Guns that Changed the World: The Henry Rifle

The original Henry repeating rifle was an American .44 caliber rimfire, lever-action, breech-loading rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in the late 1850s. The Henry rifle was an improved version of the earlier Volcanic Repeating rifle. The Henry rifle used copper (later brass) rimfire cartridges containing 25 grains (1.6 g) of gunpowder to a 216 grain (14 g) bullet. 900 Henry rifles were manufactured between summer and October 1862; by 1864, production had peaked at 290 per month. By the time production ended in 1866, approximately 14,000 units had been manufactured.

The rifle's original list price was $42; as of 2004, an original 1862 Henry rifle may bring $14,000 (one sold in November 2006 for $60,000) in the collectors' market. For a civil war soldier, owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride. Although it was never officially adopted for service by the army, many union soldiers purchased Henry rifles with their own funds. The brass framed carbines could fire at a rate of 28 rounds per minute when used correctly, so soldiers who saved their pay to buy one often believed that the rifle would help them survive. They were frequently used by scouts, skirmishers, flank guards, and raiding parties, rather than in regular infantry formations. To the amazed muzzleloader-armed Confederates who had to face this deadly "sixteen shooter," it was "that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week!"

Manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company, the Henry rifle would soon evolve into the famous Winchester Model 1866 lever-action rifle. With the introduction of the new Model 1866, the New Haven Arms Company would be renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

The Henry rifle used a .44 caliber cartridge with 26 or 28 grains (1.8 g) of black powder. This gave it significantly less muzzle velocity and stopping power than comparable repeaters of the same era, such as the Spencer repeating rifle. The lever action, on the downstroke, ejected the spent cartridge from the chamber and cocked the hammer. A spring in the magazine forced the next round into the chamber and locking the lever back into position sealed the rifle back up into firing position.

As it was designed, the rifle was not a very safe weapon. A Henry rifle, when not in use, would either have the hammer cocked or resting on the firing pin of the cartridge. In the first case, the rifle has no safety and is in firing position. In the second, an impact on the back of the exposed hammer could cause a chambered round to fire.

In 1973, Louis Imperato bought the firearms company of Iver Johnson and began making commercial versions of the M1 carbine. In 1993, Imperato started a factory in his native Brooklyn to manufacture .22 caliber rifles under the newly recreated name of the Henry Repeating Arms Co. which are currently manufactured in Brooklyn, New York. (The current company, Henry rifles, does not produce the Civil War period firearm that this article defines. It produces lever action rifles that are more akin to later Marlin types.)

A. Uberti Firearms produces an almost exact copy Henry Model 1860, although it is not available in .44 Henry Rimfire. Instead, they are chambered for centerfire calibers such as .44-40 Winchester and .45 Long Colt.