Henry Rifle Forums

In Leadhoarder's June 11th post on his newly-acquired .30-30, http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7039 it was interesting to see the focus move once again to the weight of a Henry octagon barrel.

My first Henry was the BB Bronze with octagon barrel. Back in 2016, at the birth of the HRF, I "met" CT_Shooter and found his Henry centerfire was the same .357 model I had. That heavy dude always made its presence known to my left arm when shooting it. Kind of like Gunny Gene's description in above thread: "arm wrestling." CT loves his BBB, and the barrel weight didn't bother him as it did me. He still has his rifle, and shoots it well today.

In one of my April 2016 range reports on the BBB, Retired SeaBee posted his interesting look at a heavy rifle. Thought I'd bring back his thought one more time.

RetiredSeabee wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:00 pm

It is amazing how heavy a rifle is when you are trying hard to shoot better. And how much lighter it can seem when you just let that all go and shoot.

I tend to get some of my best targets when I forget about trying and shoot by instinct.

Finally, please don't misunderstand me. I thought my first Henry was a really beautiful piece of workmanship with the bronze, great MO wood, and the cool-looking octagon barrel. Not only that, it was an accurate shooter with that silky-smooth Henry lever action.

PT7

per Henry the weight difference between a H009 and H009B is 1.3 pounds .... as one who has "toted" a hunting rifle over the slopes of Mt Mitchell, I know a pound can make a difference .... today as I sit in a tower stand or on a bench at a shooting range, a pound can be a positive (recoil reduction) ....

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Can the weight difference between 7 and 8.3 pounds really be felt in the heft of the rifles? My LR weighs 7 pounds same as the H009. Hefting I can't really discern the 1.3 pound difference with my H009B.

JEBar wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 28, 2019 10:29 am

per Henry the weight difference between a H009 and H009B is 1.3 pounds .... as one who has "toted" a hunting rifle over the slopes of Mt Mitchell, I know a pound can make a difference .... today as I sit in a tower stand or on a bench at a shooting range, a pound can be a positive (recoil reduction) ....

Can the weight difference between 7 and 8.3 pounds really be felt in the heft of the rifles? My LR weighs 7 pounds same as the H009. Hefting I can't really discern the 1.3 pound difference with my H009B.

Initially no, and for a while maybe not - but start hauling it for any length of time, walking uphill etc. and you can feel the difference.

I can feel the difference between my 20" Winchester Octagon and my 26s if I carry them for any length of time.

In MY case however being a BP hunter I am already used to carrying heavier rifles anyway so my levers are not an issue.

The weight and balance of the heavy barrels was the deciding factor for me between the BBS and the BBB. I bought the BBS.

JEBar wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 28, 2019 10:29 am

per Henry the weight difference between a H009 and H009B is 1.3 pounds .... as one who has "toted" a hunting rifle over the slopes of Mt Mitchell, I know a pound can make a difference .... today as I sit in a tower stand or on a bench at a shooting range, a pound can be a positive (recoil reduction) ....

Beautiful photo of Mt. Mitchell...must have been some enjoyable times there.
Nowadays, I would do well to get myself up such a trek, let alone carrying a BBB along

we bear hunted its northern slope for many years .... at its altitude and by its very nature it can be taxing to hunt .... because of weight there were many times I elected to leave my rifle or shotgun in the Jeep and hunt with Ruger Blackhawk

So......out of curiosity, where is Mt Mitchell located ?

Only 1 way to pack a rifle up & down mtns in my opinion....

that would be nice .... really nice indeed .... unfortunately, the dense undergrowth common to such a large part of our mountains can make walking difficult .... I've literally had to crawl through laurel thickets to get to where our dogs had a bear cornered .... back in my early 20's I didn't think twice about doing such things .... in my early 70's, no way

ooooohhh...hate looking for cows in that stuff. Makes for a really long day and picking pine needles out of my gear for a week.

Back on topic, the Big Boy I had was a very stout rifle and I can see how it would get heavy carrying around all day. Although I don't think my 1860 is any less weight with the 24" 1 piece barrel/mag tube. Guess you gotta be tougher than me. I think those Trapper style carbines would be good carry rifles. (I'm trying to talk myself into one I guess).