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Posted: 1/21/2026 11:34:37 PM EDT
[Last Edit: MikeSSS][Edited]
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This is a classic looking carbine with wood and is not space cowboy looking at all. It is threaded 5/8x24, 16.5" barrel, 1 in 16 twist and uses transfer bar safety but no cross bolt safety. I haven't found this model on Henry's site, classic but threaded was what I was looking for, so I jumped on it. The look is great to my eye. Sights are nice classic style, there is no rail or M-Loc at all. In use the sights were just fine for my use, mostly fast: present, lever and shoot. Fast lever feeding is similar to all non: 1860 Henry, 1866 Winchester, 1873 Winchester. You can get an occasional balk that requires a second try to chamber, but it seldom happened. (The old design 1860, 1866 and 1873 are far more reliable for fast feeding, especially while moving, due to their cartridge in an elevator design.) Sometimes old ways are best ways. Ammo used 38 Special cases, with 120 gr Lee TC truncated cone cast bullets, lubed with Liquid Alox and a mild charge of Trail Boss and with a crimp into the lube groove. OAL length was 1.585", close to 357 Mag overall length of 1.590". Feeding was very good, better than using 38 Spl cartridge length, which isn't too bad either. Even semi wad cutters will feed but with more balks. Silencer was the Hybrid 46, sound level was more than I hoped for. Next ammo will use lighter loads. I didn't take the chrono so don't know the velocity. Most shooting was at 8 or 9 yards, as described above and it was comparison shot against a Ruger PC9 M-Loc semi auto 9mm. The PC9 used a green dot sight. The PC9 used the same bullets with similar velocity loads of 231 and also some 115 gr Monarch and Blazer. In this enjoyable type shooting, and on berm dirt chunks, accuracy results were very similar for both carbines. Yes, the lever gun is a bit slower on the first shot, semi auto has a significant advantage on follow on shots. If charging the semi auto for the first shot is included, then the lever action gets the first shot off faster. Interestingly, bullet holes in the paper targets looked different for both carbines, even though they used the same bullets and close to the same charge levels. Go figure. The Henry gives a nice, calm shooting experience. The PC9 is blow back, the heavy bolt slams back into a cushion and transfers momentum shock into the jaw, especially if a dot sight is low mounted as was the case today. Lever guns don't have port pop noise, the semi auto does, same with slam bang bolt noise while the stock is cheeked. Preference? Shoot both, especially in comparison shooting. Move back and forth between them. This was interesting to me, 38 Spl vs 9mm. All my previous lever gun experience was 45 LC, 44-40 and 30-30. Well, OK, 22 RF and 32 RF too. Edit to add, this H012 Henry is probably the best and most natural pointing rifle I have ever shouldered. It's just right. |
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Originally Posted By Urimaginaryfrnd: Sounds perfect for you . I gave up trying to make a Henry X model 44 mag shoot better than paper plate size groups at 100 yds with a red dot. The Marlin that I traded it toward shoots much better. Read your posts about this and hope this one does better, but it's really for close defense type practice. There is a SW 1054 in 45 LC coming so eventually both this Henry and that will be tested at distance. I'll post results when that testing happens. Love the Marlin look. So many guns, so little time. |
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