@JEBar, the side gate is excellent. It's not excessively stiff, doesn't chew fingers, and is less critical of cartridge alignment than either of the Marlins I have extensive time with (1894 in 357 Magnum & 336 in 30-30 Win). The 336 was pretty stiff & a bit fingertips a little. The 1894 gate wasn't as stiff, but it was very critical of aligning the cartridge just right while pushing it in. Went so far as to pull the tube & put a more aggressive chamfer on the inside edge. That helped, but it still wasn't as good as the Henry is.
@Sir Henry, sure looks that way in the photo, but didn't remember having any problems cycling the next round. So I just put a round in through the gate & did a recreation of the photo... same look, but the cartridge is definitely fully inside & the gate "closed".
