Re. the Henry Model X

[gmerkt]

Recently, there was a thread here about a Henry Model X. Which I'd been completely unaware of. What a neat rifle. I've had a Henry BB in .41 Mag and liked it a lot. At present I have a couple of Henry single shots that I like.

The Model X, it has the polymer stock that is popular, plus the gimmick for mounting stuff. Threaded muzzle for a suppressor. Popular cartridges. I may talk myself into one.

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[WEE]

I bought a Big Boy X Model in 357 Magnum/38 Special last fall at Bi-Mart in Port Orchard. I had a lot of 38 Spl ammo on hand for my revolver so that caliber in a rifle was a good fit. The fiber optic sights front and rear are great!

 

[gmerkt]

Yes, I'm pretty sold on Henry rifles. For a long time, I had the (mistaken) opinion that they were a rinky-dink outfit. Not in the same league as one of the old timey companies, like Winchester, Remington, Colt, etc. Well, look how those have turned out. Multiple bankruptcies and acquisitions. Could be the folks in Rice Lake, Wisc. are happy to have jobs.

The one thing I don't like about Henry, their chemically or laser etched roll markings. Which of course are no longer "rolled" into the metal. A feature I don't like about new Ruger products either. And some Colts have serial numbers that are dots. Oh well, that's progress.

One sign that Henry is a healthy business is the wide range of product offerings. In addition to their quest to keep offering up new products to build business. Henry is a family owned business, no shareholders to keep happy and pay dividends to.

Maybe the following doesn't sound like a good recommendation. Having owned three Henry rifles, two had to go back for warranty work. My Big Boy Steel in .41 Magnum had a little hitch in the lever action, in that it wouldn't always load a fresh round from the tube magazine without a little hesitation being needed to get the cartridge to lock into breech. I contacted Henry Cust. Svc., they sent a return label without fuss, had the rifle about a month complete turnaround, and it came back fixed.

The second warranty job I had, I'm not sure it was all Henry's fault. I bought it as a new in box gun through Gunbroker. Henry rifles usually have a beautiful wood stock. This one had a little blonde spot near the butt. Since I bought it online, it wasn't something that would reveal itself in the pictures. For a while, I wasn't sure that it was something that I wanted fixed; it was individualizing. Later, I was looking at the butt stock very closely, and noticed the finest hairline crack in the butt stock at the wrist. It was really tiny; that is normally something that I would've seen right away. But cracked stocks don't stay in my gun safe, so I contacted Henry and again, they sent a return shipping label out right away, no fuss, and it was back within less than a month. They put an entire new set of wood on it, butt stock and forend, which have a lovely striping in the wood, much nicer than the stock it came with (nevermind the crack). However, I've wondered if the crack was something that happened at the Henry factory, or something that happened at the dealer who sold it to me online, or poss. even a shipping issue but the carton was completely intact when received.

Below is the .357 that went back for a new stock:



This rifle shot to point of aim right out of the box. These are made to a higher level of quality that the older New England Firearms single shots that I have many of. The other Henry single shot that I have is a .45-70.

 

[WEE]

I have 6 Henry rifles and have not had any issues that were production problems. All were super accurate right out of the box, as you noted. I did buy a Varmit Express .17HMR from Bass Pro in Tacoma. I was able to negotiate a sizeable price reduction because the receiver cover was badly scratched on one side. I called Henry customer service to buy a new cover. The woman in CS asked me what happened to it and I told her I bought it that way, fully hopeful that I could just purchase a new cover. She insisted on sending me a new cover, including new screws, no charge including shipping. She said we don't want any customer to be disappointed in our rifles, for what ever reason. You can't beat that.

 

[MountainBear]

I still have eyes on either the .357/.38 or the .44 mag version. I love old school looking lever guns with blued steel and worn walnut, but recently have developed an appreciation for the utilitarian aspects of some of the newer lever gun models and accessories.