Every now and then I like to dust off a good story, and this is one of them. The video above goes back to SHOT Show 2018, when Henry Repeating Arms celebrated building its one millionth H001 lever-action rifle. I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and even though I spend most of my bench time on AR-platform rifles, I’ve got a soft spot for what Henry pulled off. Consider this a retrospective, not news.
Twenty years from a booth prototype
In the interview, owner Anthony Imperato tells the part of the story I like best. Twenty years earlier he’d stood at SHOT Show with nothing but a prototype of the H001 and no idea whether anyone would buy it. By 2018, that same humble .22 lever gun had hit a million units. As someone who took over a small gun shop and had to figure out year by year whether the thing would survive, that arc means something to me. Nobody hands you a million of anything. You earn it one satisfied customer at a time.
The rifle itself
The millionth H001 wasn’t a rack-grade gun with a fancy serial number. Henry dressed it properly: exhibition-grade American walnut out of Missouri and elaborate hand engraving over the receiver. It went up for auction on GunBroker, and by the time of the interview bidding had already passed $50,000. Imperato made the case that one-of-a-kind guns with a real story behind them hold value the way other serious collectibles do, and my experience with collector guns that come through my shop backs that up. Provenance sells. Condition matters, but the story is what people are actually bidding on.
Where the money went
Henry donated the rifle outright, with auction proceeds routed through the National Shooting Sports Foundation to firearm safety programs, youth shooting sports, and wildlife conservation. That kind of giving has been a Henry habit for years, and it’s part of why the brand gets so much goodwill in this industry. It’s not marketing spend dressed up as charity; they do it constantly, often quietly.
Not safe queens
My favorite line from the interview: Henry wants people to know their rifles aren’t display pieces. They’re built to hunt, plink, and punch paper. Imperato also said the company reads customer suggestions seriously, and if you’ve watched Henry’s catalog grow since 2018, side gates, new calibers, the X models, you know that wasn’t empty talk.
From the gunsmith’s chair, I’ll vouch for the guns. Henrys that cross my bench are almost always in for a cleaning or a sight swap, not a repair. The actions are smooth out of the box and they digest cheap bulk .22 without complaint. An H001 is still one of my favorite recommendations for teaching a kid or a brand-new adult shooter: no recoil, no intimidation, and a manual action that forces you to think about every shot. If you’re starting from zero, my first gun guide for Texans covers where a rifle like that fits, and how to buy a gun in Texas walks through the process itself.
Want a Henry, or want the one you inherited brought back to life? That’s what I’m here for. Local pickup by appointment in Roanoke, just north of Fort Worth. Call 817-393-4000 or email [email protected].
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
