Big Boy first impression
I took delivery today of a Henry Big Boy in .44 mag. To say that I was impressed with the wood on this rifle is a mild understatement. The wood is just plain nice! And I haven,t seen too many lever guns with wood like this. The fit and inletting was very good. The pictures on their website don't do this gun justice at all. The pictures they use look almost cartoonish and make the gun seem clunky. But it really isn't. It is a little hefty but it isn't heavy by any means. Maybe its just me because I routinely hunt with muzzleloading hawkens that weigh 10lbs. I didn't want a rifle that light any way because they are just not fun to shoot at the range and this is where this gun will probably see most of its time.
I had about 40 rounds of ammo to play with today. 20 rounds of 2 different handloads and 20 rounds of Magtech 200 grain hunting ammo.
The gun functioned well with all ammo. None of it hung up or jammed. Recoil was almost nil from the bench(my pickup tail gate). After moving the sights up a little the gun was still shooting about 2-3 inches right. I didn't have anything to drift the sights with so I just kept shooting. The gun put about 5 Magtechs into a 2.5 inch group at 50 yards. At 100 yards it put 6 Magtechs into a 3.5 -4.0 inch group. I ant shoot any better than that with those type of sights. I actually shoot better with buckhorn and a blade type sights. I'm used to them from my Hawkens and they cover much less target at 100 yards. they just aren't as fast as these Marbles sights.
I also took 2 shots at a posted sign that was in a burn pile over 200 yards away. I missed the sign low by about 8 inches but both shots were only about 4 inches apart just low. With a marbles tang this would be a easy shot.
I also liked the fact that the gun deposited the empties right at your feet. NO searching for your brass.
All and all I think the gun is well put together and accurate. I think its going to be fun
