Quality of Henry Rifles

5mmgunguy

I have a friend that just got a Henry level action in 17 HMR. It shoots like a piece of junk!! It has two problems. First it shoots 12 feet to the left at 100 yards, this with a scope and the scope doesn't have anywhere that kind of adjustment in it. And two, the gun patterns the bullets, like a 7 inch "pattern" off a rest at 100 yards. He talked to everyone in his gun club and found 5 people with level action Henry rifles of which only one of the guys said the gun shoots good, the other four had similar horror stories with accuracy although not quite as bad. He calls up Henry rifles and basically was told sorry it wasn't our problem.

manchie390

First send it back, I've found Henry service to be outstanding [^]
I've owned about 6 Henrys & found them to be top notch [;)]

rufe-snow

Folks who own Henry, ( Imperato family ). Have been involved/owned many different gun business's over the years,i.e. Sile, Iver Johnson etc.

All of the above business's are defunct, and weren't renowned for the quality of their firearms when the Imperato's owned them.


This might be a case, of history repeating on itself?


This business of "12 feet to the left", sure seems to be either a bent or bad barrel to me. I sure would sent it back, if it's still under warrantee.

PC800

I had a .22 Henry that would never eject. I sold it and bought a Marlin.

HandgunHTR52

The twelve feet to the left problem could also be a scope mounting problem.
Also, was it windy while you were shooting? The .17 caliber bullets are not what you would call world class wind-buckers.
Lastly, it is a lever gun. You don't hear much about those tack-driving lever-guns. If you want a tack driver, look at a bolt gun or single shot.
Lastly, Henrys are notorious for bad triggers. This can also lead to "patterns".

kenny1989

my grandpa has a lever action in 22 magnum, I know someone with a 22LR lever action, and I have a henry golden boy in 22lr. All of them have no problems and shoot fairly accurate. Its probably just a bad gun you got.

1KYDSTR

Spotty quality control at best. The Imperato's are passionate and have in the past with Henry displayed decent Customer Service, but as mentioned, their products over the years have been on the lower end of the food chain. Many people like Jennings, Bryco and Hi-Point pistols for some unfathomable reason...cheap and available, I guess. Seen them come apart and people come close to a bad end operating them...just poor quality, period. Anyway, I put "Henty above those folks, but not by a large margin. I would not contemplate shooting a "Big Boy"...a Golden Boy coming apart would be bad...a 44Mag coming apart is likely to be FATAL bad.

Don McManus

I have a Big Boy in 357 magnum, and frankly love it. The first shot fired from it was 2" low and 1" left at 35 yards, which was probably me. The second shot was at and exploded an apple placed on the post above the target. Then hit 3 out of 3 beverage cans beside the target.

Moved out to 50 and then 100 yards with similar result.

I have only put 200 - 300 rounds through it. The first 50 or so were clunky, but all chambered and ejected. The action has smoothed out since.

This is the only lever action I own, so I cannot compare directly, but the rifle looks good, feels good, and shoots very well. No complaints what-so-ever.

SCOUT5

A few years ago I bought a .22 lever action henry for my son. It jams regular despite cleaning and differnt brands of ammo. It simply will seldem cycle a full magazine without jamming. Accuracy is what you would expect from a lever action gun I can't complain about that. As soon as we got it the keeper pin for the magazine tube fell out. I called Henry and they were supposed to send me one, it never came despite the absolute promise. I found a pin and fixed it myself. With this lack of service I didn't even bother to call them and tell then the gun was a piece of junk. What are they going to do send me another piece of junk? My advice get a refund and but another rifle.

Scout

Highball

I bought the cheapest Henry lever...and found it to be the absolute best lever I ever own..and that includes Marlin, Winchesters, Brownings, and a Mossberg..all .22's.

A friend of mine enjoyed knocking down shotgun hulls...and rifle cases..down at 25 yards with it so much he ran out and bought a Yellow Boy in .17.
It blew a case out the rim, after 11 rounds or so...sent back to the factory,,about 2 months later it came back...and promptly locked up after 10 or so rounds..the lever would not function.

Sent it back and the original dealer traded a Varmint .17 for the Yellow Boy.
That rifle shot 2 foot low at 20 yards..I had to shim the scope up what seemed 1/2 inch to get it to pattern.
I no longer reccommend Henry..despite the fact that I have the smoothest,best trigger, deadliest .22 lever one could ever hope to have in this lifetime...and it is a Henry.

Mr. Gunz

I've had a henery in 44mag and ive had a few probs but the service was great...

kimberkid

Mom & Dad had 40 acres just outside of town with neighbors not too far away ... which seemed like the perfect excuse to buy another 22 rifle ... I bought a Henry 22 lever H001 I think it was at Walmart. It was smooth and never a problem, bought a Golden Boy Engraved sometime later and have shot a few hundred rounds without any problems.

The only bad thing I can say about a Henry is they got me started on lever guns ... since then I've bought several Winchester and Marlin .22 levers, a Uberti in 45 Colt ... and of course a Peace Maker clone to go with it.


Then Mom sold the farm ...