I'm about this close to pulling the trigger on a standard blued .30-30 Heny. I've looked at several examples of Henry's, both the .30-30, .45-70 and the pistol caliber "Big Boy" models, and they are all very well fit and finished - excellent wood to metal fit and a nice uniform dark brown on the wood. Speaking of, the wood on all I've seen ranges from good to very good, no 2x4's in the bunch. The somewhat fish belly profile of the forend in pictures goes away in person and it is nice and narrow in the hand; the 50's era Marlins and now some of the latest ones have very fat forends. The actions all operate very smoothly and the triggers generally break cleanly at about 4 pounds or so. The transfer bar ignition lets you leave the hammer down on a live round and it's as safe as a Ruger SA revolver.
I know a lot of folks are turned off by the loading port in the magazine tube but after thinking about it feel it is a superior loading system that won't catch the thumb of your glove (I have two pairs of wool gloves with the right thumb torn up from just that) or try to pop the last couple of rounds back out at you. Some folks like the side port for a quick reload but I've never really needed to top off my lever actions in a hurry. The tube port also allows you to fully unload the rifle without having to run all the rounds through the action - not a big deal for anyone with half a brain but nevertheless it's there.
They take down just like a Marlin for cleaning from the breech - remove the lever screw and remove the lever, pop out the bolt, take out the ejector and you're done.
If there is one drawback I've found it's that the lever doesn't snuggle right up to the bottom of the grip like a Marlin or Winchester, there is a small gap. It's noticeable right at first but after working the lever a few times you notice it less and less, at least that's how it was with me.
They are a kind of non-traditional traditional lever action and I used to turn my nose up at them for that reason but once I gave them a fair and unbiased look and actually examined several, they definitely impressed me as a well thought out and well made rifle.
