I'm ready to finally get something in .22 and want a lever gun so I thought I'd combine the two and get one. But I'm stuck and want some opinions. Should I go for a Henry in magnum or for ammo options start with a Henry that can shoot from shorts to lr?
Personally, for sheer versatility and economy I like a plain ol' .22 RF, preferably one which is capable of functioning with whatever 'flavor' of .22 RF ammo I choose for a particular task. I know, nowadays .22 LR is by far the most widely used and available choice, but I'm an old fart who still thinks that the .22 Short and CBs (both case lengths) offer some definite advantages in many situations.
I've owned several different brands and styles of LA .22 RF rifles over the years. These have ranged from an old Noble, a Marlin "Levermatic" (tube mag model), an Erma Werke (daddy of the current Henrys), a Browning BL22 and several Marlin M39s.
Of all of them, my favorite and the one I've kept no matter what was offered for it is my Marlin 39M carbine. Wouldn't trade it for diamonds.
The little Browning was sweet, light, well balanced and very fast to cycle with its short lever throw. But since I much prefer something having the option for readily mounting a receiver sight and had a considerably larger stack of green paper offered for it than I had in it, it ended up going onwards.
The old Marlin Levermatic went to a collector for a ridiculous (IMHO) sum, but it was freely offered so I took it.
Both the old Noble and the Erma were traded-off many years ago for other things, I can't recall exactly what anymore.
I kept the 39M rather than a 39A simply because I like its smaller, handier size and its handling characteristics better. And I just seem to shoot better with it, not sure 'why' exactly, but it's true.
IMHO, it's really hard to match a pre-Remington M39 in a .22 LA, regardless of price. YMMV.
For an economically priced rifle of high quality I gotta go with the Henry 22lr. Great price, greatly quality, great accuracy and the options of shooting LR, Shorts and even the Aguila Super Colibri. I think its an outstanding bargain!