After a number of years of waffling, I finally bought a Henry Big Boy in .45 Colt.

For me this is the best caliber since I greatly prefer this cartridge in my six guns. Also, standard factory rounds have ample power to drop a whitetail at woods ranges.
(250 grain @ about 1100 FPS in a rifle.)

You can load up as well, duplicating .44 magnum velocities, at lower chamber pressures.
(25000 PSI versus 35000 PSI)

I already have a newer Marlin Cowboy in .45 Colt with a 20" barrel. I very much like the overall feel and handling of this little rifle, and its 6 1/2 pound weight. Accuracy is good with standard factory ammo and similar hand loads. And, after clipping a coil off the hammer spring and cycling the action 1000 times (lowering the hammer each time) it cycles as easily and smoothly as a 125 year old 1894 Marlin, with a good trigger pull to boot.

I hesitated in buying the Henry because:
- it has no loading gate and it loaded like a .22 rifle.
- it weighs 8 5/8 pounds.
But, I always liked the quality and finish, so what the hell, I bought it anyway.

After handling it and cycling it a number of times, I believe that it is just about as smooth as my my slicked-up Marlin, and has a very nice trigger pull.
The feeding and extraction is perfect. Just like the Marlin, empty cases are tossed a minimum of 2 1/2 feet outward by the side-sprung ejector when you very slowly open the lever. Normal cycling tosses them further.

The fit and finish is amazing. The wood is satin-finished walnut with a nice grain, not glossy, and literally as smooth as glass. The steel parts are likewise with no damaged screws.
The brass receiver is shiny enough to see your reflection in.
The sights seem to be Marbles or a high quality copy of same.
And I really like all of the brass. The carbine butt plate and substantial barrel band are features that I love on lever action carbines.

And, I don't mind the weight anymore. About the only thing that I don't much like is the rear sight. The sight itself is very nice and high quality, but the sliding insert within the sight needs to be lowered and locked into a position where the body of the sight blade forms high ears like a full buckhorn of sorts. Still, it works fine and aiming is easy.

I have not shot it yet, but I have no doubt that it will shoot superbly.

And American made! Bet you'll have fun with that rifle. Just a suggestion.... a Skinner aperture and post would be nice on it!

Since the Big Boy seems to have better-defined rifling and a faster twist than my Marlin 1894 Cowboy, I think that the accuracy will be superior with Cowboy velocity ammo.

But, on this rifle, an aperture sight just would not be what I want.

Through some quirk, I can still use open sights reasonably well with my bifocals, and I prefer to use an aperture sight on my Marlin 1895 with a 22" barrel only.

My other traditional levers are also open sights only.

What was your final retail price before taxes? Asking for a friend. Be Well, RZ.

Eh?

They are pretty decent rifles, no offense but my centerfire levers are going to have a loading gate. Just sayin.
I think Henry has some centerfire loading gate rifles out now, but the price, ya ouch!

You get what you pay for. I have a Henry in .45 Colt; the Big Boy Steel with 20" barrel. Weight is 7.0lb, till I scoped it.Fit and finish are superb, smooooth action and accurate as the dickens. The tube feed doesn't bother me at all. Been loading my 39A for decades thru the tube, so, I'm good. Easy as hell to unload also. saddlegun, you done well. Enjoy it. What will your load be? I can say mine if you're interested.

I have a Big Boy Classic .44 with a large loop lever.
I bought it for the looks of it, but I did kill a deer with it last week.
I love mine.

I have a Henry X model in 45 Colt. It's a great rifle even if it looks ugly as sin.

Thanks, Dinny

Dinny is the barrel threaded? I have a use for a 45 Colt with threaded barrel to go with a single action in same. Both to use WLN cast in heavies. Be Well, RZ.

It certainly is threaded. My Henry has difficulty with some of my cast bullets. I have found lighter ones feed better than the heavy ones.

I have the same gun in 44 mag and like it a lot. The only complaint I have is the magazine tube wasn’t polished to the same luster as the barrel and brass parts were.

It is great to hear that Henry is doing a great job. Thanks for the report and enjoy your new rifle.

I have the Henry in a .44 mag with the 16 inch barrel and it’s a handy rifle, but like you say every time I load it, it feels like I’m loading my 22

If you want to upgrade the wood, Henry sells replacement stocks. I bought this set for a project a few years ago.