Hi, Matt,
The .45 Colt (often called the ".45 Long Colt" to distinguish it from the .45 ACP) is a good cartridge, having been introduced in 1873 along with the Colt Single Action Army revolver. It was not used in rifles until recent times because its small rim gives extraction problems.
The sport of cowboy action shooting has revived it and brought about the introduction of rifles to fire it, although the extraction difficulties of 1873 are still there. I have seen, but not fired, those Henry reproductions. The ones I have seen look good and are pretty well made.
Like the original, they have no loading gate and load by pulling the magazine follower forward into a pivoting section of the magazine tube, then swinging it aside and dropping rounds into the magazine tube. Care should be exercised both in dropping rounds into the tube and in releasing the follower, since a bullet point can come into contact with the primer of a live round and there is at least the potential for an accidental discharge in the magazine tube.
The weak toggle action of the Henry and the 1873 Winchester rules out any loading of the .45 Colt beyond factory pressures, which are pretty low. Anyone wanting to "hot rod" the .45 Colt, .44-40, or any of the other old rounds should obtain a Winchester 1892 or 1894 type rifle, or one of the new Model 1894 Marlin rifles.
Factory ammunition is expensive, but the .45 Colt is easy to load. Bullets are available or you can cast your own. Those big bullets take a lot of lead, though.
Jim
