Microhen

[Flightstopper]

Got my microhen back from RNT today that I sent in thinking the barrel had expanded and didn't fit the insert anymore. I get it back today and they just tuned up a new reed and shipped it back. This look right? Hard to tell from pics I've seen online but it seems the top of the insert should be much deeper in the barrel.

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[3geese4me]

How's it sound? I've never liked RNT calls.

[Flightstopper]

Takes a bit of air to run and if I try and back off on it to get low it just goes flat. I could change some of that by trimming the reed a bit most likely but still doesn't seem right. Really like my MVP and had an original that was very east to run. Have had daisy cutters but my Gold Digger bumped it on down the road.

[3geese4me]

That's been my experience too. I had a short barrel and it required too much air for my liking. I ended up trading that call for a zink goose call and have been pleasantly happy ever since.

[firstflight]

I have never been a fan of any short barrel call duck or goose . I Guess that's the old school way.

[Steele22]

Like you said hard to tell in pic but it doesnt look right to me. Looks like it's almost flush with the rob of the barrel

[Flightstopper]

It's about 1/16" recessed.

[Rick]

You probably know I'm a great fan of the original Microhen, and the current version has really grown on me, so I'm thinking something's badly boogered. Am guessing yours is the original, as it had a shorter barrel and the insert was pressure fit, which means the depth they bind at will vary some. (The newer Microhens have a bit longer barrel and an O-ringed insert with a shoulder that should preclude serious variance.) My original Mh's insert pegs out about 5/16" from the barrel's end, not that yours necessarily should. (The new one is about 7/16th from its.)

That said, both my Microhens are very easy running calls, and less free space in the barrel should mean yours would take less air to run than one with more space. Why yours might take more air to run or go flat is a mystery to me, and I'd probably go straight to the boss, Stephens, with my problem, as he has the stroke to authorize a new insert, if that's the problem. (It's my understanding that the fellow who probably would have handled calls such as yours, Daniel, has left RNT, and it's possible his replacement lacked the confidence to say "hey".)

[Flightstopper]

Yeah this is the older pressure fit insert. I bet you are spot on with Daniel being gone and didn't know any better. Butch was the one to call me for shipping payment and is why I was even more confused that it was overlooked but I highly doubt he ever had his hands on it and let it pass. I'll post up what I find out.

[Flightstopper]

Couldn't get ahold of anybody at the shop today before they called it a weekend. Did run two wraps of electrical tape to put the insert 5/16" deep and cut a new reed. Sweetened it up nicely and do believe this one just slipped past them.

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[Rick]

I'd still be on the horn with them next week.

[Flightstopper]

I'd still be on the horn with them next week.

Oh most definitely, the big dog has a voicemail for Monday and we will work on getting it sorted out. The tape was just enough to confirm, in my mind, that something is off but would not make it through one morning with out failing. Thanks Rick.

[Flightstopper]

Appears to be good reason I caught his voicemail today.

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[Rick]

Ouch. First time I've ever felt sorry for Stephens.

[Flightstopper]

Just got off the phone with Butch and apparently this is how the microhens were made in the first two years of production. Then they went to a deeper set insert when people were complaining of wrapping their fat lips up in the reed. Gonna play with some reeds before sending it back in.

[Weston81]

FS, I would say it is. Below is mine.

[Rick]

Mine must have been a screw-up, then, because it's from their first year, and as noted above, there's nearly a 1/2" of clearance, center here:

[Flightstopper]

Played with a new reed last night and couldn't get it to run like it did when I had it taped up. Gonna send it back for new barrel.

[Rick]

How'd that go?

[Flightstopper]

I picked up another acrylic microhen, not the newest cut, which I preferred over this wood call. Butch looked at the call himself, cut a new reed and said that's just the way this call was. I couldn't ever find a reed with the wood call that I liked and wasn't as sharp or quick, to me, as the acrylic old version I now use. Wood call is in new hands now and have had good luck with the acrylic call so far this season.

[Rick]

Where did you find the new old one? The current version Microhen didn't make the cut in the field, and I've gone back to the original version's insert, only in the NOS barrel I had made. Been thinking about trying to find another, more esthetically appealing, original insert than my chartreuse one.

[The Duck Hammer]

Where did you find the new old one? The current version Microhen didn't make the cut in the field, and I've gone back to the original version's insert, only in the NOS barrel I had made. Been thinking about trying to find another, more esthetically appealing, original insert than my chartreuse one.

Just watch on DHC or the refuge. Some guys identify them as "old style" some don't. That's where I got mine.

[Rick]

Haven't had much luck with either, but just started looking.

[Flightstopper]

I found this one off a group on Facebook. Either duck 'call trader' or 'duck call exchange' where it seems you can find most anything. Even if you don't see one listed post what you are looking for and usually find one pretty quick. I wasn't real picky but wound up with a black microhen that matches my other RNT, that was ordered ivory and showed up black.

[Rick]

Thanks. Not nearly anxious enough for one to join fb. (And should probably be saving my nickles to get the coyote an understudy.)

[Flightstopper]

But how can you pass up this beauty?

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1418250131.992835.jpg

Couple black ones and a African black wood up now that I can find.

[Rick]

Saw a blackwood sell for $135, which is a lot more than I'm willing to pay for something I don't need, particularly when the one I have runs and sounds just as I want. (Says a guy who was so tickled with his hedge GVCC XXX that he bought another in blackwood that he has no use for and may never leave the drawer.)

Really just need to let the whim pass, but thanks for looking.