Henry’s Garden Gun: Smoothbore .22-Caliber Lever-Action Shotgun
Last updated: March 23, 2026 · Originally published: September 3, 2019
I didn’t know it until now, but there’s a spot behind my kitchen door that’s been waiting for this moment, and this gun: Henry Repeating Arms has just launched a lever-action smoothbore .22LR shotgun built for close-range pest control using .22LR shotshells. Henry is calling it their “Garden Gun,” and although it may sound rather obscure–nobody else has made anything like this since 2002–it makes sense when you think about it. After all, when you look out your kitchen window of an early morning to observe rabbits turning your strawberry patch into a DMZ, you want to get rid of the pests without causing more damage than the pests have already wrought.
Built on Henry’s Classic Lever Action .22 platform, which ticked over the 1,000,000 units sold mark in late 2017, the Garden Gun is one of those new products that answers a need some of us may not have known we had. The use of .22LR shotshells are favored for tight quarters or enclosed spaces due to their quieter report, negligible potential for harmful ricochet, and an impact that is unlikely to penetrate walls and roofs.
“This may be a niche product, but it fills that niche particularly well,” says Henry Repeating Arms president and owner, Anthony Imperato. He continues, “For the farmer or the gardener, it’s something convenient to keep closet close at-hand to dispatch pests without using a level of firepower that could cause even more property damage than the pests themselves.”
The 18.5-inch round blued steel barrel of the Henry Garden Gun is void of any rifling to keep a tighter shot pattern when compared to shooting the same cartridge from a rifled barrel, which extends the effective range. The firearm also features a 15-round tubular magazine and ash wood furniture finished with a black stain to differentiate it from the otherwise very similar Henry Classic Lever Action .22.
The MSRP is a very reasonable $421–meaning that you can likely find it at dealers for less. For more information, click here!
Marlin made what they called a “gardengun” in .22 mag. it also was a smoothbore.
22 Plinkster can use one of these for the wood bees.
I use a 38 revolver with blanks. The concussion blows the buggers apart, but no damage to the shed.
I think the ‘garden gun’ is the .22 cal shot shell, not the gun. No need to remove the rifling from the barrel, as the small round shots are enclosed in a plastic cylinder to protect the rifling until the shot clears the end of the barrel. Shooting this type of shell is the only time I have been hit by a ricochet, while shooting rats in a tin enclosed hay storage building. Did not go through the tin, but will bounce around freely. At the time (50’s) I used a 9 shot H & R .22 revolver with a 2.5 inch barrel. Used to take out the ‘big flying bumble bees’ also, and yes have been hit by a crashing bee. I just don’t see the reason to have a long barrel gun that will not shoot normal .22 ammo also. Plus, a .22 pistol is the better choice since it is ‘close range’ shooting and not having to go through the motions needed to chamber another round.
Would be the perfect firearm for those pesky chipmunks & we have plenty of them! Using .22 short hollow points now.
Please send me more infomation on you smooth bore 22LR shotgun … please include price…
OK, let’s see some pattern testing on this?
A comparison of rifled barrel pattern vs smoothbore pattern at several different ranges should have been included if your going to claim one is better.
Maybe in 22 mag.