The Henry Repeating Rifle is a lever-action tubular magazine rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860. It was a sixteen-shot .44 caliber rimfire breech-loading rifle and became the basis for the iconic Winchester rifle.
The gun was produced from the early 1860s until 1866 by the New Haven Arms Company. They were used in small quantities by the Union in the Civil War and by the Sioux and Cheyenne in the defeat of Custer in 1876.
The Henry fired copper rimfire cartridges with a 216 grain (14.0 gram, 0.490 ounce) bullet over 25 grains (1.6 g, 0.056 oz.) of black powder. Approximately 14,000 of the original Henry rifles were made.
These rifles had an exceptionally high rate of fire compared to any other weapon. Some made their way West and was used by the outlaws and the good guys too, like the Wells Fargo stagecoach protectors.
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.
