The Details
On first and second glance, the modern Henry center-fire rifles appear mechanically similar to a Marlin 336. Not currently having a Marlin 336 at hand to dissect, I resorted to the infamous gun experts of the internet where I learned the Marlin and Henry actions are exact duplicates and in no way similar, so take your pick. Based on subsequent research with some of our own expert staff writers, they’re awfully close mechanically, which isn’t a bad thing by any stretch.
Our test gun weighed in at a shade over 7 lbs. and the fit and finish are excellent, above-average compared to other mass-market competitors and something for which Henry is noted. The only flaw was a slightly “boogered-up” action screwhead on the left side, something more noticeable due to the overall finish quality. The deep wraparound machine-engraved checkering is especially nice. The action was fairly smooth out of the box with only an occasional bit of resistance at the last 1/4″ of the cycle. Trigger pull was short and quite crisp, averaging just a hair over 4 lbs. in 10 pulls using my Lyman digital trigger pull gauge.
The gun sports a 19.8″ round steel barrel with an ivory-bead front ramp backed by a deep semi-buckhorn rear sight. There is no safety but an internal transfer bar keeping the hammer from the firing pin unless the trigger is pulled.
Accuracy was on par with most .45-70s (usually considered a 2-4 MOA gun) — a 1.9″ five-shot group at 50 yards on a gusty day from a portable table and sandbags with Hornaday’s 325-gr. FTX LEVERevolution rounds. I was also pleasantly surprised with myself after managing a 4.2″ group of five rapid-fire shots offhand at the same distance.
Recoil was — as expected — “noticeable” with the Hornady, Remington Express and Sellier & Bellot 405-gr. soft points though it was actually pleasant to shoot and grouped well with some old Ultramax 405-gr. Cowboy Action rounds I found at the bottom of the ammo closet!
Our gun came with a high-quality Henry Weaver 63B scope mount to fit the four pre-drilled holes atop the receiver. If you’re using one of the other smaller calibers offered it would be a useful accessory. However, I felt topping a .45-70 carbine with a scope would be a little bit like putting a canoe rack on a Porsche 930 — doable, but not in keeping with the spirt of things.