Henry Repeating Arms' Lever Action Supreme Rifle: Uniquely Qualified

A century ago, a cutting-edge deer rifle was a lever-action Savage 99 chambered in the then-new .300 Savage. This setup gave the hunter a repeating rifle capable of pushing spitzer-style .30 caliber 150gr. bullets at 2,600 feet per second. It just may have been the perfect woods rifle, combining compact dimensions and a cartridge that balanced accuracy, power and low recoil. One hundred years later, Henry Repeating Arms’ Lever Action Supreme Rifle (LASR), chambered in .300 BLK, combines this proven capability with some modern twists that keep it relevant in the 21st century.

Henry Repeating Arms has been producing lever-action rifles since 1996, standing proudly by its “Made in America, Or not made at all” motto. Over the years, Henry has continued to expand its lineup to meet the needs of customers. These days, many hunters understand the benefits of hunting with a suppressor and the capability of using subsonic ammunition.

To serve that demand, Henry went back to the drawing board and developed an innovative internal hammer action that is the heart of the LASR. These rifles are available in .223 Remington and .300 BLK; we tested the latter.

The LASR’s receiver is machined from aluminum, keeping weight to a minimum. Henry’s design team employed a patent-pending quad bar linkage mechanism and the result is an extremely smooth and easy-to-operate action. This receiver dispenses with many of the features traditionally associated with lever actions including the external hammer and long one-piece bolt. Instead, an M16-style bolt is used. This proven design has long established its utility, durability and compatibility with the two cartridges that the LASR comes chambered in.

Functional Mechanics

The bolt, which features multiple locking lugs that interface with an AR-style barrel extension, rides in a chrome-plated bolt carrier. When the action is cycled, the spring-loaded extractor and plunger-type ejector removes the fired case and projects it outward through the generous ejection port. New cartridges are fed from the magazine upon the bolt’s return to the forward position using the M4-style feed ramps. This system combines the reliability of the M16/AR platform with the deliberate operation (and 50-state legality) of a lever action.

Traditional bolt actions with tubular magazines are handicapped by the realities of physics. Under the inertia of recoil, a pointy spitzer-style bullet can act like a firing pin and cause a potentially catastrophic detonation inside the magazine. Just as Savage’s designers did with the Model 99 so many years ago, Henry avoided that risk with the use of a box magazine. Instead of producing a complicated proprietary design, though, they simply adopted one of the most common products available—the Magpul PMAG.

Our LASR shipped with a 10-round PMAG 10 along with an optional block that can be installed to reduce that magazine’s capacity to five rounds. This could be necessary in jurisdictions where hunters are restricted to a five-round limit. For the record, 20 and 30-round PMAG magazines can be used with the LASR.

The controls on the LASR are simple and well laid out. Traditional lever actions can be a bit tricky for new users—should the hammer be cocked? What about the safety? Since there is no external hammer to navigate, the manual of arms is straightforward. The manual safety is located on the tang where it can be easily actuated by right or left-handed users. Pushing the safety forward puts it into the “fire” position.

Ergonomics and Nifty Handling

The cocking lever of the LASR uses a slightly oversized loop which allows room for gloves. I was able to fit four fingers on my right hand into the loop when cycling the action. The paddle-style ambidextrous magazine release is located just forward of the cocking lever and pushing it forward releases the magazine. The LASR uses a single-stage trigger that is user-adjustable for pull weight using an included hex wrench. Our test rifle’s trigger broke cleanly at 3.5 pounds so no adjustment was needed. This was one of the better lever-action triggers that I’ve ever used.

Our LASR was equipped with a 16.5-inch blued steel barrel. This short length allows the rifle to still be relatively compact with a suppressor installed. The barrel is threaded 5/8-24 and capped with a knurled steel thread protector. Many of today’s threaded barrels are, in my opinion, too small of a contour which can lead to problems down the road. The LASR’s barrel measures .700” at the muzzle, which provides plenty of profile for a solid shoulder. We mounted a Silencer Central Banish Backcountry suppressor, a compact and lightweight unit that is ideal for such an application.

The LASR uses a two-piece stock shaped from American walnut. Our buttstock showed some attractive figure and was tastefully finished to a semi-glossy sheen. Both the stock’s pistol grip and forend were finely checkered, providing non-slip gripping surfaces. The barrel is free-floated forward of the receiver extension and the walnut is sufficiently rigid that it won’t contact the barrel when the rifle is rested. This free-floating system is a real solution to a problem that robs many lever-action rifles of their accuracy potential. Standard sling swivel studs come installed and a 1-inch soft recoil pad is fit at the butt.

Unlike many of the rifles on today’s market, the LASR is equipped with an excellent set of iron sights. The front sight is a rigid steel blade that narrows to a very precise aiming point. The fully adjustable rear sight uses a trapezoidal notch on its serrated blade. It is worth noting that the sights were sufficiently high enough to be used with our suppressor mounted. After initially range testing the LASR with the iron sights, we mounted a scope to fully evaluate the rifle’s accuracy potential. In order to mount the scope in the optimal position, I removed the rear sight.

Suppressing a Lever Action?

The receiver’s flat top is drilled and tapped for scope mounting with four small, slotted screws serving as plugs when a mount is not employed. The LASR is compatible with the Weaver 63B scope mount, a common pattern that it shares with many other lever-action rifles. Using a Leupold base and Burris Zee rings, we mounted Burris’s new Fullfield 3-9x32mm scope to the LASR. This compact but capable scope was a good match for the size and overall capability of this rifle.

The .300 BLK is a unique cartridge. Though it was developed for subsonic use, it is also viable, perhaps even more so, in its supersonic loadings. We began our testing with Hornady’s Subsonic load, which uses a 190gr. Sub-X bullet designed to expand at low velocity. Our average muzzle velocity with this ammunition was 1037 feet per second. With the suppressor installed, this load was extremely quiet and recoil was all but nonexistent. The sound of the bullet slapping the clay backstop 100 yards downrange seemed louder than the report at the muzzle.

As it turns out, a lever action is an ideal suppressor host. Subsonic ammunition can sometimes be finicky with a semi-automatic since there are minimal gases to cycle the action. With a lever action, this is a non-issue. It also cuts down significantly on the sound signature since firing the round does not cause the rifle to reload automatically. Finally, the process of loading the rifle itself can be stealthier. Many semi-autos won’t reliably fire unless the bolt is allowed to slam into the battery with its full force; with the LASR, a cartridge can be quietly eased into the chamber and the rifle will still fire on command.

Though subsonic loads fill an important niche, they sometimes lack lethality. Based on real-world experience with using subsonic loads on feral hogs, I personally would not deer hunt with a subsonic .300 BLK. With supersonic loads, though, this cartridge makes for a fantastic choice for deer hunting at reasonable distances.

Accuracy and Recommendations

We used SIG Sauer’s Elite Match Grade load, with its 125gr. OTM bullet, to evaluate the LASR’s supersonic capability. With this ammunition, our average muzzle velocity was 2239 feet per second. Ballistically, this puts the supersonic blackout on the tail end of proven deer killers including the 30-30 Winchester and .300 Savage. When used with appropriate bullets and at common sense distances, it will certainly get the job done. Accuracy with both loads hovered between 1.2 and 1.4 MOA at 100 yards.

So, what is the LASR good for? For starters, it would make for a fantastic all-around carbine/truck gun. For states where semi-automatics are restricted, it could go a long way in filling that niche as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it for hunting medium-sized game, especially for shooters who might be recoil shy.

With a suppressor and subsonic ammunition, it would be ideal for rural pest control. The ability to swap seamlessly between subsonic and supersonic rounds without concern for reliability is a real asset. The lever-action carbine has been the mainstay of the American outdoorsman for 150 years and for good reason.

These compact firearms combine capacity, portability, reasonable accuracy and rapid-fire capability. Henry Repeating Arms LASR builds on the legacy and utility of the classic American lever action but with modern tweaks that keep it relevant in an age where suppressors are experiencing unprecedented popularity.

Henry Lever Action Supreme Rifle Specs

• Type: Lever-action centerfire repeater
• Caliber: .300 BLK (tested)
• Barrel: 16,5”, 1:7” twist, threaded 1/2-28
• Weight: 6 pounds, 6 ounces
• Capacity: 10+1
• Stock: American walnut
• Finish: Blued
• Sights: Fully adjustable trapezoidal irons, drilled and tapped for scope mounting
• Safety: Two-position tang
• Trigger: Single-stage, 3.5 pounds (adjustable)
• MSRP: $1,299
• Manufacturer: Henry Repeating Arms, henryusa.com