Henry Rifle Forums

About a year ago I chose Henry as my manufacture of center fire lever action rifle. At the time I heard something bad about the customer service with Marlin. Winchester isn't made by Winchester any more. I hadn't heard all the negatives about Rossi yet so I got down to the Henry Big Boy 45 Colt lying next to a Rossi M92 45 Colt. I chose the Henry, I'm glad I did and I am going to stick with Henry.

I don't think you will find too many folks on this forum that disagree.

Last year I got the yen for a lever rifle. I decided on .357, as I already loaded for .38 special. The only .357 I could find locally was a Rossi. I just couldn't get past the extremely bad machining I saw in places on the rifle. Parts of the bolt looked like it had been machined on a grinder by some high school kid looking for a summer job. I have heard they work, and can be tweaked into good performing rifles. I happened to see the Henry they happened to have in stock, and was sold, even though it was a couple hundred more.

Took it home and daughter and I fell in love with it. I now have over 2,000 rounds through it, and the honeymoon is not over yet. Somehow I doubt I would be giving such a glowing recommendation had I bought the Rossi.

The only down side to the Henrys is that they are not suited to CAS shooting due to the design choices made by Henry. For hunting, plinking and overall target shooting, the Henry is a well built, smooth operating, beautiful machine. I have never regretted choosing a Henry over the Rossi.

I'm not an experienced shooter, but I did look closely at several manufacturers before I purchased. My local store had a real nice Winchester '94 30-30 which was the rifle I had my eye on originally for quite some time. Pricey at $1600 Canadian. But obviously any cowboy worth his salt would carry a Winchester right? However, after doing lots of research online, including several forums I accidentally came across the Henry website. LOVED what I saw and the commitment to American made, even though I'm not American. Too much outsourcing now for everything, and Mr. Imperato's obvious passion for his products, country, company, employees and customers was impressive. The rest is history; me and my Big Boy 45 Colt are inseparable. Anyone who sees this rifle cannot take their eyes off it. Great products!

I have a Rossi 1892 and it is a nice shooting rifle, however I did have some work done on it by a gun smith and use it for Cowboy Action Shooting. I will be picking up my Henry Big Boy this coming week and will be moving over to that for my Cowboy Action Shooting rifle.

RudyN wrote:I have a Rossi 1892 and it is a nice shooting rifle, however I did have some work done on it by a gun smith and use it for Cowboy Action Shooting. I will be picking up my Henry Big Boy this coming week and will be moving over to that for my Cowboy Action Shooting rifle.

Let us know how it works for you. I'm not a CAS shooter but I've heard guys say the Henry's are "too slow" for CAS.

I haven't given a Rossi (or even a Marlin) a try yet. Would love the chance to shoot one.

The only draw back in my book is the Henry has a tube fill and I don't like tube fill in SASS /CAS or Hunting . My 44-40 below has over 8,000 a year shot in it for 16 yrs [ over 75,000 rds ] and never jammed or miss fired in all the time I owner it . The 44-40 is a bottle neck case and was smooth out of the box . The ROSSI and real 92 don't like straight wall case and need alot of work to get them smooth . The 66 and 73 Winc and there copy's is the king and is the smoothest and fastest with a straight wall case , but will not handle hot hunting well . I've never worked or shot a Henry . I hate this video at the end of it shows Henry lever gun being shot and they doctor it up the video to show how fast it shoot .

https://vimeo.com/33424932

tx gunrunner wrote:The 66 and 73 Winc and there copy's is the king and is the smoothest and fastest with a straight wall case , but will not handle hot hunting well .

just curious, what causes them to not handle hunting very well ? .... I too have heard that Henry's lever action isn't ideally suited for Cowboy Action type of competition .... for me that isn't an issue because I have no interest in that (or any other) type of competition shooting

I have two Rossi's and while I love the action they just feel like a Henry. The Rossi did need about ten hours of work on it to make it shoot as smooth Henry out of the box.

JEBar wrote:

tx gunrunner wrote:
just curious, what causes them to not handle hunting very well ? .... I too have heard that Henry's lever action isn't ideally suited for Cowboy Action type of competition .... for me that isn't an issue because I have no interest in that (or any other) type of competition shooting

The 66 & 73 are toggle system lock up and that is there weak point . The toggle system with the elevator lifter make them feed anything smooth and fast . Watch the video to see how smooth the action is .. The pic below show where it break after shooting alot of hot rod loads in them . Normal load the action will last over 100 yrs .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY3dTX3aF7o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNtmbTh7J_s

tx gunrunner wrote:The 66 & 73 are toggle system lock up and that is there weak point . The toggle system with the elevator lifter make them feed anything smooth and fast . Watch the video to see how smooth the action is .. The pic below show where it break after shooting alot of hot rod loads in them . Normal load the action will last over 100 yrs .

10-4 .... I misunderstood, clarification appreciated .... your concern with their viability of being good hunting rifles centered on firing a large number of hunting level rounds .... not with being a rifle capable of taking game

Sir Henry wrote:I have two Rossi's and while I love the action they just feel like a Henry. The Rossi did need about ten hours of work on it to make it shoot as smooth Henry out of the box.

I can make a Rossi super smooth and race ready in about a hour and half and my was price was $50 when I had my shop .

I went out to buy a Henry Big Boy .357, but the LGS I went to was closed for vacation. Went to another LGS and they did not have a Big Boy .357, but they did have a Rossi .357, so I bought it. That was four years ago and while the Rossi was rough at the beginning, the more I shoot it the better it gets.

Don't get me wrong, it will never be as smooth as a Henry, but for just shooting at the range, it is a good rifle.

I still have a desire for a Henry Big Boy, but in some ways I am glad I didn't get one back then because I would really prefer to have the Big Boy Steel carbine. Hoping I can get one soon.

The only thing better than one .357 lever rifle would be two!

What I read on the Rossi forum is mostly bad. Both customer service and the warranty work couldn't be worse. I own one, it is discontinued and can't be worked on. They won't get another chance where I am concerned. According to the forum there are people with new rifles that can't get them fixed.

There is no reason you can't hunt with a henry.

Every part in the Rossi is a exact copy of a 92 Winc so there is no problem with part . This man will tell if you got a good one or junk . He is the best on Rossi and he can build you one of the slickest Rossi lever gun .

http://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php?m ... page&id=14

https://stevesgunz.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVcUxsfgSHY

I have two of each...38/357 big boy brass receiver and 16 inch blued Rossi also in 38/357. Although they're both lever guns, they are very different in the hand. The Henry is much heavier, and because of it's weight, is inherently a little more accurate offhand due to inertia (jerky trigger finger has less effect) and is just a thing of beauty. The Rossi on the other hand is a very light nimble little thing, almost feels like a toy by comparison, BUT it too is accurate and I've had no trouble with it at all. I've mounted a scout scope rail on the Rossi (they come drilled and tapped under the rear sight for this), the Henry is still the semi-buckhorn. Because of the rail for the scout scope, I purchased an XS low ghost ring sight to fit the rail when the scope is off the rifle. I could mount a scope on the Henry, but I don't like the idea of torqueing screws into the brass receiver.

I also have a Rossi and a Henry in 45 colt. The Henry is a big boy steel, and it does have a receiver mounted Henry rail and a 2X scope mounted on it, again with a backup XS ghost ring for times the QD scope is removed. It's much lighter than the brass frame Big Boy and I like the gun a lot. Then there's the 45 colt Rossi, it's a stainless 20 inch barrel also with a scout scope mount (similar to the 357, but a NOE rail rather than a Rossi rail...which are now impossible to find) and a 2X IER scope. Because the NOE rail is taller I had to get a very tall front sight for it AND for the Henry Steel in order for the XS low ghost ring sights to work on them. Skinner sights makes a .75 blade front sight which works well

Henry rifle bolt is very easily removed for cleaning from the breech, Rossi rifles are harder to disassemble, but there are excellent videos on YouTube for doing this. The Henry is a little more sensitive to COAL than the Rossi if you're a reloader. They're all great rifles, but if I could only pick one, it would probably be the Henry 45 Colt big boy steel, it's a handy fairly light rifle which, while very well made isn't a wall hanger like the Brass frame models. It is a rifle made to tramp the woods, and Henry's customer service is superlative.

Like "White Squirrel", several years ago I wanted a Henry Big Boy .357. Could not find one available anywhere. I settled for a Braztech (Rossi) R92. I purchased it mail order from Grab A Gun. It was pretty rough out of the box. I bought the video and some parts from Steve Gunz and did an action job on the rifle and put more finish on the stock. The rifle was accurate but I had OAL issues with it. Any cartridge over 1.54" would not feed, so I had to seat my magnum bullets to less that 1.54" AOL.

In August we were at Kentucky Lake (Grand Rivers) and I saw a new Henry Big Boy Steel .357 for $635.00 in an antique store and I bought it without a second thought. Do I ever like that rifle. I sold my Rossi shortly after I put some rounds through the Henry. To date, I have not regrets for selling it.

Some shooters are very partial to the loading gate, but I am not one of them. I do hunt with mine but have never needed all the ammo the loading tube holds. I am not into cowboy action shooting but I enjoy watching some of it on TV.

Steve51 wrote:Some shooters are very partial to the loading gate, but I am not one of them. I do hunt with mine but have never needed all the ammo the loading tube holds. I am not into cowboy action shooting but I enjoy watching some of it on TV.

really like your disclaimer .. ... we have a vintage lever action Winchester Model 94 with a loading gate and it works fine .... we have an early lever action, removable clip Browning BLR and it works fine .... we have 3 lever action centerfire rifles with the loading tube and they work great .... for me the ONLY disadvantages of the loading tube is it can be a bit more difficult to reload in confined spaces (like some hunting stands) and/or while on horseback .... never have actually tried doing so while on horseback but have no reason to question early reports from the US Calvary .. ..

I started with the loading tube. That may color my opinion. The only problem I have with a loading tube is the occasional NL. Negligent Launching. Clovispup has launched it twice. And I've never, ever launched a tube. What never? No never! Well, hardly ever.

I have used the loading gate on a Marlin .44. I was not impressed. Maybe if I mostly hunted with my lever, and rarely used it at the range, I would feel different. Still, I'm in the camp that 10 rounds are more than enough at any given time when hunting. At the range, the loading tube rocks.