Lever Action .22

CraigC said:
Zinc based alloys are commonly referred to as "pot metal"..
Click to expand...
By you...

There's a lot more than "Zink pot metal" in the Zamac allow, than Zink, and the allow is holding up very good, according to the thousands and thousands of happy Henry rimfire customers who are shooting them. Many like me, have many thousands of rounds through their Henry.

Personally, I don't like the Winchester or the 39, not if I have to carry and use it. I prefer my 22's to be light and handy along with reliable, my Henrys are all of that..

DM
 
CraigC said:
Zinc based alloys are commonly referred to as "pot metal". ZAMAK is a zinc based alloy. Zinc is used because it's "strong enough", cheap to procure and cheap to manipulate. Die casting zinc is far less expensive than investment casting steel or aluminum. Not all cheap guns are zinc but all zinc guns are cheap. It may work fine for 100,000rds, it may go tits up as quickly as mine did but it will always have that stigma attached to it.
Click to expand...

Zamak is a family of alloy. Each one different. So it's hard to use such a broad brush. Kind of like saying all knives are the same if they are made of steel. Different formulations of steel or zamak change things drastically. 420A vs crucible. It COULD have been good if they used better formulating or better purity. Id guess majority of the breakage is from impurity of the zinc rather than the alloy itself. Z (inc) A(luminum)MA(agnesium) K (copper... but it starts with a K in German. Lol) but some does use others like nickel and gold. Zamak In some of its forms is as strong as carbon steel in some categories Some forms of zamak are weaker for easier forming and casting. Some have more nickel to make them smoother in appearance. A couple of the alloys are pretty hard to tell they are zinc based unlike the ones used in die cast cars and such. Some forms have more copper to make them stronger. You would be shocked (and probably wouldn't fly or drive much) if you knew what all is made from zamak. Ive used it in manufacturing some. Not much though as we tend to never be the low bidder on anything. Lots of things are made from it though. From the medical industry to cars to junk jewelleries.

DM~ said:
By you...
Click to expand...
I don't know that it's used for "pots" as people now think though (that was never what it meant..... ) It's melting point is rather low and it's not as thermal conductive as aluminum either. Lol. But it is widely referred to as pot metal because they melted it in melting pots. So it's not just by craig c


Either way craig is correct, the zamak is used because it's cheap to buy zinc (and zamak In any form ive seen is well over 90 percent zinc), it forms easy and melts quick, and it's sufficient (usually). The pressure injecting is easier too. It will never last as long as steel or aluminum in any use. It just won't. It's used when cost is the determining factor in every case. It does nothing better than aluminum, steel, or anything else for the same purpose. It's ONLY used when "cheap and easy to manufacture" are paramount to longevity.

A bl-22 is lighter and IMO a better built rifle (even though i don't prefer the lever/trigger design. The ONLY reasons to buy the Henry over the Browning is cost (because it's zamak) or because you only buy "Merican". Either one is a fine reason too. I drive (and repair) Ford and GM because I refuse to buy a Toyota. Lol. It's ok

DM~ said:
I prefer my 22's to be light and handy along with reliable, my Henrys are all of that..
Click to expand...

Screenshot_20221228-111438_Gallery.jpg Screenshot_20221228-111443_Gallery.jpg

Light(er) and handier.
 
There are a lot of folks buying these Henry rifles who think they are the original Henry company and that think the rifles are actually made of brass or steel. When they find out the receiver is a cheap zinc casting and the paint comes off they get all flat headed. I guess I need to think of a Henry as a rifle meant to be used, abused and beat on and then tossed. I guess if hunting nutria in a salt marsh I would much rather a Henry than a fine 9422 or 39A. The salt water will eat them all up but when done with the Henry I could just toss it in the bayou and go get another. Not so easy to do with a Marlin or Winchester (or Browning). The pot can call the kettle black, but the kettle can remind the pot he is of pot metal and not steel.
 
How many of those who have had problems with Zaymak Henrys have had the Zaymak parts actually break or wear out so as to make the rifle unuseable.
Or, is the problem that the exterior finish flakes off and just looks bad ?
 
nofendertom said:
How many of those who have had problems with Zaymak Henrys have had the Zaymak parts actually break or wear out so as to make the rifle unuseable.
Or, is the problem that the exterior finish flakes off and just looks bad ?
Click to expand...

No finish sticks well to zamak. (No y) But I agree that ive not seen any issue functionally on the Henry. Some of the trashy gsg guns ive seen the zamak parts break though.

Zamak is going to vary by batch too. More attention has to be paid to the material than others. The blend, the pressure, and purity have to be paid close attention to. Something (kind of like slag or powder) created in the zinc process can cause cracks i know. But in the Henry nothing is under any stress nor is it exposed to heat or vibration.... both of which are weak points for zamak
 
Last edited:
ZAMAK is the internal receiver, the outer cover is aluminum. Still, coatings tend to not stick well to aluminum and I assume an anodized hardcoat like an AR would be cost prohibitive.

I really don't care if they last a million million rounds or a million years. I don't care what else is made from ZAMAK. I really, really, really, really, really, really don't. Zinc alloys have a stigma attached to them that can't be overcome. Not to my mind anyway. We're also talking about leverguns, not cheap pocket autos or RG revolvers. Leverguns are pure Americana. Pretty sure I'm not alone in thinking they should be steel or brass.

Not to mention the fact that I own two of the damned things and they are both broken. Both need to go back to Henry.
 
CraigC said:
I assume an anodized hardcoat like an AR would be cost prohibitive.
Click to expand...

Probably but it's more to do with getting that gloss they want to look like steel. Getting a consistent gloss is difficult with anodizing and the cheaper and softer the aluminum the more impossible it becomes. If they have to use good aluminum and get it glossy it wouldn't be cheaper than steel anymore. Lol

anodizing is not all that expensive. Sulfuric acid, water, dye, and electricity are cheap and its pretty favored by the environmentalists unlike good bluing. Lol. My point about what all is made from zamak was showing that zamak could have been better. The stuff they are using for most guns isn't just cheap because it's zamak. It's cheap even FOR a zamak

Henry does seem to get good barrels. At least they don't cheap on that. The rest is definitely made to a price point

CraigC said:
Leverguns are pure Americana
Click to expand...

Yep. First patented in Italy by an Italian. Lol. Makes you wonder why they stopped perfecting it and moved on. Might have changed history. They had a 20 year head start on hunt and 30 on smith/ winchester. Unless you count the two shot lever, also Italian. Long Before there was an America

Having worked beside engineers from Japan, Russia Germany, Italy etc etc... they don't see history the way we learned it here in the states . Lol. An Italian programmer who grew up not far from Berettas old buildings (who lives in South Carolina now) gave me a several week lecture on their contributions.
 
Last edited:
Do any of you guys know what the increase in price would be if Henry actually used steel to build their rifles? My GB is fitted and finished excellent and I’d of paid another 150-200 for it if it was built with a steel receiver. Not that it matters because I’m sure Henry will keep building them the way they are. Just curious is all
 
Cheap is the bane of America. Cheap Chinese tool purveyors like Harbor Freight caused the dumbing down of good American tools trying to price compete to the point where it's hard to find decent long lasting tools anymore.

Cheap overseas labor caused the flight of decent paying factory jobs to leave this country. Now all of a sudden gov't and industry realize there are national security issues because just about all chips, required for just about everything, are no longer produced in necessary quantities here.

Cheaply made guns like Heritage Rough Rider, Ruger Wrangler, and some Henry rifles have altered the mindset of gun owners. Some will now accept these saying "oh, they usually work okay, and look how cheap they are". There was at time no serious gun owner would have anything to do with pot metal guns.

Americans needs to wake up and stop being cheap before there is nothing of quality left for them to buy, period.
 
Last edited:
Steve Milbocker said:
Do any of you guys know what the increase in price would be if Henry actually used steel to build their rifles? My GB is fitted and finished excellent and I’d of paid another 150-200 for it if it was built with a steel receiver. Not that it matters because I’m sure Henry will keep building them the way they are. Just curious is all
Click to expand...

If the receiver were redesigned, I'd expect pricing to be close to the centerfire Big Boy Steel series.
 
I had a 39A in the early 60's and there were some "issues" right out of the box. One thing that bugged the heck out of me was that the receiver wasn't even close to 90 degrees from the receiver sides. Every time I looked down the barrel, I saw (or felt) that it was about 5 degrees off-perpendicular to the sides of the action. Maybe it wasn't that much off, but WHY couldn't the factory make a flat receiver top perpendicular to the flat sides??? The other nagging thing was that it failed to extract/eject empties all too often. Also, iron sights were poor, but mounting a receiver sight only drew attention to the receiver top's "cant".

Did the rifle shoot straight? YES it did! Was it fun to shoot? Yes, dang it! Then why did the problems cause you to eventually get rid of the fine-shooting rifle? I can't stand it that something that's supposed to shoot-straight had such poor manufacturing quality controls!!! The fact is that the nice rifle "kicked me in the head", every time I used it. I have other rifles/handguns that are PERFECT as I expect each to be, and for a lot less money.
 
Picher said:
I had a 39A in the early 60's and there were some "issues" right out of the box. One thing that bugged the heck out of me was that the receiver wasn't even close to 90 degrees from the receiver sides. Every time I looked down the barrel, I saw (or felt) that it was about 5 degrees off-perpendicular to the sides of the action. Maybe it wasn't that much off, but WHY couldn't the factory make a flat receiver top perpendicular to the flat sides??? The other nagging thing was that it failed to extract/eject empties all too often. Also, iron sights were poor, but mounting a receiver sight only drew attention to the receiver top's "cant".

Did the rifle shoot straight? YES it did! Was it fun to shoot? Yes, dang it! Then why did the problems cause you to eventually get rid of the fine-shooting rifle? I can't stand it that something that's supposed to shoot-straight had such poor manufacturing quality controls!!! The fact is that the nice rifle "kicked me in the head", every time I used it. I have other rifles/handguns that are PERFECT as I expect each to be, and for a lot less money.
Click to expand...
There's a whole website to get the 39's to function as well as my Henrys do, and have done right out of the box!

DM
 
"Zinc alloys have a stigma attached to them that can't be overcome".

Only to some of us. Others (like me) don't care.
My two Henry's are doing fine.
 
I moved my dad's old Weaver K3 from my beautiful Winchester XTR 9422M to my Marlin 39A Original Golden. I used a Weaver 90A base. Not super pleased with that base as it has some give in the screw holes to allow misalignment. But, I paid attention to alignment and torqued to 20 in/lb with blue thread locker. Remounted the K3 with Warne QD low rings. I can actually pull the scope and use the irons. I had to slot the Weaver base to clear the elevator. Weird thing, the scope was dead ZERO at 50 yards with the Winchester 9422M and Federal 50 grain and it is freaking dead ZERO at 50 yards with CCI Standard Velocity on the 39A. Weird, no adjustment needed. CCI MiniMag shoots an inch higher and CCI Quiet shoots about 1.5 inches low. I will take it :)!
 
chicharrones said:
If the receiver were redesigned, I'd expect pricing to be close to the centerfire Big Boy Steel series.
Click to expand...

I would be willing to pay an additional $150 for steel, $200 for real brass and I would go $100 to get a forged, heat treated, aluminum billet receiver hard anodized. Maybe a little more if the barrel bands were also metal.The basic design of the guns are decent functionally and accuracy seems to be decent as well from all the reports.
 
I have a Marlin 39A from the early 1960's and it is a great shooter.

The Winchester 9422 has a good reputation.

Used good rifles are good.

I'm not sure what is available on the new market today but I've been pleased with my 327 Fed Mag Henry and my 1873 357 Mag Henry rifle. Maybe the 22RF rifles are not made with as robust components as the centerfire rifles, but, on the other hand, they do not need to be.
 
I have one of the early Golden Boys from Henry that is now around 22 years old. I've put thousands of rounds through it without one single issue. It's accurate, looks good and is smoother than any other lever rimfire I own, out of about a dozen. I am aware of the materials used and am not bothered by it at all. I have several Marlins, Winchesters and a Browning that I am also very happy with. I also have a Henry base model, the H001 that was made in 2006. No problems with it either and it shoots as straight as any of the others. Would I trade a Marlin, Winchester or Browning for a Henry? Absolutely not, but I am certainly not disappointed in the quality vs. cost of the Henry. They are a good rimfire lever gun for folks who don't want to spend a fortune on one of the walnut/steel rifles. BTW, for those who are not aware, the Browning uses an alloy receiver with a steel cover and no one has much to say about their design not using steel throughout....just saying.
I actually took a 9422, 39M, BL-22 and an H001 out to the range today and equally enjoyed shooting them all! (Today, the Browning outshot the other three.) Rimfire leverguns are just plain fun, I don't care who's name is on it! :)
 
az_imuth said:
BTW, for those who are not aware, the Browning uses an alloy receiver with a steel cover and no one has much to say about their design not using steel throughout....just saying.
:)
Click to expand...
Curious, is the alloy receiver you mention on the Browning a predominantly aluminum alloy, more of a zinc alloy, or something else?
 
3Crows said:
I would be willing to pay an additional $150 for steel, $200 for real brass and I would go $100 to get a forged, heat treated, aluminum billet receiver hard anodized. Maybe a little more if the barrel bands were also metal.The basic design of the guns are decent functionally and accuracy seems to be decent as well from all the reports.
Click to expand...

If enough people put this in the Henry suggestion box maybe they'd consider it ?

https://www.henryusa.com/henry-firearm-suggestion-box/

-Jeff
 
JimCunn said:
"Zinc alloys have a stigma attached to them that can't be overcome".

Only to some of us. Others (like me) don't care.
My two Henry's are doing fine.
Click to expand...
It's universal. It's the reason for "melting point" laws. An effort to put an end to cheap guns.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Solomonson
  • Locked
Which pump 22 for action shooting -- Rossi Gallery 22 or Henry Pump Action 22?
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
Solomonson
Solomonson
trigga
  • Locked
Rossi .22 LR
Replies
10
Views
2K
maxxhavoc
maxxhavoc
D
  • Locked
Henry lever action .22 ?
2
Replies
32
Views
14K
Geno
G
R
  • Locked
357 lever action suggestions
Replies
4
Views
860
exdetsgt
E
H
  • Locked
Strongest Repeater 22LR besides bolt actions??
Replies
21
Views
1K
Deltaboy1984
Deltaboy1984
Back
Top