Henry vs. Marlin 39A

[chickenstripe]

Considering a lever 22 and was wondering what the difference is between the Henry, and the Marlin 39A.

The Henry is roughly half the price, but is it half the rifle? :shock:

If there is anyone out there that has owned, or test driven both, chime in.

[TonyT]

Cannot comment of the Henry but the Marlin 39 was the first gun I ever purchased. It still shoots well after more than 50 years.

[rmb721]

I shoot cowboy silhouette with older Marlin 39-A's. The shooters with Henry's have a lot of problems, but the newer Marlins are not as good as the older ones in my opinion.

My advice is to spend the extra for a Marlin, but look for an older one.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
I forget the proper title for the Browning Lever 22. I bought one a couple years ago used for about $265 in about 95% metal and a few dings in the wood. It has a tight chamber and will put certain brands of ammo into cloverleafs at 25 yards. I can easily head shoot squirrels up in the branches leaning on another tree. It does not like that Wildcat ammo.

[Gee_Wizz01]

The Henry is manufactured using "Alloy" metal, however they are slick little guns that shoot very well and seem to be accurate. I have only shot 4 or 5 rounds through one. I have a Marlin 39A of 1950's vintage. The Marlin is all steel design and built to last. The Marlin is very slick and very accurate. I prefer the Marlin, but if I had to "settle" for a Henry, I would not be disappointed. I plan on buying my grandson a Henry, as I know how rough boys can be on a .22. When he and I are a lot older he will probably get my Marlin.

G

[Doc Highwall]

The Henry is very smooth and accurate and you cannot mount a scope on the alloy receiver. I love my Marlin 39's, I think I have five of them and you can mount a scope on the steel receiver and they are also drilled and tapped for a receiver sight. The Marlins are also very accurate I shoot at cans quite often at two Hundred yards with no problem with the Federal bulk ammo.

[gon2shoot]

I bought a couple Henry's for the grand kids, then bought one for my-self. My old 39A is a much better gun as is the old B22, but for backyard plinkin or bunny poppin the Henry is plenty good.

[mtgrs737]

I have both, In my opinion, I would buy the Marlin over the Henry because of the all steel construction and the smoothness of the action. I also like the long barrel, mine is a tack driver, but the Henry is a good rifle also, I just prefer the steel action and longer barrel. I do have a scope on the Henry though, mine is grooved for it.

[Marvin S]

That BL-22 browning mentioned is a great little rifle with a very short lever throw and should not be over looked if you get the chance. The all steel Marlin is a good guns also. Don't forget the Winchester 94-22, maybe something to consider.

[Mk42gunner]

There's not really a bad traditional leveraction .22, just some are better than others. I have had several, but not all of them.

I like the older Marlin 39A's the best; they feel like a real rifle.

The Winchester 9422 is very good.

The Browning BL-22 is great.

THe Henry has a plastic front sight/ barrelband. (yuck) but it shoots good.

The Ithaca M72 was the same basic design as the Henry, but better quality. I believe they were made by Irma in Germany, (if you can find one).

They are all fun, but an old Winchester 1890 or 06 pump is even better.

Robert

[chickenstripe]

Thanks for the input guys. Confirmed my suspicion.

Never even heard of the BL-22, I'll have to see if I can put my hands on one to check it out.

No matter how hard I try I can never disprove the old addage:
"You get what you pay for".

A friend had an old rossi replica of the winchester pump gun. Shot the rifling out of that thing through the years, it honestly looked like a smoothbore.

[fecmech]

I'm going to have to differ with previous posters and vote for the Henry. Many of you have mentioned older 39A's and to that I can't speak. My comments are based on two recently manufactured Marlin 39A's and 1 1894 C in .357. The 39A's were really rough cycling and both had triggers over 5 lbs and the one was 7 lbs! The one that I'm most familiar with had burrs inside that scored other parts and I found those when I did a trigger job on it for the fellow that bought it. It also does not feed that well and should be sent back but my friend does not shoot it enough to matter. The 1894C would not feed factory ammo from the magazine and had a gritty 5 lb. trigger right out of the box and had to be sent back to Marlin!. I have handled a couple Henry's and own a 16" carbine myself all have been smooth and dependable although I have also heard of problems with them also. My 16" carbine will stay under an inch at 50 yds all day with Fiocchi std velocity ammo. I'd say go look at the guns and handle them yourself and then decide which feels and looks the best to you.

[pietro]

Among other rimfire leverguns, I also own/shoot/hunt with both a 5 y.o. Henry H001 Standard and a 55 y.o. Marlin 39a.

Both are peep-sighted, each favors a different diet for best accuracy.

Keeping in mind that the Marlin sports a barrel some 5" longer than the Henry, it's also slightly more accurate - it will easily keep my shots on a dime @ 50yds.

My Henry needs a quarter to hold it's shots at the same distance.

Big deal, if I was a target shooter.

I'm not - I'm a hunter.

Is the Marlin a "better" gun than the Henry ? Of course it is.
Is the Marlin 2x "better" ? Of course not - Get real.

I use/enjoy both for what they are - along with my other RF leverguns.

.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

“Is the Henry half the gun?” Absolutely not these are great accurate little rifles worth every penny. There is a lot of talk about the “alloy” receiver, and that is all it is, just “talk.” Think about it the Ruger 10/22 has a receiver made out of basically the same “alloy” and I don’t hear many complaints about them.

Don’t get me wrong though the Marlin 39 is a great rifle, I just wish Marlin still offered them in more variants. That is what I really like about the Henry rifles, lots of models and barrel lengths to choose from.

[home in oz]

I would go with an older Marlin-the one I had was sweet shootin'

[Tom-ADC]

I bought a Henry a year ago, I like it, I sold my Ithica lever 22 a few years back still kicking myself but the Henry for the money just gets the job done, I called Henry after I bought mine to buy the metal front sight and barrel band to replace the plastic, guess what they sent they for free!!
They have customer service that is A+.
I may buy a Yellowboy next.

[lefty_red]

OK, I was going to stay out of this, but I can't look away from the train wreck!

Alloy vs Steel. Its a 22lr! I've owned both and the B22 and I can't tell a nickle's differance between them. I DOUBT I'm going to excede the limits of the 22lr and blow my Henry up.

Cons/Henry. I have the youth carbine (bought the full size stock later) and HATE the plastic front sights. Bought the steel version (<$30) and placed a FO bar on top and replaced the back sight with a RUGER back sight I had laying around and that equals a quick shooter in low early morning light.

Cons/Marlin. Heavy and long! Not fun to pack up and down the hills during the heat of August! Unmatched on the range though, but not buy much.

Truefully, just a couple nickpicks on either.

Jerry

[roverboy]

The Marlin is a sweet rifle. I've never owned one but have shot them. I can't say about the Henry. I heard somebody make a joke about the Henry. He said it reminded him of the Pace salsa commercials. I said how so? He said they're made in NEW YORK CITY.

[KCSO]

Bout half !

[NickSS]

I have owned a couple of Marlins and have shot a couple of Henry's. The marlins are better built and more pleasing to me but I would buy a Henry over a new Marlin as the new Marlins are just too expensive for what you get iin my opinion. I do own a Marlin 39a carbine that I bought "right". It came in pieces in a box of parts for $10. I put it all together and had to buy a few parts that were missing like a magazine tube, a couple of small parts inside the action and a fore stock. I could not fined the right fore stock so cobbled on from a birch wood 30-30 stock I found (thinking I would get around to getting a walnut one later after I found out if it would work properly) Well 25 years later it still has the cobbled on fore stock and shoots like a dream. I really do not care what it looks like as long as it hits what I aim at. I think with all the parts i had to get I got around $30 into it and it was the best $30 I ever spent.