Wow, The more I dig into these early American made Henry rifles, the more excited I get. According to Andrew Bresnan of "The National Henry Rifle Company" (a Civil War reenacting group built around Henry rifles), there were around 3,000 of the Navy Arms, New Jersey manufactured Henries. Only 50 were .44 rimfire with the double firing strikers, and the rest were in .44-40. 1,000 of these were their "22" Carbine Model, which is what I think one of the ones Major 2 has. Bresnan had communicated with Val Forgett Jr. in the late 1990s to gather and verify information. Bresnan has been researching the Henry for 40 years, and is apparently writing a book.
They are truly different from the later Ubertis, and almost nothing is interchangeable. : lifters differ, trigger springs different, receivers use a second screw for take down like the later 1866 Uberti rifles, rather than the slide out side plates used by Uberti.
Here is an excerpt from his extensive series of wb pages on the Navy Arms Henry:
"Navy Arms manufactured the first reproduction Henry rifles. These were manufactured in the United States, not Italy. These are truly American made Henry rifles as were the originals which were produced by the New Haven Arms Company which later became Winchester Firearms. In an e-mail dated June 7, 1999 Val Forgett, president and founder of Navy Arms, confirmed this to me stating “yes the first Henrys were made in the United States-manufacturing was then moved to Italy by Uberti.” Navy Arms produced a limited edition of 50 Henry rifles marked .44 RF. These Henrys had the correct two-prong firing pin and were rim fire. I have been able to look at one of these Henrys. The owner of this Henry purchased a center-fire bolt and replaced the rim fire bolt and began shooting his with .44-40 ammunition and blanks. There was also another limited edition of 500 Henry rifles as well as a limited edition of 1000 Henry carbines with a 22 inch barrel. All of these were chambered for the .44-40 cartridge. I have been told by others that there were a couple of other limited edition runs of Henrys by Navy Arms. Navy Arms manufactured Henrys likely number less than 3000.
The Navy Arms Henrys are also different from the Uberti manufactured Henrys. The carriers will not interchange. The side plates of the Navy Arms Henry are held on by two screws while Uberti only uses one screw. The trigger spring on the Navy Arms is an internal two-prong trigger and safety spring while the Uberti Henry has an external trigger spring. The Navy Arms Henry does not have the magazine lock to prevent the magazine from just being twisted open and ruining the magazine spring. The Navy Arms Henry and the Uberti Henry are indeed two completely different guns."
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