Henry - Mare's Leg

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Just wanted to let you know that they are out there now. Hopefully those of you looking for one will find one at your local store soon too.
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Good to hear. I told the local gun store manager I'll take one as soon as he can find it.
 
me said:
I'm rather sure that the folks at Henry are aware that someone is going to try the spin-cocking maneuver, and that's why they put the big loop on. My little Henry carbine (H001L) doesn't care if it is sideways or inverted to feed a round, and it runs best when you slap the lever open and shut anyway ... I suspect that it will accept some one-handed action cycling method.
I'll likely try it with dummy rounds just for laughs, maybe I'll try it with live ammo to live out my Terminator lever-shotgun fantasies (ratshot!?!?), or maybe I won't ... the gun can't go bang without the action closed, so reliability of getting the spin completed and the action closed with the gun pointed into the backstop would be the deciding factor on whether I take a swing at it on an empty outdoor range.
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So ... for starters, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME ... seriously, I want no liability for someone damaging their gun or punching surprise holes in anything, or just plain bonking themselves in the face.
I watched True Grit (John Wayne version) last night, and watching the Duke flip-cock a somewhat short lever rifle with a big round loop ... well ... it inspired me somewhat. So I got a clear spot, got out my H001L Henry Lever Carbine, got the wife to agree that the gun was in fact empty, pulled the mag tube and triple-checked that there was no ammo in it, and tried it out with the stocked version.
Damn, watching the muzzle sail by is an odd moment, I don't think I cared for it.
And the front sight hitting your arm hurts a bit.
But ... after a few tries, damn if it didn't work. Finger off trigger, right hand goes into the bladed position I use to pop the Henry's lever back and forth like it likes, and shove forward fast to open the lever ... then the gun swings around almost automatically, all you have to do is get the hell out of the way. A few more tries had the lever closed at about the right moment, pointing at a torso-sized object, I'm fairly sure I could pull the trick off and hit a backstop, I'll confirm by adding a temporary laser and using dummy rounds, I'm hesitant to go past ratshot rounds for fear of sending a round too high ... but if it can be done with the carbine, why not the mare's leg? I'm not claiming that it would advance the ML to a one-handed status on par with a little bitty SA revolver, but it can be done, and perhaps even somewhat safely. (is not safe, is gun! ... well, maybe this goes beyond that, I'm not about to try it with live ammo yet)

It hurts the knuckles though ... I finally got up the motivation to leather-wrap the lever-loop, and I have to say that having something to slow the spin on the loop made it even easier to control where the muzzle was at the end of the maneuver, I think a leather wrap in the right spot on a rounder loop would make it trivial for a shortened barrel and vestigial stock. That big loop on M2 Carbine's Rossi might be close to ideal, add in a nubby leather wrap to tell you when to grasp again and I bet it would be almost as easy as the Duke made it look.
 
Picked up one at a gun show (.22 LR Henry).....no reason for owning it other than the nostalgia aspect. May use it to introduce the grand kids to shooting, it's small and easy to handle. Tempted to add the little flip lever to the loop and duplicate the Lucas McCain technique.

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The Mernickle holster's well made & sturdy.
As a general user it's more practical than the original TV rig.
Denis
 
That is kind of cool!
How does one aim and fire this gun with the abbreviated/missing buttstock? Just wondering... it might be a solution to a question I've been trying sort out. Or maybe it's a solution in search of a problem... Either way, it's worthy of further investigation!
 
How does one aim and fire this gun with the abbreviated/missing buttstock?
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I've had my H001ML .22LR Henry Mare's Leg for a few weeks now....it's a fun gun.

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I've worked up three methods of holding it;
1. 'Duelist style' seems most accurate for me...but who can hold nearly 5 pounds of 24" pistol at arms length for very long?
2. Cradled in both arms is comfortable, but sets the rear sight a little close.
3. Easiest is just using it like a rifle, resting the 'short stock' normally on the cheek. Don't know if you can do that with the center-fire versions.

BTW: You can legally make the same basic gun by just sawing off the stock on a Henry Youth Model lever action 22. The barrel on the Youth is only 3" longer than the Mare's Leg. Chop off the stock or replace it with an ML stock and you are still over the legal limit for overall length and just over 3" longer than the Mare's Leg.
.
 
I found one Wednesday at Cheaper Than Dirt. The same place I found the .357 Rossi.
It was $299.
I found a small Red Dot I bought in the past for something or other. The RD looks ugly but makes accurate aimed fire right easy.
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I shot it Wed and yesterday quite a bit (home range). I'm quite impressed with the gun.

The left target is back to 15 yards shooting from the hip. Seldom miss from 10 yards and closer. Miss about 4 shots of 11 at 15 yards. I suspect with a little practice the miss ratio will go way down.

The target on the right was using the Red Dot at 52 yards. No misses. I suspect respectable small groups could be achieved using a rest and the Red Dot sight and decent ammo. I've been shooting Wal Mart Remington bulk pack.
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The gun is definitely a lot of cheap fun shooting.:)
 
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BHP Sorry you have to move to get one, I'm gonna move to where they carjack alot, I think it would be perfect for that. It would also look good in a gun rack w/ a pistol grip only 12 gauge, that some people dont understand either.

Will the 38/357 feed cci shotloads? I just thought of another use.
 
"Store manager said he should be getting 2 shortly" Hahn Hahn .....shortly I get it.

If my little girl sees this, she's gonna want to do that to hers!
 
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I like the concept of the short and easy to store or shoot barrel. Why couldn't you just use the standard length buttstock and have the best of both worlds? You would have at least the accuracy of a good pistol and the quickness of a shorter gun. It would still fit in a leather leg holster.
 
I got mine, and it is FUN
Shooting it well can be done, but I'd need new methods to shoot one in centerfire well, the H001ML has very little recoil, obviously.

I'm a little bummed that it is front-heavy and thus difficult to flip-cock, I feel like it needs a bit more stock or a weight in the existing stubstock.
 
I would like the barrel to be a couple inches shorter. It would cut down the magazine capacity but the gun would look closer to the original.
 
Milkmaster said:
I like the concept of the short and easy to store or shoot barrel. Why couldn't you just use the standard length buttstock and have the best of both worlds? You would have at least the accuracy of a good pistol and the quickness of a shorter gun. It would still fit in a leather leg holster.
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That would require a $200 SBR stamp. ;)
 
I handled one today at the LGS. I liked it, but I also am old enough to remember the old western tv shows.

I have a Henry .22 lever gun I bought a couple of years back, this may make a nice companion piece.

Too many guns, too little time. But, that's half the fun.
 
i have one very accurate gun the only thing is that the saddle ring is screwed in so if you bang it hard enough it will deform, also the front sight hood is easy to lose....fun gun...as accurate as a fulls size one....
 
Recently I taught three ladies to shoot handguns.
After shooting the Mare's Leg for fun, all three ladies bought one and put Red Dots on them.

It's interesting that one of the ladies is a retired stunt woman who knew Steve McQueen and worked with him on Wanted Dead or Alive.
As soon as she saw the Mare's Leg she had to have one.

Next good shooting day I plan on letting her shoot the Rossi .357.:)
 
A Mares Leg's a great gun, and demands to be wielded with an appropriate attitude
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Fact right there. A good sneer, or a chewed cigar is also pretty mandatory.

As for anyone sitting here saying "I don't get it" or "That's a bad defense gun!" ... do wwe really have to start putting "NOT A DEFENSE GUN" on every .22 and "NOT FOR SERIOUS USAGE" on every olympic .22 rifle?
There is this faint chance that you know ... somewhere outside of SERIOUSLAND people go to the range to throw some brass, make some noise, relieve some stress and to have a good time. And I can tell you from experience ... a little oddball .22 is just the gun for that. A seriously non-serious serious gun.
(We had a Kel-Tec .22 SMG looking thingy for a while for that. It was funny as hell chasing a can with rapid fire from like .... seven feet with it while walking.)
 
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