Henry Repeating Arms just jumped into the non-NFA shotshell-firing firearm game (yeah, it’s a thing), and cowboy action fans can finally flaunt the National Firearms Act alongside their more tactically-minded buddies.
The Side Gate Lever Action Axe is chambered in .410 and features a walnut pistol grip in the shape of an axe handle. Since it isn’t meant to be shouldered, the design allows it to slip through the cracks of federal firearms law and receive the same non-NFA designation as firearms like the Mossberg Shockwave and the Remington TAC-13.
The Axe can be purchased in the same manner as any other firearm. Fill out a 4473, pass a background check, and you’re good to go.
“Our Mare’s Leg lever action pistols have been a popular choice among shooting sports enthusiasts for many years now, mainly because they’re so fun to shoot and the fact that they look like they came right out of a Western movie,” Anthony Imperato, President and owner of Henry Repeating Arms, said in a press release. “The Axe shares a similar form factor to our Mare’s Leg with some added features for more versatility.”
SEE ALSO: Henry’s Long Ranger Is A Lever Gun For The 21st Century
The Axe boasts many of the same features that Henry includes on their full-sized side-gate-loading lever guns. The receiver and removable tube magazine design are the same, and it can hold five, 2.5” .410 shotshells. The 16-inch barrel is threaded for an invector-style choke tube, and the receiver uses a loading gate on the right side of the receiver.
As Henry explained when they debuted their side-gate-loading rifles at this year’s NRA show, the side gate allows shooters to top off the magazine without removing the tube, which can be especially useful on a hunt. When users are ready to return the firearm to the safe (or the saddle), the removable tube magazine allows for quick, safe unloading.
While the Axe will be used primarily in recreational settings, Henry also stressed in its press release the utility of its newest firearm. The Axe’s overall length measures just over 26 inches, which facilitates a variety of storage options. The firearm also comes with a removable full choke, and users can swap that for any invector-style choke for different applications.
In the less-than-practical sphere, the axe grip is engraved with the Henry Repeating Arms’ cowboy logo.
The Axe will ship with a suggested retail price of $970. For more information visit HenryUSA.com.
I’ll stick with my Bond Arms Century 2000 – it only holds (2), but it will accommodate 2.5” or 3” .410 shells of ANY kind and .45LC as well. Was only about 1/2 the price too. Tried the Judge, but it was just too damn big to carry concealed.
Jacking one in the chamber without a butt stock as a brace can be interesting.
Wonder if they would ever put a paradox barrel on it so so it could fire slugs accurately. I’d love to see a hand loader make shells with LeHigh Defense .45 Maximum Defense bullets.
In California, we are not allowed to purchase Henry’s new .410 ‘Axe’, the Mossberg Shockwave, the Remington’s V3 TAC-13, or in handguns any dual-purpose handgun like the .410 bore/.45 Colt interchangeability as found in revolvers like the Taurus Judge, the Taurus Public Defender, the Taurus Raging Judge, and the Smith & Wesson Governor because of legislation passed by our state legislators.
We have not been able to purchase two handguns within a 30-day period for many years now and soon on 07-01-2020 we will not be able to purchase two semi-automatic rifles within the same 30-day period.
If our founding fathers ever taught us a lesson, it is once a government becomes restrictive and controlling it will continue to do so. In the case of our founding fathers the government was a foreign government, not our own domestic government acting as a tyrannical foreign government.
well o’ biden and his idiots are NOT through with making life miserable.four more years of losing our rights& liberty,& guns!!!
“Since it isn’t meant to be shouldered, the design allows it to slip through the cracks of federal firearms law”
I wish you would avoid sensational hyperbole as if to suggest that designing something that complies with the law is somehow a cheat. I would contend there are no “cracks” or “loopholes”, there is “compliant” and “noncompliant”. You just have to meet “compliant” and you get no bonus credit for “more-than-compliant”.
Agreed. Our rights are taken away / restricted. Designing a legal firearm should not be viewed as a cheat of the laws. Calling it the same is feeding into their plan of labeling otherwise law abiding citizens as outlaws, cheats, and deviants.
970.00 kinda steep
You’d think that for almost a grand they could have at least have made it in stainless. Watch for a stainless version to appear, not too far down the road for another couple hundred.
Since it doesn’t have a butt stock it is at best a long barreled pistol.
But will it also chamber and fire 45LC like some other 410 shotguns? Would be more like a 410 slugging, but stil…l
Ohhh… I am liking the sound of that!