Opinions on Henry rifles.

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Great information Goosey!! :)

Looks like Uberti is using a straight brass in their frames while HRA is using a 'hardened brass' or adding another alloy to their brass to strengthen it for use for all ammo. If it is brass at all.

Any information or reports of stretched framed Uberti Henry rifles after digesting numerous hotter loads?

Now we're getting to the nuts and bolts.
 
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Yes, I'm just interested in the Henry repro nothing else.

It looks like the HRA built Henry has a stronger frame. And if a barrel is threaded into a stronger frame, hmmmmmm, just thinking out load.
 
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Did a search of other forums mostly Cowboy Action Shooters and they report NO stretching of the Uberti frames. But what about accuracy?

However, Cowboy Action Shooters shoot a lot of rounds but many of them shoot black powder or Cowboy Action loaded rounds generating no where near the chamber pressures of smokeless rounds.
 
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I don't care for Henry at all, their guns or their marketing. Their guns have always impressed me as being cheap and poorly fitted & finished. Their rimfires are cheaply made with plastic parts and zinc alloys. Their centerfires are overweight and handle like a 2x6. I was in a shop a few weeks ago that had racks upon racks of leverguns in the open where they could all be handled without asking. It's been a while since I handled any of their centerfires so I shouldered one. Compared to the plethora of used Marlins and Winchesters, it handled terribly.
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My thoughts exactly. I have wanted to like Henry rifles for a long time, but I never have.

Over rated and over priced.
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I agree.

The only reason to own a lever action rifle is nostalgia. No lever action does anything better than other action types from a performance perspective.
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I understand where you're coming from, but I can't "quite" agree with this statement. Maybe it's just my familiarity with the Win 94 I've owned for 33 years, or maybe it's just still a great tool, but put me in the middle of a pack of feral pigs and I'll take my 30-30 fully loaded above all else, even still.
 
I'll probably avoid all of this and go with the ironed frame Henry. I'll just wait to see if HRA comes out with a 45 LC in their ironed framed Henry.

Thanks guys for your input. Much appreciated. :)
 
I have sat on the sidelines for a lot of Henry discussions. What you usually see are owners who are very happy with their rifles and people who don't own them and generally run them down in vague terms. The zinc alloy on their receivers is often criticized, but you'd be hard pressed to ever find a failure. I read on one forum, it may have been this one, that a poster shot 10s of thousands of rounds through a Henry rimfire without any issues to speak of.
 
Its the Uberti's frame that when tested was brass but HRA said it added another alloy to its brass making it as strong or stronger than some plain steels, which is possible.
 
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The 1860 Henry feels heavy because the barrel and magazine tube underneath it are machined from one piece of steel. However this supposedly aids in it’s accuracy. I love the way it stays on target and recoil with black powder cartridges is very pleasant. Iron frames look cool but we’re very rare as only a few hundred were made during the first year of production.
 
mjsdwash said:
Henry rimfires are like a marlin 39 that costs 1/6 as much,...
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Henry fans always bring up costs with exaggerated examples. I bought a Henry .22 last year and it cost me nearly $500, or about the same as a used Marlin 39 I passed on at about the same time. I now wish I had bought the Marlin but I wanted an octagon barrel.


Crawdad1 said:
Any information or reports of stretched framed Uberti Henry rifles after digesting numerous hotter loads?
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Henry and "hotter loads" should never be mentioned in the same sentence. Nobody in their right mind uses anything but mild loads in a brass framed Henry or even the iron frame model. Or any other in its line from the 1860 to the 1876, no matter its origin.
 
CraigC said:
Henry fans always bring up costs with exaggerated examples. I bought a Henry .22 last year and it cost me nearly $500, or about the same as a used Marlin 39 I passed on at about the same time. I now wish I had bought the Marlin but I wanted an octagon barrel.

I think my base model was around 140$, compared to around 800$ for a 39 at the time. I don't think the henry was a bad deal, since it works reliably, extremely accurate, feeds CB caps up to LR perfectly, very fun to shoot. It is cheaply made, and probably won't stand being used as a club, but I cant see it wearing out anytime soon either. It came with nice wood too. A blued reciever cover, and better reciever alloy would go a long way.
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Back when when I first looked at them, their base model was under $200 but I only paid $300 for my two 94/22's. That was a no-brainer.
 
We're not talking about spline splitting or back breaking loads blasting out of a 7mm Remington Mag, they're only pistol bullets. The 'hotter' loads would be regularly loaded SAAMI ammunition as opposed to Cowboy Action Loads or black powder reloads.
 
I have more experience sitting the Henry 22 a little bit, friend of mines gun.
It was smooth, to me it had a weird popping noise(I'm use to me Marlins clacky clack). I still think my 39a is smoother, but it's from the early 60s, and I haven't given more than 280 for a 39a, seen them as low as 175. Accuracy at 25 was comparable.
Emailed Henry, got a quick response from the president of Henry.
Things I really didn't like, the popping noise all seem to have. Overall they have nothing in common with Tyler Henry's designs(want one of those? But a Winchester) false advertising that they're dinner was Tyler Henry.
The email I received back from Henry aid they took the Henry name in 96.

My thoughts, buy what you want, if you like them buy them.

I'm one that won't support them. But people tell made I'm opinionated. Good luck.
 
Geno, those are fine looking rifles. :)

I'm just interested in the Henry rifle of the 1860 persuasion. I looked on the net to see if there is any really good head to head comparison between the Uberti and the HRA built Henry. On the CAS forums which, there is a few, the opinions go back and forth as in there is no clear winner.
 
The opening post is about the Henry reproduction of the original 1860 rifle designed by B. Tyler Henry.

Yes, the other Henry rifles, including "brass" framed Henrys, are not the original Henry design, most are Erma or Marlin copies. Plus "brass" bling. Or plain. But the OP #1 clearly links to the current Henry rifle copy of the original 1860.

"Brass" used in gun frames is usually a bronze alloy, either gunmetal or bellmetal, actually harder than brass.

ADDED: I have a.22 Marlin 39 Mountie, a .30-30 Marlin 336, a .357 Rossi R92, and a .177 Daisy Red Rider so I'm pretty well set up on leveractions. From the positive I have heard from Henry owners, if I had to replace one of mine, I would give a Henry a look and a try. While a 1860 B. Tyler Henry replica would be nice, I am not in the market. If I were, given the reviews I have seen, I would be tempted to buy the 1860 Henry. I am not bashful about buying foreign made guns, I own several, but an American-made 1860 replica just sound right. even if it's for a few dollars more..
 
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Constant mention of every Henry levergun BUT the one model in question, and trying to draw any sort of comparison between their entry-level .22 and their top of the line Original, is utterly useless in response to the original question.

I've had both Henry Original & Uberti 1860 here.
The Henry is very nicely done, and reflects the price of doing that type of rifle in the US.

The Uberti was a nice rifle.

They'll probably both shoot equally well.
Should you ever have need of customer service, Henry wins hands down.
Denis
 
I am quite familiar with most of the Henry Repeating Arms company's lever action rifles and although they are usually nicely "finished," in general their design and style (or lack thereof) does not impress me in the least. I also don't care for the HRA company itself for numerous reasons, many of which have already been stated by others. I can attest to the fact that Uberti makes some very good lever action rifles, including the 1860. However, having said all of that I must admit that the one HRA product that I do like is their 1860 Henry clone. It is an extremely nice rifle, beautiful to look at and has a great feel to it as well. I've had the opportunity to mess around with several including one owned by a friend of mine. He likes it very much and so do I. As much as I like the 1860 Ubertis, I like HRA's 1860 Henry clone even better.
 
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Looking through all of these excellent posts, thanks guys!!! I noticed that some like HRA, some do not like HRA, but most, regardless of how they feel about the company, like their Henry repro.

I think that the quality is so close between the Uberti and HRA Henry its hard to decide which is the better rifle. I mean do you really buy a lever action rifle for its MOA accuracy? There are better rifles actions with better sights for that.
 
There is a very long tradition in the firearms industry of copying others names and designs and calling them yours. I don't get the animosity to the name. Nobody seams to have a problem with Sharps Rifle Company, AR Stoner, Harrington and Richardson, Springfield Armory, or the American gun makers that outsource everything to foreign manufacturers and still call it by there old name. Cough....cough....Winchester....cough.
 
Can't comment on the Henry 1860's haven't seen one. But I do have a Henry 22 that will shoot with the best of the Marlin 39's. Also have a friend that has one of the big boys, while it is a good bit heavier than what I would want it does shoot quiet well, and has not had any problems over the years.
One more thing that is often overlooked with the Henry company, the amount of firearms they donate to the Friends of the NRA banquets around the country is astonishing. At our local banquet last night there were 6 Henry rifles the company had donated either to the Friends of the NRA, or the local club. Not many other firearms manufacturers are so generous in their donations to the shooting sports.
 
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