You mean a rough finish like this ?:
I saw that on the Henry website about a month ago. It appears their muzzles are finished with 80 grit sandpaper and they don't crown the barrel. I looked yesterday and couldn't find the picture, maybe they finally figured out it wasn't the best picture they could have come up with ?
Big Al, I would have to disagree with you. I also own new Marlins and older JM Marlins.
The new ones, a 2014 CBA .45/70, and a 2017 .44 Magnum, are just as accurate, smooth, good trigger, and tight metal to wood fit as my JM's.
The only differences are the new ones have that stupid bar code stamp on the receiver, and the new ones have a better polish and deeper bluing than my JM's.
A 1988 Cowboy Limited in .45 I bought a couple months ago, was barely fired, if at all, and had a rougher action than my new ones.
Maybe I just got lucky, and maybe you just got bad ones ?
If you think a Henry is a good looking gun, and as good as anything coming out of Japan (Miroku) well, we have a considerable difference of opinion.