Enjoying my Henry Big Boy .357

[chutestrate]

My best friend and I each purchased a .357 magnum Henry rifle. His is the brass framed model in .357 and mine is the blued model. I just prefer blue and wood. We thought it would be fun to have something similar in our closets. He and I go back 30 yrs. I just worked up a load of W296 16.5 gr under Hornady XTP's. At 50 yds the rifle is getting close to 1 in groups from a rest. We're going to start working up a 100 yd load if this one isn't getting the accuracy we like.

Each of us needs a scope so looking at Leupold 2x-7x. Probably going to look at used one's at the next fun show.

We looked at the Remlins, and thought for the money Henry was a nicer way to go. Should be fun for years of friendly competition.

[scattershot]

I'm really impressed with the Henry. The brass frame seems heavier to me, but I've never fondled them side by side.

Do they offer different barrel lengths?

Nice to have enabler friends, isn't it?

[buckshotshoey]

I'm really impressed with the Henry. The brass frame seems heavier to me, but I've never fondled them side by side.

Do they offer different barrel lengths?

Nice to have enabler friends, isn't it?
Both being 20 inch barrels, the brass rifle is 1 and a half pounds heavier, most of which is because the brass has an octagonal barrel, the steel has a round.

[chutestrate]

Definitely heavier, but purty. Action moves much more smoothly than any Marlin I've handled. I'd love to have the octagon barrel. Yeah enabler friends are great.

[Mgderf]

I've brought home 2 Henry's in the last month.
First was a brand spankin' new Big Boy steel in .327 Federal magnum. It is the rifle version with a 20" round barrel.
Second was a used (but not abused) Big Boy brass receiver carbine in .357 magnum with a 16" octagon barrel.

I'm in lever-heaven.
It's going to be a lot of fun working up loads for both of these.

[725]

Wish I could get one in .357. Like you I have a buddy that would like to share just a set up like that. His medical bills after brain surgery and attendant loss of employment are making everything hard. For the OP, I think the Leupold 2 x 7 is a great choice and have only good things to say about 'em. I have found the Vortex 2 x 7 to be very good, and as a matter of fact, I have 4 of them on various rifles. Enjoy your new blaster!

[MyFlatline]

I really love my Henry's, I have the 357 BBS shorty and the 45 colt BBS shorty. So smooth, a pleasure to shoot.

I'm using A2400 with a 180 gr. cast in the 357 with good accuracy at 50 yards, starts opening at 100 tho.

Congrats

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Henry Offers a 16 inch and the 20 inch barrel lengths in the Big Boy Steel models.
WE have a 20" 41 magnum that shoots as well as our Marlin but is far easier to load for. The Marlin is finiky about cast nose shape. Also OAL gets to be an issue with some shapes. The Henry digests everything we have tried with decent accuracy. Some loads with slower powders gets to nice clover leafs at50 yards. 2" groups at 100 are not real hard to get to.
Mike in Peru
Next time north looking to get a 16 inch model.

[Hick]

Congratulations on a good choice! Ditto to all the above. My Henry 357 (Brass) takes anything I give it in 357 and even handles 38 Special loads nicely (anything in 38 special except wadcutters or SWC with a sharp shoulder). I put on the Skinner brass peep sight and really like it. I've only had mine a couple of months and still testing different loads for accuracy. It seems to be homing in on 1" groups, but I still have a little way to go in perfecting the best loads for it. Out local range has some 3" gongs at 100 yards, and it will find them just fine (for me, hitting a 3" gong at 100 with the peep sight is how I decide if I having a good day or not).

[buckwheatpaul]

I have a Yellow Boy Henry in 22 L.R. that was given to me by a very good friend and I love it....butter smooth action and trigger. It is amazingly accurate, except for 65 year old eyes! I only wish that it had a loading gate and not a tube load....but that is a very minor point and I like Henry and their approach to customer satisfaction. The short of it....love it and love to shoot it......

[Ramjet-SS]

Off hand at 50 yards with firing as fast as I can run the lever I have no other rifle that shoots like my BB Henry brass 357. It's is stable easy to lever rounds and accurate and stays on target. Fantastic Americam made rifle with a fantastic company that stands behind thier product.

[Walks]

GOD help you if you buy a leupold scope that goes bad. They a dishonest people that DO NOT BACK UP their so-called warranty. If ya send back a damaged scope of any vintage or model class, 1st they ask ya for money, then send ya a cheap scope that's beyond inferior to the broken one you sent back under warranty. Furthermore they buy cheap optics from china, say nothing about where it comes from in either their catalog or website. You don't find out what you've got until you open the box and find that tiny sticker that says: "made in china".

I've sold all 14 leupold optics that I had & replaced them with BURRIS & low end Zeiss. And yeah I know that some of the low end Zeiss come from china. Both BURRIS & Zeiss are still more clear than that cheap leupold.

[Smoke4320]

Burris made duplicates of their tooling, clones of what resides in Greeley, Colorado, and began producing Fullfield II scopes with lower labor costs in the Philippines.
Reference: www.chuckhawks.com/overview_burris_optics.htm

never ever had an issue with Leupold honoring their warranty and never have they asked for a dime ..

[Ramjet-SS]

Optics??? Trijicon that's all I can say !!!!!!!!!

[Tom W.]

I just got their new catalog and was looking at the low end .22
I like the one with the peep sight, but as it's just going to be a plinker, I figure the other will do. My Ruger 10/22 is scoped and believe it or not is boringly accurate, so I'm thinking a bit fun with a lever action should be fun. Hope so, but still have to see what the LGS wants. In the catalog there is a notice on each page that says you should expect the price at the LGS to be lower than the MSRP. I'll have to see about that first.

[OverMax]

For a fun lever plinker rifle the 357 cartridge is the way to go. Dandy cartridge. Cheap to reload. Capable of good accuracy with cast. Abundant brass found all over the place. What's not to like about the little boomer?

I for one think you made a wise choice in both rifle & cartridge chutestrate. >+1 from this neck of the wood.

[chutestrate]

Thanks. It's making a great companion to all of my other .357's. I have an old Virginian Dragoon I inherited, and they look good together. The Dragoon is stainless so it doesn't quite match up to my blued Henry, but I like it.

[T-Bird]

Walks, I had a 2x Leopold on a mod 29 that the reticle fell out of. Sent it back, got a new scope. I wasn't even the original owner

[LAGS]

I bought my girlfriend a Henry Steel Frame .357 last year.
After the first time we shot it, there were lines straight down the bore.
They wouldnt clean out.
It looked like a rifled slug was going straight down the barrel.
Henry had me send the rifle back and they said they put on a New Barrel.
But I can see that it was the same barrel by a small nick in the bluing that was there from bumping the shooting bench on our first outing.
The lines seem to be mostly gone, so they must have polished out the barrel or something.
We have only had a chance to take the rifle out once since we got the rifle back.
But I do trust that Henry will make it right if the problem persists.
Otherwise, We are very pleased with the rifle.
I bought it for her because she liked my Marlin 1894 better than her Winchester 30-30.
And I wasn't giving her my Marlin

[Hannibal]

GOD help you if you buy a leupold scope that goes bad. They a dishonest people that DO NOT BACK UP their so-called warranty. If ya send back a damaged scope of any vintage or model class, 1st they ask ya for money, then send ya a cheap scope that's beyond inferior to the broken one you sent back under warranty. Furthermore they buy cheap optics from china, say nothing about where it comes from in either their catalog or website. You don't find out what you've got until you open the box and find that tiny sticker that says: "made in china".

I've sold all 14 leupold optics that I had & replaced them with BURRIS & low end Zeiss. And yeah I know that some of the low end Zeiss come from china. Both BURRIS & Zeiss are still more clear than that cheap leupold.

All I can say is my experience with Leupold has been nothing like what you describe.

[starmac]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there some elcheapo leupold scopes (without the gold ring) that didn't have much of a warranty? I have never owned one, but in the back of my mind, it seems like I have read about them.
I have never known anyone that had a warranty problem with leupold, myself.

[oldblinddog]

GOD help you if you buy a leupold scope that goes bad. They a dishonest people that DO NOT BACK UP their so-called warranty. If ya send back a damaged scope of any vintage or model class, 1st they ask ya for money, then send ya a cheap scope that's beyond inferior to the broken one you sent back under warranty. Furthermore they buy cheap optics from china, say nothing about where it comes from in either their catalog or website. You don't find out what you've got until you open the box and find that tiny sticker that says: "made in china".

I've sold all 14 leupold optics that I had & replaced them with BURRIS & low end Zeiss. And yeah I know that some of the low end Zeiss come from china. Both BURRIS & Zeiss are still more clear than that cheap leupold.

Leupold has nothing made in china. This is just bs.

[chutestrate]

I found that an old Leupold vari x1 i think, is just about perfect. I've moved the scope to a few rifles and have been pleased with it. I don't have any problems with Leupolds I have had in the past. I'm loving the "crack" when I fire it. I'm keeping the loads at 15.5 W296. I think the .5 or 1 gr less than max moved the pressure from the 40k level down to the 28k level. Works for me.