It's settled... Lever Actions must have side-gate loading port.

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Howdy Again

The King's Patent side loading gate was first used on the Winchester Model 1866 as an improvement over the front loading situation of the 1860 Henry Rifle.

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I kind of like side loading gates.

Winchester Model 1873, 38-40. Left the factory in 1887.

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Winchester Model 1892, 44-40. Left the factory in 1897.

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Winchester Model 1892 Carbine, 44-40. Left the factory in 1918.

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Winchester Model 1892, 32-20. Left the factory in 1911.

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Winchester Model 1894 Carbine, 30-30. Left the factory sometime between 1943 and 1948.

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Winchester Model 1894, 30-30. Left the factory in 1895.

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Winchester Model 1886, 45-70. Left the factory in 1886.

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Marlin Model 1889, 38-40. Left the factory sometime around 1889.

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Marlin Model 1894, 44-40. Left the factory in 1895.

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Nothing personal to anyone, but the OP's title brings a big "Duh" for a response. I like the side gates. Hasn't been perfected upon in over 150 plus years. Driftwood, you just make me feel terrible that I don't have one of each of those. They are very sweet.
 
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cfullgraf said:
Ah, there is a good reason to have both the side loading gate and the ability to remove the tube.

In general, I've never been comfortable cycling rounds through the action to unload the magazine of a lever gun.
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Agreed, and even so people are still dead set that they need to remove the safety that allows them to unload the rifle in a way that is somewhat safe. Yes I kicked the hornets nest and I don’t care. It’s dumb to remove a safety on a lever gun. Period.
 
cfullgraf said:
Ah, there is a good reason to have both the side loading gate and the ability to remove the tube.

In general, I've never been comfortable cycling rounds through the action to unload the magazine of a lever gun.
Click to expand...

A valid point. While deer hunting in my college days my buddy borrowed my 94 Winchester. While he was unloading, the lever picked up the tail of his sweat shirt in the trigger guard and he blew a hole in the dirt road.
 
One advantage of the ugly safeties added to the newer versions of many of the classic lever actions is you can unload with considerably less fear of a negligent discharge.

As for using the side gate during hunting, the combination of the legal requirement to plug the magazine to 2+1 rounds and a bad case of buck fever put me in the situation where the side gate was the difference between me putting my first buck on the ground or watching a wounded deer run off, possibly to be lost.
 
Henry was living a charmed life when its competition was crummy Rossi and a failing Marlin/Remington. Now Rossi is back with an even better R92 set to own the low end of the market. And Ruger bought into the market for $26M fulling intending to dominate the lever market. The time for eccentric is over for Henry.
 
I have an Uberti 1860 Henry and their 1873 Winchester Sporting Rifle. Love them both. But it’s much faster to reload the Henry using my copper loading tube. Same concept as the Spencer loading tubes. However I don’t really need the speed advantage of reloading. After squeezing off 13 rounds I’m just not in any hurry to reload. I enjoy the process.
 
Sistema1927 said:
This has to be one of the most ignorant things I have heard today.
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You might be taking this thread a bit too serious.

The Winchesters and Marlins encompasses all the features that makes a lever action the iconic classic it is. A lever to cycle the action, a side-gate loading port to load and top-off the tubular magazine, and an exposed hammer instead of a safety. Henry has finally realized and validated that fact.

The savage 1899 only has 1/3 of the features needed to be a good and proper lever action.
 
I look at this way this way: if you think only lever action rifles with side loading are proper and tube loaders aren't you should only buy that type lever action. If you are in the tube loader camp that is what you should buy. What either group should not do is try to define what is proper for everyone. I really don't care what other people think is proper when I buy a mechanical devise be it gun, automobile. or something a simple as a pair of pliers. I'm an adult and perfectly able to form my on opinion.
 
mcb said:
:neener:

I think the fact that Henry has put side-gate loading ports on all of their lever action guns (except their replica of the original Henry, rimfires, and their modern box magazine feed lever action) should put the final nail in the coffin of those claiming the side-gate is not a requirement for a good and proper lever action.

View attachment 958290
Lever actions have side-gate loading ports! You may disagree, it is a free country, but you can still be wrong in a free country. :rofl:

Happy Thanksgiving!
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You should consider having a breathalyzer installed on your keyboard.
 
WestKentucky said:
Agreed, and even so people are still dead set that they need to remove the safety that allows them to unload the rifle in a way that is somewhat safe. Yes I kicked the hornets nest and I don’t care. It’s dumb to remove a safety on a lever gun. Period.
Click to expand...

Today's shooters, rather than relying on their grey matter and common sense, have become sheep to all the litigious preventing safety features on firearms these days. As such, this group is slowly becoming numb to the fact that firearms should be handled with care that should be second nature.

Side loading lever action rifles can be unloaded without fully chambering a round; I did it just this morning with my '92 Rossi prior to walking to the deer stand, removing the first three rounds from the magazine to make sure I had the right handloads in the rifle. Likewise, when I return to the house from my morning hunts, I cycle the lever just far enough to remove the round from the chamber, close the lever, lower the hammer, return the round to the magazine, and put the rifle back in the laundry room gun rack. It's also possible with toggle link rifles such as '66 and '73 Uberti's and Winchesters.

I feel the same about a inner tube magazines as I do semi auto pistols and magazines; the magazines are just something else to damaged or lost. But, if that's the type magazine that blows up your skirt, then more power to ya!

35W
 
I'm not sure I even like the change just because the stainless slabside versions looked a little cleaner and I don't see the point of adding an unnecessary loading gate when it already had a perfectly good slot in the tube.
 
35 Whelen said:
Today's shooters, rather than relying on their grey matter and common sense, have become sheep to all the litigious preventing safety features on firearms these days. As such, this group is slowly becoming numb to the fact that firearms should be handled with care that should be second nature.

Side loading lever action rifles can be unloaded without fully chambering a round; I did it just this morning with my '92 Rossi prior to walking to the deer stand, removing the first three rounds from the magazine to make sure I had the right handloads in the rifle. Likewise, when I return to the house from my morning hunts, I cycle the lever just far enough to remove the round from the chamber, close the lever, lower the hammer, return the round to the magazine, and put the rifle back in the laundry room gun rack. It's also possible with toggle link rifles such as '66 and '73 Uberti's and Winchesters.

I feel the same about a inner tube magazines as I do semi auto pistols and magazines; the magazines are just something else to damaged or lost. But, if that's the type magazine that blows up your skirt, then more power to ya!

35W
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There’s a lot more to it than loading and unloading. I am fine with classic guns being made as original as possible, but when it has a safety it should keep a safety. I personally will not own a gun without some form of safety. Mistakes happen, and a simple safety will prevent a lot of those mistakes. Your right though that people don’t grow up around guns as much and therefore don’t have the instinct to stay safe. That is scary for this generation, and next generation will at some point inherit the guns that people jerked safeties out of, and when accidents happen people will regret it and know that they could have prevented those accidents by not removing the safety that would have kept neice/nephew/kid/grandkid from catching a bullet. My kids life is worth more than the visual appeal of removing a 1/4” piece of metal behind the trigger guard.
 
I like that Henry is adding the gate. Now it allows for two ways to load the rifle. I like the idea of the tube for unloading the the rifle. I do not own a Henry lever gun, but I will once all this panic crap is over.

I own and have owned Winchesters and Marlins and I had a piece of crap Rossi 92. I’ll never fall for one of those again. :mad:

Also, I like the cross bolt safeties on my Marlins and my Winchesters. If you are rolling your eyes at this I really don’t care. You have your opinion I have mine.

I don’t care for the tube loading of the Henry but them adding the side gate changes things for me. I will buy one.
 
So is my non-gate Henry now a collectible? I love my Henry All Weather 45-70 without a loading gate. Trying to load the larger rounds into a gate would pinch the ever loving daylights out of me on the ones I used!
 
Random 8 said:
Poor imitations of the original. The legendary Mannlicher Schoenaur is a very good imitation, some might say improvement, on the original. I too, prefer my levers with pointy bullets, but a lever with a box magazine does seem weird.
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I think the Pedersen tube design as implemented on the Remington model 14 would be a better solution for spitzers in lever actions.
 
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