Henry question

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Mr_Flintstone

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I have a Henry Big Boy 357, and the ejector seems to only throw the brass about a foot or so forward of my right foot. It is definitely grabbing the spent case and ejecting it, it just seems weak. If I eject a spent case with the gun rotated so the ejection port is mostly upward, the case pops up just onto the frame and bounces a time or two on the frame before hitting the ground.

Is this normal for the Henry? With the exception of this weak ejection, I love every other thing about this rifle.
 
I’ve never looked at a Henry ejector, but most lever actions have fixed ejector, not a spring loaded one like a modern bolt action, so if you want more forceful ejection you just need to work the lever faster. Slowly working the action will make the brass just basically plop out the side since there is no spring to kick it out.
 
My Henry Big Boy in .45C throws brass 10 feet. I'm not sure if that is a function of the rifle or the operator though. Typically when I'm using that rifle I'm firing 10 shot strings under a timer so I'm really cranking on the lever.

Does the extractor move if you manually actuate it with a tool? Does it feel gritty? Is it lubed?

.40
 
If you're looking to pick up brass, that's not a bad situation. Rossi's tend to fly them into the next zip code. A Century C-530, common hardware store spring, will cure the Rossi, though.
 
My Henry Big Boy in .45C throws brass 10 feet. I'm not sure if that is a function of the rifle or the operator though. Typically when I'm using that rifle I'm firing 10 shot strings under a timer so I'm really cranking on the lever.

Does the extractor move if you manually actuate it with a tool? Does it feel gritty? Is it lubed?

.40

I can wiggle the extractor with my finger tip when the bolt is back, and it has heavy spring tension. It is clean and lubed, and when the bolt is back I can feel the spring tension on the ejector with my finger.

I guess the Henry action is just a little foreign to me. My dad’s 30-30 slings the cases about 15-20 feet with the same force on the lever. I can really bear down on the lever and make them eject about 6-7 feet, but during normal use, it’s about a foot or so. It does make collecting brass easy though.
 
My 357 and 44 Henry don’t fling them far, usually a couple feet. I’ve never had one not eject them far enough to cause a problem clearing the port though. Makes for easy brass collection afterwards.
 
The Henry Big Boy is mostly just a reverse-engineered Marlin 336 with a different claw extractor, which should make little difference.
Marlins will generally pop empties out at least a couple of feet before dropping, regardless of how slowly that you operate the lever.
Both rifles DO have a spring-loaded ejector, although they are not coil sprung. Instead the ejector is held in place in a groove in the bolt and by a peg on the ejector and a hole in the receiver. The ejector is sprung outwards with a small flat leaf spring towards the ejection port and that spring assists with popping the empties out when the lever is operated slowly. In all other respects it behaves just like a stationary ejector. Like I say, Henry Big Boys are very similar.

In my experience with my Marlin 336, .30-30 cases are popped out more energetically than with the .44 magnum or .45 Colt cases in my 1894 Marlins, when the lever is operated slowly. That could simply be because they are longer and "flip" better. However, I feel that the ejection is quite good for the pistol cases.

If your ejection seems lacking, you might try removing the extractor and try bending the spring a bit to give it more tension. It might help.

As you probably know, that is just a matter of removing the lever screw and lever, and then sliding the bolt out to the rear. The ejector will just drop out if you tilt the rifle to the side.
 
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