without question the most iconic rifle ever made has to be regarded as the lever action rifle as a design the rifle dates back to 1837 and is best regarded as the rifle design that won the american west lever action rifles embody a classic style and are still.

Said to be advantageous for such pursuits as small game hunting all the way through deer hunting they might not be the most efficient rifles out there but they represent a sentimentality for many hunters from years gone by along with this you get enough firepower and fast follow.

Up shots that keep your head in the game so you can do what you need to do with your rifle on your terms the classy looks and smooth lines give you a timeless quality to the rifle the availability to a plethora of calibers means any shooter can find a lever.

Action they can love however choosing the best lever action rifle can be an overwhelming task therefore we decided to run you through 10 of the best lever action rifles that we could find on the market today all of them are high quality builds and should offer you great value.

For your money introducing the first ever henry repeating arms side loading gate rifle henry has listened to the questions and the concerns of you guys so they built their very first side loading gate rifle this one in my hands is chambered in 38.55 and if you're unfamiliar with the 3855.

Cartridge it is very popular to the cowboy action shooters it is a very old round introduced in 1876 and kind of phased out in the mid-1940s here recently with the popularity of cowboy action shooting the 3855 has been resurrected any.

Repeating arms just didn't make another side loading gate they made a side loading gate better let me explain the henry side gate has the familiar brass receiver like found on the big boys this brass receiver is strong as steel and they've also took the liberty to.

Drill and tap the top of the receiver where you can mount an optic of your choice the rifle does hold five rounds plus one in the chamber and it sports a 20 inch blue barrel the rifle still has the very familiar buckhorn sights and it does have something a little bit.

Different on the front of the rifle this has their ivory bead unlike the brass b that you may find on the original big boy rifles the rifle does sport a brass butt plate and also has a brass barrel strap that has a sling swivel mounted right into it the henry side gate lever action has.

Beautiful american walnut wood and has tight laser checkering on the forearm of the stock and also on the rear there are two things that make this rifle extremely safe the first of those things in hammer slide transfer bar safety the second thing is henry kept the tube magazine.

Not only can you load from the side of the receiver but you can also load the henry rifle just like you did before this will guarantee it to be one of the safest if not the safest side loading gate action rifles ever created we've talked enough about this rifle.

Let's do some shooting all right i'm gonna load up the henry's side gate lever action rifle here chambered in 3855 with some 255 grain pills got a dolan tree down there at about 50 yards let me see if i can slap a little steel.

This is winchester's model 1866 as the name suggests it was created in 1866. oliver winchester took the old henry rifle and he improved it he put a loading gate back here so you could run rounds up into the tubular magazine and he put a forend on it so he didn't get burned holding onto.

The barrel well this set the world on fire from here on out everybody wanted a winchester because it was a repeating rifle no more muzzle loading no more single shots you had all the ammo you needed in that tube well they still make this beautiful.

Rifle the yellow boy is called because it has a brass receiver and it's now chambered for something that's easy to get and easy to fire the 38 special you can load this baby up and plink with it take small game with it someday i might even try hunting a gear with this 38 because.

Through a rifle barrel of course you get much better ballistics than you would with a handgun but the ammunition is inexpensive and easy to find and the yellow boy rifle is true to its original it still does all the things it did back then it's exactly the same engineering.

And it's a beautifully balanced rifle and it's just fun to operate if you're like me you've a lot of rifles of bold actions and single shots and ars fun guns right try a lever action if you really want to have some fun and go back to your historic roots the.

Winchester model 1866 is a great way to do it wow winchester model 1866 and 38 special is some special kind of fun this is the browning lever action rifle or blr it is the modern lever action gun and i say modern.

Because it has a detachable box magazine which allows for pointed bullets which you can't do with a tubular magazine so if you like lever actions and you want a modern cartridge this is the gun to have and it is full featured it has a rack and pinion lever which makes it.

Extremely smooth it's got a hammer with a fold down for an added measure of safety it has an aluminum alloy receiver so it's nice and lightweight the bolt locks up into a barrel extension like the bar does with a rotary a rotary head on the bolt and for those.

That travel a lot and when size is an issue we have a takedown model   okay guys welcome back here like i said we are talking about the henry x model chambered in 44 magnum and why i want to talk about this rifle today is.

I truly think this is going to be my go to rifle for deer hunting at close range in the timber maybe in a tree stand basically anywhere that i am going to have less than 100 yard shot 100 yards and in this is going to be my new go-to rifle reasons for that for one i love the new.

Side gate which is great comes in all the x models i love the short compactness of this rifle as you can see this thing is really small and compact but yet still very accurate it's got really really nice fiber optic sights on it which is a huge thing for me.

I have a bad astigmatism in my eyes and that causes me not to be able to see great and lower light conditions kind of that dusk time so that's why most of the time you've seen me in the past i elect to put an optic maybe a low power two to seven one to four or something like that on these close range rifles it just.

Helps me see better in low light and make better shots and ethical shots on animals but with these fiber optic sights it has been a game changer for me i can see these really well they're really really nice sight and i'm really excited to go back to iron sights and be able to have these fiber optic.

Sights and be able to ethically put a deer down when i need to another reason um i like it is it's pretty lightweight that kind of goes with the short compactness of it you can put a sling on this you can put this thing up in a tree.

Stand you can move it around very nicely it shoulders really well it holds really well you know say i'm sitting in a tree stand right now the deer comes you know right here 20 30 yards away there's no issue at all that i couldn't uh just hold on that deer with no rest and put him down it just holds really.

Really well it just feels like the perfect tree stand in the timber close range uh deer rifle for me and i'm super excited about it another reason that i like it for hunting is it's got the synthetic stock on it some of you guys you know might not like that for me being a hunter i do like.

That i feel like i can beat this thing up a little bit i can take it out in the weather i'm not going to scratch this stock i don't have to worry about it it also has a picatinny rail up here on the front um so when you guys are done hunting with this gun you could potentially take it home.

Put a hand grip on it on the front of it like this it's got a little flashlight built into it put this thing by your bedside it is the perfect combination guys for for a close range deer rifle or or anything could be bear hogs whatever it's a perfect close range rifle hundred yards and then.

You can bring it home put it by your bedside and protect your family with it as well which is awesome so i'm going to put a couple rounds down range for you show you guys the accuracy of this thing it is a very accurate little gun i'm at 50 yards here put my glasses and ear muffs on here.

We are going to put a couple rounds downrange and show you guys the accuracy of this thing  all right guys we put three shots down range there all of them dead center right in the middle of those metal plates this is just a great gun guys.

Like i said if you are looking for um a short compact rifle for for any reason for home defense hunting out of a tree stand maybe you've got a real thick timber even if you're in a ground blind this would be a great gun for a ground blind there's not a lot of room in the ground blind sometimes even especially if you've got.

Somebody with you this is a short compact lightweight hunting rifle or protection rifle for you at home home defense that i think is just perfect i'm absolutely in love with it i am so glad henry came out with it and i can't wait to get out in the woods.

With this fall and hopefully put a big buck on the ground you