Henry Rifle Forums

I tried mounting a low power 1X6X28 scope on my BB 357 but it didn't work out well. The eye relief was waaaay to short and I never could get the scope mounted back far enough to where I didn't need to creep the stock to see through the scope. Scope was sitting too high using the 30mm rings that came with it and I was getting a chin weld. Bit the bullet and ordered the Skinner sight and the dovetail filler they list on their site. Got all that mounted/installed last night. The Big Boy looks so much better with the Skinners and my 76 year old eyes can see the front sight clearly. Looking forward to a range trip in the next couple of days.

Will that setup work with your original front sight or did you get Skinners front sight also?

By the way....I'm a year behind you as a Viet Nam vet. Army artillery 67-68 and I've got the ears to prove it!

If you decide to try a scope again, here's a couple of options that work for me.

Top is Leupold 30MM VX-R Patrol 1.5-4x20 30 MM mounted with Leupold QRW2 30MM low rings mounted on a Skinner Henry Big Boy Steel Standard Weaver/Picatinny rail on a 357 Big Boy X. The sights are just visible over the rail although I did use a .020 shim under the front sight to raise the irons up a little. The Patrol is discontinued but Leupold now makes a 1" VX Freedom 1.5-4x20. Scope is still a little high but nothing a fairly thin strap on cheek riser couldn't fix.

Bottom is a little more complicated (and expensive). It's an H012GML with an intermediate eye relief Leupold VX Freedom 1.5-4x28 IER Scout Scope with a 1" tube in Warne 1" low QD mounts on an XS Sights Henry Optics mount. It has an XS Sights Ghost Ring rear sight. I also used a Skinner .750 front sight since the XS front sight was too short. The original XS front sight was for a Henry 45-70 since that's all they had at the time. They have since come out with a ghost ring sight set for the 357. The Freedom scope sits that much lower than the Patrol scope so it's much easier to get a more natural cheek weld.

I tried Skinners ghost ring sights but could get them to work for me with my Hubble telescope glasses. But both scope setups work really well. Just a couple of suggestions if you want to try a scope again.

Scope just didn't look good on the brass receiver. Went with the Skinner and a .600" front sight that I regulated to hit POA/POI at 70 yards instead.