Henry 1860 non-firing replica rifle -Denix

Here’s a classic old rifle found in a multitude of westerns. Most recently, it is seen in the 2010 True Grit. Tom Chaney carries the brass-finish version of this rifle..(it actually belonged to Mattie Ross’s father, before Chaney stole it off him). We had the antique gray finished model here, so we did a quick video of it.

Check out our other True Grit replica guns

The Henry Rifle

The Henry 1860 was the rifle that made the lever action famous, and it is recognisable by the brass frame and the lack of a wooden forend: the magazine tube runs under the barrel with nothing to hold on to but the hot barrel itself. The replica copies that, which is why it looks so different from the Winchester that followed.

Handling a Henry replica is a lesson in why the design changed. There is nowhere comfortable to put the support hand, the barrel heats quickly on a real gun, and the loading gate is on the magazine tube rather than the receiver. On the replica none of that matters, but the shape does, and it is the shape that makes the piece worth having in a collection.

Common questions

Does the lever work?
Yes, the lever cycles and the brass frame is the same colour as the original.

Why is there no wooden forend?
That is how the original was built. The magazine tube sits under the barrel and the shooter holds the barrel.