Which Henry Big Boy metal would you choose?

stainless=hard chrome over steel

For sheer old school styled awesomeness, those octagonal barreled color case hardened Henry Big Boys would be hard for me to turn down. Give me one of those with the 16.5" barrel in .357 mag.

https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/big-boy-color-case-hardened/

Have the Steel in 357 with 20” round barrel. Like the octagonal but went with round to save some front end weight for all the smaller shooters I would be sharing with. Kept the 20” barrel, though. Next one will be steel/side load/octagonal/20”/3030 for just me. Will probably get the same as the 3030 in 357, again.

Wonder if Henry sales have suffered any due to people waiting on their favorite type to come out with the side loading gate?

I like brass because well its brass. Stainless lasts, steel is steel, and case hardened looks nice enough. I am sure you have black and stainless rifles and maybe a case hardened one. But how many brass framed rifles do you have? Brass will last as long as anything else. So brass for me. Nothing like a brass butt plate on an Enfield.

chicarrones

Like you I love the look of the Big Boy Color Case Hardened offerings! That octagonal barrel is the cat's meow! I would get it in .357 as well, though I would opt for the 20" barrel rifle version that holds 10 rounds, instead of the shorter 16 1/2" barrel carbine model which carries 7 rounds.

Whatever type of stainless steel Marlin uses in their 1894’s, that’s what I’d pick.

In a world where Henry’s were my only option, I can be sure I wouldn’t be as big of levergun fan as I am and likely wouldn’t buy one at all - BUT - for the sake of discussion...

I NORMALLY default to stainless. I like to use my rifles, and stainless holds up better - BUT - the Henry isn’t actually stainless, and that’s not a game I play. So conceding farther and farther from what I really prefer (a stainless Marlin), I’d make the decision based on whimsy and buy the color case finished version.

I and my brothers are steel Henry fans

Usually I am practical, and would say the steel, but case hardened is gorgeous, so I voted for that.

Brass kicks *ss. Both of my Henry's are in brass. It set's off the grain in the walnut just right.

.40

I'd have to go steel and stainless if it applies to the particular gun.

I know I'll never *use-up* a brass gun but it just seems off to me to deliberately choose an inferior material without some particular need or desire for that material.

Of course, I recognize the irony is naming it "inferior" after already stating that I won't wear it out.

Todd.

One of each

Brass isn't necessarily inferior and with modern firearms is very much strong enough. According to Henry "brass has the same tensile and yield strength as steel". So don't let things of the past stop you from enjoying brass.

If you'll look at it more than shoot it, brass.
If you'll shoot it more than look at it, steel.
If you'll do equal parts, case hardend.
Easy.

Obturation said:

If you'll look at it more than shoot it, brass.
If you'll shoot it more than look at it, steel.
If you'll do equal parts, case hardend.
Easy.

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This.

dh1633pm said:

Brass isn't necessarily inferior and with modern firearms is very much strong enough. According to Henry "brass has the same tensile and yield strength as steel". So don't let things of the past stop you from enjoying brass.

Click to expand...

This only applies to Henry's "brass", though. Which is a bronze alloy. The original "brass-framed" rifles were made of gunmetal, which was also a type of bronze. But not all companies use strong alloys. Some may be using softer brass.

Properly done i prefer hard chrome to stainless, and I prefer stainless to all else when considering a handgun or lever gun.

I voted for the steel as I value the performance more than appearence. One with a 20 inch barrel in 41 magnum would be the cat's pajamas. That rifle with a 41 mag. Blackhawk would make for a fun target session.

Jeff

BullRunBear said:

I voted for the steel as I value the performance more than appearence.

Click to expand...

Colored Case Hardening, the best of both worlds.

And the simple, clean lines with a vast field of receiver to play in, lets the Case Hardening really show off.

For utility stainless steel. To make your buddies drool any of the other finishes works better.

As noted, the all weather guns are hard chrome. Many people don't realize hard chrome is more corrosion resistant than stainless. It's also very abrasion resistant. I had a Ruger revolver hard chromed 20yrs ago and it still looks new.

Blued or color cased is up to you. Bluing is typically more wear resistant.

I don't care for brass personally but the stuff Henry uses is tough. I will say their brass framed octagon barreled centerfires are way too heavy for my tastes.

OK, I will be the first to admit it, I do not like Henry rifles. For a variety of reasons that I will not go into here.

However, I find it interesting that in the description of the brass used for their 'Original Henry' rifle Henry says "a specially-formulated hardened brass receiver with the same tensile strength as steel".

Since there are many, many different alloys of steel, each with its own physical properties, I would like to know exactly which steel alloy they are referring to when they say their brass has the same tensile strength as steel.

Simply put, I don't believe it.

Yes, historically most 'brass' framed rifles were actually gumetal, a form of bronze. Gunmetal was a bronze alloy consisting of 80-88% copper, 10-15% tin, and 2-5%zinc. That is what the frame of the original 1860 Henry rifle was made of. Gun writers started calling it brass a long time ago, and the name stuck, but it was really a form of bronze. Bronze is a copper alloy consisting mostly of copper and tin, brass is an alloy consisting mostly of copper and zinc. A number of years ago I worked for a company that was able to determine the actual content of the brass used by Uberti in their 1860 Henry and 1866 Winchester replicas through a process called X Ray Fluorescent Analysis. The results were 56% copper, 44% zinc. That is a pretty soft piece of brass, but they do not claim it is as strong as steel.

Well, first off I think the Henry Big Boy is butt ugly. Clearly designed to look vaguely like the 'brass framed' (actually bronze gunmetal) Winchester Model 1866, the classic 'Yellowboy', but the lines are not as smooth as the real Winchester Model 1866. The action inside the Big Boy is pretty much the same as a Marlin Model 1894. I know a few guys who have bought them over the years for CAS, and most have gotten rid of them. They tend to jam when cycled fast, and there are no after market parts available. Yes, HRAC has a great repair policy, they will usually repair them free of charge. But why do so many need to be repaired? Obviously you cannot buy a real Winchester Model 1866 anymore for less than a fortune, and the 44 Henry Rimfire ammunition is not available anymore, but you can buy an Uberti copy chambered for a variety of modern cartridges. Not to mention that to load the Big Boy you have to pull out the magazine tube like I did when I was a kid with my 22 rifles. At one point Henry claimed the frame was not strong enough to make a cut for a side loading gate, which is hogwash. Winchester first put a side loading gate in their rifles in 1866. Oh yeah, the Big Boy is really heavy too.

https://www.uberti-usa.com/1866-yellowboy-rifle

But mostly my complaint about HRA is their deceptive advertising. On the Henry History page of their website they go into great detail about Benjamin Tyler Henry and his contribution to the development of repeating rifles. But no where do they mention that Henry was actually an employee of the New Haven Arms Company, which eventually became the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866. The reader is left to assume that the current HRAC is somehow a descendant of that original company. That is called lying through omission. I have heard many guys claiming that the current company bought the name, which is simply not true. The Henry name was in public domain and Mr Imperato simply adopted it because it was a well known name in the firearms world. Call me a purist, but that is most of why I don't like HRAC and their rifles.

https://www.henryusa.com/about-us/henry-history/


You will also hear the argument that it is an American company, and buying one of their rifles will keep your hard earned dollars here in this country rather than sending them to Italy. True enough but in my book it does not offset the deceptive advertising.

You asked, that is my opinion.