the box for the early ammunition and by late 1863 to 1864 the 50 cartridges to the box became more common. Most likely Henry owners carried cartridges in multiples of 50 or 100 depending on what ammunition was available. There are reports of Henry armed troops making mentioned that they fired x number of rounds in a particular time frame. Prosper Bowes mentions that he fired 90 rounds non stop in his Henry at a battle in Georgia. Frank Orcutt mentions he fired over 400 rounds at Allatoona Pass. Also we could get an idea of numbers of rounds by looking at what others armed with the Spencer might have carried. For a Spencer 100 to 150 rounds carried seems to be the norm. It is generally accepted that a man armed with a Henry Repeating rifle would have carried an estimate of between 100 to 200 rounds.
Reenacting is nothing like the real Civil War when it comes to battles. There is no way to know the fear of the soldier or the sound of bullets whizzing by for real when it comes to reenacting. In reenacting it is not about “actually shooting” the enemy but it is about making enough noise that the enemy know that they have been shot at and possibly hit. The hobby is called reenACTING for a reason. We have to be actors. Many times a person will not even know that someone was shooting at him unless several shots are fired. Therefore in reenacting more noise equates to carrying more rounds than 40 if armed with a muzzle-loader or over 200 rounds and more than likely over 300 rounds if armed with a repeater. Before anyone thinks this would be “farby” to carry more than the issued rounds you might also think the real Civil War soldier would not have shot blanks at each other either and the issued rounds had bullets on them.
So in conclusion, the number of rounds a reenactor would carry into “battle” with a Henry Repeating” will depend on the event as to what is being done. For a 20 minute spectator battle 50 to 100 rounds might be enough. If the event is an all weekend tactical then a number of 300 to 500 might be an accurate amount to have. Keep in mind, unlike the Civil War soldier that had supply lines close by and could replenish their ammunition supply, the reenactor needs to carry what they will need for the entire event. So is it inaccurate to carry 300 to 500 rounds, yes, if this was live ammunition in the Civil War, no, if we are talking about blanks for a reenactment. However it would be inaccurate and unauthentic to carry only 40 rounds no matter if it is a real war or a reenactment.
Victory thru rapid fire,
The following link is to a webpage that explains how to modify a Henry Rifle to use the short .44 Magnum cases. He also explains his method of making blanks, while not what I do his seems to work for him. The prices list for reloading equipment on this webpage are a little high and can be purchase elsewhere at greatly reduce cost. Terry does have an excellent webpage with a lot of super information.
http://www.9thnycavalry.webeditor.com/publications/henry_article.html