Henry Rifle Forums

Time to 'fess up....I've been around the block a few times. Over the years I've played with a lot of rifles, revolvers and 1911's...BUT...I've had almost zero experience with lever centerfire's until 2022. I got a Big Boy Steel .357 carbine and liked it so much that a Big Boy steel .45 Colt rifle showed up too. Bore cleaning has been done with an Otis coated cable and brushes and jags.

I've decided to go with a right and proper cleaning regimen from the breech end and have ordered the Quick Takedown screws and a bore guide from Ranger Point Precision. I've never removed a lever and bolt:oops: My understanding of the procedure is cock the hammer (on an unloaded rifle) then lower lever about halfway, remove lever screw, remove lever and pull bolt out the back of the receiver and expect the extractor to fall loose. Is that it? Any tricks or helpful hints would be appreciated. Thanks

EDIT: I've seen the Henry video where the Big Boy gets stripped right down to its birthday suit but all I want at this point is to clean from the breech.

Its easy and you will see when you do it. The bolt will come right out the rear. You may need to hold down slightly on the hammer. Dont forget the little ejector under the bolt. Those are easy to drop out and lose. Pull the bolt back slowly until it clears then you can reach in there and lift it out.

I clean all my levers from the front end of the barrel with a bore guide or a Dewey cleaning rod..........That way i DON"T have disassemble each cleaning.........The more disassemblies the more slop you get in your tolerences. plus it's a waste of time.

One thing I do when cleaning a Marlin or Henry lever is to put it upside down in my gun vise, that keeps the solvents from getting into the action. I don't have an aftermarket take down screw on any of my rifles but have a screw bit thar fits them well. Recently I saw a advertisement for bore guides that fit into the action but cannot remember where. Could have been Ranger Point Precision.

I will take a look at the bore with bore light and if just powder residue will use the bore snake after a quick spray of Ballistol.

The Happy Kaboomer wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:50 am

I clean all my levers from the front end of the barrel with a bore guide or a Dewey cleaning rod..........That way i DON"T have disassemble each cleaning.........The more disassemblies the more slop you get in your tolerences. plus it's a waste of time.

I clean from the breech without disassembly.

On the Henry and Marlins I pull the bolt, only takes a minute.
On the Winchesters and Rossis I careful clean from the muzzle.

RP

I just got done with the 357. I started out saying it was gonna be a quickie from breech to muzzle with the Otis type coated cables. Next thing you know the entire trigger assembly is apart and I’m using a rod. 50 rounds since last cleaning.

I do clean upside down in the vise also, especially when not completely disassembled. You don’t want solvents and oil just running down thru there.

I’ve found the cable system works well but I do use snakes also. I have use 2 snakes tho, one for the solvents and then a different one for finishing.

Thanks for the responses gentlemen! I'm sure I'll have formed my own opinions and techniques after a few sessions but until then I'll be a sponge and absorb your input. The upside down cleaning makes sense but it's not going to work with my cleaning cradle and a scope on the rifle. I've got good fitting Grace USA screwdrivers but being in my 7th decade the hands aren't quite as steady as they once were. I'm OCD about buggered screw heads and the Quick Takedown critter would eliminate any chance of a slip. If ever there should arise a reason to pull the lever or bolt where there isn't a proper screwdriver handy the knob seems like a good idea. If I don't like them watch the classifieds.

In any case....any other input is welcome.

Luv the Lever... I've spent many cleaning sessions scrubbing copper fouling out of rifle barrels with ammonia solvents, especially after a day of prairie dog shooting. The last few years I switched to Bore Tech and nylon bore brushes. No stink and it gets copper out of barrels that I thought were clean. Wouldn't want to drip a lot into an action but it probably wouldn't do any damage. They recommend leaving it the in bore for short term rust prevention.

I remove the bolt on center fire Henry lever guns like BigAl described and clean from the breach once or twice a year, the rest of the time I use the bore snake.