A Big Boy
The rifle shown here is the Henry Big Boy chambered for the venerable .45 Colt cartridge.
The Big Boy has a traditional 20″ blued, octagonal barrel and mounts a classic, fully-adjustable semi-buckhorn rear sight with a reversible white diamond insert. The front sight is a brass bead.
Both the straight-grip stock and forearm are made from select American walnut accented with a brass barrel band and Henry’s recognizable brass receiver. The top of the receiver is drilled and tapped to allow a scope to be mounted. Just my opinion, but I think mounting a scope on a lever-action borders on the blasphemous.
The side loading gate we are now familiar did not exist on the original Henry and the Big Boy does not have one. Instead, rounds were loaded much like a .22 rifle.
To load the magazine, the shooter pulls out the spring/follower and removes the top from a slot in the top the magazine-tube. Cartridges are inserted into the shell-shaped cutout on the side of the tube, the spring and follower are pushed home and the top pivoted back into the slot. The tubular magazine holds 10 rounds.
The crisp, smooth action sets an authentic American-made Henry apart from other lever-action rifles. Every Henry I’ve handled — from the Big Boy to their .410 shotguns to the Classic Lever Action .22 and Golden Boy .22 — has been as slick as a broken egg on polished glass. In fact, the first time I worked the action on my Classic .22 I performed a chamber check to ensure I hadn’t short-stroked the action.
