There is no doubt Henry Repeating Arms is a quality name in the firearms industry; they are one of the top five long gun manufacturers in the United States, and their history goes back to when Benjamin Tyler Henry patented the first repeating rifle in 1860.
The Henry Repeating Arms AR-7
One of Henry’s newest generation of rifles is the Henry US Survival Rifle, otherwise known as the AR 7 takedown rifle. Recently I got my hands on one of these, and I’ve been having a lot of fun plinking stuff with it.
The rifle will shoot just about any .22lr round you can find. I have seen some reports of people saying other AR-7 brands don’t cycle right, but I’ve run a couple of thousand rounds through the Henry without having any kind of cycling problems. Henry has completely remanufactured the AR7, and it doesn’t have any of the problems or quality issues seen in other manufacturer’s versions.
Overall the rifle is pretty darn accurate and has very little recoil (although most .22s have very little recoil).
Why would you buy a Henry AR7?
The Henry Survival Rifle is modeled after the infamous U.S. Air Force AR-7. The compact and lightweight rifle is great for survival; and can easily fit into any size backpack.
The Henry U.S. Survival rifle is extremely lightweight, weighing in at only 2.5 pounds. It can be easily broken down into three pieces in a couple of seconds, and all of those pieces fit nicely inside the waterproof stock — including 24 rounds of ammo, if you have the magazines fully loaded with one in the receiver. My one real complaint about the rifle is I wish it shipped with three magazines, so you could fit the full 24 rounds in the stock. As is, the rifle ships with two magazines, allowing you to carry 16 rounds inside the stock.
The real benefit in buying one of these AR7 rifles is once broken down; it’s only 16 inches long and will fit easily inside any pack. While something like a 10/22 Ruger is a much better rifle, if you’re looking for a .22 that can easily fit into a hiking backpack or bugout bag, this will definitely do the job.
Henry AR 7 Specs
- Caliber: .22LR
- Capacity: 8
- Barrel Length: 16.1”
- Overall Length: 35”
- Weight: 3.5 lbs.
- Stock: Lightweight polymer
- Sights: Rear adjustable peep/front blade (with integrated Weaver accessory rail)
I really like a 22 for survival. You can carry thousands of rounds, take down game up to 50lbs easily (more if you are a good shot), and it makes little noise. I am not a big fan of this rifle however. A 10-22, Marlin 60 or 39A is so much better as a rifle and if size is what you are looking for, there are many quality accurate handguns that take up less space and weight. I would opt for a good auto like the Ruger or Browning Buckmark. A single action revolver with a magnum cylinder gives you the option for more power if needed and is very reliable. While a handgun is not quite as powerful or accurate as a rifle, a scope can be added to make shots more precise. In the case of the single action, add the magnum cylinder for a slight power advantage over a 22LR rifle.
Ignore “Frank’s” utter drivel. A .22 handgun is not a viable alternative to a rifle. Period! For a start, a .22 handgun is vastly inferior in terms of accuracy (scoped or not – it’s a matter of barrel length!), plus you lose quite a lot in terms of velocity out of a pistol barrel as compared to a rifle barrel. Where the US Survival rifle will able place a .22 bullet where it needs to go on small game at 30 yds and on bigger game further out (a well-practiced shooter should be able to easily hit a 9-inch pie plate every time from a variety of shooting positions at 100yds, which means being bale to place the bullet in the vitals of a small deer, etc.). Try doing any of that with a handgun. Good luck! Shorter sight radius alone will work against you. Bottom line: Get a small .22 rifle. Or even a .22/shotgun combo. I have a Ruger 10/22 and a .22/20 gauge combo gun. The Henry ASR-7 is next on the list.
Do you know if this AR-7 is leagle in Canada?
I have checked with RCMP and it is definitely legal.
Who cares about kalifornicate. If you still live there you need more than a weapon of any kind.
The AR-7 and variants, including Charter Arms etc, are legal in Canada – for now. If the socialist coalition takes over in January then it’s anyone’s guess. I would also look at picking up one of the inexpensive Norinco M-14s or SKSs, as well as one of their 1911s. You get a lot of bang for your buck – pun intended. If Canadian legal precedent holds true at least your guns will be grandfathered under any new law.
Do you need a license to buy the AR7
I understand that this is and old topic, But it is completely LEGAL to own this gun in Canada.
[Part 4]
3. (1) Any cartridge magazine
(a) that is capable of containing more than five cartridges of the type for which the magazine was originally designed and that is designed or manufactured for use in
(ii) a semi-automatic firearm other than a semi-automatic handgun,
The above section of the Criminal Code of Canada, States that it is illegal to own a semi-auto gun that has a magazine larger than 5 rounds.
But the following section states that if the weapon uses rimfire cartridges are excluded from the above section.
(2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not include any cartridge magazine that
(a) was originally designed or manufactured for use in a firearm that
(i) is chambered for, or designed to use, rimfire cartridges,
I called Canada Customs prior to bringing this gun to Alaska and was told over the phone that it was okay. Filled out all the necessary forms in advance, so there would be no delays at border. Arrived at Montana/British Columbia border check, and theCanadian customs agent pulled out a tape measure, measured the barrel, announced that it was under 18 inches long and therefore was not permitted.
I had to turn around, go find a post office, mail the gun to my brother in Minnesota, who then mailed the gun to me in Fairbanks.
To make a long story short, it’s just not worth the hassle and aggravation to bring a guns into Canada, even if you follow all of their rules.
It’s a nice little gun and fun to shoot, but I’ve never shot any game with it.
That’s the problem with the Canadian Firearms act. Not even ‘customs’ understand it. The overall length of the AR-7 when assembled is with-in the legal size for Canada. The barrel is also legal, because if it was ‘manufactured’ to that size for a unrestricted firearm, there is no barrel limit. If you had saw’n the barrel down to that size it would then be illegal. You can own a shotgun or rifle with even a 6″ barrel providing it was manufactured that way, and the overall length of the gun is over the minimum limit which is 26 Inches.. So the customs guy was WRONG.. It’s also perfectly legal to toss a unloaded rifle onto the back seat of your car, with a box of shells sitting right with it.. The only law in Canada for transporting a ‘unrestricted’ firearm is it must be transported ‘unloaded’ NO OTHER RESTRICTIONS APPLY.. But I’ll bet a lot of cops would give you an argument. If your transporting like that in the city, your a bloody idiot anyway. But no problem in the boonies.. The Canadian saying is; It dosen’t have to make sense, it’s the law!
One other note; I had one of the early AR-7’s from Henry, but it had a defect in the threading of the frame where the stock mounts. I sent a email to Henry, and the Pres. told me the gun can’t be fixed, and to send it back to the distributor for a replacement, they would replace it with the newest version. I got it today, and the info from Henry’s said it would now cycle LR standard velocity ammo. The previous versions needed high velocity Stingers, Thunderbolt, etc.. So, I dug 4 rounds out of a old ammo box that must have been 20-25 years old, I think even one of them was an old 22 Long.. Loaded them up, pointed at a chunk of wood, and bang,bang,bang,bang.. Every old round cycled and fired. The new AR-7 seems to be a tiny bit heavier, but seems to be a pretty solid little rifle. It will also hold three magazines in the stock. One in the rifle, and two in the slotted compartments in the stock. The only complaint, is the new storage box with the little handle is cardboard, the old one was a corrugated plastic, that would probably have lasted for years. The new one might last for a few weeks if it stays dry.. I can’t comment on the accuracy using the standard sights on either the old or the new, because one of the first things I bought for it was a red-dot sight that i carry in my backpack with the rifle. With the red-dot, I could shoot 1/2″ groupings at 30 yards on the range, which is good enough to part the ears of a squirrel or a cottontail..
which red dot scope did you buy. i purchased one that i couldnt mount.
Further note; Tested the gun at the range, it will NOT fire feed hollow nose ammunition of any kind, they all jamb. It will fire solid nose standard rounds with about a 85% feed reliability, Remington thunderbolts with about 95% feed reliability, and CCI Stingers at 100% feed reliability. Needless to say, pick a round, sight it in with that round, and stuck with it. CCI stingers hit about 1″ higher a 30 yards, than thunderbolt, and at least 2″ higher than standard hard nose.. Again, no idea how the sights are, I am using a red dot. But, I do see that the bright orange front site is plastic, and can be pushed across with your thumb and forefinger.. If I had to depend on it, I would replase it with a metal post, or fibreoptic bead. A slight slope on the bottom of the chamber may help feed, also I did notice one magazine fed more reliably than the other, so some fine tuning here might help also. The rifle is heavier and looks better bult than the last version.. If they made this in a .17 HMR it would be one sweet little gun and I would buy it in a second..
i would also buy one in a heart beat if there was one in .17 HMR.
A MUCH BETTER CHOICE IS TO CARRY A TAKE-DOWN RECURVE BOW AND SEVERAL ARROWS. TAKES UP LESS SPACE AND WEIGHS LESS. ARROWS CAN BE REPLACED IN THE BUSH,BULLETS CAN’T. I THINK EVERYONE WHO IS SERIOUS ABOUT BUSH SURIVAL SHOULD TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN HOW TO TAKE DOWN FOOD WITH A BOW AND TO MAKE BOWS/ARROWS FROM RESOURCES ON HAND…JUST A THOUGHT. TO EACH HIS OWN.
Ok.. To each his own, but this thread ‘is’ about the Henry AR-7, not cobbled together bows and arrows..
Not totally about the AR-15, but having lived in Canada all my life I can tell you that things like “its under 18 inches” or transporting a gun in the back seat… those are the reasons I carry the criminal code of Canada in my car, nothing turns a cop off faster than saying “Really? Let’s just check the Criminal Code” then showing them the offending sections.
That being said I got a ticket once anyway, but I went to the hearing, and the police was severely reprimanded for “knowingly ticketing for a non-offense” haha
I was wondering if anyone knew if you could get a shorter barrel and a pistolgrip no stock for the AR 7.
Just made adapter for ar15 grip to fit henry.
sometimes, just sometimes i am so jealous of US gunlaws….. would love this!
I recently picked up one of these AR-7s in broomhandle pistol form with 2 barrels one 11″ the other 8″. I read about the 17 HMR round and would love to try it out on my new AR. I asked my buddy group (made up of pretty smart guys, smart guys, and a sprinkling of idiots to keep the fun level high) if they knew anything about barrels for that caliber for the AR-7. Got some blank looks, some thoughtful looks, three of them immediately dove into their smart phones and went online to start looking up every webpage imaginable on the subject and one of the idiots said ‘why don’t you go ahead and fire one round of the new ammo through what you’ve got now and see what happens?’. To which there was about 20 seconds of dead silence before he was pummeled out of his chair. All of that being said. Anybody know where I can have a short barrel made or one of mine sleeved?
well I’ve read alot of different posts, but I think a key point that most folks forget is what this rifle is designed for.
It is designed as a breakdown , backpack/survival pack rifle,
not as a primary hunting rifle or full size rifle.
I own an original charter arms ar-7 and have taken small game,
and smaller med game with it, but for larger than rabbit or varmints you best be close. (I was), this rifle in my opinion makes a great companion to the kayaker or hiker on the trail, it’s light,accurate and usually I pack with only 80 rounds (2 40 round boxes of my favorite .22 hp), that being said you must be familiar with shooting and the weapon otherwise you have a paperweight.
As far as using a small pistol, unless you’ve spent lots of time pistol hunting, or target shooting most folks lack the skill to pistol hunt.
keep in mind the right tool for the job and you’ll be fine,
and if your hunting you’d be best served by adding a few extra boxes of ammo, than a seperate rifle.
AR-7.com has exceeded the tim frame for my order. I see that they have BBB issues. SHOULD HAVE CHECKED THAT FIRST. Anyway, I will keep you posted on when or if I get what I paid for.
I agree with the Comments that there are better Rifles out there but those rifles are not designed to do what this one does. I had one of these back when Charter Arms made them and it did what it was designed to do. It broke down to a compact package that was easily stored until needed for use. It was never intended to be a Target Rifle capable of Match Grade Accuracy. It was never intended to be an Assault Rifle either. If that is what someone wants,then that is what they should purchase. I always looked at mine as a last ditch piece,able to take small game at close ranges or with a bit of luck self defense. I never really practiced with it beyond 25 yards just for those reasons. As for Henry, I have one of their 22 Lever Actions and I am guite pleased with the reliability and the customer service. I am sure that they worked hard to put out a decent product that will perform admirably if used as intended. If not they will make it right, Myself I am with the school of thought that a good 22 Single Action like a Ruger with the extra Cylinder in 22 Mag is the way to go. I practice with mine constantly and I feel it will work just as well as the AR-7 within 25 yards
I think Pete said it all, if you want a rifle or a pistol then buy a rifled or a pistol!
Looks cool! Im not going to say a bunch of crap about use this survival gun and bla bla bla. But just remember you don’t need a special gun to survive. You can survive with a bow made from sticks. However I would encourage everyone, That it doesn’t matter what you have, If you have no ammo for it, it is useless. Stock up on ammo!:)
I agree that the AR-7 is an ideal survival weapon if you understand its limitation. You may not NEED a firearm but if you DO need a firearm, you REALLY NEED a firearm….an AR-7 will suffice.
As an aside, the first general public exposure to the AR-7 was in a 1964 James Bond film called “From Russia With Love” when 007 takes down a helicopter with one shot! Sweet.
IS IT LEGAL IN CA