Henry rifles

USRAC is the "new" Winchester. Owned by Browning I believe....they bought the name....made abroad and kind of pricey for a new gun and new company IMO.

And to be honest, being a Ct boy I will never feel quite right about a Winchester that doesn't say "New Haven, Ct" on the barrel. But that is just me. I suspect they are good guns. Just not good enough to get my cash when there are Henry's out there.
 
USRAC is the "new" Winchester. Owned by Browning I believe....they bought the name....made abroad and kind of pricey for a new gun and new company IMO.
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Yeah, you're right. Old as well as new.
 
Not as a main match gun, those must be of pistol caliber. Ranges are short and steel targets are not always as hard as they should be.
 
Hawg Haggen said:
They have nothing to do with the original Henry, they just purchased the rights to use the name.
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I thought Imperato (or whatever the new owner's name is :rolleyes:) was a descendent or family member of the Henry clan.....but I could be wrong....wouldn't be the first time. :D

BrittB said:
Is the Winchester 94 top eject in 30-30 legal for SASS or CAS?
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Nope. Check out and read the Shooter's Handbook located here: http://www.sassnet.com/Downloads/2011ROMaterials/SASSHandbook-17-2011.pdf. The rifle must be in a "pistol caliber." 30-30's, while being an excellent hunting round, is just too much abuse on our lil ole steel targets. :D

The part you're looking for is found on pages 9-10 which say:

"RIFLE REQUIREMENTS
Rifles or carbines used in the main and team matches must be original or replicas of lever or slide action rifles manufactured during the period from approximately 1860 until 1899, incorporating a tubular magazine and exposed hammer. Rifles with box magazines may not be used. Certain shooting categories require a specific type of rifle and ammunition to be used. Please see the shooting categories for further information.

RIFLE CALIBERS
• Must be centerfire of at least .32 caliber and not larger than .45 caliber.
• Must be in a caliber commonly available in revolvers. Examples include, but are not limited to, .32-20, .32 Magnum, .357 Magnum, .38 Special, .38-40, .44-40, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, and .45 Colt. The only allowed exceptions are the .25-20 and .56-50.
No rifle calibers such as .30-30 or .38-55 are allowed.
• Buckaroo/Buckarette Category competitors choosing to utilize 22 caliber firearms must use standard velocity .22 caliber rimfire ammunition only."

Hawg Haggen said:
That's why I don't like Rugers.
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Me neither. I'm purty old school. However, I might break down and "Rugerize" (as my gunsmith calls it) my Open Tops by putting coil springs in 'em (among a few other things), but I don't want the cylinder released by simply opening the loading gate on the side....that's going too far.....;)
 
Actually I was wrong. Lou Imperato started the Henry Repeating Arms Co. in 1993. The name is a new name. The old Henry was designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry and manufactured by the New Haven Arms Co.
 
It figures, the 30-30 I already have. I think going to a match and seeing how things are done before I drop a nickle would be a great plan of action. Now I just have to find a local group to watch!
 
Hawh Haggen said:
Lou Imperato started the Henry Repeating Arms Co. in 1993. The name is a new name. The old Henry was designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry and manufactured by the New Haven Arms Co.
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The current HRA was started in '93 (I believe) by Lou Imperato (father of the current President Anthony Imperato). Lou Imperato had been involved in the firearms business most of his life. He made single action revolvers for Colt and was extensively involved in Ithica. The current Henry rimfires are basically a copy of an Ithica model (model 72 I believe). That Ithica model was in turn a copy of an original German design (memory is foggy and I can't remember the name of the company).

IIRC there is some vague family linkage between Benjamin Tyler Henry and the Imperato family but it is so many times removed as to be close to meaningless.

The only real similarity between the current Henry rifles and the original Henry Rifles is the solid brass receiver and the tubular magazine. They are not "reproductions" or "copies" of the original Henry's.

That said, they are excellent rifles in their own right. HRA stands behind their guns like no other company in the firearms business. Lifetime warranty, whether bought new or used. Doubt that? Send the company an email....the president of the company (Anthony Imperato) will respond in person....usually in less than 24 hours and confirm it for you.

Their rifles are made 100% in the USA. Their motto is "Henry rifles will be made in the USA or not at all." HRA makes fine rifles....both rimfire and centerfire and with Marlin being destroyed by Cerberus/Freedom Group/Remington, HRA is poised to become a major player in the leveraction firearms industry.

Anybody that likes leverguns owes it to themselves to try out a Henry. You won't be sorry.
 
erma is the name you are thinking of. iver johnson imported them. i previously read some where that the imperato family had a financial interest in iver johnson somewhere around the late sixties/seventies. at that time iver johnson was a importing company not a manufacturing company...fwiw, bobn
 
Thanks bobn! You're quite right...it was Iver Johnson not Ithica. The memory ain't what it used to be....:o Just too lazy to look it up so I went from memory. :( Gets me in trouble every time!

But the bulk of my post remains the same......The Imperato family has been in the gun business for a very long time. They produced SA revolvers for Colt. Their rimfire guns are a copy of an older Iver Johnson gun (not Ithica as I incorrectly stated) which was a copy of a German company's original design.

Meanwhile, my Henry .357 is my favorite gun....y'know....the one that ALWAYS goes to the range with you....

Bought it used and have killed 2 deer with it and run a total of about 3,500 rounds through it without a hiccup.

Great quality at a reasonable price and made in the USA!
 
I'm a little more lenient when it comes to .22's. I have a Golden Boy I wouldn't take anything for but the Big Boys don't do anything for me.

FWIW Imperato never made guns FOR Colt. He made black powder guns under license from Colt. Colt doesn't acknowledge these guns as Colt's.
 
An addition to everything said above.

One of our local shooters has a "new" Henry and he has yet to finish 5 stages without a foul up of some sort.

The mechanism involved does not lend itself to functioning at the speed required by CAS.
 
I've got a great story about Henry and Anthony Imperato (2few has already heard this one, I think).

Last year, after I bought a couple of Golden Boys, I gave my old Henry carbine to my nephew. He didn't like the front sight (and I don't blame him, I don't like it either), so he came up with a plan to replace it with a ramp and dovetailed sight. In the process, he completely and utterly boogered up the screw hole in the barrel by snapping off the screw, then trying to drill it out. Oy vey!

I sent an email off to Henry asking if they could replace the barrel and how much it would cost to do it. I got an email back the same day from Anthony Imperato saying to just send it in and they'd do it at no charge.

Well, time passed and we never did get around to sending that gun in until the end of April of this year. And three weeks later, it was back, with a shiny new barrel, band and front sight.

Now, it may be that the Big Boys aren't suited for CAS, and I'm pretty sure that they're a handful for silhouettes, but I can't find any fault with the company's service. And I'm with Hawg when it comes to my Golden Boy. You'd have to fight me for it.

EDIT: I forgot to add the kicker - I bought the original Henry carbine used!
 
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We have a Lever Action Silhoutte Rifle shoot at our range. The catagories are: small bore (.22 rimfire); pistol caliber ( as the title implies); and big bore ( any rimmed cartride dating up to 1900, .44 Mag and ,35 Rem. are allowed)
The small bore can be shoot with any type action. The pistol caliber and big bore are shot with a lever gun. We shoot at targets from 40 yards to 200 yards. All offhand, no optical sights.
Great fun.

Jeff
 
I've heard nothing but great things about their customer service and I've seen Anthony Imperato on a couple of forums. He seems like a great guy as well as having a love for firearms and wanting to run his business the way it should be run. I wish the rest of the manufacturers would follow suit. Now if he just made centerfires a little more historically correct at a decent price.
 
Hawg Haggen said:
I've heard nothing but great things about their customer service and I've seen Anthony Imperato on a couple of forums. He seems like a great guy as well as having a love for firearms and wanting to run his business the way it should be run. I wish the rest of the manufacturers would follow suit.
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You're certainly right on that.

Hawg Haggen said:
Now if he just made centerfires a little more historically correct at a decent price.
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The "look" of their guns does not bother me, but neither would something that was more historically accurate. As to the price, I don't feel their centerfire guns are unreasonably priced. I got one of their blued 30-30s for $534 OTD and the brass receiver guns (both 30-30 and pistol cartridge) can be had for about $660 to $700 OTD. A bit more expensive than a Rossi or a Marlin perhaps, but I think the quality and customer service makes them well worth the extra $100 to $150.
 
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