Made in America or Not Made at All: Henry Repeating Arms Celebrates 25 Years of Gun Making, Giving, and Gratitude
Oleg Volk (Sponsored)
The following content is sponsored by Henry Repeating Arms.
When the original Henry rifle by New Haven Arms Company came out in 1860, it was the high-tech weapon to have. Twice the magazine capacity of the Spencer, it was also less ammo-sensitive and faster in use. For the first time, cycling a rifle also cocked the hammer. Only two factors kept the 1860 model from becoming the standard: a weaker cartridge than the Spencer and the inability to mount a bayonet. The unsealed magazine with an external follower went away in the following decade. Once ammunition advanced from rimfire to drawn brass centerfire, the Henry served as a basis for further development of the Winchester line with a side-loading gate.
By the end of the 19th century, stronger actions chambered cartridges like 45-90 Sharps. By then, the Henry brand was history and looked to stay that way until Louis Imperato and his son Anthony revived the name in 1996. This wasn’t the first gun-related business for the family, but it was to be more durable than those before it. “I wanted Henry to be the best long gun company in the firearms business. Period,” said Anthony, “At that time, cities were suing gun companies that made handguns, and getting into the handgun business wasn’t going to be an option. In short, being the best meant manufacturing a quality product, at a value to the consumer, backed by the best customer service in the industry.”
The first offering from the new Henry Repeating Arms company was the H001 Classic Lever Action, an alloy-framed .22 carbine that set new standards for accuracy and functionality at a price most people could afford.
The Golden Boy is Henry Repeating Arms’ flagship rifle model, dubbed “the rifle that brings out the West in you.”
Minding that the cost of the original Henry rifle, around $40 in the 1860s, was a contributing factor to limited post-war popularity, the Imperato family found a way to produce an affordable, quality product. From the start, the company motto was “Made in America and Priced Right.” Long work hours, often without days off, was the only way for this plan to succeed, so Anthony located the original headquarters right by the same family home that provided the equity loan to launch Henry Repeating Arms. Success has manifested itself in many ways, including high sales. One million of the original H001 .22 rifles alone were sold by 2017, with the one-millionth rifle donated to a charity auction and raising over $50,000 to benefit shooting sports heritage organizations.
Offered primarily to hunters and recreational shooters, Henry firearms started with rimfire and expanded to cover many calibers, including full-power.45-70 Gov’t.
The U.S. Survival AR-7 breaks down and stores in its own compact, water-resistant buttstock.
From 1997, the company added the semi-automatic AR-7 Survival Rifle to its catalog. In the 2010s, the box magazine-fed Long Ranger lever action chambered for powerful rimless cartridges joined the product line-up, which extended the practical range of Henry’s catalog.
The Long Ranger features a rotary locking bolt face to provide bolt-action performance with the speed of a lever action.
Right after that, they added tube-fed rifles that combined the original Henry’s easier front-loading (and safer unloading) design with the more defense-oriented side-gate loading. Single-shot break-open designs and lever-action small-bore shotguns rounded out the extensive catalog, which now boasts over 200 SKUs in more than 23 calibers and gauges.
The lever action still holds a special place in Anthony’s heart despite branching out. “The lever action is America’s unique contribution to international firearms design,” he said. “It was the dominant long gun of choice from the 1870s to the 1890s, and it put a lot of food on the table in those 110 plus years. I believe that Henry Repeating Arms can take at least partial credit for not only resurrecting the lever action market but taking it to new heights and bringing in a younger new generation of enthusiasts.”
Henry Repeating Arms expanded its operations in 2006 when Anthony Imperato acquired certain assets of a parts supplier named Wright Products, including their 140,000 square foot facility in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, which now serves as the company headquarters.