November 14, 2025 • 21 mins
From the Otis Technology booth at Shot Show 2025, where the hosts, Jessica Adanich and Erica Chin, are joined by Dan Clayton from Henry Repeating Arms. They discuss the company's innovation, starting with the new Lever Action Supreme, which the host shot and praised for its smoothness and accuracy.
Dan explains that the rifle, four to five years in the making, represents a new platform combining classic Henry looks with modern features like AR magazines and a threaded barrel.
A major focus is the new Special Products Division (SPD), which aims to create use-case specific firearms, such as a suppressor-friendly lever action using a weight-saving BSF carbon fiber barrel. Furthermore, Henry plans to grow its revolver and shotgun product lines to be recognized as a full firearms company, not just a lever action leader.
Links:
Otis Technology (00:05): Location of the podcast booth at Shot Show.
Shot Show 2025 (00:05): The event where the podcast is being recorded.
Henry Repeating Arms / HenryUSA.com (00:48 / 18:18): The guest's company; their main website to order a free catalog.
Lever Action Supreme Rifle (01:25): Henry's new rifle model taking AR magazines.
Special Products Division (SPD) (07:18): Henry's new "skunkworks" division.
BSF (08:52 / 12:12): The company that makes the carbon fiber barrel used in the SPD rifle prototype.
WOMA (Women's Outdoor Media Association) (21:28): Organization to follow on social media for podcast updates.
Key Takaways:
Innovation Through Questioning: Henry fosters innovation by challenging engineers to design firearms starting from a blank sheet of paper, forgetting past constraints.
Specialization Drives Excellence: The creation of the Special Products Division (SPD) demonstrates a commitment to designing highly specialized, best-in-class firearms for specific use cases (e.g., predator hunting, suppression).
Modernizing the Classic: Henry successfully blends its heritage look (American walnut furniture) with modern, high-performance features (AR magazines, threaded barrels, rotary locking bolt).
The Premium Experience is End-to-End: Even the packaging and unboxing experience are considered critical elements of a premium product, worthy of the same design focus as the firearm itself.
Expand Beyond Core Competency: To grow into a full firearms company, a brand must commit to seriously developing and growing product lines outside of its historic core, like Henry is doing with revolvers and shotguns.
Key words
Henry Repeating Arms
Shot Show 2025
Lever Action Supreme
AR Magazines
Special Products Division (SPD)
Suppressor Host
Carbon Fiber Barrel
BSF
Revolvers
Shotguns
Unboxing Experience
Ranch Rifle
Hunting
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Welcome to Amateurs and Experts Podcast.
We are in the Otis TechnologyBooth at SHOT Show 2025.
It's day three.
We're slightly delusional.
But we're here.
We brought vats of coffee.
Like this is full of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Both of them.
It should be.
It should be.
I'm not sharing my coffee thismorning.
SPEAKER_01 (00:25):
Yesterday she had that whole thing filled and she
kept telling me to pep up andthen said 45 minutes later, oh,
do you want some coffee?
SPEAKER_02 (00:34):
I haven't made my coffee stop yet in uh October.
Uh, you know, which is daythree, day four.
Oh my gosh.
Here since uh Saturday.
SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
Yes, I'm so sorry.
If I waterfalled, I'd I don'tknow if you want if you want to,
you know, my day three of ShotShow cooties, right?
So we're here with Dan.
From Henry.
Yes, we're so excited to be herewith uh with Dan Clayton from uh
(01:03):
Henry and uh you know it wastotally exciting about uh on
Monday when we went out toIndustry Day and the lever
action.
I I want you to talk about itbecause I don't really shoot
lever action as you can tellbecause I was fumbling with it,
but that was so smooth, it wasbeautiful.
(01:26):
I could definitely see huntingwith it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
She said it was like butter.
I wasn't able to make it up thatway, but she said it was like
butter.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Well, we certainly try.
Yes, it was beautiful.
I mean, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Yeah, we had we had a lot of a lot of guns out on
the range.
SPEAKER_00 (01:43):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
20 or 30 guns or something like that.
We shot a ton of ammo.
This was the first year we hadkind of a dedicated range bay,
so we could really bring uhbring a lot of guns.
Um so yeah, we had uh the LeverAction Supreme rifle, which we
actually tested or teased herelast year, but we didn't start
(02:05):
shipping until a month ago orsomething like that.
Uh is that the one that you hadthe chance to shoot?
I can't I uh it had a comp.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
It was 223 lever action.
SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
Yeah, this is the one.
This is yeah, so 223, like yousaid, um, and 300 blackout, and
it's a lever action that takesAR magazines.
And it's a free-floated barrel,and it's a threaded barrel, and
um it's like you said, huntingor like a ranch rifle, truck
(02:36):
gun, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
It was so accurate.
SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
Yeah, yeah, the the barrels are great uh in the way
that the action locks up, it'sgot a rotary locking bolt, um,
so you get that positive lockuplike you would with a bolt
action.
Um we're really excited aboutit.
I actually shot my first deerever last year.
SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
Oh my gosh, congratulations.
SPEAKER_02 (03:00):
With the prototype of that rifle.
SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
That is that's badass.
SPEAKER_02 (03:03):
Yeah, cool stuff.
It was really cool.
So uh but also a littlenerve-wracking.
I didn't grow up hunting, um,and I've been with Henry now for
uh, you know, in some capacity,10 or 11 years, uh-huh.
And somehow I've just never goneout on a on a whitetail hunt.
SPEAKER_01 (03:19):
And what what made you decide to do that?
SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
Uh the people.
It was in good company.
And uh, you know, I it was withuh the president of our company
and it was with um the YouTuber22 Plankster.
Um you know, and I knew that Iwas kind of in good hands with
them and you know it wouldn't beuh there wouldn't be any
pressure uh or anything likethat.
(03:44):
So um yeah, it was it was ablast.
Had a really good time.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
That's usually how the addiction happens, right?
Like everybody's like, hey, youwant to come try this?
And you're like, it's because Itrust you that I'm gonna say
yes.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
But would you shoot your first deer with a
prototype?
SPEAKER_00 (04:01):
You must trust.
I mean, if it was a Henry, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
Yeah, of course.
I of course I trust it.
I mean, it was, you know, it hadbeen through some hands prior to
getting into my hands.
Um, but yeah, so so it is fullycapable in the field.
Um this was uh 215 yards with300 blackout, uh, which is
stretching out there, but thiswas, you know, it was the last
(04:25):
day of the hunt.
We were out there for four orfive days.
This was the fifth day.
We were gonna go to the airportlater that day, and it was kind
of the last chance to uh go bigto do something.
Um so yeah, we're we're reallyexcited about that rifle.
It's been in the works for avery long time.
SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
I was just gonna ask, how long was the the
process?
SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
Four or five years, uh, which I don't think is out
of the ordinary for somethingthat's a completely new
platform.
Yeah, like the internals, umit's an internal hammer design.
Uh everything about it is kindof new from the ground up.
Uh the the how it came about wasuh we have some very, very
(05:08):
bright firearms designengineers.
And uh we challenge them withquestions.
And you know, one of thechallenges was um, you know, if
you could design a lever actionrifle, you know, forget what
we've been doing, forget what'sbeen done.
If you could design something,what would it look like?
(05:30):
Start from a blank sheet ofpaper.
And this was kind of what cameout of that.
And it's a cool blend of thelever action heritage, still got
American walnut furniture, so itstill looks like a Henry, still
feels like a Henry.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
It is yes, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (05:45):
Yeah.
Um, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:47):
And it also comes in carbon fiber.
SPEAKER_02 (05:49):
Oh, that's a different one, actually.
Yeah, different new project.
SPEAKER_00 (05:53):
So I didn't shoot that one, yeah.
But um, they both lookbeautiful, but I love the um the
the original Henry look.
And um to me it just looks sexy.
Yeah, it's like something I wantto take pictures with.
SPEAKER_02 (06:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Yep.
If it's if it's a Henry, it hasto look good.
We want our guns to look good.
SPEAKER_00 (06:18):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
You know, we we don't want to slap something
together and just say, oh, youknow, it's it's doing a job, but
you know, it doesn't look thatgreat.
We we always try and make ourguns look good.
SPEAKER_00 (06:29):
Well, a Henry is kind of one of those names in
the industry that um you know iskind of dependable, has been
around for so long.
Um Legacy, it just has so muchbrand positive weight to it.
So to do something, you know,would I take a prototype?
Yeah.
Not probably not the first oneoff the line, but absolutely I
(06:51):
would take one to uh hunting.
Um because I know that and uhbeing a hunter myself, I know
that if you're gonna um go outthere with a gun, you want to
make sure that it works.
SPEAKER_02 (07:03):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (07:04):
And um and Henry Henry works.
SPEAKER_02 (07:08):
Yes, it does.
I can attest to it.
But yeah, the carbon uh guns youmentioned, we are here at the
show, we're unveiling what we'recalling the special products
division or SPD for short.
Um and basically we're lookingat this as like our skunk works
or our you know what um AMG isto Mercedes or uh you know that
(07:32):
sort of thing.
Um and it goes a little bitbeyond being a performance shop.
You know, when I think of aperformance shop, I think of you
kind of look at the differentelements of the firearm and you
just kind of make everythingbetter overall.
Um what we're trying to do withSPD is come up with a specific
(07:53):
use case and then design uh thebest possible firearm for that
use case uh in collaborationwith others in the industry,
others outside of the industry,um to put to put forth the best
uh possible product.
So the carbon fiber that youmentioned uh is kind of it was a
(08:14):
prototype of the first productcoming out under that SPD
umbrella.
Um and we wanted to make themost suppressor-friendly lever
action rifle on the market.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Because lever actions are so good at being a
suppressor host.
There's no gas system, sothere's no you know, gas coming
back or anything like that.
Once that action's closed, it'scompletely sealed off.
So, you know, you experienced itat the range.
It's it's totally quiet.
Um so how do we offset the theproblem of when you put a
(08:48):
suppressor on the end of that,you're throwing off the balance
that lever actions are, youknow, inherently known for.
They're very uh they're balancedvery well, they point very well,
they shoulder very well.
Uh so how do you counteractthat?
Well, we we went to a carbonfiber barrel um made by BSF, and
(09:09):
the weight savings there ofswitching from steel to carbon
fiber uh basically makes thatsuppressor on the end of the
barrel free from a weights froma weight and from a balance
perspective.
Uh so pointing that rifle islike pointing one of our
threaded uh or non-threadedrifles without a suppressor in
(09:31):
terms of balance and and weight.
Um so that's that's kind of thedirection that we want to go
with SPD.
I mean, some other examples areuh, you know, how can we make
the most competitive cowboyaction rifle out of the box?
Um how can we make the mostaccurate long distance hunting
(09:51):
rifle out of the or you know,lever action out of the box?
Or you know, all of thesedifferent things.
Yeah, yeah.
All of the it's it's a reallyit's been a really fun process
because it's uh it's a prettysmall it's a pretty small group
of people.
Um and we're we we bounce we allhave a ton of ideas um and it's
(10:13):
just kind of exploring what'spossible with you know our own
capabilities and also pushingour own capabilities.
SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
I think that's so awesome.
It's it's just allowing yourstaff to have freedom to come up
with these great ideas and umlet the consumer see what great
ideas you come up with.
SPEAKER_02 (10:35):
Yeah, we're we're really excited about it.
Um the the first one, the firstproduct, that that carbon fiber
barrel uh model I mentioned, uhwe'll be shipping by spring.
You know, we're close.
Believe it or not, the the thelongest the the thing we're
waiting for to get that out thedoor is packaging because we
want the packaging to be um youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
As equally as amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (10:59):
Yeah.
You know, when you open like uhlike an iPhone, for example, you
know, Apple has very sleekpackaging, it just kind of falls
apart in your hands until thephone's in your hands, you know.
So um yeah, we're going for uhfor a similar experience there.
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
It is packaging, there is a whole science of
unboxing experience.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (11:23):
Yeah, and uh the whole fact that people keep
their iPhone boxes after thefact speaks to the level of the
box.
SPEAKER_02 (11:30):
Yeah, yep.
And and you know, we we uhexactly, it's it's very
important.
If we're gonna put out a premiumproduct, we already put out a
premium product, and then thisis kind of taking it one step
back.
SPEAKER_01 (11:41):
You're not gonna put in a cardboard bag.
SPEAKER_02 (11:42):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Wrapped it in a plastic bag.
We want it to be uh a point ofpride.
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
Uh which it will be, and we're we're very, very
excited about it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:53):
That's so cool.
So from start to finish, it'sgonna be a true Henry product.
SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
Yep, yeah.
And the the the collaborationhas been really cool.
Um, you know, the those BSFbarrels, which by the way, I
didn't mention this.
Those barrels are, you know,match grade barrels.
It's not just carbon fiber forthe sake of being carbon fiber.
Um, you know, the 4570 that wehad out at the range on Monday
will shoot the same hole at 100yards.
(12:20):
Um, you know, they're justunbelievably accurate.
SPEAKER_00 (12:23):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02 (12:24):
Um so yeah, we're we're uh looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_00 (12:28):
That's awesome.
That's so cool.
So what what else is uh Henrydoing as far as um I know you
talked about the different umguns that to look for, but um is
there something else that youguys are are talking about maybe
not just doing lover action?
SPEAKER_02 (12:47):
Yeah, so to answer your question, I mean we're
looking at everything.
Uh we have um, like I said, alot of really smart people in
the uh much smarter than me inthe engineering room um who can
solve uh a lot of problems.
And um we want to, like lastyear um we can we came out with
(13:10):
our first revolvers.
Um we have our foot in the doorwith shotguns.
Uh you know, we have a leveraction 410, uh, we've got single
shot shotguns, we have some lineextensions off of those single
shot shotguns for like turkeyhunters, for example.
Um so we want to take thosecategories, revolvers and
(13:32):
shotguns, and just continue togrow those in a real way.
Um you know, with with revolversfor us, uh right now we have a
357 and a 22.
They both are the same design,just different caliber, a couple
different grip finishes.
Um it's not a one and done.
(13:54):
Uh that that was um the launchpoint for us so we can prove to
ourselves that we can buildrevolvers.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
Um But that makes sense.
It's it's strategy.
You're not gonna like bounce allover the board and be like, oh,
we're gonna do one over here andone over here and yeah, yeah,
exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (14:12):
So um yeah, so we have kind of uh staked our flag
in the sand as being, you know,a leader in lever actions.
SPEAKER_00 (14:24):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
Um you know, we're the leader in volume for sure.
Um with SPD we are looking to umstake our our flag in the sand
as being a uh an innovator, likethe innovator for lever actions.
Um and then push beyond that.
You know, we we don't want tojust be a lever action company,
(14:46):
we want to be we want to be afirearms company.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
But I love I love that you uh are making guns for
different like the what peopleare focused on.
Hunting, um, you know, longdistance, things like that.
Um kind of to fit to fit the tofit the need.
Yeah.
And uh, you know, when you whenyou wear a pair of shoes, it's
(15:13):
like, you know, they they makeshoes usually not to fit your
foot, but just to fit whatever.
Right.
And um I feel like you're kindof doing that, you know, like,
hey, I'm going here today.
This is the gun I'm gonna use.
Yeah.
You know, I'm gonna do thistoday.
This is the gun I'm gonna use.
And and that's really cool.
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
Yeah, it's uh it's interesting because uh lever
actions and well pretty mucheverything we make is very
versatile.
You can go out to the range, youcan teach somebody new, you can
go hunting, um, you know, homedefense.
Um you can kind of do all ofthat with one, let's say, you
(15:52):
know, 44 mag lever action rifle.
Um but for somebody that walksinto a dealer um that's like,
you know, I have a a coyoteproblem and I don't have a rifle
to deal with it.
They when they come in there andthey ask the guy behind the
counter, you know, I'm lookingfor something for coyotes, we
(16:13):
want to have, you know,immediately, you know, whatever
rifle we develop specificallyfor predator hunting or whatever
it is, we want that to come tomind.
SPEAKER_00 (16:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:24):
So it's fun.
It it's fun to think about,okay, you know, let's take
coyote hunting for example.
Um, you know, what are thechallenges there?
What would the best predatorhunting rifle look like?
And uh that that's a really funprocess.
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
It's gotta be hard to pick what to do first,
because I'm sure you guysprobably have so many ideas,
it's probably gotta be difficultto be like, okay, yeah, no,
we're gonna focus on this one.
SPEAKER_02 (16:48):
It is hard to pick first.
I want them all.
It's hard to pick, you know,it's hard to pick what it's
actually going to be.
Like in our booth, we have thosecarbon fiber barrels, but they
have two different butt stocksbecause you know, we haven't
really decided on the buttstock.
Like, you know, there are twodifferent trains of thought
(17:08):
there, and we haven't reallyfigured out what we want to do.
SPEAKER_01 (17:11):
But how cool though.
I mean, that's one of the bestthings about design.
SPEAKER_02 (17:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:16):
You know, being able to try different things and then
obviously being here, gettingfeedback.
SPEAKER_02 (17:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
That that's why we did it.
That's why we have two differentuh two different options out
there.
Like, you know, it's it is kindof unfinished, it is a
prototype, and we want to hearwhat people think.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
That's awesome.
That's what the show's about.
SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
No, it's been uh it's been areally fun show for us.
I just uh I love uh I loveseeing all the people that you
know some of whom I'm all I onlysee one time a year.
Yes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
It's like Christmas.
SPEAKER_02 (17:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:49):
It's like the family reunion with the people that you
like.
unknown (17:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
And it's so big that if there's family that you're
not a big fan of, you don't haveto see them.
unknown (17:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (18:00):
Exactly.
Exactly.
There's plenty of room foreverybody here.
SPEAKER_00 (18:03):
Yes, everybody fits.
So, Dan, if somebody wants toget a hold of uh Henry, how how
do they best thing to do is, youknow, we we have over 200
different SKUs at this point.
SPEAKER_02 (18:20):
So we like to think that, you know, even if you're
not into lab reactions, chancesare we probably have something
that that you're gonna dig.
So we um we have a free catalog.
It's got everything in it.
So if you go to our website,which is henryusa.com, and
somewhere up at the top it saysorder free catalog, sign up for
(18:42):
that, you send it to yourmailbox, you get a sheet of uh
stickers and and stuff likethat, a list of healers in your
area.
Yeah.
Should have brought some.
I think some of them I didn'teven have, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:54):
It was the lack of well, you can take some of ours.
Okay, perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
I'll do a sticker trade here.
Yeah, I see everybody slappingstickers on the bridge over here
over to Caesar's form.
So, you know, we might have tobrand it too.
Yes, yeah, I'm sure they lovethat.
SPEAKER_00 (19:10):
I'm sure the people that have to scrape them off at
the end of the it's like the gumwall.
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (19:17):
I'm sure they have another show here that comes in,
you know, right after this.
SPEAKER_00 (19:20):
I'm sure.
Oh my gosh.
Well, it's been so fun havingyou on.
That's been a blast.
And uh, like I say the other daywhen I I mean I was giddy
because it was so smooth, it hadthat comp on it.
It I mean, when I was when I wasaiming, I thought, man, this is
so easy and um it was soaccurate.
(19:41):
I was actually surprised.
Yeah.
I was like, that's exactly wherethe you know, I was aiming,
right?
Um, and I and I really thought,I I think I need one for hunting
because it just is it's smooth,it's easy.
SPEAKER_02 (19:57):
Oh, we're gonna make that happen.
SPEAKER_00 (19:59):
Yes, make that happen.
Yes, we are.
SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
And then you're gonna go uh, you know, put some
meat in the freezer and send usa photo of uh heck yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
Arnold, you hear that?
I'm getting at Henry.
You have my word.
We're gonna do it.
Arnold's my husband.
Okay, nice.
SPEAKER_02 (20:18):
Very nice.
Does he have one yet?
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
No.
Actually, he doesn't have it.
I do.
But I mean, it's good eats.
SPEAKER_02 (20:25):
Yeah, absolutely it is.
I went to culinary school, sothat's my that's my favorite
part of it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (20:34):
Oh, that's what I did before uh Henry?
Before Henry.
SPEAKER_00 (20:37):
Fascinating.
SPEAKER_02 (20:38):
Got a degree at culinary school and then went
into the into the gun business.
SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
You know, it's funny how life works out.
It is.
SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
It is yeah, it's a strange path, but I love it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
Yeah, that is so cool.
Okay, well, maybe I'll have tohit you up.
We'll have to do a hunt, andthen you could cook it for us.
Perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
Yeah, it's recipes.
I feel like maybe next yearthere will be Dan's cooking
cooking book.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:00):
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01 (21:01):
That would actually be really amazing if you came up
with a cookbook with like Henry,you could match Henry rifle,
like guns to the recipe for whatyou hunt.
SPEAKER_00 (21:10):
That is amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (21:11):
That would be cool.
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
Yes.
There we go.
Well, it's in the works, right,Dan?
We're we're gonna put a cookbooktogether.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
And we're gonna go out and uh start a restaurant.
No, no, he's never gonna comeback out because we made such a
long to-do list for him.
Henry's gonna be like, ha ha haha woman over there.
Stop hanging out with them.
Thank you for listening toAmateurs and Experts Podcasts.
Like and follow the Woma onFacebook, Instagram, and
(21:38):
LinkedIn for more informationand podcast updates.
SPEAKER_01 (21:41):
We'll see you here again soon on Amateurs and
Experts.
Welcome to Amateurs and Experts Podcast.
We are in the Otis TechnologyBooth at SHOT Show 2025.
It's day three.
We're slightly delusional.
But we're here.
We brought vats of coffee.
Like this is full of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Both of them.
It should be.
It should be.
I'm not sharing my coffee thismorning.
SPEAKER_01 (00:25):
Yesterday she had that whole thing filled and she
kept telling me to pep up andthen said 45 minutes later, oh,
do you want some coffee?
SPEAKER_02 (00:34):
I haven't made my coffee stop yet in uh October.
Uh, you know, which is daythree, day four.
Oh my gosh.
Here since uh Saturday.
SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
Yes, I'm so sorry.
If I waterfalled, I'd I don'tknow if you want if you want to,
you know, my day three of ShotShow cooties, right?
So we're here with Dan.
From Henry.
Yes, we're so excited to be herewith uh with Dan Clayton from uh
(01:03):
Henry and uh you know it wastotally exciting about uh on
Monday when we went out toIndustry Day and the lever
action.
I I want you to talk about itbecause I don't really shoot
lever action as you can tellbecause I was fumbling with it,
but that was so smooth, it wasbeautiful.
(01:26):
I could definitely see huntingwith it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
She said it was like butter.
I wasn't able to make it up thatway, but she said it was like
butter.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Well, we certainly try.
Yes, it was beautiful.
I mean, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Yeah, we had we had a lot of a lot of guns out on
the range.
SPEAKER_00 (01:43):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
20 or 30 guns or something like that.
We shot a ton of ammo.
This was the first year we hadkind of a dedicated range bay,
so we could really bring uhbring a lot of guns.
Um so yeah, we had uh the LeverAction Supreme rifle, which we
actually tested or teased herelast year, but we didn't start
(02:05):
shipping until a month ago orsomething like that.
Uh is that the one that you hadthe chance to shoot?
I can't I uh it had a comp.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
It was 223 lever action.
SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
Yeah, this is the one.
This is yeah, so 223, like yousaid, um, and 300 blackout, and
it's a lever action that takesAR magazines.
And it's a free-floated barrel,and it's a threaded barrel, and
um it's like you said, huntingor like a ranch rifle, truck
(02:36):
gun, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
It was so accurate.
SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
Yeah, yeah, the the barrels are great uh in the way
that the action locks up, it'sgot a rotary locking bolt, um,
so you get that positive lockuplike you would with a bolt
action.
Um we're really excited aboutit.
I actually shot my first deerever last year.
SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
Oh my gosh, congratulations.
SPEAKER_02 (03:00):
With the prototype of that rifle.
SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
That is that's badass.
SPEAKER_02 (03:03):
Yeah, cool stuff.
It was really cool.
So uh but also a littlenerve-wracking.
I didn't grow up hunting, um,and I've been with Henry now for
uh, you know, in some capacity,10 or 11 years, uh-huh.
And somehow I've just never goneout on a on a whitetail hunt.
SPEAKER_01 (03:19):
And what what made you decide to do that?
SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
Uh the people.
It was in good company.
And uh, you know, I it was withuh the president of our company
and it was with um the YouTuber22 Plankster.
Um you know, and I knew that Iwas kind of in good hands with
them and you know it wouldn't beuh there wouldn't be any
pressure uh or anything likethat.
(03:44):
So um yeah, it was it was ablast.
Had a really good time.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
That's usually how the addiction happens, right?
Like everybody's like, hey, youwant to come try this?
And you're like, it's because Itrust you that I'm gonna say
yes.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
But would you shoot your first deer with a
prototype?
SPEAKER_00 (04:01):
You must trust.
I mean, if it was a Henry, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
Yeah, of course.
I of course I trust it.
I mean, it was, you know, it hadbeen through some hands prior to
getting into my hands.
Um, but yeah, so so it is fullycapable in the field.
Um this was uh 215 yards with300 blackout, uh, which is
stretching out there, but thiswas, you know, it was the last
(04:25):
day of the hunt.
We were out there for four orfive days.
This was the fifth day.
We were gonna go to the airportlater that day, and it was kind
of the last chance to uh go bigto do something.
Um so yeah, we're we're reallyexcited about that rifle.
It's been in the works for avery long time.
SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
I was just gonna ask, how long was the the
process?
SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
Four or five years, uh, which I don't think is out
of the ordinary for somethingthat's a completely new
platform.
Yeah, like the internals, umit's an internal hammer design.
Uh everything about it is kindof new from the ground up.
Uh the the how it came about wasuh we have some very, very
(05:08):
bright firearms designengineers.
And uh we challenge them withquestions.
And you know, one of thechallenges was um, you know, if
you could design a lever actionrifle, you know, forget what
we've been doing, forget what'sbeen done.
If you could design something,what would it look like?
(05:30):
Start from a blank sheet ofpaper.
And this was kind of what cameout of that.
And it's a cool blend of thelever action heritage, still got
American walnut furniture, so itstill looks like a Henry, still
feels like a Henry.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
It is yes, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (05:45):
Yeah.
Um, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:47):
And it also comes in carbon fiber.
SPEAKER_02 (05:49):
Oh, that's a different one, actually.
Yeah, different new project.
SPEAKER_00 (05:53):
So I didn't shoot that one, yeah.
But um, they both lookbeautiful, but I love the um the
the original Henry look.
And um to me it just looks sexy.
Yeah, it's like something I wantto take pictures with.
SPEAKER_02 (06:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Yep.
If it's if it's a Henry, it hasto look good.
We want our guns to look good.
SPEAKER_00 (06:18):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
You know, we we don't want to slap something
together and just say, oh, youknow, it's it's doing a job, but
you know, it doesn't look thatgreat.
We we always try and make ourguns look good.
SPEAKER_00 (06:29):
Well, a Henry is kind of one of those names in
the industry that um you know iskind of dependable, has been
around for so long.
Um Legacy, it just has so muchbrand positive weight to it.
So to do something, you know,would I take a prototype?
Yeah.
Not probably not the first oneoff the line, but absolutely I
(06:51):
would take one to uh hunting.
Um because I know that and uhbeing a hunter myself, I know
that if you're gonna um go outthere with a gun, you want to
make sure that it works.
SPEAKER_02 (07:03):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (07:04):
And um and Henry Henry works.
SPEAKER_02 (07:08):
Yes, it does.
I can attest to it.
But yeah, the carbon uh guns youmentioned, we are here at the
show, we're unveiling what we'recalling the special products
division or SPD for short.
Um and basically we're lookingat this as like our skunk works
or our you know what um AMG isto Mercedes or uh you know that
(07:32):
sort of thing.
Um and it goes a little bitbeyond being a performance shop.
You know, when I think of aperformance shop, I think of you
kind of look at the differentelements of the firearm and you
just kind of make everythingbetter overall.
Um what we're trying to do withSPD is come up with a specific
(07:53):
use case and then design uh thebest possible firearm for that
use case uh in collaborationwith others in the industry,
others outside of the industry,um to put to put forth the best
uh possible product.
So the carbon fiber that youmentioned uh is kind of it was a
(08:14):
prototype of the first productcoming out under that SPD
umbrella.
Um and we wanted to make themost suppressor-friendly lever
action rifle on the market.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Because lever actions are so good at being a
suppressor host.
There's no gas system, sothere's no you know, gas coming
back or anything like that.
Once that action's closed, it'scompletely sealed off.
So, you know, you experienced itat the range.
It's it's totally quiet.
Um so how do we offset the theproblem of when you put a
(08:48):
suppressor on the end of that,you're throwing off the balance
that lever actions are, youknow, inherently known for.
They're very uh they're balancedvery well, they point very well,
they shoulder very well.
Uh so how do you counteractthat?
Well, we we went to a carbonfiber barrel um made by BSF, and
(09:09):
the weight savings there ofswitching from steel to carbon
fiber uh basically makes thatsuppressor on the end of the
barrel free from a weights froma weight and from a balance
perspective.
Uh so pointing that rifle islike pointing one of our
threaded uh or non-threadedrifles without a suppressor in
(09:31):
terms of balance and and weight.
Um so that's that's kind of thedirection that we want to go
with SPD.
I mean, some other examples areuh, you know, how can we make
the most competitive cowboyaction rifle out of the box?
Um how can we make the mostaccurate long distance hunting
(09:51):
rifle out of the or you know,lever action out of the box?
Or you know, all of thesedifferent things.
Yeah, yeah.
All of the it's it's a reallyit's been a really fun process
because it's uh it's a prettysmall it's a pretty small group
of people.
Um and we're we we bounce we allhave a ton of ideas um and it's
(10:13):
just kind of exploring what'spossible with you know our own
capabilities and also pushingour own capabilities.
SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
I think that's so awesome.
It's it's just allowing yourstaff to have freedom to come up
with these great ideas and umlet the consumer see what great
ideas you come up with.
SPEAKER_02 (10:35):
Yeah, we're we're really excited about it.
Um the the first one, the firstproduct, that that carbon fiber
barrel uh model I mentioned, uhwe'll be shipping by spring.
You know, we're close.
Believe it or not, the the thelongest the the thing we're
waiting for to get that out thedoor is packaging because we
want the packaging to be um youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
As equally as amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (10:59):
Yeah.
You know, when you open like uhlike an iPhone, for example, you
know, Apple has very sleekpackaging, it just kind of falls
apart in your hands until thephone's in your hands, you know.
So um yeah, we're going for uhfor a similar experience there.
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
It is packaging, there is a whole science of
unboxing experience.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (11:23):
Yeah, and uh the whole fact that people keep
their iPhone boxes after thefact speaks to the level of the
box.
SPEAKER_02 (11:30):
Yeah, yep.
And and you know, we we uhexactly, it's it's very
important.
If we're gonna put out a premiumproduct, we already put out a
premium product, and then thisis kind of taking it one step
back.
SPEAKER_01 (11:41):
You're not gonna put in a cardboard bag.
SPEAKER_02 (11:42):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Wrapped it in a plastic bag.
We want it to be uh a point ofpride.
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
Uh which it will be, and we're we're very, very
excited about it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:53):
That's so cool.
So from start to finish, it'sgonna be a true Henry product.
SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
Yep, yeah.
And the the the collaborationhas been really cool.
Um, you know, the those BSFbarrels, which by the way, I
didn't mention this.
Those barrels are, you know,match grade barrels.
It's not just carbon fiber forthe sake of being carbon fiber.
Um, you know, the 4570 that wehad out at the range on Monday
will shoot the same hole at 100yards.
(12:20):
Um, you know, they're justunbelievably accurate.
SPEAKER_00 (12:23):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02 (12:24):
Um so yeah, we're we're uh looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_00 (12:28):
That's awesome.
That's so cool.
So what what else is uh Henrydoing as far as um I know you
talked about the different umguns that to look for, but um is
there something else that youguys are are talking about maybe
not just doing lover action?
SPEAKER_02 (12:47):
Yeah, so to answer your question, I mean we're
looking at everything.
Uh we have um, like I said, alot of really smart people in
the uh much smarter than me inthe engineering room um who can
solve uh a lot of problems.
And um we want to, like lastyear um we can we came out with
(13:10):
our first revolvers.
Um we have our foot in the doorwith shotguns.
Uh you know, we have a leveraction 410, uh, we've got single
shot shotguns, we have some lineextensions off of those single
shot shotguns for like turkeyhunters, for example.
Um so we want to take thosecategories, revolvers and
(13:32):
shotguns, and just continue togrow those in a real way.
Um you know, with with revolversfor us, uh right now we have a
357 and a 22.
They both are the same design,just different caliber, a couple
different grip finishes.
Um it's not a one and done.
(13:54):
Uh that that was um the launchpoint for us so we can prove to
ourselves that we can buildrevolvers.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
Um But that makes sense.
It's it's strategy.
You're not gonna like bounce allover the board and be like, oh,
we're gonna do one over here andone over here and yeah, yeah,
exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (14:12):
So um yeah, so we have kind of uh staked our flag
in the sand as being, you know,a leader in lever actions.
SPEAKER_00 (14:24):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
Um you know, we're the leader in volume for sure.
Um with SPD we are looking to umstake our our flag in the sand
as being a uh an innovator, likethe innovator for lever actions.
Um and then push beyond that.
You know, we we don't want tojust be a lever action company,
(14:46):
we want to be we want to be afirearms company.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
But I love I love that you uh are making guns for
different like the what peopleare focused on.
Hunting, um, you know, longdistance, things like that.
Um kind of to fit to fit the tofit the need.
Yeah.
And uh, you know, when you whenyou wear a pair of shoes, it's
(15:13):
like, you know, they they makeshoes usually not to fit your
foot, but just to fit whatever.
Right.
And um I feel like you're kindof doing that, you know, like,
hey, I'm going here today.
This is the gun I'm gonna use.
Yeah.
You know, I'm gonna do thistoday.
This is the gun I'm gonna use.
And and that's really cool.
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
Yeah, it's uh it's interesting because uh lever
actions and well pretty mucheverything we make is very
versatile.
You can go out to the range, youcan teach somebody new, you can
go hunting, um, you know, homedefense.
Um you can kind of do all ofthat with one, let's say, you
(15:52):
know, 44 mag lever action rifle.
Um but for somebody that walksinto a dealer um that's like,
you know, I have a a coyoteproblem and I don't have a rifle
to deal with it.
They when they come in there andthey ask the guy behind the
counter, you know, I'm lookingfor something for coyotes, we
(16:13):
want to have, you know,immediately, you know, whatever
rifle we develop specificallyfor predator hunting or whatever
it is, we want that to come tomind.
SPEAKER_00 (16:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:24):
So it's fun.
It it's fun to think about,okay, you know, let's take
coyote hunting for example.
Um, you know, what are thechallenges there?
What would the best predatorhunting rifle look like?
And uh that that's a really funprocess.
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
It's gotta be hard to pick what to do first,
because I'm sure you guysprobably have so many ideas,
it's probably gotta be difficultto be like, okay, yeah, no,
we're gonna focus on this one.
SPEAKER_02 (16:48):
It is hard to pick first.
I want them all.
It's hard to pick, you know,it's hard to pick what it's
actually going to be.
Like in our booth, we have thosecarbon fiber barrels, but they
have two different butt stocksbecause you know, we haven't
really decided on the buttstock.
Like, you know, there are twodifferent trains of thought
(17:08):
there, and we haven't reallyfigured out what we want to do.
SPEAKER_01 (17:11):
But how cool though.
I mean, that's one of the bestthings about design.
SPEAKER_02 (17:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:16):
You know, being able to try different things and then
obviously being here, gettingfeedback.
SPEAKER_02 (17:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
That that's why we did it.
That's why we have two differentuh two different options out
there.
Like, you know, it's it is kindof unfinished, it is a
prototype, and we want to hearwhat people think.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
That's awesome.
That's what the show's about.
SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
No, it's been uh it's been areally fun show for us.
I just uh I love uh I loveseeing all the people that you
know some of whom I'm all I onlysee one time a year.
Yes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
It's like Christmas.
SPEAKER_02 (17:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:49):
It's like the family reunion with the people that you
like.
unknown (17:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
And it's so big that if there's family that you're
not a big fan of, you don't haveto see them.
unknown (17:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (18:00):
Exactly.
Exactly.
There's plenty of room foreverybody here.
SPEAKER_00 (18:03):
Yes, everybody fits.
So, Dan, if somebody wants toget a hold of uh Henry, how how
do they best thing to do is, youknow, we we have over 200
different SKUs at this point.
SPEAKER_02 (18:20):
So we like to think that, you know, even if you're
not into lab reactions, chancesare we probably have something
that that you're gonna dig.
So we um we have a free catalog.
It's got everything in it.
So if you go to our website,which is henryusa.com, and
somewhere up at the top it saysorder free catalog, sign up for
(18:42):
that, you send it to yourmailbox, you get a sheet of uh
stickers and and stuff likethat, a list of healers in your
area.
Yeah.
Should have brought some.
I think some of them I didn'teven have, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:54):
It was the lack of well, you can take some of ours.
Okay, perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
I'll do a sticker trade here.
Yeah, I see everybody slappingstickers on the bridge over here
over to Caesar's form.
So, you know, we might have tobrand it too.
Yes, yeah, I'm sure they lovethat.
SPEAKER_00 (19:10):
I'm sure the people that have to scrape them off at
the end of the it's like the gumwall.
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (19:17):
I'm sure they have another show here that comes in,
you know, right after this.
SPEAKER_00 (19:20):
I'm sure.
Oh my gosh.
Well, it's been so fun havingyou on.
That's been a blast.
And uh, like I say the other daywhen I I mean I was giddy
because it was so smooth, it hadthat comp on it.
It I mean, when I was when I wasaiming, I thought, man, this is
so easy and um it was soaccurate.
(19:41):
I was actually surprised.
Yeah.
I was like, that's exactly wherethe you know, I was aiming,
right?
Um, and I and I really thought,I I think I need one for hunting
because it just is it's smooth,it's easy.
SPEAKER_02 (19:57):
Oh, we're gonna make that happen.
SPEAKER_00 (19:59):
Yes, make that happen.
Yes, we are.
SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
And then you're gonna go uh, you know, put some
meat in the freezer and send usa photo of uh heck yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
Arnold, you hear that?
I'm getting at Henry.
You have my word.
We're gonna do it.
Arnold's my husband.
Okay, nice.
SPEAKER_02 (20:18):
Very nice.
Does he have one yet?
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
No.
Actually, he doesn't have it.
I do.
But I mean, it's good eats.
SPEAKER_02 (20:25):
Yeah, absolutely it is.
I went to culinary school, sothat's my that's my favorite
part of it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (20:34):
Oh, that's what I did before uh Henry?
Before Henry.
SPEAKER_00 (20:37):
Fascinating.
SPEAKER_02 (20:38):
Got a degree at culinary school and then went
into the into the gun business.
SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
You know, it's funny how life works out.
It is.
SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
It is yeah, it's a strange path, but I love it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
Yeah, that is so cool.
Okay, well, maybe I'll have tohit you up.
We'll have to do a hunt, andthen you could cook it for us.
Perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
Yeah, it's recipes.
I feel like maybe next yearthere will be Dan's cooking
cooking book.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:00):
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01 (21:01):
That would actually be really amazing if you came up
with a cookbook with like Henry,you could match Henry rifle,
like guns to the recipe for whatyou hunt.
SPEAKER_00 (21:10):
That is amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (21:11):
That would be cool.
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
Yes.
There we go.
Well, it's in the works, right,Dan?
We're we're gonna put a cookbooktogether.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
And we're gonna go out and uh start a restaurant.
No, no, he's never gonna comeback out because we made such a
long to-do list for him.
Henry's gonna be like, ha ha haha woman over there.
Stop hanging out with them.
Thank you for listening toAmateurs and Experts Podcasts.
Like and follow the Woma onFacebook, Instagram, and
(21:38):
LinkedIn for more informationand podcast updates.
SPEAKER_01 (21:41):
We'll see you here again soon on Amateurs and
Experts.
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