If you’re a lever action traditionalist, the Henry Special Product Division (SPD) HUSH may befuddle you. Does it have walnut stocks? No. Surely it has a blued-steel barrel, right? No. Okay, at least you can get it with open sights, right? Sorry, no can do. Not only does the SPD HUSH eschew those traditional features, but it’s also purpose built for something that ol’ Benjamin Tyler Henry could never have imagined. HUSH is short for Henry’s Ultimate Suppressor Host. As you can guess from the name, it’s a version of their Big Boy X lever action specifically designed to be used with a suppressor. Being a lever-gun guy, and a .45-70 fan, I had to check out the HUSH in one of America’s oldest centerfire cartridges.
Starting with the basics, the SPD HUSH is a tube-magazine-fed, hammer-fired, lever-action rifle with a blued-steel receiver and side-loading gate. There is no crossbolt safety, nor is there a half-cock safety with the hammer. If you want the gun on safe, don’t have the hammer cocked back. It does have a transfer bar-type safety however. The magazine tube can be loaded via the receiver’s side loading gate or by the loading port in the end of the mag tube. This is a nice touch for both loading and unloading. A solid receiver top that is drilled and tapped for a scope mount combined with side ejection make it easy to mount optics; this makes it superior to lever actions with top ejection. The blued-steel lever loop is a mid-size design that fits the hand quite well. This is where the traditional ends and the purpose-built features take over.
When you see the HUSH, it instantly says it’s here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and it’s all out of bubblegum. It’s sort of blacked-out with some shiny stainless steel showing here and there, and it just looks crazy cool. The materials and configuration aren’t just for aesthetics though. Much of the HUSH’s suppressor-specific design is about making it balanced when a suppressor is attached. Even a lightweight suppressor can make a rifle feel front-heavy. Henry Rifles partly solves this with a lightweight, 16.5-inch stainless steel, carbon-fiber-wrapped barrel from BSF, a first of its kind for a lever-action rifle I believe. The muzzle of course is threaded for a suppressor. This shifts the rifle’s balance point rearward, which of course is then counter-balanced when a suppressor is attached. A fairly light, TAPCO aluminum fore-end, more akin to an AR-15 handguard, also helps to get the right balance. The fore-end has M-LOK slots its entire length along the sides and bottom. The black laminate buttstock, in keeping with this rifle’s purpose build, looks stylish and should prove durable. One very unusual feature is the forged carbon-fiber Picatinny rail fastened to the top of the receiver. It’s an interesting choice.
Does the design theory of the HUSH prove out like it’s supposed to? To find out, my shooting was done with and without a suppressor, both offhand as well as from the prone position with a bipod for the accuracy testing.
No open sights are included with the HUSH and there’s no way to put any on without gunsmithing, so you’re going to have to put an optic on it. For the accuracy testing I mounted a Leupold VX-3HD 2.5-8x36mm onto the carbon-fiber Picatinny rail. It’s a lightweight scope and it kept the HUSH from feeling top-heavy. I shot ammunition from Hornady, Steinel and Federal, with subsonic loads from Hornady and Steinel Ammunition. Shooting suppressed conjures thoughts of hunting hogs at night, and the aluminum M-LOK fore-end seemed a natural for mounting a SureFire light directly onto it. Our test sample weighed in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces with a trigger pull weight of 4 pounds, 1 ounce.
The HUSH shoots well. Maybe more importantly for a lever action, it cycled well, smoothly chambering almost everything I tried and extracting and ejecting everything like the cases had a schedule to keep. The one caveat is our HUSH sample did have a slight hangup when chambering the Hornady LEVERevolution. The pointed tip seemed to ever so slightly catch the lip of the barrel shank as the lifter brought up the cartridge for presentation into the chamber. It’s a minor point; either a quick jostle of the lever or more force always chambered the cartridge, but it was noticeable. Accuracy was acceptable with the regular ammunition as well as the subsonic loads. See the chart for specifics. Lever-action rifles aren’t known for precision, and this rifle likely won’t be used past 150 yards most of the time, so this is more than acceptable accuracy.
Per its namesake, the HUSH does in fact handle well with a suppressor. Shooting suppressed and unsuppressed makes the designed balance of the rifle appreciated, in particular when shooting offhand. I used the new Banish 46 V2, and it balanced the rifle nicely, made it hearing safe and definitely hid the fact I was shooting a .45-70 with regular ammunition. With subsonic ammunition, the absence of the supersonic “crack” made it extremely quiet. The aluminum fore-end is slim and pleasant to use. None of these aluminum lever-action fore-ends will be as comfortable as their wood predecessors, especially in cold , wet weather, but they are more versatile.
In short, I love this rifle, I really do. That said, it’s not perfect. There’s nothing you will hate enough to turn to the Dark Side, but a few things worth noting. The HUSH does not have open sights, but the comb height is set up for where they would be. It would be nice to have either a higher comb or an adjustable cheekpiece. Yes, it would cost more, but it would be a lot more comfortable to shoot. Another minor gripe is that there is a “Fudd stud” sling swivel stud on the buttstock, but none included on the fore-end. It’s a $2,000 gun; I’d like to not have to hunt down a sling swivel stud for the fore-end. Better yet, make it take push-button QD sling swivels, which would be even better. While I get that carbon fiber is light, making the scope rail out of it seems a superfluous; it’s only going to save an ounce or two yet add to the cost. Finally, how am I supposed to go off half-cocked if there’s no half-cock safety? Again, taking all these issues into account in totality, they wouldn’t stop me from buying this rifle.
If you want to launch really large bullets in a civilized manner with a suppressor, the HUSH is your huckleberry. The designed balance point really does keep the rifle from being front-heavy when suppressed. This combined with the ability to add accessories to the fore-end make this a perfect nighttime predator and hog gun. The HUSH was an innovative move from Henry that deserves a look if you want to shoot a suppressed lever action.
I hear there’s more coming out of Henry’s Special Products Division, and am pleasantly waiting to see what it delivers.
Henry SPD HUSH
- henryusa.com
- Type: lever-action centerfire rifle
- Caliber: .30-30 Win., .45-70 Gov’t. (tested), .45 Colt, .44 Mag./.44 Spl., .357 Mag./.38 Spl.
- Magazine: tubular; 4-rnd. capacity
- Barrel: 16.5", BSF Carbon-Fiber; 1:22" RH twist; 5/8x24 threaded muzzle
- Trigger: 4-lb., 1-oz. pull weight
- Sights: none; drilled and tapped; forged carbon-fiber Picatinny rail for optics
- Safety: transfer bar
- Stock: straight comb; American hardwood laminate; 14" LOP; TAPCO aluminum fore-end w/M-LOK
- Metal Finish: blued steel
- Overall Length: 35.25"
- Weight: 6.7 lbs.
- Accessories: none
- MSRP: $1,999
Most Popular
