Henry Rifle Forums

Please help educate me ! Are Henry Center Fire Lever Action Rifles the only center fire lever action rifles that require their actionc be closed to load rounds into the tubular magazine ? What about Marlins, Winchesters, etc.? I have owned my Henry .44 Mag BB for 3 years. I have fired about 1,000 rounds through it. I normally load only 5 rounds into the tube; that translates to approximately 200 loading processes. Twice during these 200 loading occasions, I have badly jammed up the rifle by loading rounds into the tubular magazine with the lever open. When you try to close the lever you jam the first cartridge in the tube into the mechanism that delivers the cartridge up to the receiver.

On both occasions when this has occurred I have been participating in a "running deer" shoot competitions at my gun club. We insist on "open bolt" status when a person is carrying his/rifle, but is not yet at the firing line. When the shooter gets to the firing line he/she has only 30 seconds to load 5 rounds. If the shooter takes longer than that, she/he is penalized points off their scores. I guess in that situation I am probably a little too excited and begin dropping cartridges into the tubular magazine without noticing that the lever is open.

I can't speak about the others, but Henry does advise to keep the action closed when loading.

In your competitions, are you required to load the gun by hand, one round at a time? If not, you might consider making a few five round "speed loaders" out of an appropriate width length of tube. Close the action at the firing line, then dump the rounds into the magazine. Just a thought.

Pitchman1968 wrote:Are Henry Center Fire Lever Action Rifles the only center fire lever action rifles that require their actionc be closed to load rounds into the tubular magazine ? What about Marlins, Winchesters, etc.?

in thinking about our Model 94 Winchester 30-30, I don't see how a shell can be inserted through the loading gate with the action open

Marlins only load lever closed.

My Henry H009 max load is 5+1 rounds and my Marlin 336W max load is 6+1 rounds. In both cases, one round is loaded into the chamber and the rest are loaded into the magazine. I have tried this with my Marlin (safety engaged). I have not tried this with my Henry yet though. I guess it is useful if one is in a hurry to get a shot off.

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an older topic, but thought I'd add what I've experienced for posterity. My H009B .30-30 behaves like this too. The action will also jam on the first round when forcing the mag tube closed while its hung up on a case rim. The lever pops open slightly because a round is partially forced into the action. Opening/closing the lever jams on that first round. It doesn't lift in proper orientation to enter the chamber. I haven't had a mag tube get hung up on a case rim while using exclusively Federal Power Shok or Federal Fusion ammo. I had problems with Winchester and Remington.

Pitchman1968 wrote:... I have badly jammed up the rifle by loading rounds into the tubular magazine with the lever open. When you try to close the lever you jam the first cartridge in the tube into the mechanism that delivers the cartridge up to the receiver.