Henry Repeating Arm's Secret Weapon for Modern Hunters with Dan Clayton

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:

1. Innovation Through Questioning: Henry fosters innovation by challenging engineers to design firearms starting from a blank sheet of paper, forgetting past constraints.

2. 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).

3. Modernizing the Classic: Henry successfully blends its heritage look (American walnut furniture) with modern, high-performance features (AR magazines, threaded barrels, rotary locking bolt).

4. 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.

5. 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

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to Amateurs and Experts Podcast. We are in the Otis Technology Booth 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 0:20

Both of them. It should be. It should be. I'm not sharing my coffee this morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yesterday she had that whole thing filled and she kept telling me to pep up and then said 45 minutes later, oh, do you want some coffee?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

I haven't made my coffee stop yet in uh October. Uh, you know, which is day three, day four. Oh my gosh. Here since uh Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Yes, I'm so sorry. If I waterfalled, I'd I don't know if you want if you want to, you know, my day three of Shot Show cooties, right? So we're here with Dan. From Henry. Yes, we're so excited to be here with uh with Dan Clayton from uh Henry and uh you know it was totally exciting about uh on Monday when we went out to Industry Day and the lever action. I I want you to talk about it because I don't really shoot lever action as you can tell because I was fumbling with it, but that was so smooth, it was beautiful. I could definitely see hunting with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

She said it was like butter. I wasn't able to make it up that way, but she said it was like butter.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Well, we certainly try. Yes, it was beautiful. I mean, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Yeah, we had we had a lot of a lot of guns out on the range.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

20 or 30 guns or something like that. We shot a ton of ammo. This was the first year we had kind of a dedicated range bay, so we could really bring uh bring a lot of guns. Um so yeah, we had uh the Lever Action Supreme rifle, which we actually tested or teased here last year, but we didn't start shipping until a month ago or something like that. Uh is that the one that you had the chance to shoot? I can't I uh it had a comp.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

It was 223 lever action.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah, this is the one. This is yeah, so 223, like you said, um, and 300 blackout, and it's a lever action that takes AR magazines. And it's a free-floated barrel, and it's a threaded barrel, and um it's like you said, hunting or like a ranch rifle, truck gun, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

It was so accurate.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Yeah, yeah, the the barrels are great uh in the way that the action locks up, it's got a rotary locking bolt, um, so you get that positive lockup like you would with a bolt action. Um we're really excited about it. I actually shot my first deer ever last year.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Oh my gosh, congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

With the prototype of that rifle.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

That is that's badass.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yeah, cool stuff. It was really cool. So uh but also a little nerve-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 gone out on a on a whitetail hunt.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

And what what made you decide to do that?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Uh the people. It was in good company. And uh, you know, I it was with uh the president of our company and it was with um the YouTuber 22 Plankster. Um you know, and I knew that I was kind of in good hands with them and you know it wouldn't be uh there wouldn't be any pressure uh or anything like that. So um yeah, it was it was a blast. Had a really good time.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

That's usually how the addiction happens, right? Like everybody's like, hey, you want to come try this? And you're like, it's because I trust you that I'm gonna say yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

But would you shoot your first deer with a prototype?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

You must trust. I mean, if it was a Henry, yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Yeah, of course. I of course I trust it. I mean, it was, you know, it had been through some hands prior to getting into my hands. Um, but yeah, so so it is fully capable in the field. Um this was uh 215 yards with 300 blackout, uh, which is stretching out there, but this was, you know, it was the last day of the hunt. We were out there for four or five days. This was the fifth day. We were gonna go to the airport later that day, and it was kind of the last chance to uh go big to do something. Um so yeah, we're we're really excited about that rifle. It's been in the works for a very long time.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

I was just gonna ask, how long was the the process?

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Four or five years, uh, which I don't think is out of the ordinary for something that's a completely new platform. Yeah, like the internals, um it's an internal hammer design. Uh everything about it is kind of new from the ground up. Uh the the how it came about was uh we have some very, very bright firearms design engineers. And uh we challenge them with questions. And you know, one of the challenges was um, you know, if you could design a lever action rifle, you know, forget what we've been doing, forget what's been done. If you could design something, what would it look like? Start from a blank sheet of paper. And this was kind of what came out of that. And it's a cool blend of the lever action heritage, still got American walnut furniture, so it still looks like a Henry, still feels like a Henry.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

It is yes, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Yeah. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

And it also comes in carbon fiber.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Oh, that's a different one, actually. Yeah, different new project.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

So I didn't shoot that one, yeah. But um, they both look beautiful, but I love the um the the original Henry look. And um to me it just looks sexy. Yeah, it's like something I want to take pictures with.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah, yeah. Yep. If it's if it's a Henry, it has to look good. We want our guns to look good.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

You know, we we don't want to slap something together and just say, oh, you know, it's it's doing a job, but you know, it doesn't look that great. We we always try and make our guns look good.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Well, a Henry is kind of one of those names in the industry that um you know is kind of dependable, has been around for so long. Um Legacy, it just has so much brand positive weight to it. So to do something, you know, would I take a prototype? Yeah. Not probably not the first one off the line, but absolutely I would take one to uh hunting. Um because I know that and uh being a hunter myself, I know that if you're gonna um go out there with a gun, you want to make sure that it works.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And um and Henry Henry works.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yes, it does. I can attest to it. But yeah, the carbon uh guns you mentioned, we are here at the show, we're unveiling what we're calling the special products division or SPD for short. Um and basically we're looking at this as like our skunk works or our you know what um AMG is to Mercedes or uh you know that sort of thing. Um and it goes a little bit beyond being a performance shop. You know, when I think of a performance shop, I think of you kind of look at the different elements of the firearm and you just kind of make everything better overall. Um what we're trying to do with SPD is come up with a specific use case and then design uh the best possible firearm for that use case uh in collaboration with 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 you mentioned uh is kind of it was a prototype of the first product coming out under that SPD umbrella. Um and we wanted to make the most suppressor-friendly lever action rifle on the market.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Because lever actions are so good at being a suppressor host. There's no gas system, so there's no you know, gas coming back or anything like that. Once that action's closed, it's completely sealed off. So, you know, you experienced it at the range. It's it's totally quiet. Um so how do we offset the the problem of when you put a suppressor on the end of that, you're throwing off the balance that lever actions are, you know, inherently known for. They're very uh they're balanced very well, they point very well, they shoulder very well. Uh so how do you counteract that? Well, we we went to a carbon fiber barrel um made by BSF, and the weight savings there of switching from steel to carbon fiber uh basically makes that suppressor on the end of the barrel free from a weights from a weight and from a balance perspective. Uh so pointing that rifle is like pointing one of our threaded uh or non-threaded rifles without a suppressor in terms of balance and and weight. Um so that's that's kind of the direction that we want to go with SPD. I mean, some other examples are uh, you know, how can we make the most competitive cowboy action rifle out of the box? Um how can we make the most accurate long distance hunting rifle out of the or you know, lever action out of the box? Or you know, all of these different things. Yeah, yeah. All of the it's it's a really it's been a really fun process because it's uh it's a pretty small it's a pretty small group of people. Um and we're we we bounce we all have a ton of ideas um and it's just kind of exploring what's possible with you know our own capabilities and also pushing our own capabilities.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

I think that's so awesome. It's it's just allowing your staff to have freedom to come up with these great ideas and um let 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 first product, that that carbon fiber barrel uh model I mentioned, uh we'll be shipping by spring. You know, we're close. Believe it or not, the the the longest the the thing we're waiting for to get that out the door is packaging because we want the packaging to be um you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

As equally as amazing.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah. You know, when you open like uh like an iPhone, for example, you know, Apple has very sleek packaging, it just kind of falls apart in your hands until the phone's in your hands, you know. So um yeah, we're going for uh for 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 the fact speaks to the level of the box.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah, yep. And and you know, we we uh exactly, it's it's very important. If we're gonna put out a premium product, we already put out a premium product, and then this is 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 of pride.

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's gonna be a true Henry product.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yep, yeah. And the the the collaboration has been really cool. Um, you know, the those BSF barrels, which by the way, I didn't mention this. Those barrels are, you know, match grade barrels. It's not just carbon fiber for the sake of being carbon fiber. Um, you know, the 4570 that we had out at the range on Monday will shoot the same hole at 100 yards. Um, you know, they're just unbelievably 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 Henry doing as far as um I know you talked about the different um guns that to look for, but um is there something else that you guys 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, a lot of really smart people in the uh much smarter than me in the engineering room um who can solve uh a lot of problems. And um we want to, like last year um we can we came out with our first revolvers. Um we have our foot in the door with shotguns. Uh you know, we have a lever action 410, uh, we've got single shot shotguns, we have some line extensions off of those single shot shotguns for like turkey hunters, for example. Um so we want to take those categories, revolvers and shotguns, and just continue to grow those in a real way. Um you know, with with revolvers for 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. Uh that that was um the launch point for us so we can prove to ourselves that we can build revolvers. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Um But that makes sense. It's it's strategy. You're not gonna like bounce all over the board and be like, oh, we're gonna do one over here and one 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 um stake our our flag in the sand as being a uh an innovator, like the innovator for lever actions. Um and then push beyond that. You know, we we don't want to just be a lever action company, we want to be we want to be a firearms company.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

But I love I love that you uh are making guns for different like the what people are focused on. Hunting, um, you know, long distance, things like that. Um kind of to fit to fit the to fit the need. Yeah. And uh, you know, when you when you wear a pair of shoes, it's like, you know, they they make shoes usually not to fit your foot, but just to fit whatever. Right. And um I feel like you're kind of 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 this today. 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 much everything we make is very versatile. You can go out to the range, you can teach somebody new, you can go hunting, um, you know, home defense. Um you can kind of do all of that with one, let's say, you know, 44 mag lever action rifle. Um but for somebody that walks into a dealer um that's like, you know, I have a a coyote problem and I don't have a rifle to deal with it. They when they come in there and they ask the guy behind the counter, you know, I'm looking for something for coyotes, we want to have, you know, immediately, you know, whatever rifle we develop specifically for predator hunting or whatever it is, we want that to come to mind.

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 the challenges there? What would the best predator hunting rifle look like? And uh that that's a really fun process.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

It's gotta be hard to pick what to do first, because I'm sure you guys probably have so many ideas, it's probably gotta be difficult to 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 those carbon fiber barrels, but they have two different butt stocks because you know, we haven't really decided on the butt stock. Like, you know, there are two different trains of thought there, and we haven't really figured out what we want to do.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

But how cool though. I mean, that's one of the best things about design.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

You know, being able to try different things and then obviously being here, getting feedback.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Yeah, absolutely. That that's why we did it. That's why we have two different uh two different options out there. Like, you know, it's it is kind of unfinished, it is a prototype, and we want to hear what 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 a really fun show for us. I just uh I love uh I love seeing all the people that you know some of whom I'm all I only see 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 have to see them.

unknown 17:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Exactly. Exactly. There's plenty of room for everybody here.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Yes, everybody fits. So, Dan, if somebody wants to get a hold of uh Henry, how how do they best thing to do is, you know, 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, chances are 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 says order free catalog, sign up for that, you send it to your mailbox, you get a sheet of uh stickers and and stuff like that, a list of healers in your area. Yeah. Should have brought some. I think some of them I didn't even 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 slapping stickers on the bridge over here over to Caesar's form. So, you know, we might have to brand it too. Yes, yeah, I'm sure they love that.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

I'm sure the people that have to scrape them off at the end of the it's like the gum wall. 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 having you on. That's been a blast. And uh, like I say the other day when I I mean I was giddy because it was so smooth, it had that comp on it. It I mean, when I was when I was aiming, I thought, man, this is so easy and um it was so accurate. I was actually surprised. Yeah. I was like, that's exactly where the 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 us a 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, so that'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 to hit you up. We'll have to do a hunt, and then you could cook it for us. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah, it's recipes. I feel like maybe next year there 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 what you 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 cookbook together.

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 come back out because we made such a long to-do list for him. Henry's gonna be like, ha ha ha ha woman over there. Stop hanging out with them. Thank you for listening to Amateurs and Experts Podcasts. Like and follow the Woma on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more information and podcast updates.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

We'll see you here again soon on Amateurs and Experts.