Henry Big Boy ..fussy?

[44Blam]

I've got a Henry steel Big Boy chambered in 44 mag. My Accurate mold that is both the 43-240 A for two cavities and 43-240 AG for two cavities cycle perfectly. But I've tried to shoot jacketed rounds (Nosler 240 grn JSP) and some factory ammo - they just don't cycle very well at all. You can force or jiggle it in but...
So... Guess what I shoot!

Funny thing, I ran into a guy at the range that had the brass big boy in .357 and he said that he only ran the Honady FTX rounds because everything else had issues cycling. Anyway, that was day 1 for my Henry, so I had no idea of what shoots well / doesn't etc.

[earlmck]

Sidenote:
I had to "double pump" the Star to completely fill in The TL area. I've never had to do that before? ...I don't think it's a larger amount of lube, but the more resistance the TL area creates. Anyone else ever run into that?

I see that this post was from last March and you've probably already figured this out -- but just in case you hadn't --
Yeah, TL bullets "resist" good filling when using the Star because the grooves are closer spaced and so don't match up well with the normal Star lube hole spacing. I'm guessing our friend Lathesmith could make a die with hole spacing to match up with the TL grooves if you do enough of these boolits to warrant a new size die.

But if you only have to "double pump" to get filled that doesn't even qualify as "trouble filling". I have to run some of mine through a second time with a different punch depth setting if I want all the grooves filled...

[woodbutcher]

I`ll saddle up and go along for the ride.Hope all works out well for you.Knowing Henry`s reputation for their CS,they will do the right thing.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Sidenote:
I had to "double pump" the Star to completely fill in The TL area. I've never had to do that before? ...I don't think it's a larger amount of lube, but the more resistance the TL area creates. Anyone else ever run into that?

I see that this post was from last March and you've probably already figured this out -- but just in case you hadn't --
Yeah, TL bullets "resist" good filling when using the Star because the grooves are closer spaced and so don't match up well with the normal Star lube hole spacing. I'm guessing our friend Lathesmith could make a die with hole spacing to match up with the TL grooves if you do enough of these boolits to warrant a new size die.

But if you only have to "double pump" to get filled that doesn't even qualify as "trouble filling". I have to run some of mine through a second time with a different punch depth setting if I want all the grooves filled...

Your assessment is correct, and ...I agree, double pump is no biggy.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

So I sent Henry this email last Saturday.




I got a reply on Monday, asking for more info.
I sent that info.
Today, I got another reply, saying "SEND IT IN"
they are sending a prepaid UPS ship label

Update:
Henry received my Rifle on Jan 2.

I never got a call or a email from Henry after that notification, asking for more details or explaining the fix or what they did? I had hoped for some conversation.

Anyway, this evening, I get a UPS email notification of a delivery expected tomorrow that needs a signature by someone 21 or over. That is impressive, 1 week turn around.

UPS usually drops off packages around 10am, I live in a Hub town, so I guess I'll find out the details in the morning...and maybe I'll get to take it out to the range before the snow storm hits in the evening, they are saying 4" to 6" snow.

[MyFlatline]

That was my complaint with Henry and I voiced it. I didn't hear anything after that received my rifle til it came back. I was hoping maybe they had improved in that area.. That is/was my only complaint tho.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The Rifle arrived yesterday.
Invoice stated: Replaced Carrier, ejector, adjusted lockup, and checked over rifle.
initials: H. W.
===============
Anyway, I opened the box, they reused my rifle case as packing, that was nice, I wasn't sure I'd get that back. I looked the rifle over, all looked good, although the barrel wasn't cleaned after their test firing, The first 2 inches of the inside of the barrel looked dull grey (lead fouled?) the remaining looked shiney and had a few unburnt powder granuals or carbon?

I didn't take the time to clean in, as it looked shootable, and I only had an hour of daylight left to get to the range. I cycled some dummy rounds, all good...the action feels considerably smoother.

Also, prior to this repair, I thought the Carrier seemed loose(as I noted in the letter to them), Now the carrier is much better, it has what I'd think is the correct amount of play (.005)...instead of what it was (about .025).

I brought 4 different loads/boolits to the range. I shot about 100 rds, I did have one FTF/FTE, but I may have short stroked the lever? all others cycled well. The Rifle is still accurate, according to my targets, but I was just shooting offhand. Some of the 100 rounds were SWC...all those cycled well (they had issues prior to this repair).

I'll clean the barrel later today, when I get into the reloading room, I'll find out of the barrel is lead fouled now or not...maybe my .411 sized boolits would have cleaned out the previous suspected leading?

Conclusion:
More time at the range is needed. I better get to loading more ammo.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Well, I just finished cleaning the gun. It was Lead fouled pretty good.

It took about 25 patches to clean it out.
I use a brass jag and thick flannel shirt patch.
I alternate the following:
>wrapping a string of copper choreboy on the patch (that cuts gouges out of the lead fouling).
>placing some 0000 steel wool on the patch (that grabs the loose strings of lead).
>a patch wetted with ed's red to pull any loose lead bits and lubes the bore for the next two mod'd patches.

This is the first time in a long time using this technique on any gun I've had, that got lead fouled, that it took that many patches...so it was quite lead fouled.

We got cold weather for another week, so mid to end of next week, I'll take it out to the range again.