Hi fellow gunnutz!
I was out the other day looking for a nice little rifle in 45 Long Colt. I was open for anything interesting, and was prowling the stores. At first, one of the LGS didn't seem to have much, but then I spotted a nice little trim Chiappa Half Pint Sharps in 45 Long Colt! The rifle was absolutely gorgeous! The wood/metal finish was very good! The Colour case hardening was very well done! So I simply paid for the little gem, and headed home to enjoy my lucky find.
When I got home, I prepped a pile of brass, bullets, and powder. Then I Linseed oiled the wood to make the grain pop a little more, rubbed it in to the wood, and wiped the bore clean to get ready to shoot the next day. A while into the rifle preparation, I decided to do a close inspection of the muzzle, and bore condition (some thing I usually do in the gun store, but the lighting wasn't sufficient for my eyes there at the time). When I looked into the bore, it almost made me run for the door screaming in horror! The rifling from the muzzle and back to towards the chamber for about 8-9" was butchered! The rifling had MAJOR tooling gouges in a spiral down the muzzle end! The rifling was intermittently gouged or scooped out in a spiral pattern, to leave no grooves at all! I haven't seen such bad damage like this in a LLLoong time! The rest of the rifle was perfect, but the heart of the fire arm was useless!
Feeling profoundly disappointed, I returned the rifle to the LGS, and pointed out the problems with the rifling damage. I was very disappointed in losing out on such a nice little firearm! They were very accommodating and gave me no issues to return the rifle. While I was standing there waiting for the manager to access the rifles condition and process my refund, I spotted another rifle that piqued my interest.
That rifle was a Henry "Big Boy", 20" barrelled Carbine, in 45 Long Colt. It had the heavy Octagon barrel, and very nice wood! The rifle was surprisingly hefty for its size, but balances fairly well. The overall quality of wood to metal finish was amazing! One of the nicest finished levers I ever had the chance to closely look at! I never realized how nice these Henrys really looked! I was very impressed!
Here are some pictures of each of the rifles I mentioned. hope you like the pictures. It is still such a shame to miss out on the Chiappa Half Pint Sharps! It felt so right in my hands!
Here is the Henry Big Boy
I was out the other day looking for a nice little rifle in 45 Long Colt. I was open for anything interesting, and was prowling the stores. At first, one of the LGS didn't seem to have much, but then I spotted a nice little trim Chiappa Half Pint Sharps in 45 Long Colt! The rifle was absolutely gorgeous! The wood/metal finish was very good! The Colour case hardening was very well done! So I simply paid for the little gem, and headed home to enjoy my lucky find.
When I got home, I prepped a pile of brass, bullets, and powder. Then I Linseed oiled the wood to make the grain pop a little more, rubbed it in to the wood, and wiped the bore clean to get ready to shoot the next day. A while into the rifle preparation, I decided to do a close inspection of the muzzle, and bore condition (some thing I usually do in the gun store, but the lighting wasn't sufficient for my eyes there at the time). When I looked into the bore, it almost made me run for the door screaming in horror! The rifling from the muzzle and back to towards the chamber for about 8-9" was butchered! The rifling had MAJOR tooling gouges in a spiral down the muzzle end! The rifling was intermittently gouged or scooped out in a spiral pattern, to leave no grooves at all! I haven't seen such bad damage like this in a LLLoong time! The rest of the rifle was perfect, but the heart of the fire arm was useless!
Feeling profoundly disappointed, I returned the rifle to the LGS, and pointed out the problems with the rifling damage. I was very disappointed in losing out on such a nice little firearm! They were very accommodating and gave me no issues to return the rifle. While I was standing there waiting for the manager to access the rifles condition and process my refund, I spotted another rifle that piqued my interest.
That rifle was a Henry "Big Boy", 20" barrelled Carbine, in 45 Long Colt. It had the heavy Octagon barrel, and very nice wood! The rifle was surprisingly hefty for its size, but balances fairly well. The overall quality of wood to metal finish was amazing! One of the nicest finished levers I ever had the chance to closely look at! I never realized how nice these Henrys really looked! I was very impressed!
Here are some pictures of each of the rifles I mentioned. hope you like the pictures. It is still such a shame to miss out on the Chiappa Half Pint Sharps! It felt so right in my hands!
Here is the Henry Big Boy
