Designed by Tyler Henry in 1860, the Henry Repeating Rifle was a major advancement in the repeating rifle. With a new bolt, firing pin and ammunition, it was much faster and more reliable than earlier repeaters. It gained fame during the Civil War, with more than 10,000 in use.

While a highly skilled rifleman could fire off a few rounds in a minute from his muzzleloader, the Henry repeating rifle allowed for 16 shots to be fired without any reloading at all. Muskets were much cheaper, often less than half the price of the Henry.

"America has a long history of instilling life skills in youth through shooting sports and hunting, and part of our mission is to provide a gateway for passing down this heritage safely and responsibly," says Anthony Imperato, Founder and CEO of Henry Repeating Arms.

The Henry rifle was the immediate forerunner of the famous Winchester rifles. About 14,000 Henry's were made between 1860 and 1866 by the New Haven Arms Company. The Henry rifle was developed from the Volcanic firearms system and was built around the . 44 rimfire cartridge.

In the 1800s the idea of a repeating rifle was finally realized by Oliver Winchester, the largest stockholder of the New Haven Arms Company of Connecticut. He was assigned U.S. patent No. 5501, which protected improvements to the Henry Rifle.

The rifle Tim Nelson uses in the final showdown is a Winchester Model '94, which is not inaccurate in 1906, but the version used in the movie is an Angle Eject Carbine version introduced in 1982.

Repeating rifles were more effective in battle than single-shot weapons because soldiers could fire more bullets in a shorter amount of time.

44-caliber rimfire cartridge for the Henry was four times that of a round for a single-shot rifled musket. The gun itself took a comparatively long time to make, and was also costly at $40 to $50 per rifle. Adjusted for inflation, that's $1,250-$1,500 in 2020 U.S. Dollars.

A lever-action repeating rifle, the Henry's 15-round magazine holds self-contained metallic cartridges. This rifle allowed a soldier to fire 15 to 30 shots per minute, while a soldier carrying a single-shot muzzle-loading rifle-musket could fire only two to three shots per minute.

Still, the limited number of Henry repeating rifles proved effective in the field, with the 7th Illinois Infantry carrying them during General Sherman's March late in the war. A large number of these famous repeating rifles were also used by the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry as they guarded Washington D.C.

Henry Repeating Arms employs over 600 people and operates three manufacturing facilities totaling more than 350,000 square feet. The company headquarters is in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and the other factories are in Bayonne, New Jersey, and Ladysmith, Wisconsin.

Repeating rifles were more effective in battle than single-shot weapons because soldiers could fire more bullets in a shorter amount of time. The Warner rifle is a six-shot, . 40-caliber weapon, and this particular one bears the initials “CSA” for the Confederate States of America on its lock.