Safe Queen or Hunting Rifle?

Hunt with Henry?

  • Yes, it's a tool made to be used.

    Votes: 60 84.5%

  • No, it's too purdy.

    Votes: 6 8.5%

  • Other

    Votes: 5 7.0%
  • Total voters
    71
S

Super Sneaky Steve

New member
So, I'm the proud owner of a Henry Big Boy in .45 Colt. The wood is the most beautiful I've seen, the bluing is deep and glossy and I don't have to tell you how nice the brass receiver looks.

Up till now I just take it to the range for some fun, but with a change in the hunting laws where I am I'm tempted to use it on game.

Michigan hunting means snow, rain, heavy brush, mud and all the usual stuff. My hunting rifles look well used.

So the question is, do I call my Henry into service, or buy a cheap Rossi as my beater/hunting rifle? I see Henry now makes a Big Boy Steel for this very reason, but my fear is that it too will still be too nice.

Advise please.
 
There is no such thing as a "safe queen" or a "range only" gun in my house. Hand guns get carried, rifles take game. I just don't see the point of having it if it's not getting used.
 
I take it you live around the grand rapids area. Take the gun out. It's not like you're going to leave it in the woods for 2 weeks and then come back for it.
 
BigMikey76 is spot on correct. +1 for him.
There has never been a firearm commercially manufactured {that I know of} that wasn't meant to be used.:)
 
After all is said and done it is a mid level gun at best. Far from qualifying as a safe queen. People routinely take guns costing 3X-10X more than a Henry into very harsh environments. Use it.

If it were something where very limited numbers were manufactured and I expected it to appreciate in value considerably then I'd put it up and buy a more common gun to use. Not the case here.
 
It isn't terribly expensive like a match grade rifle, but it's very "nice".

I think you guys are right. I'll take her to the treestand this fall.

Do you think the gleam of the brass may be a problem? I guess I could put some black vinyl on it.
 
I too have a Henry Golden Boy in .45 Colt. It rides with me in my pick-up truck and was bought to be a plinker and possibly a hunter. It already has the first nicks in the stock (got there in spite of my care) in the month that I've had it. Expect it will have more than a few more before the summer is over.

I like the gun. I like how it carries. Doesn't seem right to leave it at home while buying another to use as a shooter.
 
You usually make safe queens out of limited availability guns. Something that has a potential for significantly appreciating in value over time is the prime candidate to be a safe queen.
 
Do you think the gleam of the brass may be a problem? I guess I could put some black vinyl on it
Click to expand...

You could give it a quick bead blasting to dull down the glare. On my Standard Henry the receivers are painted black that chips fairly easily. I ended up stripping the paint off and duracoating it flat black.
 
I would do what you want to. There are no rules.

Honestly, what you are experiencing is why I would not buy one..... it is not a real expensive rifle but they are pretty.
 
well if it has the nicest wood you own, & being that it is quite shiney... it's not going to be the best choice for hunting... sounds like you bought it for a range toy, & situations changed that allow that "type" of rifle to be used for hunting...

do you already have something you were hunting with previously???

do you need an excuse to buy a new gun???

you know Henery now makes a blued gun with a few less fancy features specifically for hunting???

:)

personally if it had the nicest wood I owned, I would use it as a special rifle, at least until it got enough dings that it no longer warrented it's safe queen status... but I hunt in MN, so I have much the same weather at deer hunting as the OP...

IMO, a guy has to own one safe queen anyway... but I'm not totally opposed to using nice rifles... I bought a nice older engraved saddle ring carbine with fancy wood in 357... it was a Rossi though, & I bought it cheap enough that I used it for CAS shooting, my 1st year, & it's now regulated for MRS use if she wants to shoot CAS... it has a few honest dings but still looks nice...

there is nothing saying that you can't use it as a "fare weather" hunting rifle too...
 
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The only times I would ever have a "safe queen" firearm are:
1) If it was a family heirloom and I wanted to preserve it as is.
2) If I bought a firearm for the collector value, with intent to sell at a profit later on. I have no interest in this so likely would never happen.

Other than that, when I go shopping for guns I want, they are guns I will use. If it won't get used, I don't want to pay for it...

Take it out and shoot it!
 
If you know that scraping/dinging it will always bother you and you have the means to buy an alternative gun, keeping this Henry as just an occasional shooter/eye-candy then why not?

It's your gun!

Why do something with it that you know will damage it and thereby upset you? Were it mine, I'd shoot it, but then again rules where I live fix limits on the number of guns owned and make it unjustifiable to buy a gun that I then wouldn't shoot. But if I could buy what I wanted, I might well sometimes just buy something for the look and only occasionally shoot it....

If the build is as good as you want, then get the Henry Steel and shoot that, accepting that it will get a few knocks and scrapes along the way as a sacrifical lamb for the brass one.
 
I've been working on a Marlin lever gun for over a year and a half, now.
By the time I'm finally done with it, I'll have well over 100 hours into it (maybe double that, given the recent changes I made to the butt stock) - most of that just for the stocks and bluing.

Once it's done (soon, hopefully), it will be one of the most beautiful rifles I own, the most custom, the most hand-fitted, and the most finely tuned.
All of those hours spent trying to make everything absolutely perfect; trying to keep my hands as clean as possible to keep from staining the wood; trying to get the stock shaped so the rifle points naturally; trying to keep my basement's insane humidity from attacking everything; trying to keep track of all of the different parts that have been modified, need to be modified, or are just for test fitting (to keep the good parts from getting damaged); trying to source obsolete parts; making the butt plate from scratch; and trying to bring my vision to life... Will pay off while I'm carrying it around in the mountains, chasing Elk.

I love my tools. I'm even emotionally invested in several of them. But, I still hunt with them. For most of them, that's their primary purpose: putting meat in the freezer.
 
Put some auto wax on it and take it out on nice days. Leave it home when the weather is crappy. You must have other rifles or shotguns that you can use on those days.
 
I'm leery of tubular magazine centerfire rifles, since I was a nearby witness to a tubular magazine explosion, from a shooter who was using a Henry Golden Boy in 45 Colt at our range. He suffered puncture wounds to his left arm and abdomen while standing in the offhand position.
 
I did contact Henry. I suggested they make a Big Boy Steel Carbine and they said I could expect one mid 2016!

I do have other rifles to hunt with. My 77/357 worked well on a doe a few years ago and my Remington 700 did well last year, but that's an up north gun because it's in .308 Win.
 
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