Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Anyone Tried the Henry "Small Game" carbine?

Especially in 22 WMR?

On paper it looks like the bees knees, but mebbe there are issues...

Any thoughts welcomed.

Pretty wrapper around sub par parts imho.

I like it. People are turned off by the Zamac receiver, but I don't know if anyone has ever worn a Henry receiver out. The 4 that I have owned all functioned flawlessly. Much better track record than I have with Rugers.

I had an early Henry lever .22. I flat wore it out in about 5 years with moderate shooting. My Marlin 39 shows no signs of stopping in over 40 years..ymmv

Bad experience?

I recently ordered a Henry Frontier with the 24" octagon barrel, in 22LR. It's still in the pipeline. I figure it will be a fun and serviceable rifle. We'll see.

I had a Winchester 9422M back in my teens in the 1970s. I don't expect the Henry to be built to that fine level of quality.

How did their lifetime warranty work out for you?

I have the octagon barrel version in 22WMR. It's a pretty rifle with deep bluing and is accurate and functions fine. Like others stated, I would prefer a steel receiver to Zamac. However, I won't use it enough to wear it out.

Wouldn’t know. Used it as trade bait and it went down the road.

What specifically wore out ?

There has only been one .22 lever action rifle sold during my lifetime that I have felt that was worth owning, the Marlin 39.

While the Winchester 94/22 came close, they didn't come close enough IMO.

The guts got sloppy and it wouldn’t feed anymore. The lever drooped and would stay up anymore either. The whole thing turned into a loose sloppy mess.

I have a couple. A Marlin 56, a Marlin 57m, and a 96/22mag. The 2 Marlins hold up well. They certainly shoot good, particularly the 56. The Ruger is pretty handy, and doesn't shoot bad. I had a 39, and while I did like the quality of the build, it was not as accurate as the 56 or the 57m.

Anyone I know who has purchased a Henry has been happy. I know multiple highly regarded gunsmiths who like Henrys a lot for the price and workmanship they are

If it's anything like the Henry "Classic" that I installed a fibre optic front sight on, it is an awesome little rifle.

Tin cans, rabbits and squirrels fear that thing. Seems laser guided by your eye, lol.

My son bought one of the standard .22 LR levers when he was in junior high. He'd run a 550 bulk pack through it every week all summer without issue until he graduated. He still has it and last I knew it was still working fine.

I got my Frontier Long Barrel 22LR in today. I'm pretty tickled with it. I just put a few rounds through it offhand at about 30 yards. Nice 2" group about 4" high. I'll get the rear sight adjusted and do some more serious target shooting. I did dab some nail polish on the front sight bead so my 62y/o eyes could see it.

Looks nice and my son has the same rifle. I love those CCI 40gr Subsonics. Wicked little pill that does some damage at slower speeds.

I'm really liking the CCI Subsonic 40gr hollow point also. Very quiet from a 24" barrel, and accurate.

Well, I got my Henry all "churched up" as they say. Added Skinner sights to the front and rear.

Slght radius is now 26.5 inches.



I picked the tallest partridge front sight, so I could set my rear sight low, then file down the front sight to get zero'd. Here's a pic of my progression as I worked the front sight down. First round was the bottom X, and so on working upward between filing. The top circled group was the finish.


The CCI Subsonic shot just under 1/2" ctc for me at 25 yards, with the Skinner sights. I zero'd it 1" high at 25 yards, so it will remain around 1" high at midrange, and drop back to zero around 65 yards, with this ammo.

Front sight after finishing the adjustments, honing the sharp edges, and touch-up with a blueing pen.


Rear sight with optional .07" aperture. Standard aperture is .096", but my older eyes needed a bit smaller aperture.


Also from Skinner, this rear sight slot filler for the factory rear sight dovetail. This one is threaded to hold an extra aperture, so I put the standard .096 aperture in there.