The Henery Golden Boy .22LR; beautiful looking gun but is it reliable in the long run
- Thread starter cheach
- Start date
The Henry forum at Rimfire Central seems to run a "how many rounds?" thread just about annually. Lots of reports of guns with upwards of 50K and still going strong with no signs of wear other than contact point polishing where the slide touches the frame.
In my own case my basic H001 probably had 6K through it when I felt guilty enough to fully tear down to clean and inspect. Along the way previous cleanings had been restricted to patching the bore and Q-Tipping the front of the bolt through the ejection port and running a patch down the magazine tube one time. Turned out that I should not have bothered. The insides other than the parts I could reach through the port were fine and still had the factory grease on them. It showed almost no sign of fouling. And as for wear there was a very slight shining up of the points that rub together and that was it. Very little play in the fit of the bolt and everything else was ship shape. If this was typical for a roughly 6K round count amount of wear I have no doubt that it will easily see 60K and likely be good for a reach towards the 100K round count.
Along with the H001 I also have a Golden Boy. But the sights are not "old guy fussy eye" friendly at all. It's got the little joke of a "v" for the rear notch and a needle like front bead. So holding a consistent sight picture is tough for me. I find that the pistol like deep square "U" notch and bold front rectangular sight blade work far better for me. With this I'm generally capable of shooting off my elbows from prone and getting sub 1 inch groups at 20 yards in my club's indoor range. When I shoot this way more than half of the shot pairs (five bull targets and two shots on each bull) are within 1/2 inch of each other. So the guns themselves are good.
Sad as it is because the GB is a beaut I'm going to sell it. The stronger drop angle of the shoulder stock does not fit me worth a darn. With the butt plate correctly in place and my eyes aligned with the sights I end up with a "chin weld" to the comb of the stock instead of the proper cheek bone weld. Others have said that the GB fits them better than the H001 or Frontier. So clearly some fit one stock and others fit the other style. You will want to find one or the other and shoulder test it with this fit issue in mind before you leap into buying one.
As for how it cycles the lever? There isn't enough "o" 's in "smooth" to describe that. It's wonderfully slick with no catches in the motion.
In my own case my basic H001 probably had 6K through it when I felt guilty enough to fully tear down to clean and inspect. Along the way previous cleanings had been restricted to patching the bore and Q-Tipping the front of the bolt through the ejection port and running a patch down the magazine tube one time. Turned out that I should not have bothered. The insides other than the parts I could reach through the port were fine and still had the factory grease on them. It showed almost no sign of fouling. And as for wear there was a very slight shining up of the points that rub together and that was it. Very little play in the fit of the bolt and everything else was ship shape. If this was typical for a roughly 6K round count amount of wear I have no doubt that it will easily see 60K and likely be good for a reach towards the 100K round count.
Along with the H001 I also have a Golden Boy. But the sights are not "old guy fussy eye" friendly at all. It's got the little joke of a "v" for the rear notch and a needle like front bead. So holding a consistent sight picture is tough for me. I find that the pistol like deep square "U" notch and bold front rectangular sight blade work far better for me. With this I'm generally capable of shooting off my elbows from prone and getting sub 1 inch groups at 20 yards in my club's indoor range. When I shoot this way more than half of the shot pairs (five bull targets and two shots on each bull) are within 1/2 inch of each other. So the guns themselves are good.
Sad as it is because the GB is a beaut I'm going to sell it. The stronger drop angle of the shoulder stock does not fit me worth a darn. With the butt plate correctly in place and my eyes aligned with the sights I end up with a "chin weld" to the comb of the stock instead of the proper cheek bone weld. Others have said that the GB fits them better than the H001 or Frontier. So clearly some fit one stock and others fit the other style. You will want to find one or the other and shoulder test it with this fit issue in mind before you leap into buying one.
As for how it cycles the lever? There isn't enough "o" 's in "smooth" to describe that. It's wonderfully slick with no catches in the motion.
You should seek other advice. That "salesperson" is full of Bovine Scatology. I think I can't tell you to look on another forum on this forum, but you really should check out rimfire central.
calvados.boulard
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria BC
That sales guy is full of it. Solid rifles. Build very well. Rest easy and enjoy your Henry.
Thanks,
Cal.
I just read not too long ago a thread on a pedator forum asking this very same question. A trapper chimed in and said he has been purposely beating on a Henry as a line gun. He said it was functioning perfectly his only concern was the finish on the action and mag tube are not very durable but the blind, the wood were holding up great. So take it for what it's worth. Mine has so far been mostly baby'd so I can't add anything personally yet.
There's any number of "alloy haters" out there that won't buy a gun and criticize any gun that is made from injection molded alloy. And it's true that the receiver of the Henry and some of the other parts in it are made from the zinc aluminium alloy commonly called "pot metal".
But that does not take anything away from the simple and well proven fact that the guns last for many, many thousands of cycles of the lever and have proven to be plenty durable for normal use. There's a pretty wide variety of alloys that fit the "pot metal" description. And the one used by Henry is highly resistant to wear and is plenty strong enough to handle any regular sort of gun use.
I can see it being an issue if you use your rifles as pry bars on a construction site but other than that?
I suspect that your sales guy is one of those folks.
Another simple truth is that the black painted finish on the alloy action covers of the "blued" guns is rather prone to scuffing off the finish. And the brass/golden colour on the Golden Boy is not much better. So you want to treat the rifles with a little more care than you might some others with a more durable finish. the black/blued finish on the barrels is just as durable as any other blued gun though.
Give us a report of how you find th rifle to load and shoot along with how you like the sights on the GB.
But that does not take anything away from the simple and well proven fact that the guns last for many, many thousands of cycles of the lever and have proven to be plenty durable for normal use. There's a pretty wide variety of alloys that fit the "pot metal" description. And the one used by Henry is highly resistant to wear and is plenty strong enough to handle any regular sort of gun use.
I can see it being an issue if you use your rifles as pry bars on a construction site but other than that?
I suspect that your sales guy is one of those folks.
Another simple truth is that the black painted finish on the alloy action covers of the "blued" guns is rather prone to scuffing off the finish. And the brass/golden colour on the Golden Boy is not much better. So you want to treat the rifles with a little more care than you might some others with a more durable finish. the black/blued finish on the barrels is just as durable as any other blued gun though.
Give us a report of how you find th rifle to load and shoot along with how you like the sights on the GB.
I actually just bought my very first gun last week and it was a Henry golden boy .22 mag. I have yet to be able to find a range to take it to in Kitchener Ontario. The guns internal workings are all souls I must say. I just can't wait to test how it shoots!
- Location
- West Quebec
Henry rifles have stellar support not many companys can say the same.
