Henry .44

[doulos]

Ive had a hankering for a while for a lever action rifle.  Living and hunting in an area that is required to use shotguns for hunting deer I never really got into rifles except for blackpowder rifles which is what I hunt with.  I started searching  to see what i would like and the pistol cartridges seemed like a good pick.  Light enough to plink with but powerful enough to hunt with if I go to the counties that allow rifles.  I decided .44 mag or .45 colt was the right choice. (not saying a .357 in a lever gun isn't a deer rifle).
I also wanted something that wasn't going to punish you from a bench.

Well after deliberating I ordered a Henry Repeating Arms Big Boy in .44 mag. I handled one at Gander Mountain and was impressed with the fit and quality of the wood and liked the octagon. It pointed and fit me well. The gun looks much better than the pictures Ive seen on their website.  Those pictures make the gun look very clunky.  Well its not sleek as a 1892 or or a 1894 but it is beefy. Even though its a bit heavy I'll probably do most of my shooting at the range not carrying it hunting any way.  My only concern was if I did hunt was the shiny brass colored receiver was game spooking for sure.  But I figured camo tape for the little I will hunt with it will take care of that pronto.  As far as weight for hunting I regularly hunt with Hawkens that weigh more than this. I picked the gun up about 140 bucks less than Gander Mountain wanted at a friend of mines gun shop.

Probably wont get it until middle of next week.  Anybody out there got one?  How does it shoot?
What loads does yours like?

[no guns here]

haven't seen one in person... I'm glad to hear that it isn't as clunky as in pictures.  I'll have to try to find one look at when I'm home on leave in April.

ngh

[Oldtimer]

I recently shot one that a friend got for his birthday.  I had brought along my M-94 Trapper and the Henry kicked less with 240 grain factory loads than my Trapper did with 180's.  His grandson preferred the Henry for that reason.  The Henry had a feed problem that seemed to be the cartridge lifter catching  at the bottom of its travel.  It was a matter of muscle to get it to come up, so I think it was probably a problem of fitting.  Other than that, I thought it was a handsome rifle and the tube  loading made it easy to unload, compared to pumping them out one at a time from my Trapper.  I don't remember if the receiver was coated, but if it is bare brass, it will tarnish (or develop a patina, if you must) over time and become very nonreflective.  I used to polish the brass on my Hawken when I first got it, but got so I prefer ed the tarnished look for hunting.

[teddy12b]

Congrats on your new rifle.  I've held them and to me they felt very beefy and I liked that.  The weight of it will make it very comfortable to shoot.

[DEACONLLB]

I had a big Henry in 44 mag shot well and felt great but was a bit to heavy for my liking. I picked mine up new for 550.00 out the door finally sold it after firing a few rounds through it and picked up a 94 marlin in same cal. a little lighter than henry and handles much better. that Henry is designed to be leavered fast as in cowboy shooting and if you leaver it slow it will try to jam that was one thing that I did not care for, dont have that problem with a marlin. You may get more info. up on the Henry forum.  I have a 22 goldenboy and also a blue henry in 22win.mag and they do not have the same loading problem. One thing that I did like about the big Henry was the tube loading.
Deaconllb