I recently bought my first Henry rifle (.22 lever action) and one of my AR-loving friends saw it and said, “Watch out for squirrels!”
But most others responded with stories about their favorite .22 lever-action guns. One of them, a novelist friend, told me about taking down thousands of prairie dogs with a .22 rifle.
Unless life in America takes a sudden turn for the worse (which it certainly could), I have no intention of killing any living creatures with the Henry, but I do intend to learn every inch of this incredible machine and become adept at using it.
It’s not an AR-15, an AK-47 or an M16. It’s their grandfather, the gun that won the West.
Technically, Henry rifles were only produced for six years during the Civil War. In that short time, the New Haven Arms Company produced 14,000 Henrys. The company also made a gold-decorated Henry for President Abraham Lincoln.
One Confederate officer described the Henry as “that damn Yankee rifle you load on Sunday and fire all week.”
The Henry I own is a modern take on an original made by Henry Repeating Arms, a company founded in 1996 by New York-based Louis Imperato and his son, Anthony Imperato, who has since become CEO. The company is headquartered in Wisconsin with factories there and in Bayonne, New Jersey.
This article is not an endorsement for Henry Repeating Arms, but they do sell great products and have admirable values. They are an unabashedly pro-American company whose motto is “If it’s not American made, it’s not American made.”
Kevin Ryan
Ringo the Kid
I’ve been shooting a variety of guns because my best friend loves Henry repeating rifles, and he also collects a variety of lever action rifles including Marlin, Luger, Spencer, Browning, etc.
I love these Wild West rifles, especially the ones Henry makes. Maybe it’s brand loyalty. But it’s also FeelingHow does the gun fit in your hand? Does it sit comfortably on your shoulder? Is there an intuitive flow to its movement and construction? It may sound cliché, but you need to be in sync with your rifle.
I bought it for $370 at Whitey’s Pawn and Tools outside Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the store owner was ecstatic about my purchase as my daughter ran through aisles of banjos and swivel hooks.
I chose the Classic, Henry Repeating Arms’ least expensive lever-action, which lacks all the trappings that grace some of the company’s rifles, such as the Big Boy .45. Designed A tribute to John Wayne. He went on to become the Golden Boy and then the Big Boy.
My rifle weighs about 5 pounds, which is heavier than it looks, and it has a hooded front sight (a small metal canopy) on the end of the barrel, so when you look through the pointed rear sight, you can see the frame of the target in your field of view.
The magazine is tubular, with a loading port near the front end of the outer tube, secured in place by a simple locking mechanism called a notch pin. There is a bullet-shaped hole for the .22 rounds to fit into. A thin rod acts as the inner magazine tube, and using it to push the rounds into place makes you feel like a chimney sweep.
I hold the stock on my shoulder, I squint my eyes at the target, and I often use metal spinners.
Then the familiar lever is pushed down and then pulled up in one decisive, swift motion: a snail-sized bullet flies into the rifle’s chamber and the bolt presses the hammer into the full cocked position. The rifle is now ready to fire.
release.
Then do that John Wayne lever move again. Over and over again.
It’s a great gun to take to the range. It’s accurate. But it’s not quick to fire. That’s what I like about it. There’s no recoil and .22 caliber ammo is cheap.
This is a great rifle for vermin control, and also for home defense if you don’t want to shoot and kill intruders with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Bullets are so difficult to load that it’s unlikely a child would accidentally fire a gun, especially if the gun owner is a responsible gun owner who follows gun safety rules.
I am by no means a gun expert. Not at all, in fact. I am a student at best. I believe some of the above explanations are incorrect. I cannot explain why the .22 cartridge is a rimfire or how a rimfire is different from a centerfire.
But I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with some real experts, and after I put my rifle down, one of them always says, “Don’t you smile?”
My rifle, my pony, and me
Original Henry 1860 Used He appeared in numerous westerns, including Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and How the West Was Won (1962).
In “Silverado” (1985), Danny Glover’s character asks, “Have you ever seen what a Henry rifle can do in the hands of someone who knows how to use it?”
Elements of this can be found in many of the Westerns that will be featured in the series, including Lonesome Dove (1989), The Man from Laramie (1955), The Ballad of Buster Langford (2018), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Dances with Wolves (1990), Ride with Devils (1999) and Django Unchained (2012).
He also appears in the animated western Rango (2011), a film I removed from my family friendly list at the last minute, but which will be back.
Versions of the Henry rifle appear in numerous video games, including The Last of Us Part II, Fallout 3, Red Dead Redemption, and Red Dead Redemption 2. There are also several newer games featuring the Henry Repeating Arms, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
These are just a few examples. Henry and Henry-derived lever-action rifles are as common in Western movies as six-shooters. Holding one in your hand really gets you in the spirit of the West.
Winchester, the cruel man
In the mid-1800s, a young man named Benjamin Tyler Henry set out to become a gunsmith. During his apprenticeship, he worked with Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson (Smith & Wesson). From there, they founded their own firearms company. One of the investors was another famous last name, Oliver Winchester, who quickly took control of the company, rebranded it, and moved its headquarters to New Haven, Connecticut, renaming it the New Haven Arms Company.
Benjamin Henry became a factory foreman, and later, as America was on the brink of the Civil War, he designed the first lever-action repeating rifle. In an era when muskets were muzzle-loading, Henry’s .44 caliber 16-shot rifle was a formidable force. Patents It was registered on October 16, 1860.
The Henry rifle played an interesting role in the Civil War. It was used primarily by the Union Army, most of whose soldiers purchased it with their own money. The Henry rifle allowed soldiers to fire 16 rounds in rapid succession, giving them an incredible advantage over their enemies during the war.
Confederate soldiers had a steady supply of ammunition, and one Confederate officer described the Henry as “that damn Yankee rifle you load on Sunday and fire all week.”
Henry was also used at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, where it was in the hands of the Lakota, Arapaho, and Cheyenne that annihilated General Custer.
In 1864, Benjamin Henry became disgruntled with his boss, Oliver Winchester. Unhappy with his pay, Henry tried to take over the New Haven Arms Company from Winchester. However, in 1866, Winchester merged the New Haven Arms Company into the Winchester Repeating Arms Company before Henry could do so. Benjamin Henry died before the dawn of the new century. Meanwhile, Winchester improved on the Henry rifle, creating the Winchester Model 1866.
From then on, all the credit went to Winchester, which promoted its new rifle with the slogan “The Gun that Won the West.”
John Wayne Used The Winchester Model 1892 has appeared in about a dozen films, including Stagecoach (1939). It also made an appearance in True Grit (1969). In 2021, the rifle was Sold A whopping $88,500.
Of course, Winchester said,Winchester ’73” (1950). One of my favorite scenes is at the beginning of the shooting contest when Wyatt Earp shows off his coveted rifle, one of 1,000, as he struggles to speak over the two quarreling boys.
Boy 1: “My dad shoots Henrys and he says they’re the best guns!”
EARP: “Gentlemen, come on in!”
Boy 2: “Better than Spencer!”
EARP: “The Winchesters…”
Boy 2: “Spencer is the best you can get!”
Earp: “Dry up, lads!” (everyone laughs) “With no disrespect to Henry or Spencer, I think we can all agree that this is the best gun in the world?”
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