The "Big Boy Revolver" 357 Magnum SA/DA Sixguns from
Henry Repeating Arms
by Boge Quinn
August 23rd, 2023
Benjamin Tyler Henry received a patent for
the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle in 1860. This
rifle evolved into the Winchester lever-action rifle line, and
the rest is the exciting, adventurous, and controversial history
of the USA over the latter half of the 19th Century. From the
War Between the States ("That damn Yankee rifle that you
load on Sunday and shoot all week long"), through the era
of Manifest Destiny ("The gun that won the West"),
right up to today's beloved lever-action hunting rifles, it is
hard to imagine what America would look like today without the
wonderful leverguns that had their genesis in the original Henry
rifle.
Today's Henry Repeating Arms Company has no
affiliation with either B. Tyler Henry or the original New Haven
Arms Company. Henry Repeating Arms was founded in 1996 by Louis
and Anthony Imperato, who engendered a corporate culture based
on pride in their products, their people, their company, and
their Country. Today, Henry Repeating Arms offers about 200
different models of rifles, shotguns, lever-action pistols, and
more, including a wide variety of lever-action rifles in a
variety of finishes and levels of fanciness to suit any taste
and budget. Their levergun offerings range from their flagship
Golden Boy and American
Eagle 22s to popular centerfire handgun cartridges (such as
32 H&R Magnum / 327 Federal Magnum, 38 Special / 357
Magnum,
41 Magnum, 44 Special / 44
Magnum, 44-40, and 45 Colt) to
traditional lever-action rifle cartridges (such as 30-30, 38-55,
35 Remington, and 45-70
Government) to modern rifle cartridges
(such as 223 Remington / 5.56 NATO, 243 Winchester, 308
Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, 350 Legend, and 450 Bushmaster).
About ten years ago, Henry Repeating Arms came full circle by
offering their "Original Henry" rifle, a faithful
reproduction of the original Henry rifle, but chambered in 44-40
rather than the long-obsolete "44 Henry Flat" Rimfire;
the Original Henry rifle is now offered in 45 Colt as well as
44-40, and, thanks to my brother Jeff and our friends at Henry
Repeating Arms, I am proud to be the owner of the first 45 Colt
Original Henry rifle. To date, Henry Repeating Arms' production
totals run into the millions; the company's "Guns For Great
Causes" charitable arm has raised a prodigious amount of
money to benefit Pediatric Cancer research, as well as Sporting,
Veteran, Law Enforcement, and First Responder organizations; and
they daily live up to their motto, "Made In America, Or Not
Made At All". If B. Tyler Henry were alive today, I believe
he would smile in approval at what Henry Repeating Arms has done
with their company that bears his name.
B. Tyler Henry's contribution to the firearms
world was singular, and vastly important; his genius did not
extend to revolver design, and to my knowledge he never worked
on designs having to do with revolvers. Similarly, today's Henry
Repeating Arms Company has never offered a revolver.
Until now.
Henry Repeating Arms' first venture into
revolver production is called the "Big Boy Revolver".
It is a six-shot Double-Action / Single-Action, and is chambered
for 357 Magnum / 38 Special; it is not just a copy of existing
designs, but a new creature in its own right. Finely crafted
from blued steel and brass, the Big Boy Revolver is uniquely
beautiful. While the aesthetics of the Big Boy Revolver may be a
bit unusual to modern eyes, and will thus not appeal to
everyone, those of us who appreciate the beauty of the late-19th
to early-20th Century revolvers will immediately be taken by the
beauty of the Henry revolver. Visually, the Big Boy Revolver
strongly evokes the wonderful Colt Double-Action sixguns of that
era, and I, for one, am quite pleased that Henry chose not to
make their revolvers look like everyone else's. Mechanically,
the Big Boy Revolver is precision-machined from modern materials
and features modern engineering and coil springs throughout,
along with an extra cylinder locking point using a ball detent
at the front of the cylinder crane for added strength, making it
superior in many ways to the beloved early DA sixguns.
The Henry Big Boy Revolver is initially
available with a 4" barrel, in two different grip
configurations. The Model H017GDM
sports Henry's "Gunfighter" grip shape, which is a
square-butt design featuring a polished brass grip frame and
attractively-figured American walnut stocks laser-engraved with
the Henry logo. The Model H017BDM
features Henry's "Birdshead" grip shape, which is a
round-butt design, and also has a polished brass grip frame
along with very nice American walnut stocks similarly
embellished with the Henry logo. The polished brass grip frame
contrasts beautifully with the polished blued steel of the rest
of the sixgun, and features a generously-sized yet graceful
trigger guard and a hump at the top of the grip frame to
minimize the sixgun's tendency to flip upward under recoil. The
grip fills my moderately-large hand very well, and the stocks
are the perfect thickness for me; the stocks also incorporate a
subtle, attractive, and effective thumb rest on each side, which
also allows a speed loader to clear on the port side.
The 4" barrel is of a round
configuration, with a 1:16 twist, and does not include an
underlug enclosing the ejector rod. I have seen quite a bit of
derision online regarding this, largely from inexperienced
shooters who see this as a weakness, without considering that
the early Colt and Smith & Wesson DA revolvers have gotten
along just fine with exposed ejector rods over more than a
century of hard use. These naysayers, many of whom have never
actually seen a Henry Big Boy Revolver, much less used one, also
tend to opine that the exposed ejector rod looks
"cheap", without considering that these early Colt and
Smith & Wesson DA revolvers with exposed ejector rods are
often valued in the thousands of dollars on today's market. The
barrel is fitted to the frame wonderfully, with my examples
exhibiting barrel/cylinder gaps of an even and consistent
0.003" (three-thousandths) each.
The trigger and hammer have a matte finish,
contrasting subtly with the polished steel frame and polished
brass trigger guard. The trigger is 0.3125" wide, curved
and smooth, as befits a trigger designed for Double-Action
shooting. The trigger pull is excellent, smooth and free of
creep or grittiness, with my examples averaging Double-Action
pull weights of 8 pounds, 2.5 ounces (H017GDM) and 7 pounds, 5.5
ounces (H017BDM). Single-Action pull
weights were 2 pounds, 9.2 ounces (H017GDM) and 2 pounds, 4.5
ounces (H017BDM), as measured on my Lyman
Electronic Digital Trigger Gauge. The hammer is 0.305"
wide, and features a deeply-serrated spur that is easy to cock
for Single-Action shooting, even when the shooter has wet or
sweaty hands. The hammer is prevented from contacting the firing
pin by a transfer bar safety unless the trigger is pulled,
assuring that an inadvertent blow to the hammer will not ignite
the cartridge in the firing chamber.
The Big Boy Revolver's sights consist of a
narrow pinched-grooved rear sight, such as was often seen on
late-19th and early-20th Century sixguns, and is not adjustable
for windage or elevation. The front sight is a narrow ramp post,
integrally machined with a base that is screwed onto the barrel.
These sights yield a sight picture that will be familiar to
those shooters who fancy the early DA sixguns; while not as
quick to acquire as modern open sights, with their wide blades
and notches and their high-visibility colors, these
"old-style" sights are far more precise and afford
wonderful accuracy potential. A really neat feature of the Big
Boy Revolver's sights is that, due to the use of a screw-on
front sight, elevation can be easily adjusted by simply
installing a replacement sight, and two extra front sights are
included with the Big Boy Revolver for just that purpose: a
medium-height sight (0.295") is standard, and included low
(0.278") and high (0.325") sights allow the shooter to
dial-in the Big Boy for various preferred loads.
Specifications - Henry® USA Big Boy Revolver .357 Mag/.38 Spl
Gunfighter Grip
|
Birdshead Grip
|
Model #: H017GDM |
Model #: H017BDM |
Action Type: Double-Action / Single-Action Revolver |
Action Type: Double-Action / Single-Action Revolver |
Caliber: 357 Magnum / 38 Special |
Caliber: 357 Magnum / 38 Special |
Cylinder Capacity: 6 |
Cylinder Capacity: 6 |
Overall Length: 9.5 Inches |
Overall Length: 9 Inches |
Weight: 35 Ounces |
Weight: 34 Ounces |
Barrel Length: 4 Inches |
Barrel Length: 4 Inches |
Barrel Type: Round Blued Steel, 1:16 Twist |
Barrel Type: Round Blued Steel, 1:16 Twist |
Receiver Finish: Polished Blued Steel |
Receiver Finish: Polished Blued Steel |
Grip Frame: Polished Brass |
Grip Frame: Polished Brass |
Grip Material: American Walnut |
Grip Material: American Walnut |
Rear Sight: Fixed Notch |
Rear Sight: Fixed Notch |
Front Sight: Screw-On Post, Interchangeable High / Medium / Low |
Front Sight: Screw-On Post, Interchangeable High / Medium / Low |
Safety: Transfer Bar |
Safety: Transfer Bar |
Trigger Pull, DA: 8 Pounds, 2.5 Ounces |
Trigger Pull, DA: 7 Pounds, 5.5 Ounces |
Trigger Pull, SA: 2 Pounds, 9.2 Ounces |
Trigger Pull, SA: 2 Pounds, 4.5 Ounces |
Accessories Included: Box, Instruction Manual, Cable Lock, Low and High Interchangeable Front Sights |
Accessories Included: Box, Instruction Manual, Cable Lock, Low and High Interchangeable Front Sights |
MSRP as of August 2023: $928.00 US |
MSRP as of August 2023: $928.00 US |
Henry USA's web site lists the Big Boy
Revolver's "Best Uses" as "Target /
Collector", and I would agree that the sixgun shows the
accuracy potential for target use, along with the nostalgia and
beauty of a collectible. Being very familiar with Henry's design
and manufacturing abilities, as well as their exemplary quality
control, I expected an excellent experience when it came to
shooting the Big Boy Revolver, and I certainly was not
disappointed. Using a variety of 38 Special and 357 Magnum
loads, I found that the Big Boy shot close enough to point of
aim that there was no need for me to switch out the front sight
for one of a different height, so I stayed with the
standard-height front sight throughout my shooting tests. Each
load tried was close enough to point of aim to keep the holes on
the paper, but once I decide which type of loads to primarily
feed the Big Boy, I will choose the front sight that
shoots closest to zero for those loads. My favorite 38 Special
load, Double Tap Ammo's sedate 148-grain hard-cast lead
full-wadcutter, proved to be satisfyingly accurate, registering
a 15-foot slow-fire Double-Action group size of just a couple of
inches, which is about as well as I can shoot Double-Action,
while Double Tap Ammo's excellent full-power 357 Magnum
158-grain Controlled Expansion JHP load did almost as well from
an accuracy standpoint, and would be an excellent choice for
defending one's self and one's loved ones. The Big Boy
revolver's grip designs worked wonderfully with even heavy 357
Magnum loads; the grip size and shape made shooting very
comfortable, while the hump at the top of the grip frame did a
great job of reducing muzzle flip, making it quicker and easier
to get back on target. I had expected the Birdshead grip to roll
up in the hand more so than the Gunfighter grip, and this did
prove to be true. What I did not expect was that the Gunfighter
grip exhibited slightly more felt recoil than did the Birdshead
when using identical loads; the Gunfighter grip, by virtue of
its recoil impetus being more straight-back, smacked the hand
just a bit harder than the Birdshead. The difference is subtle,
but it is there.
As the Henry Big Boy Revolvers filter into
the marketplace, holsters have become easier to find. Rob Leahy
and his crew at Simply Rugged Holsters are making several models of
their excellent holsters to fit the Big Boy Revolver; these are available for purchase
from Simply Rugged,
or directly from Henry USA. Rob Leahy is a great guy who runs a
great company, and I cannot recommend Simply Rugged Holsters
highly enough; check them out at www.simplyrugged.com.
The Henry Big Boy Revolver, in either
Gunfighter or Birdshead grip configuration, is currently priced
at an MSRP of $928.00, making it comparable to
similarly-configured 357 Magnum revolvers from Colt, Ruger, and
Smith & Wesson. A bit of shopping should yield significant
savings. The Henry Big Boy Revolvers are available through
Lipsey's nationwide dealer network; to find a
Lipsey's-affiliated dealer in your area, click on the DEALER
FINDER at www.lipseys.com.
Benjamin Tyler Henry never made revolvers -
but if he saw the new Henry Big Boy Revolvers, I believe he
would again smile in approval.
Henry USA: www.henryusa.com.
Henry
USA Big Boy Revolver
Order Ammo Online at Lucky Gunner: 357
Magnum Ammo
38
Special Ammo
Simply Rugged Holsters: www.simplyrugged.com.
"Eldorado"
Holster
"Chesty
Puller" Suspension System
Conventional
Adapter for the Chesty Puller System
Holsters available directly from Henry USA at: www.henrypride.com.
Simply
Rugged Holsters at Henry Pride
Double Tap Ammo: www.doubletapammo.com.
Magtech Ammunition: www.magtechammunition.com.
Fiocchi® Ammunition: www.fiocchiusa.com.
Lyman Products: www.lymanproducts.com.
Lyman
Products Digital Trigger Pull Gauge
Boge
Quinn


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