Alexander Henry, 1863

Posted on

You are here: Home > Firearms > Gunmakers > Alexander Henry

This advert for Edinburgh gunmaker Alexander Henry was published in 1863. He patented his polygonal rifling (later made famous in the British Martini-Henry rifle) in 1860. Note that it could be used with soft cylindrical and hard mechanical fitting bullets.

Alexander Henry, an advert from 1863

Henry patented his stock elevator in 1861. Anyone who has fired at long range (eg. 800 yards and beyond) with a rifle of this era will know that the high sight elevation required can leave the head with little, if any, support from the rifle stock. The cheek pad could be adjusted to provide a face rest at all elevations.

The case and tubes referred to will be similar to the case presented here. Glass tubes were used to keep weighed charges of powder in, gaining consistency from shot to shot. Elimination of variance in powder charge becomes particularly critical when shooting at long range.

In the target diagram, the two columns of numbers on the right show the scores for each shot; at the time, a bull’s-eye scored 3 and a centre 2.

Related Posts

Obituary: Alexander Henry (1818-1894)

In the death of Mr Alexander Henry, a well known Edinburgh volunteer and gunmaker has been removed. About the year 1859 Mr Henry took steps, along with other Edinburgh citizens, to bring the formation of volunteer corps in Edinburgh. Although the gun barrel which made Mr Henry’s name known was invented in 1859, it was not till 1871 when it had stood the test of exhaustive trials that it was adopted by the Government, when it superseded the Snider breechloader.

The Henry Rifle

Alexander Henry’s Patent for barrels is number 2802, dated 15 November 1860. In brief the patent abridgement reads: “The rifled bore is of polygonal cross-section, and is provided, in addition, with curved, square, or angular spiral projections or grooves, so as to increase the bearing points of the projectile.”

The Henry Rifle

At the latter end of 1860, a short paragraph “went the round of the papers,” to the effect that a new rifle had been patented by an Edinburgh gunmaker. It was further stated that the inventor had, in a recent trial of his rifle, scored as many as eight points out of six shots at 1100 yards, the first shot being a miss, and the remaining five being made, up of three centres and two outers. To say that this statement took the whole rifle world – makers and marksmen, by surprise, would give but a faint idea of the effect produced.