Lever-Action Rimfires: Henrys Golden Boy is Golden Indeed

Henrys finely crafted lever outshot Brownings Grade II BL-22, but wed buy either one. However, wed pass on Marlins Original Golden 39A in this plinker/hunter/fun-gun showdown.

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Lever-action rimfires can be a lot of fun for kids or adults, whether its p-yowinga can along the ground (with a safe backstop), punching holes in paper, or knocking a rabbit down at 100 yards. We recently tested a trio of entertaining lever-action rimfires to find out which one shot the best, operated most smoothly, and was easiest to carry. Our products were Brownings BL-22 Grade II No. 024101103, which we found at Fountain Firearms (www.fountainfirearms.com) for $695, a significant premium above the guns stated MSRP of $567; Marlins Original Golden 39A, a robust 7-pounder that sells for $593 MSRP, but which had counter price of $395 at Fountain, and the Henry Golden Boy, whose counter price was $385 with an MSRP of $480.

The Henry Golden Boy

We tested the Henry gun in December 2006, when it was nudged aside by a Grade I BL-22 on the strength of the latters better accuracy. Reader follow-up mail asked us to look at the Marlin Original Golden to see how it fared against the Henry (we last tested that gun in 2002, when it earned a Dont Buy). To complete the trio, we upgraded to the Grade II BL-22 to see if extra dollars offered enough in function and cosmetics to justify a sizable price jump. So we assembled a fresh test team, new ammo, and a critical eye to find out.

Overall, our test guns delivered good accuracy at short ranges, and they delivered better firepower than bolt guns. Moreover, since they are manually operated, they can feed and eject more reliably than many semiautos. Even so, one of the guns had some ejection problems, as we relate below.

All range accuracy data was collected at 25 yards using sandbags set on a concrete bench. We shot five five-round groups to calculate the accuracy data, and we fired 10-shot strings to compile chronograph data on a PACT Professional Chronograph XP. To assess their accuracy, we shot the guns with Federal Champion 40-gr. No. 510 lead roundnose solids, Remington Thunderbolt 40-gr. No. TB-22A lead roundnose solids, and Federal Value Pack HP 36-gr. No. 750 copper-plated hollowpoints.

All three guns will fire .22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle ammo. However, the shooter should use discretion when firing .22 Shorts in these guns. A continuous diet of this ammunition will cause carbon build-up at the end of the Short case, and in worse-case situations they will cause a ring to form in the chamber. This ring will cause extraction problems when Long Rifle ammunition is later

Browning’s BL-22 Grade II

fired.

But there are other issues that separate the guns, and because its the new kid on the block, we cover the Marlin in detail first:

Marlin Original Golden

39A Lever Action

.22 LR, $593

Established in 1870, The Marlin Firearms Companys brands include Marlin, Harrington & Richardson, New England Firearms, and L. C. Smith. Under its various brands, Marlin produces an array of lever action, bolt action, and semi-automatic rifles, a variety of break-open single-shot shotguns and rifles as well as muzzleloaders and combo sets. The company maintains a corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant in North Haven, Connecticut, as well as a manufacturing facility in Gardner, Massachusetts.

The Marlin Original Golden 39A represents the oldest shoulder-fired firearm design still being made anywhere in the world, according to Marlin. The 39s great grandfather, the Model 1891, was the first repeating rifle to be chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. According to company literature, “… the Model 39 is still the standard by which all other 22 sporting rifles are judged.” To this our team said, “Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

Marlins continued production of 39s will be under a different corporate banner. Remington Arms Company, Inc. recently bought Marlin, adding to Big Greens portfolio of firearms, which also includes recently purchased Bushmaster.

Tommy Millner, Remingtons CEO, said, “The opportunity to combine two historic U.S.-based companies with such storied and proud histories is both challenging and exhilarating.”

Frank Kenna III, Marlins chairman, said, “Marlin has been a family-run business since 1924, and through a number of important steps we have grown it into the company it is today. We knew it was time to find the right partner for Marlin.”

Marlin’s Original Golden 39A

The 39A showed its long development history with an accumulation of good and ill features, our testers said. The flat solid-top receiver is machined from heat-treated steel forgings, which provide greater strength but also greater weight. At 7.2 pounds, the Marlin was the heaviest gun in the test, but certainly some of the extra heft is due to the 24-in barrel.

The Model 39A also featured a rebounding hammer, hammer-block safety, American black walnut furniture, cut-checkering on the pistol grip and fore-end, side ejection, and a gold-plated trigger. It held up to 19 Long Rifle rounds in its tubular magazine. The 0.5-inch-thick brown-rubber recoil pad helped our testers secure the gun in the shoulder pocket, and the wood quality, checkering, and metalwork were all topnotch. The Mar-Shield finish showed the grain well. The gun came with swivel studs, which the others lacked.

The 24-inch-long barrel with a muzzle OD of 0.700 inch at the crown was the largest and longest of the guns tested, and the extra length allowed for a 21-inch sight radius, compared to 17 inches for the Henry and 15.4 inches for the Browning. Iron sights included a hooded front sight and adjustable fold-down rear sight. Marlin used a Weaver-style base to fit a scope on the flat-topped receiver, which is drilled and tapped. There was a large-slot takedown screw located just below the crossbolt safety.

Marlin makes a big deal about its Micro-Groove rifling, which it says produces less bullet distortion and a better gas seal, along with “… the kind of accuracy most other 22s cant touch.”

That accuracy assertion turned out to be true in this test, though some accuracy-related mechanical items made us skeptical. The trigger broke cleanly, but its drop weight was a pounder heavier than the Henrys. Though we recognize the hood protects the front sight, it also darkens it, making the front sight harder to see. A fiber-optic front tube might be the right answer, but it also might seem out of place on a design of this age.

Buttstock Design

But the paper doesnt lie, and shooting iron sights at 25 yards, our best average group with this gun was 1.6 inches with Federals Value Pack 36-gr. hollowpoints, followed closely by 1.7-inch average groups shooting the Remington Thunderbolt 40-gr. roundnose solids. In comparison, both the Henry and Browning shot 2.3-inch groups with the Thunderbolts, and 2.0-inch groups with the Federal hollowpoints. But the Marlin didnt shoot the Champion solids very well at all, recording the largest-of-test 2.5-inch groups. The Henry, in contrast, shot 1.7-inch groups with that ammo, followed by the Browning at 2.0 inches.

On the velocity side, the Marlin didnt produce the highest fps-readings with any test ammo, so we wonder about the companys gas-seal claims. If true, shouldnt a better seal translate into faster bullet speeds?

Elsewhere, the Marlins longer lever throw made this gun harder to operate, in our view. We also had three failures to extract.

Additionally, sharp edges on the right side of the lever, particularly where the pinkie finger rode in the bottom of the lever opening, caused some discomfort. Also, where the lever forms the top rear of the trigger guard was very sharp, and this edge was exposed when the lever was open. In todays world of CNC machining, it shouldnt be a big deal to program in another 5-second pass to

knock off those offending edges.

Browning BL-22 Grade II

No. 024101103 Lever Action

.22 LR, $567

The Grade II is one of five BL-22s offered by Browning for 2008. The Grade II is scroll engraved on the receiver and has a gold-colored trigger. The Grade I tested in December 2006 lacks the IIs scroll engraving and checkering on the walnut, but the Grade I MSRPs for a lot less, $494. Brownings most expensive lever rimfire is the BL-22 FLD Grade II Octagon, $786, which a silver-nitride finish, octagonal barrel, and a front gold bead. Because the Grade II comes at a $150-ish premium to the Marlin and Henry, we wondered if those extra dollars would turn into enthusiasm in our evaluation.

Our Grade II test gun came with a Western-style straight-grip walnut stock with grip and fore-end checkering and a high-gloss polyurethane finish. Wood-to-metal fit was excellent on the guns two-piece stock. Elsewhere on the gun, we noted that all the blued metal was highly polished and looked great.

Reloading all three guns was a common and easy process. Each magazine tube had a catch (a pushbutton for the Browning and twist-catches for the Marlin and Henry guns), which when released, allowed the shooter to pull the tube out of the gun and open a slot in the magazine so rounds could be fed in. All three were equally fast and trouble free, we thought, but we really missed slapping a rotary magazine in, like on Rugers 96/22.

The 20-inch barrels muzzle OD was 0.530 inch at the crown, which was recessed, a feature that the Marlin and Henry lacked. Open iron sights, with a sight radius of 15.4 inches, were included. The rear sight was screw-adjustable for elevation, and the rear-sight base was dovetailed in and would have to be drifted for windage changes. It can be folded down to ease scope installation in the integral rimfire grooves (3/8 inch Weaver rings) on top of the receiver-an invitation to a lightweight optic like a dot sight, for those of us who cant make out the sliver of a front sight.

The slim forend, with its front barrel band, was comfortable to use. The Browning BL-22 had a 13.5-inch length of pull and a 0.25-inch-thick black-plastic buttplate. We preferred the Marlins rubber buttpad because it stuck in the shoulder better.

The trigger pull was creepy and heavy at 6.7 pounds, which undoubtedly affected the guns accuracy, along with the very thin front sight, which was all one medium-gray color (wheres the Grade II Octagons gold bead!). It was very hard for some shooters to make out, but testers with good eyes had no trouble. In rough terms, we think of the Browning as being a 2-inch iron-sight gun at 25 yards, shooting two 2.0-inch group averages and one 2.3-inch average.

The levers short-throw 33-degree movement allows the shooter to eject and reload cartridges without dropping the gun off the shoulder then having to realign the gun sights, but the slippery buttplate hindered this feature. Also, when shooting lots of rounds, we noticed the lack of pitch and drop at heel made us want to put the toe of the stock into the shoulder to get the gun up to the eye. If we didnt do that, then having to sit down on the stock caused some discomfort in the lever hand, because of the odd angle the head/stock/hand alignment caused.

Henry Golden Boy No. H004

Lever Action .22 LR, $480

The Henry sported a heavy 20-inch octagonal barrel with an OD of 0.675 inches, and the overall length was 2 inches longer (totaling 38.5 inches) than the Browning but 1.5 inches less than the Marlin. Weighing 7 pounds, this little-caliber rifle had a big-caliber feel. The length of pull of 14.25 inches is a better fit for larger shooters, rather than youngsters or small-framed women. In that area, the BL-22 had the edge, as we note elsewhere.

Adjusting to the drop at the comb of 2.5 inches and drop at the heel at 3.5 inches was a little difficult for some of our test shooters, but they grew to like it. This gun developed the two best groups of the test, a 0.9-inch group with the Federal 40-gr. solids and a 0.7-inch group with the Thunderbolts. It also shot the best group average with the Champions, a 1.7-inch group average. We believe two factors, the trigger and the front sight, helped us on the accuracy side. The trigger had a smooth let-off that was also the lightest of the test at 3.5 pounds. Also, the front sight was the easiest to see, we thought.

Cosmetically, the gun looked great with its polished brass receiver and classic lever-action looks. Another positive was the smooth operation of the lever, which required a longer stroke than the BL-22.

On the downside, that polished brass receiver wouldnt easily accept optics like the other two guns. That requires a Henry Cantilever Scope Mount, which is mounted to the barrel. The mounts cost $27.50 plus $7.50 for shipping, and Henry recommends gunsmith installation. Also, the receiver produced glare that was distracting, and the smooth, curved brass buttplate slid off the shoulder too easily, we thought. Loading the rifle was not a chore, although pushing in and twisting the end of the magazine assembly is required. This system is a little more complicated than the Browning, and the same as the Marlins. Also, theres no safety other than the half-cock position on the hammer, a fault with the Browning as well.

0408-LEVER-ACTION-ACCURACY-CHRONO.pdf

0408-Marlin-original-golden-39a.pdf

0408-BROWNING-BL-22-GRADE-II.pdf

0408-HENRY-GOLDEN-BOY.pdf

0408-LEVER-ACTION-REPORT-CARD.pdf

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