AW Big Boy .357 Broken Locking Bolt

[jdm2691]

I want to post a picture of this to see if anyone has an opinion about what may have caused this before I contact Henry USA. Today at the range I finished a magazine working the lever as usual, looked down at the shooting table, and there was a small piece of metal. It turned out to be the lower 'L' shaped part of the locking bolt, you can see if the photo where it sheared off. I have 1500-2000 rounds through the rifle; I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of failure. (I work the action fast and hard, but not that hard!)

Thanks -

[Shakey Jake]

Wow! Looks like some fatigue happened there for sure. Mine's still good on the BBS .327. I'm sure Henry will make it right.

[JEBar]

I haven't seen this type of failure .... Henry would most certainly be your best resource and I'm looking forward to your coming reports on what you learn from them .... my first inclination is simply a part failure .... please be sure to visit our How Many ? thread (link below) and add your Henry to our community's total ....



http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 37#p110737

[BigAl52]

Just a freak case of failure. I would jump on it and get a hold of Henry. They will put a smile on your face with there customer service.

[Mags]

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Not seen that before. Lifetime warranty so contact Henry. Use their online request for service or email one of the technical customer support contacts.
http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5127
https://www.henryusa.com/henry-warranty/

I want to post a picture of this to see if anyone has an opinion about what may have caused this before I contact Henry USA. Today at the range I finished a magazine working the lever as usual, looked down at the shooting table, and there was a small piece of metal. It turned out to be the lower 'L' shaped part of the locking bolt, you can see if the photo where it sheared off. I have 1500-2000 rounds through the rifle; I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of failure. (I work the action fast and hard, but not that hard!)

Thanks -

[Mistered]

Just an unfortunate part failure.
I am surprised with as many of these rifles out there we don't here about more parts breakage than we do but then only a small percentage of Henry owners interface with one another so we will never really know.

[jdm2691]

Thank you for the replies and links, appreciate it. I was leaning towards simple part failure as well, I will contact Henry and post again regarding their response. Most mechanical parts fail at one time or another and this has no effect on my fondness for this particular rifle. Its accuracy, handling, etc. are phenomenal.

I believe this may be a safety concern though, and thought other forum members would like to be aware. I read this in an article about Henry lever actions but must admit I do not fully understand the mechanics of how it works from the description. I will ask when I contact Henry:

"Closing the finger lever elevates a hefty locking bolt at the rear of the action, and as its top end engages a deep notch in the bottom of the round breech bolt, it pushes the rear, spring-loaded section of the firing pin into alignment with its front section. That prevents the rifle from firing before the breech bolt is fully locked up."

I imagine this occurrence is a rarity, but it couldn't hurt to add to the checklist when cleaning, etc.

JEBar, I will post some photos to the community's "How Many" shortly - only two, at least for now

[JEBar]

JEBar, I will post some photos to the community's "How Many" shortly - only two, at least for now

photos aren't necessary in our How Many ? thread, its simply a running total .... that said, PHOTOS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME ... .... we would really enjoy some posted with your range reports

[Mistered]

This is one of the reasons I am an advocate for a completer tear down and inspection of all moving and interfacing parts, and smoothing out any rough areas and edges than might cause binding or less than smooth engagement.
When I tore my BBB town a while back I found a rough spot on the lifter I smoothed out. Would it have ever caused a problem? Maybe not but while I was there I took care of it.

Another thing I read a a lot is how people describe cycling their lever action 'with authority' or other descriptions and I suspect a lot of this comes from a history of owners of lever action rifles of varying quality. Like anything one will be fine and operate flawlessly and the next will have some issues and may require more forceful operation.

I have experienced it myself with many lever actions and after some tuning and adjustments on some they required much less effort to operate.

My point to this is if your rifle operates smoothly, locks up properly and opens and ejects with no issues then it's probably not necessary to cycle it roughly or 'with authority'. Excessive cycling speed can 'hammer' internals and potentially lead to problems. I'm not saying 'baby' it but at the same time it's not a five ton jack you are lifting your vehicle with!

[deano5150]

I want to post a picture of this to see if anyone has an opinion about what may have caused this before I contact Henry USA. Today at the range I finished a magazine working the lever as usual, looked down at the shooting table, and there was a small piece of metal. It turned out to be the lower 'L' shaped part of the locking bolt, you can see if the photo where it sheared off. I have 1500-2000 rounds through the rifle; I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of failure. (I work the action fast and hard, but not that hard!)

Thanks -

This happened to my BBSC 357 a while back. I had to return it to Henry for repair. Here is the link to my post on that topic.

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6375

[jdm2691]

Thanks for the link Deano5150, it looks like each of the parts broke in the same place -

attachment=0]10-26-19 001 (800x600).jpg[/attachment]

[Mistered]

Reality being what it is this is a MIM part. In itself this is not a bad thing - it's just modern manufacturing to keep costs down but the fact remains it is a cast part.
Actually I was pretty impressed with the quality of the MIM parts when I tore my BBB down. They looked solid and fit well - not like MIM back in 'the day'!
MIM has come a long way and I am sure Henry demands the highest quality of whoever is making their MIM parts. Like with anything quality varies and with MIM it is essential ridged quality control is maintained,

[Mags]

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adding...
MIM parts are cast, then rebaked to the melting point to give them a hard outer shell that wears well friction-wise. The parts are brittle inside and more likely to break over time at stress points from repeated bending/torquing/shock than machined parts.

[jdm2691]

The rifle came back today - very quick turn time, under 2 weeks. I never spoke to a CSR, just filled out the online form and shipped it off. The return form was a one liner, replaced locking bolt and firing pin. I would imagine Henry tracks return reasons closely so if the locking bolt is a recurring issue I'm sure they will rectify it and we would probably never know. Anyway, solid warranty experience just as others have said it would be. I'll return to this thread if anything related pops up but for now it looks like I'm good to go. Thanks to everyone for their comment's and observations.

[JEBar]

Henry's excellent support after the sale comes a no surprise .... its actually anticipated .... that said, its always good to hear .... looking forward to your reports after being able to give your 357 a good workout

[Mags]

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Pleasure to read it's fixed and you have it back!

The rifle came back today - very quick turn time, under 2 weeks. I never spoke to a CSR, just filled out the online form and shipped it off. The return form was a one liner, replaced locking bolt and firing pin. I would imagine Henry tracks return reasons closely so if the locking bolt is a recurring issue I'm sure they will rectify it and we would probably never know. Anyway, solid warranty experience just as others have said it would be. I'll return to this thread if anything related pops up but for now it looks like I'm good to go. Thanks to everyone for their comment's and observations.