HRA "Big Boy" 45 Colt

[rickk]

This story got long, and I wanted to get to the very end before I wrote it all down.

Last spring I set out looking for a .45 Colt lever gun.   I looked for a .45 Rossi 92 first. I live two miles away from what may be the biggest distributor in New England. My buddy who worked there said he has a dozen on back order for two years and had no idea when one might show up.

OK, so I move on to Marlin. I have an 1894 Marlin in .357 and it works just fine, so I figure I will get one of those in .45 colt. I look all over for one. Distributor says they haven't seen one since Marlin moved south. I email Marlin (aka "Winchester" now) and am told they discontinued the 45 colt due to lack of sales.

OK... need another plan. I start hearing good things about HRA guns, and the prices are reasonable. I try once again but can not locate one. I email the company, and the owner calls me and tells me the name of two distributors that he just shipped several to. My FFL buddy contacts on of the two distributors, and three days later I own a Henry Repeating Arms "Big Boy" in 45 Colt.

It takes me a while to get my act together with loading for it. I had also bought a pair of Vaqueros' in 45 Colt, but I had never loaded 45 colt or even loaded BP in a cartridge before. It takes a while to acquire brass, bullets mods, etc, etc.

So, time goes by and I eventually get some rounds loaded and take the Big Boy to the range. It works great, except about 20% of the time a round gets hung up on the shell carrier and does not come out of the magazine tube.

I take it home, clean it, load some more rounds and back to the range I go.... same problem.... still about 20%.  I know sometimes it takes a while for guns to "break in", but I am up to about 200 rounds now and no change.

Now there was a time, back in the 70-80's where the thought process seemed to change to where when you bought a gun you pretty much expected to have to screw with it to make it work. I know that was what I thought, and that was what most of my buddies thought. Gunsmiths made their living making brand new guns work.

I remember buying a brand knew Colt Gold Cup (Stainless Steel - about $1000 bucks) back in the 80's. Now, I would think they would run ammo through a Gold Cup at the factory to make sure it worked. This one would not chamber a single round. Every one got stuck coming out of the magazine. The place I bought it from said that Colt's policy was that they would not touch a gun until it had 500 rounds thru it to get past the "break in" period. I only had about 20 rounds thru it, and that took a couple hours to accomplish.  I messed with it a bit myself and found that they had never deburred the hole for the firing pin, so the case rims were getting stuck on the big mound of metal around the firing pin and not coming up far enough to chamber. It happened every time. This is Colt, on a Gold Cup. I didn't understand, but it lowered my expectations considerably.

As time went on, I have acquired quite a few guns either had to be tinkered with or that never really worked right.

Fast forward to recently, where I have gotten a bit crotchety and now think that if I pay a lot of money for something, that it better work. I knew this "Big Boy" was made only a hundred or so miles from where I live, not in a foreign country. I also had heard they backed their guns up with a reputation. So, I emailed them about the problem. The result was a prepaid UPS shipping label was sent to me.

I sent the rifle off and it returned in less than 2 weeks. The repair slip said "polished and ramped barrel, replaced carrier, adjusted action, test fired-OK, used Winchester Cowboy Action loads."

That was about a month ago. I finally got a chance to load up some more ammo and take it to the range yesterday.

I put about 100 round thru it. It worked flawlessly.  I was again shooting BP. No cleaning at any time while I was at the range. I just kept stuffing ammo in the tube and shooting.  I was shooting from an offhand standing position at a 3" paper square stapled to a cardboard box out about 50 yards.  Every round hit the paper. They were all on the low side... I probably need to bring the sight up a bit, but the group was way tight considering this was offhand, rapid shooting.

So, I am really happy with this gun. I have other lever guns... a Marlin .357, a Marlin .45-70, and a Winchester .30-30. The Big Boy is much smoother. There is no clunkyness at any point in the cycling of the lever. The trigger is nice. I know some people think the gun is heavy, and it is, but the heaviness may have helped my offhand shooting ability.

There were a lot of people at the range yesterday. The particular range area I was shooting at had about 10 other shooters shooting all sorts of military stuff. When I opened fire they all stopped to watch and they came over to do a look-see  when I had emptied the gun. The BP smoked had a lot to do with that I am sure ;-)

Anyway, I got a good working 45 Colt lever gun. About the only thing I might do is look at a front sight with a bigger gold bead on it and do something about the white triangle on the Marbles Rear Sight to make is SASS compliant. I know that some people flip the white triangle thingy around to hide it but I had a few email exchanges with Marbles and I might have a better plan up my sleeve ;-)

Rick

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

I have a Henry Big Boy in .357 and it works great in either .38 or .357.

[Jefro]

Howdy Rickk, glad to see you and Buffalo Creek have one that works. As I'm sure you know that's not the norm. After years of playing this game I've yet to see one HBB finish a match and most times even a stage. I've seen alota folks get two or three rounds out and then comes the jamb, all they can do is ground it and take the misses, very frustrating. We have one shooter that has sent his back four times, he flnally bought a Marlin. While they might be fine for plinking or maybe hunting, the HBB is just not suited for this game. We have one feller that can make it through a match now, but he has to be very methodical with each round, the instant he tries to go at speed it jambs. Even if you can get one to run the shooter is soon able to out run it.
  There are a few of other rifles to avoid for CAS, the Taurus T-Bolt, Chapperal 73, and the Win 94. All of these have proven to be less than desirable for this game. There are a few Chapperal that work, but thoses that don't have been nightmare for the owners. The best advice we can give new shooters is to never spend one thin dime on any guns untill they have attended several matches. Handle all the different models several times before deciding what you want. Cowboy Junky noted noted on a SASS thread, the most important peice of equipment a new shooter needs is a belt, then holsters. Most of us bring extra ammo for new shooters to try our guns, the hardest part is finding a belt and holsters for them to use. I usually bring an extra rig but the belt often does not fit.
  IMHO the best rifles for CAS are;
1) Uberti 73/66 short stroked.......(short stroke not approved for NCOWS)
2) Marlin 1984
3) Uberti 73/66 stock
4) Win 92.......and the Burgess
They all can use a little slicking up and lighter springs to make them more reliable. The Burgess is the only one I have not handle, but from the reviews I've seen the action is about as fast as the Win 92 or stock 73. Another thing folks need to consider is caliber. If you want the large caliber the 44/40 is much better than than the 45, especially if they plan to shoot BP. The blowback and fouling of the straight wall 45 case can often lead problems with the rifles action. The 32/20, 38/40, and 44/40 can easily run 12 stages with little if any fouling. The 38sp is not a bad choice, it does have a little fouling when shooting BP, but not enough to lock the action. I have shoot a 12 stage state match with 38sp and  real BP, only needed to spray and wipe the action after the first day. 
  There are plenty of good choices out there, new shooters need to take the time to try them all before buying, it will save them a bundle in the long run. Good Luck

Jefro Relax-Enjoy

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[rickk]

Jefro....

Time to take a stance and insist on perfection.... no matter who makes it.

It is totally stupid to spend near or over $1K for something that does not work.

Also totally stupid to buy something for $1K and then expect to still have to send it off to make it work.

Last year had a runaround with Stoeger about a 12 G sxs.   They made the problem go away. 

All a matter of asking for what is right.

Rick

[Bozeman]

Long story short.  Bought a Big Big 357.  Got to the range and the first  round in the magazine misfed nine out of eleven attempts.  Didn't matter how many rounds I loaded in the tube magazine or which of three brands of factory ammo I tried to put through it.  Took it back to the dealer for a look see and emailed Henry that night.  Got a nice email back from a guy at Henry that was signed by the company president offering me a free ship to the factory and a free repair.  Went back to he dealer who said he had the same experience with the rifle, had called Henry, and would to care of shipping it back the the factory.  Wanting to keep the dealer in the process I agreed.  TWO months later the rifle finally comes back to the dealer.  I go straight to the range. . . . . Same experience. Five out of eight times.   Immediately took the rifle back to the dealer who took the rifle back.  Ordered a Cimmeron 1866 Yellowboy in 45 colt.  Life is now a beautiful thing!

As an asside, a reloading stage with a Big Boy would be time intensive and an interesting maneuver.

Just my experience.

Bozeman

[Dirty Danny]

have two BB in 357 mag; from last Sept till now 18 matches finished all but one,  I broke not the gun.   I have 8 clean matches including a 9 stage.  shot as a 49er have came in everywhere from 1st to 6thed.   If people take their time and hand load ammo for the BB it works great.   It is slow, but I am slower.

[Lightning Buck McGraw]

Long story short.
I bought a Henry Big Boy, 45 colt...
I sold it! 
Best thing I ever did.