Henry rifle The Henry repeating rifle was a lever - action , breech - loading , tubular magazine rifle . History . The original Henry rifle was a . 44 caliber rimfire , lever - action , breech - loading rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860 . The Henry was an improved version of the earlier Volcanic Repeating rifle . The Henry used copper ( later brass ) rimfire cartridge s with a 216 grain ( 14 g ) bullet over 25 grains ( 1 . 6 g ) of gunpowder . Nine hundred were manufactured between summer and October 1862 ; by 1864 , production had peaked at 290 per month . By the time production ended in 1866 , approximately 14 , 000 units had been manufactured . For a Civil War soldier , owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride . Although it was never officially adopted for service by the Union Army , many soldiers purchased Henrys with their own funds . The brass framed rifles could fire at a rate of 28 rounds per minute when used correctly , so soldiers who saved their pay to buy one often believed it would help them survive . They were frequently used by scouts , skirmishers , flank guards , and raiding parties , rather than in regular infantry formations . To the amazed muzzleloader - armed Confederates who had to face this deadly " sixteen shooter " , it was called " that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week ! " Those few Confederate troops who came into possession of captured Henry rifles had little way to resupply the special ammunition used by the weapon , making its widespread use by Confederate forces impractical . The rifle was , however , known to have been used at least in part by some fifteen different Confederate units . These units included cavalry units in Louisiana , Texas , and Virginia , as well as the personal bodyguards of Confederate President Jefferson Davis . While never issued on a large scale , the Henry rifle demonstrated its advantages of rapid fire at close range several times in the Civil War and later during the wars against the Plains Indians . Examples include the successes of two Henry - armed Union regiments at the Battle of Franklin against large Confederate attacks , as well as the Henry - armed Sioux and Cheyenne ' s destruction of the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn . Manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company , the Henry rifle evolved into the famous Winchester Model 1866 lever - action rifle . With the introduction of the new Model 1866 , the New Haven Arms Company was renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company . Mechanical workings . The Henry rifle used a . 44 caliber cartridge with of black powder . This gave it significantly less muzzle velocity and energy than other repeaters of the era , such as the Spencer . The lever action , on the down - stroke , ejected the spent cartridge from the chamber and cocked the hammer . A spring in the magazine forced the next round into the chamber ; locking the lever back into position sealed the rifle back up into firing position . As it was designed , the rifle was not a very safe weapon . A Henry rifle , when not in use , would either have the hammer cocked or resting on the rim of the cartridge . In the first case , the rifle had no safety and was in firing position . In the second , an impact on the back of the exposed hammer could cause a chambered round to fire . Current production . In 1973 , Louis Imperato bought the firearms company of Iver Johnson and began making commercial versions of the M1 carbine . In 1993 , Imperato started a factory in his native Brooklyn to manufacture . 22 caliber rifles under the newly recreated name of the Henry Repeating Arms Co . which were manufactured in Brooklyn , New York , but are now manufactured in Bayonne , New Jersey . The current company has no actual association with either the New Haven Arms Company , which manufactured the original Henry rifles and was later renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866 , or to Benjamin Tyler Henry , its inventor , and not to be confused with the original Henry rifles , does not produce the Civil War period firearm that this article defines at this time , but will be releasing a tribute rifle that is almost exactly like the original 1860 Henry , chambered in . 44 - 40 Winchester , due to be released 2013 – 14 . It currently produces lever action rifles that are more akin to later Marlin types . All Henry Repeating Arms products and parts are manufactured in the U . S . A . Louis Imperato , Chairman of Henry Repeating Arms , passed away on November 28 , 2007 . A . Uberti Firearms produces an almost exact copy Henry Model 1860 , although it is not available in . 44 Henry rimfire . Instead , they are chambered for centerfire calibers such as . 44 - 40 Winchester and . 45 Long Colt . These replicas are distributed through Navy Arms Company . They are popular among Civil War reenactors , as well as competition shooters in the N - SSA . In Popular Culture . In the 1985 movie Silverado , a Henry rifle is the firearm of choice for one of the main characters , Malcolm " Mal " Johnson , played by Danny Glover . References . Notes Bibliography