Henry Rifle Forums

I am doing research on my best choice for a 45-70. My choices are either a Henry H010 or a Marlin 1895. I am so impressed by the quality of the Henry rifles that I have seen in the local gun store. Also, Henry stands behind their products better than anyone. I am not impressed with the new "Remlins". I believe it wil take more time for Remungton to produce better quality rifles. I have a Marlin 336 made in 1976 that is a quality rifle. I will only get a JM stamped Marlin vs a new one. I am also interested in the Henry H010. My only concern would be the long term durability of the loading tube. My concern is whether the H010 can take a long term beating from factory loaded ammo. Thanks for any feedback on your experience with this rifle.

Per the company, the Henry action is as strong or stronger than the 1895 action. The loading tube is essentially the same in both...it's just that the Marlin fills it from the back, and the Henry from the front. I looked at both of them when I was shopping, and found the Henry to be a much better-made gun. Nothing to fiddle with, it's a sweet shooter right out of the box. Buy the Henry and don't look back.

I have had several Marlins including the 1895. I still own two 1894, one in 357 CB and the other in 44 Mag. One is JM stamped and the other is a New Marlin. Both the Remington owned rifles and the JM stamped rifles are good rifles. I never have had any problems with either of them. People keep knocking Remington for purchasing Marlin and keep calling them Remlins. I do not understand this thinking and I am a member of the MarlinsOwner.com forum, all though I do not visit very much anymore for that exact reason. People there are just plain stuck on the JM stamped Marlins. What would you rather have had, something like Winchester ? Where they are purchased and made in Japan. At least Remington has control (or the group has control ) and still making them in the good ol' USA. I get to the point of this Remlin crap where I wish Remington would just let the company die. That way everyone would be happy and their Marlins would grow even more in value.

Sorry for the rant.

I also own a H010B 45/70, Love the rifle and Love the company policies and customer service. One reason I will buy more of them. I only own two Henry rifles right now. One thing about the Henry is that if it ever fails it will be taken care of, No Questions asked. You also do not ever have to worry about the Marlin Jam. Another thing that you do not have to worry about on the Henry that you have to worry about on the JM stamped Marlins is the bore size. Marlins if you reload usually take a bigger sized bullet. With Remington taking Marlin back to Ballard style rifling I am not sure if you have to worry about it anymore. Henry you can shoot the same size bullet out of you're pistol and rifle without having to worry about the bullet size as much.

When looking for a new rifle any more Henry gets my first look.

With regard to Remlin, I'm afraid it should have already happened.

I'm happy with my XT-22 though, no complaints.

I guess if I were you, and if you haven't already done it, I'd handle examples of both the Henry and a JM Marlin. See which one feels better, points better, cycles better, has better trigger.

Or, buy both!

right now we own Marlin, Henry, Winchester, Ruger, Remington, and Browning long guns .... the only new ones are made by Henry .... I too am a member of the Marlin Owners Forum and have met some nice folks over there .... if I was in the market for a new shotgun, I'd go with a Remington Versa Max .... if I was in the market for a rifle in a caliber offered by Henry, that is the one I'd go with .... if Henry does not offer on in a caliber I was looking for I have no clue what I'd look for .... having recently looked at several in various gun stores, I do not believe that Marlin would be under consideration

I have both a Remington Marlin and a JM Marlin. My JM is a 336 cowboy in 38-55. It functions just fine as is fun to shoot. My Remington Marlin was a lemon right out of the box. Wouldnt cycle 357 but would cycle 38 special. Rather than sending it back to the factory I sent it to a levergun smith in southern Colorado. He mentioned it should have never left the factory. He fixed it and it now runs like butter. I have a Henry CCH in 45-70 that I love. Im not bashing the Remington made Marlins I just happen to get a bad one. I would still look at another one but I would give it a close inspection before I bought it. I happen to like the looks of some of the new Marlins in 45-70. Henry though is first class and if you have an issue there isnt any hesitation they will take care of it. Al

Have never owned a Remington made Marlin, but know shooting pals that have them. Some of the guns have been great, some not so. Just do your best to inspect before you buy.

Me, I'm a Marlin fan from way, way back. My first rifle was a Marlin, so have always stayed with JM made Marlins for sentimental reasons. (I, too, am a member over at Marlinowners, though I haven't posted there in some time.) The original Marlin was a family owned company with over 100 years of experience making lever guns and that means something to me. That said, have had some JM Marlins that were less than perfect, too, but no company bats a thousand. JM Marlins, though, do hold their value better than the Remington stuff, if that is a factor.

I have turned off by the wood to medal fit on most Remington Marlins that I have handled. I also handled one that the front sight had fallen off. That experience has soured my opinion about Remington quality. I want to be open minded so I keep looking. However, this has been great feedback for me about Henry.

I have two other questions; what is the Marlin jam? Also was the H010 re-designed in the last year or so? Some of the pictures/videos look different.

davidB2 wrote:what is the Marlin jam?

I don't own a Marlin, but I did a quick search because I wondered.

www.ktgunsmith.com/marlinjam.htm wrote:The "Marlin Jam" as it is affectionately known is caused by an inherent design/manufacturing flaw of the Marlin lever. The lever has a snail shaped cam surface that goes around the pivot screw. This snail shaped cam rides on a sloped surface on the bottom of the carrier and raises the carrier enough to allow the first incoming shell into the carrier and to block the next incoming round from jamming up the works. Every time the lever is cycled the carrier bounces on the forward edge of the cam. The forward most edge of this cam is left sharp at the factory (the flaw).

The bouncing forges a notch into the bottom of the carriers' slide surface and over time (high number of cycles) lowers the carriers' initial pick-up height allowing the rim of the next incoming shell to slip over the front and jam it up tight.

I own a Henry Big Boy in .357. It has several thousand rounds through it. I have had the opportunity to handle, and fire my buddy's new Marlin in 44 mag. While the Marlin seemed like a decent rifle, I would choose the Henry hands down. The loading gate was far more difficult to load, the action was less smooth, and fit and finish were second place. Of course, the price is somewhat lower on the Marlin, so one must take that into account.

Full disclosure, I am a Henry fan. I became one shortly after purchasing my Big Boy. I'm not bashing the Marlins, just my honest opinion of the difference in the two.

CT_Shooter wrote:

davidB2 wrote:what is the Marlin jam?

I don't own a Marlin, but I did a quick search because I wondered.

www.ktgunsmith.com/marlinjam.htm wrote:The "Marlin Jam" as it is affectionately known is caused by an inherent design/manufacturing flaw of the Marlin lever. The lever has a snail shaped cam surface that goes around the pivot screw. This snail shaped cam rides on a sloped surface on the bottom of the carrier and raises the carrier enough to allow the first incoming shell into the carrier and to block the next incoming round from jamming up the works. Every time the lever is cycled the carrier bounces on the forward edge of the cam. The forward most edge of this cam is left sharp at the factory (the flaw).

The bouncing forges a notch into the bottom of the carriers' slide surface and over time (high number of cycles) lowers the carriers' initial pick-up height allowing the rim of the next incoming shell to slip over the front and jam it up tight.

I have experienced that with a Marlin I used to own. Difficult to clear. If it were to ever happen with a Henry, it is extremely easy to clear by simply emptying all the rounds from the magazine tube. However, I don't know if it happening with a Henry.

It sounds like just about everyone agrees about the Henry. I like both of my Marlins but Henry is my first choice.

I can honestly say that in all the years and all the Marlins I have shot, I've never had that Marlin jam. Maybe it's something on the new ones. Closest I've come is a 444 Marlin that would jam up like a bank vault when using Hornady Lever loads with the FTX bullets. That was an easy cure, though. Just had to change out the old style follower to a new style. What I'm saying, here, is that I would not hesitate to buy another Marlin for fear of this dreaded Marlin jam thing. That's me, though. Others may differ.

From what I have seen, the Marlin Jam occurred more with the model 1894's. I could be wrong. I have one that was made in 2003 in the factory in North Haven, Conn. and it has this problem. I bought it used and I refuse to have a gunsmith repair it. I tightened the loading gate screw and that solved the problem to a certain extent in that the only time I now have a jam seems to be when I use the leverEvolution ammo. It is a .44 magnum and with the Remington soft nose it hardly ever, if not at all, has any jams. It might be 100% if I had the above work performed. The leverEvolution's appear to be a very little bit longer due to the flex tip. I have another .44 magnum, model 1894 that was made around 2000 in North Haven, Conn. and it feeds anything. Possibly it will occur with this one if I ever shoot it enough, and the wear occurs, per the article that was posted. I read the same article a few years ago and I am fully aware of the cause and the fix. I don't know if this problem started in the old New Haven plant or later in the one in North Haven. I would hope by now that Remington would know what happened in the past in Connecticut and not produce rifles that jam due to this cam problem. There is, of course, another way to avoid the jam due to this defect and that is to only load the rifle with two rounds. Not something everyone will want to do.