musicmatty said:
That is great news and competition is always good. I fully expect that they will use Henry as a template of what a modern day lever should be.
Oh I hope they don't rework them to be like Henry's rifles! Not that there's anything inherently mechanically wrong with the products Henry puts out, but they are NOT Marlins or Winchesters. Please, please let consumers retain a choice. Don't get me wrong, Henry puts out some nice stuff, that's definitely well-finished and generally very attractive and functional. But they don't feel or handle anything like a Marlin or Winchester, which is part of the draw of the other 2 brands, in my opinion.
I'm disappointed that Marlin availability will be impacted (again) by a(nother) future production facility move. The products I've been seeing recently have finally started to be consistent in the metal parts fit and feel. They still had inconsistencies in the wood furniture, with respect to finish quality, but the actions were beginning to feel good across the board. Oh, and they were finally arriving with lever loops that couldn't be substituted for razors!
I'll keep my opinion on Ruger's final assembly QC short: I've seen way too much poor or rough final machining on the frames of GP-100s in the last 4 years. At least one revolver wouldn't function properly due to the roughness, went back to Ruger, came back with no changes, and finally had to be finished by a gunsmith so the cylinder would turn with ammunition in it. I still think the GP-100 is one of the best production .357 revolvers around, but I don't have illusions of Ruger's infallible reputation anymore.
