Nowadays, we expect things to be right now! But with that said, I think we have also resigned ourselves to a fast food/Wal-Mart/convenience store/drive-thru/ATM mentality — that is, we are okay with “here’s your burger, give me my money” attitude, as long as we get an edible burger, really quick. The fact that the cashier never even looked at us while taking our order, never said “Hello”, never said “Thank you” is okay, again, as long as we can feed our self-gratification. We also really don’t care where it was made, or if any pride was put into the production – if McDonalds could figure out a way to get burgers flown in from China while still warm, for their cost of 2 or 3 cents each, guess where your Big Mac would be made —- and we would not care. Well, most of us would not care…..

So, that brings me to the point of this rant. Not only am I talking about a 100% U.S. made end product, all the parts in that end product are produced right here as well. That alone could be enough to make Henry Repeating Arms a good, if not great, American company, but they back it up with customer service that is unparalleled by anyone.

Let me elaborate…

Last September (Sep 2011), I decided it was time for me to get a lever gun. I also had to have it in .45 Colt (no… it’s not long Colt – it is .45 Colt, but that could be an entire rant in, and amongst, itself, yes?). I did what I think is some good research and looked at a bunch of rifles. No matter what I held in my hands or looked at with my eyes, nothing could compare to the Henry Big Boy, and naturally, .in .45 Colt. If you want to add price to the mix, then there is definitely no comparison — the Henry wins, hands down!!

Of course, I had an ulterior motive for buying this rifle — I had discovered the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting and this was going to be my rifle. (I don't want to take the attention of this article away from my comments about the Henry, so I won't mention the Uberti 1875 Army Outlaws or the USSG MP220F SxS external hammer Coach Gun... ....crap, too late, I just did.) So, the later part of September, October, and November, I put a lot of lead through that 20” octagon barrel. The 1st Saturday of the new year, the local range had a match (you can find that and comments about a few other matches in another post on this page). One thing I noticed at all of the matches I went to, and it has only been three so far, the rifles that the other Cowboys used all seemed to have an issue or two. Either they failed to feet, failed to eject, or something similar (one guy had a mag tube spring break, as after a few shots, it would no longer feed bullets for him). My Henry performed flawlessly on every stage, in every match.

Now, spring forward from September and all those rounds I put through the barrel and let’s land in February (actually, the very end of January). The last match I participated in, I was shooting low. Most likely, I whacked the rear sight, by which I mean, the elevator adjustment simply slipped. I figured I should get to the range and “re” sight in my rifle, just to make sure. I brought a box of 50 rounds with me, had the Henry sighted after about 20 rounds (I was shooting 10 round groups, just because), and figured what the hell, let’s burn off the rest of this ammo. Round number 49 would not fire!!! I knew it was #49 because I had two rounds of a 50 round box left. After some examination of the bolt, and subsequently, the firing pin, the nose of the firing pin broke off.

Stuff happens —- I don’t expect the gun to always perform perfectly, whether it be the 1st round (needs some break in) or the 1000th, 5000th, and definitely, not after more than that. Things wear, things stress, things just don’t go right after a while. If a gun always worked, there would be no Gunsmiths. Stuff happens, that’s what I’m saying. I’d be foolish to think that after, probably, the 2500th round down range, something wouldn’t need repair.

I called Henry the first chance I could, I think it was the 30th or 31st of January. Spoke with a gentleman named Kevin. After I explained my problem, I asked him if he would be so kind as to send me 2 firing pins, to keep one step ahead of Murphy.

Something happened though — the firing pins never came in the mail! After about 12 days (and really, is 12 days that long?), and a few phone calls, I decided I should maybe go to the top… …I sent an e-mail to Mr Anthony Imperato, the President of Henry Repeating Arms. Below is a screen shot of my inbox. You’ll note the time it was sent (which is also the same time that I read the e-mail (the bottom line in the image below), the time that Mr Imperato read the message (middle message), and the time that he replied to my message (the top message).

Here is the e-mail I sent Mr Imperato;

Mr. Imperato,

First off, and in all sincerity, I would like you to know how much I enjoy my Henry Big Boy (.45 Colt). Not only is it a beautiful gun that shoots straight and true (as long as I aim it straight and true), it is also very reliable — it has functioned flawlessly at every CAS competition I have been in.

If you have a moment, I would like to be able to call and talk with you about a little bit of an uneasy feeling that I am getting…

The nose of the firing pin broke off about 2 weeks ago when I was at the range checking my sight alignment (I was hitting a little low at the last competition, I needed to verify my sights were correctly adjusted). I called and a firing pin is being mailed to me, but it is taking so long that I am starting to get concerned. Now, it has only been 11 days, counting today, but your fine company has been so quick and efficient in the past, and with your outstanding reputation for customer service, I am beginning to wonder if the package may have been lost in the mail.

I did call earlier this week (on Tuesday), then again, yesterday (Thursday). Both times, I was told the the new firing pin was mailed and I should receive it “today or tomorrow”. It was not in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday, that is why I called yesterday. It was not in the mail yesterday and the mail has already been delivered today, still with no firing pin.

Thank you for your time spent reading this e-mail, I really appreciate it.

Your faithful and loyal customer,

And, his reply;

Thank you very much for owning a Henry, we certainly appreciate it. I am over-nighting you a front firing pin, a firing pin assembly and a comp Henry Campfire Mug, We had mailed you two front firing pins but they must be lost in the mail, or they will show up in next days. At any rate you will see them by Monday. The tracking number will be UPS 1Z8V9F992210023244. It won’t be in UPS system until they scan it tonight.

Sincerely,
Anthony Imperato
President

Henry Repeating Arms
59 E 1st Street
Bayonne, NJ 07002

Seriously now, this is a company that I want to deal with. A great gun, well made, looks good, and is backed by a great guy with some great standards. The replacement firing pin that Mr Imperato sent arrived the very next (business) day via UPS. I had the firing pin in later that evening, no problems at all and I’m drinking coffee out of the really cool Henry mug that he sent as well!

To date, the original firing pins still have not arrived in the mail. As soon as they do, I will update that here on this post.

I had this blog post all typed up last week, as soon as I got my Henry back to working order, but I wanted to wait few days to see if the original firing pin was ever going to arrive in the mail.

EDIT – read the comment I posted about the firing pin, it came in the mail finally, no fault of Henry.