After a year’s wait, Henry Repeating Arms (HRA) has introduced their Lever Action Supreme Rifle (LASR). While most lever-guns have tubular magazines, the new Henry uses a 10-round, detachable box magazine, plus it will accept other AR/MSR-type magazines. It’s chambered in .223/5.56 NATO and .300 BLK. The former has an 18” barrel, while the latter has a 16.5” barrel; both barrels are blue steel, free-floating in the forend, and threaded at the muzzle. The patent-pending rear sight has a unique, trapezoidal-type notch and is fully adjustable. The front sight is a ramped blade. Inside the black, hard-anodized, aero-space grade aluminum receiver is a patent-pending quad bar linkage and slider crank mechanism that delivers a smooth lever action, and operates a rotating bolt head, much like that found on the AR/MSR. The trigger is adjustable via a small hole in the trigger face, and the test gun had a pull weight of 3.5 lbs. Adjustments are limited to one pound and a small 1/20 hex key comes the LASR; it’s also used on the rear sight. The LASR has a satin-finished American walnut stock that’s checkered, and the butt has a rubber recoil pad, plus sling swivel studs are included.
New for 2025 is the Lever Action Supreme Rifle from Henry Repeating Arms; it comes with a 10-round magazine and will accept any AR/MSR magazine.
Other features of the new LASR include a receiver that’s drilled and tapped for optics mounting. It has a tang-mounted safety that is moved rearward for ‘safe’ and forward for ‘fire,’ which exposes a red dot. The magazine catch is located between the front of the trigger guard and the rear of the magazine well. Pushing forward on the catch releases the magazine. Another departure from the typical lever-gun, the LASR has a concealed hammer. This feature helps to keep dust, dirt, and other debris out of the action. It also has an oversized lever in order to accommodate gloved hands. Like an AR/MSR, the LASR has two punch pins in the receiver that are used for disassembly. The process will not be detail here, so if you purchase a LASR, RTFM.
The author selected the LASR in .223/5.56 NATO with an 18” barrel for his evaluation.
Here is the LASR with the lever down; you can see the magazine catch in front of the trigger guard, and the rotating bolt head through the ejection port.
In this image, the safety is seen in the ‘fire’ position, with the red dot exposed.
This closeup shows the fully adjustable, trapezoidal rear sight.
For the T&E, I decided to mount a dot-optic, and elected to use a veteran Bushnell Trophy sight. It’s rugged and bulky, but has 11 brightness settings, a ‘T-dot’ reticle in red or green, and an integral claw mount that has two big coin-slotted screws to keep it in place, and makes it easy to remove. The LASR will take the same optics as a Marlin Model 336, which is a Weaver 63-type. I found a suitable base from Monstrum on the Internet. With the Bushnell optic mounted on the LASR, I took it in the back yard and did a rough sight-in using a laser bore sighter.
Accuracy potential was evaluated first on an indoor range at 25 yards.
Five different .223/5.56 loads were selected for the T&E. I selected cartridges with bullet weights that would be suitable for medium-sized game to small varmints. The cartridges were from Barnes, Black Hills, Federal/American Eagle, HSM, and Winchester. You can see the specifics on the cartridges in the performance table. Most of my shooting evaluation was done at an indoor range. Once I fired a few shots at a 25-yard target to tweak the sight setting, it was time to get down to business. First, I used my Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph to get bullet velocity averages; you can see those figures in the aforementioned table. Next, I sent a sheet of bullseye targets down to 25 yards and fired three 5-shot groups with each brand of test cartridge. The tightest cluster of shots at 0.78” was made using the Black Hills cartridges; they also had the smallest 3-group average. Again, check the table for all the performance figures.
I wanted to do a practical precision exercise, so I sent a Big Dawg target down to the 25-yard line that had reduced size silhouettes in a hostage scenario. Two black silhouettes were mostly covered by a blue silhouette in front. I was going strictly for head shots, and these heads at 75 feet looked tiny. Using the 10-round HRA magazine, I loaded one round of each test load, and fired one round at each head. This was repeated twice more. All the shots stayed in the heads, and the best group measured 1.32.”
Here are the best 5-shot groups made at 25 (left) and 50 yards; both with Black Hills .223 cartridges.
When I attached the optic to the LASR, I noticed that there was an open space between the mounting base and the bottom of the Bushnell sight. I could just make out the iron sights, which seemed fortuitous, in the event the optic failed during a sticky situation. I loaded up the magazine with a mix of the test ammo, then fired ten shots at a bullseye target down at the 15-yard line. The 10-shot group measured 2.61,” and were from 0.5-3” below the point of aim (POA). For a reliability test, I had a 30-round AR/MSR magazine on hand, and loaded it with 20 rounds of mixed test ammo. I sent a large bullseye target down to 15 yards, then fired aimed shots as fast as I could pull the trigger and work the lever. None of the shots strayed from the X and 10-ring on the target. I did note that as the rifle barrel by this time was extremely hot, some of the cases wanted to stick in the chamber, which required vigorous manipulation of the lever.
Targets from the different shooting exercises the author performed with the LASR are shown here.
To do some 50- and 100-yard shooting with the HRA LASR, I moved outdoors. For the 50-yard accuracy test, I used the same 5-bullseye target sheet, and the same procedure that I did at 25 yards. POA/point of impact was the same as at the shorter distance and my best 5-shot group was again made with the Black Hills .223 load and measured 1.18.” Group averages ran from 1.37” to 1.61.” At 100 yards, I decided to use another of the large bullseye targets and shoot 2 rounds of each test cartridge. I used a center aiming point, but my shots went high and right. Seven shots went into the 10-ring for a 2.59” group; 2 strayed and went into the 9-ring, opening things up a bit. My last drill involved practical accuracy and rapid-fire work. I had a wolf head target from Targetvendor.com, and I placed it at 40 yards. I loaded the after-market mag with 20 rounds of mixed test ammo, then starting at 40 yards, fired 5 rounds, moved up 10 yards, and fired 5 more, repeating this until I was 10 yards from the wolf and my mag was empty. All the bullet impacts were in the snout/forehead area. I noted the same case sticking that I had earlier near the end of the drill.
Fifty- and 100-yard shooting was done outdoors; you can see the .223/5.56 test ammo to the left of the shooting table.
Beginning at 40 yards, the author engaged a realistic-looking wolf head target, shooting standing, unsupported, and shooting rapidly.
Accuracy evaluations were done at 25, 50 and 100 yards and the other shooting exercises at 15, 25, and 40 yards, and a total of 155 rounds were fired through the HRA LASR. The only issue was some case sticking when the barrel got hot. The rifle is obviously more accurate than the operator and I wondered how it would do with a 4X scope instead of a dot sight. Magazines dropped free when the catch was pushed forward and there were no case ejection issues or other malfunctions. I can see a LASR in my future. For more information go to www.henryusa.com.
The author, the wolf target, and the Henry Lever Action Supreme Rifle.
Henry Lever Action Supreme Rifle Specifications
MECHANISM: Lever action
CALIBER: .223/5.56 NATO
CAPACITY: 10+1 cartridges (takes any MSR mag.)
BARREL: 18”
OA LENGTH: 38.15”
EMPTY WEIGHT: 6.65 lbs.
SIGHTS: Adj. trapezoidal rear, ramped blade front (optics ready)
FINISH: Blue barrel, black anodized receiver
STOCKS: Checkered American walnut
MSRP: $1,299.00
Henry Lever Action Supreme Rifle .223/5.56 Performance
| Cartridge | Ave. Velocity | Best Grp. | Ave. Grp. | Ft-Pounds Muzzle Energy |
| Barnes VOR-TX 62 gr. TSX (5.56) | 2,986 FPS | 1.17” | 1.54” | 1,227 FPE |
| Black Hills Factory New 68 gr. BTHP | 2,575 FPS | 0.78” | 0.83” | 1,001 FPE |
| Federal American Eagle 50 gr. JHP | 3,044 FPS | 1.09” | 1.37” | 1,029 FPE |
| HSM 62 gr. Bonded JSP | 2,824 FPS | 0.98” | 1.02” | 1,098 FPE |
| Winchester Ranger 64 gr. Power Pt. | 2,708 FPS | 0.88” | 1.02” | 1,042 FPE |
NOTE: Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second 15 in. from the muzzle by a Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph, and accuracy in inches for three 5-shot groups at 25 yards. FPE based on bullet weight and velocity.
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