Henry AR-7 Survival Rifle & mixup98: Match Made in Heaven?

(Image: Screenshot from mixup98 Henry AR-7 video)

A few months back, I posted here about the brand-new Henry AR-7 Survival rifle I’d just received; you can read that by clicking here. I’ll be reviewing it before long, but (spoiler alert) I have so far found nothing about it to dislike, other than wishing the magazines held more than 8 rounds apiece. It’s a ton of fun and really accurate, but runs dry faster than I’d like. (First world problems, right?)

Today I ran across a video about this rifle from mixup98, a straightforward YouTube gun reviewer who doesn’t pull any punches when he tests a firearm. He begins by breaking the Henry AR-7 out of the box for the first time and assembling it as he tells the tale of the AR-7 he used to own, built by Charter Arms. That one, sadly, was a piece of junk.

He wonders whether his new Henry version will be better, and he loads it up & starts shooting. He has a jam with his second magazine of ammo; he’s using CCI Mini Mag copper plated round nose ammo. I can’t remember any jams with mine; I have mostly fired Federal BYOB bulk-pack 36-grain ammo in mine, but I’ve also burned some other stuff successfully. FYI the Federal BYOB has performed well at everything I have used it for in several different 22 firearms; it’s considerably more reliable than bulk-pack Federal 22 LR ammo I used 10-20 years ago.

After a few mags, he tries an old magazine in his new Henry. The old mag was from the Charter Arms days, and Henry has made some changes to the magazine; I’ve seen a disclaimer on their website saying Henry magazines may not work in AR-7 rifles made by other manufacturers. But will an old mag from a different gunmaker work in a Henry?

Nope. Not this time, anyhow. In his words:

“Charter Arms, 40 years later… you still suck.”

I suppose it’s all relative; Dad used to have a Charter Arms 38 revolver that was okay.

He shows some pics noting some considerable differences between Henry and Charter mags.

For his accuracy test, he mounts a scope on the rifle and gets impressive accuracy — but I don’t know how far he was shooting. If he told us the distance to the target, I missed it. My Henry AR-7 has been really accurate as well.

Here’s how he sums up the Henry AR-7:

“Henry, ya did a great job. Man, I love your AR-7.”

I cannot disagree. Here’s the video.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.