.357 Magnum Lever Gun (Henry vs Marlin)

Ridgerunner665 said:

The Henry steel rifles aren't as heavy as they're often made out to be... maybe a little heavier, but it's not like they weigh 10 pounds or something.

The brass Henry's and octagon barrels.... yeah, now those are heavy.

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Comparing a 5 lb. Rossi to an 8 1/2 lb. Henry, we're looking at a 70% increase in weight. That's substantial, and could make a big difference in fatigue over the course of a day's hunting.

Not all Henry rifles weigh 8 pounds... mine weighs 8 pounds 2 ounces with the scope, scope mount and rings, sling, and 8 rounds of ammo.

I'm betting a Marlin or Rossi doesn't weigh 5 pounds with all that on it.

If my 90 lb. daughter can field carry one with scope on a mile hike each way with a 400+ elevation change then I’d say you’d need to be a hard luck case to concern yourself with weight.



Once again, for those espousing erroneous information. Screenshots from Henry’s website.

Last edit to add a comment on reliability:

You had me at lever. I own multiple versions of both makes and other's you didn't ask about. I'm not getting into which is better as I'm a lever gun aficionado and appreciate them for the class of weapons they represent.

1) While you only asked about Henry and Marlin, Winchester needs to be in the mix and mentioned because you don't know if you'll stumble across one at the right price in the used rack as you're in the store getting ready to buy one of the aforementioned brands. I do own other brands (but no Rossi’s) so I won't mention them.

I pulled three guns out at random of the brands we're talking about. From the top down: Recent vintage Henry in .44 mag. Middle: Late 90's/early 2000's Winchester AE in .357 mag. Bottom: 1st year (1999?) Marlin Cowboy in .45 Colt.



2) All three, H-M-W shoot equally well. I'm not a target shooter and don't need 'target' accuracy. I shoot straight walled pistol cases in these guns and don't weigh them or my bullets individually. When I was actively hunting big game I needed killing accuracy and these guns will give you that and a little more.

3) I'm surprised how much I like the tube loading of the Henry. Side loading is fine but if you're shooting a lot at the range after an hour or two it gets tedious. Since you're buying this as a hunting gun that's not an issue...and for what it's worth, Henry is now offering side loading gates on their rifles, just not in .357 at this time. One noted complaint about the tube has been tube ejection under heavy hand load recoil. I've not experienced that (and I shoot heavy loads).

Quality: Henry is known for the quality of the wood used in their rifles. My experience with them is they've earned that reputation. However, the bluing (if you can call it that) is somewhat industrial. More a matte but less so appearing then Parkerizing. No luster on the iron framed versions I own. All Marlin and Winchesters I'm currently entrusted with have traditional deep bluing. Again, not a deal breaker for me.

Since there's been a lot of talk about the early vintage "Remlins and QC issues I took these pics of where the stock meet's the receiver on all three brands. Granted, not representative of a current Marlin but gives you an idea of the tolerances at each factory. Of note: all of the recent Marlins I've handled in stores made at their current factory looked fine. I will mention that the standard 1894 Marlin fore end seemed very bulky when compared to the Henry or Winchesters. That does matter to me and you don't realize it until you hold them side by side.

Henry:



Marlin


Winchester



Reliability: I've never had a hiccup from the Marlins or Henry in .327 Mag, .357 mag, .44 mag or 45 Colts. I've never found them to be finicky in regards to overall length of cartridge either (this comment goes for the Winchester as well).

The one issue I've had with reliability in a lever action was with 2 Winchesters and it was the same problem. One I was the owner from new and the other I was the second owner of a very low round count...18 to be exact of the AE shown in this posting. A known problem exists, which when you cycle the lever allows the follow-on cartridge to by pass the cartridge stop at the front of the lever and get lodged in the mechanism under the elevator. That almost always requires disassembly and removal of the lever from the gun to clear. Easily fixed by building up the stop via brazing or welding. There may be more problems but these are the only ones I've ever experienced.

Cycling the levers: both the Marlin and Henry 'fixed' levers (mounted to the frame at the front and rotate down) and can feel smoother to the unfamiliar users than the Winchesters toggle action. No preference for me in that department.

Weight: they all run pretty close depending on what platform (Carbine) and options you're likely to want to add to them. The outlier and what's getting a lot of comments here is the Henry Big boy with the brasslite (sp?) receiver and octagon barrel. That really does add some weight to the overall chassis design. I like shooting them but am not fond of toting that model around.

Take everything we say here with a grain of salt and buy what you want. Ultimately it's your money being laid down and your finger pulling the trigger. Let us know what you buy.

Tinman357 said:

The new Marlin. Hands down. I have the old JM Marlin 1894C and the new 1894CB. So a good side by side comparison. Very familiar with the Rossi and the Henry.

New Marlin, without blinking. Everybody raves about the older JM Marlins, I'd swap mine in a New York minute for another Marlin 1894CB. I even have a true Winchester 1894 in 357 I'd trade for that 1894CB.

The Winchester and the JM Marlin are both darn fine carbines, nothing wrong with either. I just dearly love my laser beam like 1894CB.

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I had the same exact experience. My 357 1894 that I got this past spring is a far better gun than the one I bought in the 90's.

It's smoother, more accurate, and handles 38's without issue

Marlin.

I have a Marlin 336 that was made in the late 1970's. The newer Marlins made since about 07 don't even begin to hold a candle to it in terms of quality. I have heard good things about Henry quality, and they should be good for the price they go for.

Mr. Mosin said:

Wanting a .357 Magnum lever gun. Wanted to ask the boards opinion. I've dealt with older Marlin's and all types of Henry's; and both have been good. This would be a hunting/brush rifle, and a HD gun if pressed into it. How difficult is a Marlin vs Henry to clean and maintain ? If it helps, I intend to only run a peep sight, and also intend to get into handloading. I don't particularly like the Marlin's crossbolt safety, but if the Marlin is far and away superior to the Henry (which I personally doubt) I'll go for a Marlin.


Also, on topic of .357 carbines; what's the max effective range I can expect ? 100 yards ? From my understanding, a .357 carbine will easily take hog and whitetail, and black bear if the shot placement is there.

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I am new to the site but have followed for years. It has taken 30 years to acquire 4 Marlins and now 4 Henry’s. I have one of each in these four calibers: .30-30, .357, .44 Mag. and .45-70. Recently completed an accuracy comparison. All rifles have Skinner, Williams or XS Ghost peep sights on with a .154 aperture. Fired all shots at 70 yards and chronograph all loads. Used factory ammo and hand loads with LeveRevolution and VihtaVouri powders and Hornady XTP or mono flex bullets. All Marlins are from the 1990’s except the .357. All Henry’s purchased after 2011. The most accurate rifle was the .45-70 Marlin and also the lowest velocity and heaviest recoil. The second most accurate was the Henry .30-30 and had the highest velocity of all rifles (2460 FPS). All rifles have 20” barrels except the .45-70’s which were two inches longer. The most interesting and confusing result of this experiment was that all four Henry’s had velocities 80 to 110fps faster than their Marlin counterparts with the same loads!