Henry Rifle Forums

I recently bought a new Big Boy Steel in 45 Colt and finally got to take it to the range yesterday for a first outing, and the rifle just would not fire. Click after click, but no booms! Now, I am new to Henrys, and lever-action rifles, but not to firearms. I ejected the rounds after failing to fire, and there was not even a mark on the primers. I tried multiple cartridges, from two different boxes, all with the same outcome.

In the week since purchasing the rifle, while waiting for a day where it wasn't constantly raining, I did remove the lever and bolt to clean all the factory grease and to lightly lubricate everything (I did not disassemble the bolt, just cleaned the exterior).

Before I contact Henry, and potentially embarrass myself completely, is there anything I could have done while re-assembling the rifle that would cause this problem? I did dry fire the rifle multiple times without a snap cap, but this was only after reading various threads on here saying that it was safe to do so.

Thanks for any input!

Sounds to me like the firing pin is either broken or non existent. If you remove the bolt again can you see a pin in the hole? Maybe post some pictures of the bolt itself.

It’s pretty depressing, isn’t it? It makes you wonder about newbies who buy a pistol “for protection”, load it and put it away in a bedside drawer without every testing it.Oops.

Good luck,

John Davies
Spokane WA

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 25, 2023 10:11 am

Sounds to me like the firing pin is either broken or non existent. If you remove the bolt again can you see a pin in the hole? Maybe post some pictures of the bolt itself.

It looks like you were right. I cannot see a pin at all! Also, does this bolt face look normal?

Thanks again for the response.

Can you see the firing pin from the other end where the hammer would strike it?

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 25, 2023 1:33 pm

Can you see the firing pin from the other end where the hammer would strike it?

Good point! Yes, I can.

Can you push it in and does the spring return it to the rear? It sure doesn’t look very smooth.

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 25, 2023 1:58 pm

Can you push it in and does the spring return it to the rear? It sure doesn’t look very smooth.

Yes, it pushes in and returns when releasing pressure. Looks like it's going to have to go back then. I'll open a support request with Henry. Thank for your help!

That's an absolutely nasty looking bolt face! And the back end doesn't look any better. Looks like something they pulled out of the trash can! I've seen better on 70yo rifles with thousands of rounds thru them.

I agree with Gene that bolt looks like it came out of the scrap bin. Forgive me if this is a stupid question but I am assuming this is a brand new rifle and not used?