This is sort of long
Appearance
I took delivery 2 weeks ago of a Henry Big Boy in .44 mag. To say that I was impressed with the wood on this rifle is a mild understatement. The wood is just plain nice! And I haven,t seen too many lever guns with wood like this. The fit and inletting was very good. The pictures on their website don't do this gun justice at all. In fact Henry should invest in someone who knows how to photograph firearms. The pictures they use look almost cartoonish and make the gun seem clunky. But it really isn't. the bluing is good also. Some would say its too shiny for hunting : and well it is. I suppose I could cover the brass colored parts with camo tape easily enough if I wanted to hunt with it.
Cost
A lot of people denigrate this rifle because its expensive. I paid 700. But I priced Marlin Cowboys with octagon barrels and they were more. And I really wanted a octagon barreled rifle. (a marlin .357 is next for me)
Yes you can have other levers for less In fact Rossi pumas are nice and about 530 bucks. I like em all!
The question is this ---Did you get what you expected for the money. In this case I believe so. In fact I had a 2000 dollar Shiloh Sporter whose wood I couldn't even say was better than this.
Handling
It is a little hefty but it isn't heavy by any means. Maybe its just me because I routinely hunt with muzzleloading hawkens that weigh 10lbs. I didn't want a rifle that light any way because they are just not fun to shoot at the range and this is where this gun will probably see most of its time. It is definitely heavier than a Winchester 94 30-30 I had a long time ago. But the weight for me is a plus in target shooting. I prefer it for off hand.
Performance
I had about 40 rounds of ammo to play with today. 20 rounds of 2 different handloads and 20 rounds of Magtech 200 grain hunting ammo. My handloads were 200 Grain XTPS and Speer 210JHPs over Accurate arms #9. I use these in my G2 Contender. Next time I want to try some 240 grainers and cast bullets.
The gun functioned well with all ammo. None of it hung up or jammed. Recoil was almost nil from the bench(my pickup tail gate).The recoil is so light it surprised me After moving the sights up a little the gun was still shooting about 2-3 inches right. I didn't have anything to drift the sights with so I just kept shooting. The gun put about 5 Magtechs into a 2.5 inch group at 50 yards. At 100 yards it put 6 Magtechs into a 3.5 -4.0 inch group. I ant shoot any better than that with those type of sights. I actually shoot better with buckhorn and a blade type sights. I'm used to them from my Hawkens and they cover much less target at 100 yards. They just aren't as fast as these Marbles sights.
I also took 2 shots at a posted sign that was in a burn pile over 200 yards away. I missed the sign low by about 8 inches but both shots were only about 4 inches apart just low. With a marbles tang this would be a easy shot.
I would prefer a gun set up to use a sling but this will be used at the range mostly. If I want to carry it I can use a slip on sling like I use on traditional muzzleloaders.
I also liked the fact that the gun deposited the empties right at your feet. NO searching for your brass.
Trigger pull is a little heavy but breaks very clean.
Performance continued
I put another 60 rounds through the rifle with only one handload hanging up a little. It was a 240 grain Sierra JHC. But all others fed without a hitch. Accuracy is as good as I can hope for with these sights. Fun hitting clay pigeons on a berm at about 50 meters. Thinking of putting a marbles tang on it for fun.
Looking at other sighting options
They do have a scope mount for this. But I dont know how it wood look and the drop on the stock seems it might be a little too low much for scope shooting making cheek weld sort of hard.
As far as a peep or reciever sight goes they don't recommend tapping the receiver. I don't know why . The receiver is not brass but a composite alloy that has the same tensile as steel according to the company. I know they say you can shoot Garret ,Buffalo Bore or Corbon ammo out of it. In fact Corbon makes their proof loads. A ammunition supply company I do business with in this area tells me they sell thousands of rounds of all types of ammo to henry for testing purposes. And the receiver material has adequately held the lever screw on their test guns for thousand of shots. I have trouble with receiver and peeps with my glasses anyways,but have no problem with tangs.
All and all I think the gun is well put together and accurate. I think its going to be fun.
Any body else got one?
What loads are you using?
Appearance
I took delivery 2 weeks ago of a Henry Big Boy in .44 mag. To say that I was impressed with the wood on this rifle is a mild understatement. The wood is just plain nice! And I haven,t seen too many lever guns with wood like this. The fit and inletting was very good. The pictures on their website don't do this gun justice at all. In fact Henry should invest in someone who knows how to photograph firearms. The pictures they use look almost cartoonish and make the gun seem clunky. But it really isn't. the bluing is good also. Some would say its too shiny for hunting : and well it is. I suppose I could cover the brass colored parts with camo tape easily enough if I wanted to hunt with it.
Cost
A lot of people denigrate this rifle because its expensive. I paid 700. But I priced Marlin Cowboys with octagon barrels and they were more. And I really wanted a octagon barreled rifle. (a marlin .357 is next for me)
Yes you can have other levers for less In fact Rossi pumas are nice and about 530 bucks. I like em all!
The question is this ---Did you get what you expected for the money. In this case I believe so. In fact I had a 2000 dollar Shiloh Sporter whose wood I couldn't even say was better than this.
Handling
It is a little hefty but it isn't heavy by any means. Maybe its just me because I routinely hunt with muzzleloading hawkens that weigh 10lbs. I didn't want a rifle that light any way because they are just not fun to shoot at the range and this is where this gun will probably see most of its time. It is definitely heavier than a Winchester 94 30-30 I had a long time ago. But the weight for me is a plus in target shooting. I prefer it for off hand.
Performance
I had about 40 rounds of ammo to play with today. 20 rounds of 2 different handloads and 20 rounds of Magtech 200 grain hunting ammo. My handloads were 200 Grain XTPS and Speer 210JHPs over Accurate arms #9. I use these in my G2 Contender. Next time I want to try some 240 grainers and cast bullets.
The gun functioned well with all ammo. None of it hung up or jammed. Recoil was almost nil from the bench(my pickup tail gate).The recoil is so light it surprised me After moving the sights up a little the gun was still shooting about 2-3 inches right. I didn't have anything to drift the sights with so I just kept shooting. The gun put about 5 Magtechs into a 2.5 inch group at 50 yards. At 100 yards it put 6 Magtechs into a 3.5 -4.0 inch group. I ant shoot any better than that with those type of sights. I actually shoot better with buckhorn and a blade type sights. I'm used to them from my Hawkens and they cover much less target at 100 yards. They just aren't as fast as these Marbles sights.
I also took 2 shots at a posted sign that was in a burn pile over 200 yards away. I missed the sign low by about 8 inches but both shots were only about 4 inches apart just low. With a marbles tang this would be a easy shot.
I would prefer a gun set up to use a sling but this will be used at the range mostly. If I want to carry it I can use a slip on sling like I use on traditional muzzleloaders.
I also liked the fact that the gun deposited the empties right at your feet. NO searching for your brass.
Trigger pull is a little heavy but breaks very clean.
Performance continued
I put another 60 rounds through the rifle with only one handload hanging up a little. It was a 240 grain Sierra JHC. But all others fed without a hitch. Accuracy is as good as I can hope for with these sights. Fun hitting clay pigeons on a berm at about 50 meters. Thinking of putting a marbles tang on it for fun.
Looking at other sighting options
They do have a scope mount for this. But I dont know how it wood look and the drop on the stock seems it might be a little too low much for scope shooting making cheek weld sort of hard.
As far as a peep or reciever sight goes they don't recommend tapping the receiver. I don't know why . The receiver is not brass but a composite alloy that has the same tensile as steel according to the company. I know they say you can shoot Garret ,Buffalo Bore or Corbon ammo out of it. In fact Corbon makes their proof loads. A ammunition supply company I do business with in this area tells me they sell thousands of rounds of all types of ammo to henry for testing purposes. And the receiver material has adequately held the lever screw on their test guns for thousand of shots. I have trouble with receiver and peeps with my glasses anyways,but have no problem with tangs.
All and all I think the gun is well put together and accurate. I think its going to be fun.
Any body else got one?
What loads are you using?
