My thoughts parallel yours on the Brooklyn New York Henry. (Not to be confused with the original Henry design). I don't like the lack of a loading gate on a modern centerfire lever action. Especially on one as large as a .45-70. They just look plain stupid feeding the cartridges through the tube. One centerfire pistol caliber rifle I'm interested in is the Ruger bolt action in both .357 Magnum, as well as .44 Magnum.
I was shooting at my club range a while back, and one of the members showed up with one in .357. Along with 2 extra rotary magazines. I have to tell you that thing was a blast to shoot. The bolt action was butter smooth, feeding most any type of ammo through that rotary magazine. It's very similar in nature to the Ruger 10/22 rotary magazine only larger. He even fed some old lead .38 Special wadcutters through it. These guns aren't cheap, but after shooting his, I'm thinking about getting one.
I was shooting at my club range a while back, and one of the members showed up with one in .357. Along with 2 extra rotary magazines. I have to tell you that thing was a blast to shoot. The bolt action was butter smooth, feeding most any type of ammo through that rotary magazine. It's very similar in nature to the Ruger 10/22 rotary magazine only larger. He even fed some old lead .38 Special wadcutters through it. These guns aren't cheap, but after shooting his, I'm thinking about getting one.