Big Boy .44 ejection

[critter]

Hi all, I bought a Big Boy .44 with brass receiver new a couple of months ago. Beautiful rifle, fit and finish very nice, pretty wood, etc. It hung on the wall for a while, taking a back seat to other projects until I had a chance to finally get it out to the range last weekend.
My question is for other owners of this rifle and their experiences as far as ejection. With my rifle, while I haven't experienced any failures to eject, it is far from confidence inspiring as far as the manner in which it gets the brass out of the rifle. I cycle the lever very quickly and with a full stroke, and the brass is just not thrown out of the rifle with any conviction. It almost sort of dribbles the empties out of the ejection port, no matter how slowly or quickly the action is cycled. Is what I'm describing common and the nature of the beast, or does it need a trip back to Henry? I've looked at several YouTube videos on this rifle and some of the rifles appear to be not a lot different from mine, but at least one of them looked like it ejected with considerably more oomph than mine. I'm just waiting for mine to not get an empty out any time and I hate unreliability in any weapon.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to answer if you do, I enjoy hanging out here and reading on the different forums-
Lee

[Rugerfanboy]

If you feel confident enough to disassembly the rifle, take a look at the ejector and the ejector spring. Also, take a look at the extractor, plunger and the spring. These are the key components for ejecting a spent casing. The ejector will ride inside of a channel on the left side of the bolt. Make sure there isn't anything in that channel. Look for any burrs or anything (like machining chips) that would stop the ejector from operating like it should (cycle of operation). On the right side of the bolt is the extractor, plunger and it's spring. Make sure it operates like it should and that nothing is stopping it from completing it's cycle of operation.

If you do take it apart, let us know what you find out. You might not find anything wrong. But, then again, it might just need some TLC (cleaning and lube).

[JEBar]

we have run somewhere between 500 and 1,000 rounds through our BB Steel 44 .... no ejection failures .... I have noticed that just how far the spent shell is ejected is heavily dependent on how I work the lever .... not being into speed shooting I make no effort to work it at top speed .... in thinking about how to describe it, the best I can come up with is making a smooth all the way down and immediately all the way back up motion .... not all casings eject the same distance but I've considered that to be caused by me working the lever

[clovishound]

Here is a page with the instructional videos Henry has for disassembly of the Big Boys. I found it very helpful, in fact indispensable, when I pulled my BB down for cleaning. Not too difficult, but follow the video unless you are well versed in gunsmithing.

https://www.henryrifles.com/henry-instr ... -boy-h006/

[RanchRoper]

My 45 Colt BB ejects well, they pop out and drop not too far away. But my Henry is not a rapid fire rifle. That's not what it's best at. Regular shooting there's no problem.

[critter]

Thanks guys very much for all the input and suggestions. I'll be doing a check on related components as I have time and I'll give y'all an update on what I find-
Lee

[RanchRoper]

Good luck!

[Rugerfanboy]

Thanks guys very much for all the input and suggestions. I'll be doing a check on related components as I have time and I'll give y'all an update on what I find-
Lee

Check out this video. You can see first hand of just how well the ammo ejects when the lever is cycled slow and when the lever is cycled at rapid fire. There is a big difference in ejection between the two. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4pKqyWDTiA Maybe this video will ease your mind or give you closure.

[critter]

Thanks guys very much for all the input and suggestions. I'll be doing a check on related components as I have time and I'll give y'all an update on what I find-
Lee

Check out this video. You can see first hand of just how well the ammo ejects when the lever is cycled slow and when the lever is cycled at rapid fire. There is a big difference in ejection between the two. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4pKqyWDTiA Maybe this video will ease your mind or give you closure.

Thank you for the vid link! I guess what I'm seeing with his rifle is kind of similar to the way mine seems. Maybe I just need to get used to the way lever guns function, although my Frontier does zip empties out with authority. I'm used to the FALs, AUGs and ARs zinging straight out with enough velocity to go in the ear of the shooter 4 positions down the firing line- (j/k)
Even my bolt guns eject more like the semiautos, but they're all Mauser type actions, they don't play around getting the brass out.
I'll still pull my BB apart when I have a chance and look for burrs etc. I'll let y'all know what I find. I may be a little too anal about it, the rearward velocity of the bolt in a lever gun probably doesn't approach that of any of the others. Thanks again for all the helpful answers.
Lee

[Squatch]

These guns do not eject across the room like an AR15. I shoot left handed and when cycling the lever on a bench I can consistently get mine to eject and drop on my right forearm. They eject fine but not with great force. If I'm paying attention I can often catch them in the air with my right hand. Open action, catch casing, set on bench and close action.

I've read a lot of folks saying how you need to cycle these like they owe you money. BS! Just do a solid and controlled full stroke. Open to eject then close in a smooth motion. Being too forceful can lead to jamming a cartridge that doesn't want to go in. Then you have real problems to deal with. It's all about smooth. The more you shoot the smoother they get.

Mine is a brass 44 mag. But the same applies to my Golden boy 22 and my 45/70 all brass models.

[clovishound]

The more you shoot the smoother they get.

I was watching a couple videos of Clovispup at the range with the Henrys. The vid of her when she was new to the BB in .357 was an eye opener. Her operation of the lever was awkward, and she was wanting to tilt the receiver to the side to eject the case. Now she operates smoothly, and keeps the rifle upright all the time. She didn't have much in the way of feed/ejection issues early on, but experience does make a difference.

The guns themselves smooth up as well, with use.

[steelersfan97]

Shoot more and work the action in a consistent smooth controlled manner.

[Hack]

As stated above, the BB does not throw brass like semi automatics. The only FTF that I have experienced with mine have been the result of short stroking or tilting the rifle to the left (so the case fall back into the ejection port).

[critter]

Well, I finally had a little chance to play with the rifle a little more today. I removed the lever and the bolt and using a 600 grit stone I lightly stoned the corners of the recess in the inside of the receiver where the ejector lays and also did the same to the recess in the side of the bolt where the ejector rides. With my fingernail it seemed I could feel a slight bit of roughness on these corners, probably feathers/roughness left over from when the grooves were machined. I was encouraged by the results, ejection seemed to be a little more positive. I think maybe by doing so I sped up the process of break in that would probably would be the end result of following the advice from those of you that suggested just shooting the rifle some more. The movement of the ejector as it springs out as the bolt comes back may have been retarded somewhat by these burrs.
Thanks so much to all of you that offered advice/suggestions! I appreciate it much-
Lee

[DWD445]

FWIW mine was "sticky" the first time out, touchy to eject and reload, 30 rounds that day,was better. I got home and just wiped the bolt down good and put some choke grease lightly all around the bolt and dropped a little oil in ejector area. Worked in good and yesterday.. FLAWLESS !! I hold muzzle up some [45deg?] and stock vertical. OH TAY

[JEBar]

we have run somewhere between 500 and 1,000 rounds through our H010 BB Steel 44 .... no ejection failures .... I have noticed that just how far the spent shell is ejected is heavily dependent on how I work the lever .... not being into speed shooting I make no effort to work it at top speed .... in thinking about how to describe it, the best I can come up with is making a smooth all the way down and immediately all the way back up motion .... not all casings eject the same distance but I've considered that to be caused by me working the lever

the above comment was posted on Jul 10, 2016 .... fast forward to yesterday and literally untold thousands of (probably well over 10,000) rounds later, zero ejection issues .... yesterday at a family range, empty casings stopped totally ejecting .... rather, they would hangup partly sticking out of the ejection port .... this morning I pulled the bolt and found that the broken ejection spring (shown below) .... following a less than 5 minute call to Henry, a free replacement is on the way ....

[The Wiz]

Will you quit breaking that .44. I mean, if you can't be nice to it, I will give it a nice home.

[JEBar]

Will you quit breaking that .44. I mean, if you can't be nice to it, I will give it a nice home.

I'll sure try to do so ....

[ESquared]

10,000+ round ejector failure?!?!?! Off with their heads!

[JEBar]

10,000+ round ejector failure?!?!?! Off with their heads!

in October I was fortunate enough to be able to take her out 4 times .... fired 300+ rounds twice, 200+ rounds once, and 150+ rounds once .... one of the things that continues to impress me about our 44 Henry is barrel heat doesn't seem to affect accuracy anywhere near as much as it does with other rifles I've owned .... its truly fun to fire .... so much so that I'm really glad that not too long ago we purchased a Hornady Lock-N-Load press .... having it makes it possible for us to keep her well fed