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besides the tube loading?
Looking at comments in online reviews and certainly lots of opinions expressed in these forums it seems the first thing folks bring up is how much they don't like the tube loading and most of the reasoning for that seems to be because it doesn't allow quick combat reloads - which I won't comment on.
But, other than that, what is not to like about a Henry? I've looked at several examples over the last several months and Sunday went and looked again at a standard blue steel/walnut .30-30 at Sportsman's. It had the best trigger I've ever felt on a lever action, bar none. My semi-educated finger put the weight at about 3 1/2 pounds, zero creep and
no overtravel, it truly felt like a good bolt action trigger. The action was smooth as silk, no hesitation at the start of the lever throw to cock the hammer, at least none that I could feel. The transfer bar hammer eliminates any external safety at all and is certainly as safe as any Ruger revolver. Obviously couldn't check accuracy in the store but from what I've been able to find in reviews they seem to run about typical for a better Marlin 336, 1.5 MOA or so average with some exceptions getting 1 MOA and some close to 2 MOA.
The wood on all five of the various Henry's they had on the rack was really nice for a lever action or any modern factory rifle for that matter, definitely nicer than anything on any of the new Marlins except their big buck TDL and as nice or nicer than the Miroku 94's they had in stock, and to be honest a lot better than most of the wood Ruger puts on their $1400 No. 1's these days.
There were a couple of cons that stood out, mostly the 14" LOP which felt about 1/2" too long IMO, folks with longer arms might not be bothered. The checkering pattern is a bit busy, I'd just as soon have no checkering or better the straight forward pattern on their Big Boy series sans the curved lines. And to be real honest, the name "Henry" just doesn't inspire awe in me. Maybe "Excelsior" or something would have been a better choice.
I like Marlins and Winchester 94's, having had well over a dozen of the former in various calibers and at least a half dozen of the latter, but I wanted to approach the Henry with an open mind and from I've seen they are really well built lever rifles, which makes me wonder why - except for the tube loading which seems to be some kind of real hot button issue - so many folks seem to have such a dislike for them.
