The mystery is solved. Today I pulled a standard lever from another Big Boy and compared the two. Exactly the same to the eye test. So I put the lever sent to me by Stets in that rifle and it worked fine. When I first put the replacement lever in my large loop Big Boy there was some resistance and since I’m not one to force things I backed off. Big mistake. I pulled the large loop out again and firmly inserted the replacement lever and it fit and functioned perfectly.
So for the little guy sent to me by Stets its journey has come to an end. It will be living and levering 41 mags in and out here in Washington State. I’ll be passing on my large loop to 45Steel who had contacted me a few weeks ago expressing an interest in it. Funny, he and I are on the same page wanting consistency in the style of levers in our Henrys. He claimed OCD and I’m right there with him.
In the words of The Grateful Dead, “What a long strange trip it’s been”.
