Henry Rifle

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bullbarrel

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I was about to buy a Henry until I noticed it has no loading gate. But aside from the normal drawbacks of this I am wondering if Henry isn't using the tubular magazine because a loading gate in a brass receiver might tend to show scratches and dents. It seems a little sneaky to me. After all, didn't Henry do something like Springfield did, resurrect a brand. Both Springfield and Henry appear to be fine firearms but in Henry I sense they are a great deal about cosmetics too, with all their engraving and such. I question too the CEO of Henry being an Italian when it boasts being made in the US. Anyway, I'm not getting one and will look at the Chiappa which makes what I want, in a Mares Leg.
 
I was about to buy a Henry until I noticed it has no loading gate.
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Ok.

But aside from the normal drawbacks of this I am wondering if Henry isn't using the tubular magazine because a loading gate in a brass receiver might tend to show scratches and dents. It seems a little sneaky to me.
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The original (real) Henry rifle did not have a receiver loading gate, either. They're going for some similarities to the antique design. How is that "sneaky?" I don't think they have ever advertised that there IS a rear loading gate, so I doubt they're trying to fool anybody.

After all, didn't Henry do something like Springfield did, resurrect a brand.
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Yes, the current Henry company doesn't have anything to do with Benjamin T. Henry. It's just a name they used to help give their brand some identity.

Both Springfield and Henry appear to be fine firearms but in Henry I sense they are a great deal about cosmetics too, with all their engraving and such.
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Most firearms are "a great deal about cosmetics." After all, the image sells the gun, whether it is an old west-y lever action, or a tactical-spectacular black rifle. Is that a deficiency? Some folks like engraving.

I question too the CEO of Henry being an Italian when it boasts being made in the US.
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You mean this guy?

"Anthony Imperato, serves as President and owner of Henry Repeating Arms. Anthony’s family has been in the gun business since 1911. He started in 1978, working in the family’s gun shop in lower Manhattan as well as at the Iver Johnson Arms plant they had in Middlesex, New Jersey at the time." (https://www.henryrifles.com/news/anthony-imperato-is-interviewed-on-industry-icons/)

Do you think he's secretly making them in Italy and bringing them here? Or he's an Italian and his company makes guns in the USA? ... which seems to be exactly what they claim. You realize that unless you're of Native American descent (and even then...) pretty much everybody here came from somewhere else, at some point in their bloodline.

Anyway, I'm not getting one and will look at the Chiappa which makes what I want, in a Mares Leg.
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Is this entire post just an exercise in ironic leg-pulling?

So the Italian American dude who's made firearms here in the USA since 1978 is sneaky, but you have no problem buying a knock-off of a very similar design, actually made in Italy? Do you suspect that Rino Chiappa is secretly an American?
 
The original (real) Henry rifle did not have a receiver loading gate, either. They're going for some similarities to the antique design. How is that "sneaky?"
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That is kind of a stretch, I don't see much similarity between the 1860 B. Tyler Henry and the .22 type slip-tube loading that Imperato Henrys carry over into centerfire. Although I did have a 1960s gunzine with a picture of a real Henry converted to slip tube loading. by an unknown gunsmith. He even put a foreend on it.
 
Yeah, it is all a stretch, but I think more likely to be a reason than "sneakiness" of whatever sort.
 
If I'm reading this correctly, you've decided not to buy a Henry because of deceptive marketing practices with no documentation to back that up, because they make a good looking rifle, as though that were a bad thing and because people of Italian American heritage are not American?
 
bullbarrel said:
I was about to buy a Henry until I noticed it has no loading gate. But aside from the normal drawbacks of this I am wondering if Henry isn't using the tubular magazine because a loading gate in a brass receiver might tend to show scratches and dents. It seems a little sneaky to me. After all, didn't Henry do something like Springfield did, resurrect a brand. Both Springfield and Henry appear to be fine firearms but in Henry I sense they are a great deal about cosmetics too, with all their engraving and such. I question too the CEO of Henry being an Italian when it boasts being made in the US. Anyway, I'm not getting one and will look at the Chiappa which makes what I want, in a Mares Leg.
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The original Henrys made by the New Haven Arms Company in 1860-1866 did not have a loading gate...

799px-Henry_Rifle.jpg

Nelson King patented the loading gate in 1866
 
Bull,
I fail to see any point to anything you said in your post.

Don't buy a Henry.
Both the company and the universe will manage to survive your decision.

As far as whatever your problem with Imperato being of Italian descent seems to be, he is 100% born & bred in the USA & has the strongest New York accent of anybody I've ever talked to in my entire life.

Your "sneaky" assertion and unintelligible "question" about Imperato being Italian & his guns being made in the US are incomprehensible nonsense.
His products are sourced & assembled from four US states.
His ancestry has zero to do with anything.

I have Henry rifles here, and I have the Chiappa Mare's Leg.
Plenty of room for both in my vault.

You do know the Chiappas ARE made in Italy, BY Italians, right????
If an Italian association bothers you, that lets the Chiappas out.
Denis
 
Hmm, no further comment I guess?

Oh well, I'll buy the one he didn't want. I personally like his rifles, and they look really nice too.

GS
 
OP want's a Winchester M1866. Just doesn't know it.
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Which are made either in Japan and sold under the Winchester name in the US or made in Italy and sold under Uberti or one of the US importers with their name on them such as Taylors.

Chiappa? I personally know of 11 local shooters that have or had Chiappa guns. Out of the lot of them only two did not have some major issue that either needed fixing or which rendered the gun unsuitable for the intended application. I keep close count on this since I'm one of the 11 as well as being in the group of 9 that got burned. Chiappa spends too much making the outside look nice while the insides suffer to keep the price under control.

I personally won't buy another Chiappa until they get their act together and begin making reliable stuff with proper internal designs. And I wish that was not the case as I really like some of their products.
 
That's what I love about this forum. Start reading a thread that begins with baseless conjecture, and end up getting educated by some folks who know whereof they speak.
 
I can't believe it took 15 posts before someone asked, which Henry are we talking about here? If it's a rimfire, there are NO rimfire rifles with loading gates. If it's a replica of the 1860 Winchester rifle, they didn't have a loading gate either. That didn't surface until the Winchester 1866, which Henry does not make a replica of.

There are no 1866's made under the Winchester brand, only Uberti. I 'need' one in .44Spl.

After holding a grudge against Henry's guns for many years, I've decided that I want the .22LR Evil Roy model. :)
 
You have to admire Henry Repeating Arms' success in marketing. They certainly have gotten their name out there. The average consumer thinks "Henry" when they consider a lever action rifle. Too bad that Winchester (such as it is) and Marlin have not kept up production of the pistol caliber rifles over the years. I don't own a HRA rifle but I think they have done all manufacturers a favor by promoting the lever action rifle.

One of the criticisms of the Big Boy is that it is not a reproduction of anything. HRA did develop the "Original Henry" which is of course a repro of the 1860 Henry rifle, so good for them. Like the Uberti 1860 repro it is not chambered for the "original" .44 Henry Rimfire but hey, who wants to buy a rifle that you can't shoot?
 
I wish I had an original Henry with no loading gate.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy a modern Henry with no loading gate.

Oh yeah...I plan to keep my Uberti and Pietta.
Hell, if it wasn't for Italian gun makers we wouldn't have the current fascination.
 
I question too the CEO of Henry being an Italian when it boasts being made in the US.
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I'm going to say, what every person reading that line is/was thinking when they read it!

That's one of the "dumbest" things I've read on THR, maybe on any firearms forum!!

DM
 
Maybe so but it sure was good for a laugh for me when I read it. Made me scratch my head for a minute, then realized he was serious. Some people....
 
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He will really hate those sneaky guys when he buys a Henry .22, gets it home and realizes that the brass part is really just a cover and not the actual receiver, LOL.

Dude, take you anti-Italian attitude elsewhere and don't buy one.




Oh crud, just saw this is an old post brought back from the dead. OP probably long gone.....................................hasn't posted in 5 months.



.
 
Henry is a great American company. They made the original '60 Henry used during the civil war. Today they are one of the best lever action gun companies, some even say superior to the new Marlins.
 
Uh, no.


I had an old gunzine that showed a real Henry with a slip-tube magazine like the present rifles. It had a long walnut fore end notched to expose the tube loading slot.
Pre-King's Improvement prototype?
Gunsmith conversion, maybe as the only way to replace the complex one piece Henry barrel/magazine from a straight blank?
Nobody knew and I haven't seen another mention since.
 
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