After failing to find a nice used 30 caliber handi-rifle, I decided to try the new Henry in 308 winchester, that I had complained was too much money. My initial impressions are quite good. I still stand by my opinion, that this rifle is too nice, it doesn't need to be so fancy. Looks are pretty low on my list of considerations, at least until the price gets a lot higher.
I'll try and think of some similarities or differences between the handi-rifle and encore. The first thing I did was break the gun down, and with that, I think Henry is the best of the three. To take the barrel off, the hinge pin is held in by a detent in the center. All you do is open the action, and push the pin out. If you had smaller fingers, you could do it by hand, else I started it by hand, and pushed it the rest of the way with a pencil. You do not need to take the fore end off like you do for TC or H&R. I really appreciate simple, easy to work on designs. Oddly, the fore end cannot be taken off without removing the barrel. I did not try yet, but it seems to be held on by both a screw like both TC and H&R, but also a pin connected to the monoblock. What this seems to me is that you could (assuming it isn't already) free float the barrel besides the one screw.
The barrel is tapped for the same scope base as H&R, which most would not like, but it works great for me, I had an extra scope base anyway. For those not familiar, the standard weaver #82 for H&R has three holes, but only in the rear half. It's an aluminum base, with only 2 slots. It's a poor mount all around. I switched my H&R's to the Warne M681M. It is a steel base, picatinny (weaver will still fit), shortened, and fits perfect. It is expensive, but worth it to me. It fits perfect on the Henry, and I mounted a Leupold VX-1 4-12x in Warne medium rings. I have not tried yet, but it seems there is plenty of room to use low rings. I did not have a hammer extension, and wanted the room to cock the hammer.
This brings me to the next thing. I see multiple mentions of a super heavy hammer pull. Mine is heavy, but it's not over the top. I have an old stevens single shot shotgun with a hammer much heavier than the Henry. What I do not see, and is the achilles heel of the new Henry rifle is the trigger. This thing is HEAVY. I do not have a pull gauge, but it's right up there with my heaviest triggers of what I own, maybe 6-7 pounds. There is no creep at all, but it is a hindrance when shooting off the bench. I'll be calling Henry, I think a lighter hammer spring would do wonders. I was always of the opinion handi-rifles had a half decent trigger, so if you are somebody who hated them, you will not accept the Henry. To those who have not tried, the encore is not that special out of the box, but there are plenty of people who can turn them into a real hair trigger. I doubt the Henry could ever match the Encore trigger.
As far as fit and finish, it's a Henry, you get more than you pay for. The wood looks great, everything is tight, and the bluing has no problems. I always preferred the push button of a handi rifle, but the lever on the henry really grew on me. I never liked the trigger guard release of the encore. Not just in looks, the lever is nice to operate. Maybe it's just me, but I've shot a few TC encores where the barrel seemed too tight, and you had to really slam the gun closed. I like when a gun just clicks closed, but is still locked up like a vault. In this respect, the Henry is very nice. The gun will not open or close with the hammer cocked. I don't know why you would want to, but I see a number of people who had asked.
All that, and the only thing that matters to me is how it shoots. I did not buy any factory ammo, but had found some old factory ammo, a remington jacketed round nose, and federal FMJ. I can't give any more detail, other than the remington bullet seems heavy, possibly 180 grain. Neither were in the original box. I also loaded up some Lee 309-170-F cast of lyman #2, ahead of some blue dot. The bullets were not perfect, but fit well. The nose slightly engraves, and the body sized .310". Speaking of which, I never slugged the bore. I will do this, and report back. I didn't know what to expect, so I loaded the first one longer than I thought would fit. I put it in the gun, and it closed on it no problem. This leaves the base of the gas check about level with the bottom of the neck. Apparently the throat in the Henry is quite generous.
Note: after a quick search, it appears the Reminton's were most likely Remington 180 gr core-lokt, listed 2620 fps.
After getting it reasonably sighted in, I shot the remington's first at 50 yards. A 3 shot group went almost 1.5", not very good to me. I then switched to the cast bullets, and went right for 100 yards. The first couple shots went way low, but after some adjustment, I shot a 2" CTC 4 shot group. I was working up in powder, and all but the highest charge went 2"-3". I'm quite happy with that for a first try, with less than perfect bullets, with a heavy trigger. I only had 6 rounds of the federal's, but all 6 went into about 1.5" at 100 yards. I tried the remingtons again, but they just wouldn't group very well. I think the gun just didn't like the remington's, and I see no reason the right combo couldn't shoot under 1" groups.
These guns are starting to show up, and I got mine from gallery of guns. Hopefully this helps somebody decide on their own. I would still like to see a low cost model, but the Henry seems to be a good start for a platform. Improve the trigger, and you could have one heck of a gun. With such a nice hinge design, it would be a shame if Henry doesn't offer other barrels at some point.