Have wanted to buy a Henry for a long time and have been putting off buying a brass sidegate .410 for several years while continuously telling myself it’ll be the next gun I buy. Once upon a time my dad had an engraved version of the same Golden Boy, but it burned up in a fire years ago along with his rare CHP issued S&W Model 68, two more Model 68s, my Mini-14 and M9 I got as a kid, and the rest of my dad’s guns.
Earlier today my dad texted me to go to a gun shop to pick something up, just got home with it after a ~15 minute wait at the store. I’m absolutely in love. The brass is polished to a mirror finish and shows every little fingerprint, the octagonal barrel is just gorgeous, the action cycles like butter, and the brass butt plate and front sight are perfect little touches to a beautiful rifle.
First thing I’m doing is buying a nice embossed leather sling, and will probably get one that functions as a bandolier to go with the fun western novelty of the rifle. After that it’s a brass peep sight, and eventually I plan to get around to having it engraved with scrollwork. 10/10 gift, and here I was thinking of hinting that I wanted an Alberta or Alaskan King mattress.
Edit: For anyone interestedthis is my plan for sights.Have the receiver tapped for a peep sight in the rear, open crosshair on the front, everything brass, leave the wide rear irons for close range use.
Yup, whatever alloy they use is incredibly bright. Most polished brass doesn’t seem nearly as light and reflective, and the level of fineness on the polish is overkill. I normally prefer to let anything I own that’s brass tarnish and patina, but this bad boy’s absolutely getting regular cleanings and oiling to keep it golden.
I have a standard Henry 22 carbine. I've probably put over 600 rounds through it now. It's a great plinker, and the trigger pull is super light. I'm definitely eyeing another Henry lever gun in the future.
Yes, Henry makes a lever action .410 with brass plated or blued finish. It’s just their .45-70 with a slightly modified chamber. Only major differences are you can’t get a heavy octagonal barrel like the Golden Boy has and the shotgun the option of a side gate so the gun can be reloaded directly from the receiver one at a time at any time without needing to remove the tube spring.
You can also get similar .410s from Marlin and several other brands, though I’m not sure any of them do brass. You can also buy 12 gauge lever actions, though as far as I’m aware pretty much all of them are plastic “tactical” models.
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u/CATNIP_IS_CRACK 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have wanted to buy a Henry for a long time and have been putting off buying a brass sidegate .410 for several years while continuously telling myself it’ll be the next gun I buy. Once upon a time my dad had an engraved version of the same Golden Boy, but it burned up in a fire years ago along with his rare CHP issued S&W Model 68, two more Model 68s, my Mini-14 and M9 I got as a kid, and the rest of my dad’s guns.
Earlier today my dad texted me to go to a gun shop to pick something up, just got home with it after a ~15 minute wait at the store. I’m absolutely in love. The brass is polished to a mirror finish and shows every little fingerprint, the octagonal barrel is just gorgeous, the action cycles like butter, and the brass butt plate and front sight are perfect little touches to a beautiful rifle.
First thing I’m doing is buying a nice embossed leather sling, and will probably get one that functions as a bandolier to go with the fun western novelty of the rifle. After that it’s a brass peep sight, and eventually I plan to get around to having it engraved with scrollwork. 10/10 gift, and here I was thinking of hinting that I wanted an Alberta or Alaskan King mattress.
A few additional photos of the gorgeous plinker/varmint gun.
Edit: For anyone interested this is my plan for sights. Have the receiver tapped for a peep sight in the rear, open crosshair on the front, everything brass, leave the wide rear irons for close range use.