Henry's look nice. And they are made in the good ole USA. But..... Everyone I know that has had one has had feed issues. I'd probably buy a Rossi or Taurus mfg before I spent a lot of money on a Henry.
Marlin is hard to beat, for accuracy and reliability. Don't own any of the Remington made Marlins, so I couldn't say on QC Issues of those. All my Marlins were made before 1990. Dealers & gun traders Definately ask a premium for PRE-Remington Marlins. If I was gonna use it as a hog gun or deer rifle I wouldn't be two concerned about the newer models, personally.
I also have several Winchester's 94's & 92's that are Pre-Saftey models. Plenty accurate for what I use them for. And I've never had one fail to feed.
Recent or current production Winchester Lever Actions are all made by Miruka ? In Japan. They are probably made on some of the finest CNC machines in the world, as the Japanese also make the best CNC Machinery.
Other than new Winchester Lever Actions being a LOT more Expensive nowadays, I don't see a thing wrong with them. Most traditionalist hate them because of the new style saftey.
Buy the one you like the best. Remember you ALWAYS get exactly what you pay for! I find that to be especially true with firearms.
And yes, the 30-30 is still a decent hunting cartridge for whitetail sized game. Probably more deer killed over the years with the 30-30 than all other Cartridges put together.
Personally, I prefer to hunt with my little short barreled Trapper Carbines in .357 magnum & 44 Magnum if I drag a Lever Gun out of my safe. I just consider them a 100 yard Max hunting rifle & know my limitations.
If I'm gonna shoot something past 100 yards, I'll be hunting with a Model 70 Winchester Featherweight in 7x57 or .264 Win Mag. JMHO, though.
