Customer Reviews for Henry Big Boy Steel Carbine Lever Action Rifle .38 Special

Well made and good looks. Great lever action rifle to shoot.

To this day, this gun is still coveted as one of the best in my collection. I love to shoot it and with 38 Special it is quiet enough no earpro needed. And yes red dots are awesome on lever guns. I ended up purchasing a Henry after reviewing and testing several different brands of lever gun. Henry impressed me in every way shape and form and I am super happy with my decision to buy it.

The finish is nice, as are the stock and fore end. The action is smooth, and chambering was precise. That said, there are some production problems that drive me nuts. As another reviewer noted, the fore end was loose. That's a design problem that shouldn't happen. I fixed it with a small amount of wood putty, but I shouldn't have to do that on a new gun. Second, the rear sight on mine is clearly skewed. Probably an easy fix, but it shouldn't need that right out of the factory. It's pleasant to shoot (after figuring out why everything is landing to the right). Overall, it's a nice gun let down by poor quality control.

Received the Henry carbine in good time especially with everything going on. It cycles really smooth. Being a small framed woman I shoot .38 special ammo and recoil is minimal. Also like the light weight of the carbine. It is just fun to shoot!

Very well made. Smooth lever action. Overall a great firearm!

Really like this gun and looking forward to hunting with it. My first Henry, and my first lever action, so I can’t compare it to anything else in those
categories. Action seems very smooth. Shot two types of 357 ammo through it and both cycled with no problems. Can’t comment on factory sights since I removed the rear sight and replaced it with a RPP aperture sight, which which I was able to shoot a 1.5” group after 4 adjustments.
The wood on the gun is beautiful. One small nick in the forestock when it arrived. I hated to see it, but figured there would be worse eventually. After my first outing, I noticed the forestock had about 1/8” of vertical play where it tucks into the front of the receiver. Was able to detach the forestock and add some filler to the bottom of the forestock cavity that cradles the magazine tube. This fixed the issue perfectly and permanently, and now the forestock mates up just right with the receiver.
Still, kind of disappointing that I had to do that with a brand new rifle.
Also, the recoil pad makes the lever only just a bit uncomfortable at the far end of the ejection cycle. This might have to do with the large lever loop as well. I find I am reaching just a bit too far during cycling rather than doing it comfortably. I plan on replacing the lever with one like on the X series. In the meantime, I removed the large recoil pad (which is not needed in this caliber) and will be making a thinner custom pad that will make the gun more comfortable for me during cycling.
For reference, I am 5’ 9”, 150 lb. I wear medium size shirts and jackets, so it’s not like I’m so diminutive that this gun is too large for me.
In fact, I really like the size and weight of this carbine.

Happy with purchase.. Surprised that the inside of barrel of gun was very dirty.

Happy with purchase.. Surprised that the inside of barrel of gun was very dirty.

I am super pleased with how this rifle has performed. Right out of the box, this rifle functioned perfectly and smoothly. Although the manual says it may have difficulty cycling .38 special rounds due to the overall length, I have had no problems feeding .38 special rounds through it, regardless of the bullet weight or shape. Within a few minutes and after slightly raising the elevation of the rear sight, I was consistently hitting metal silhouettes at 50 and 100 meters. The windage was perfect right out the the box and provided consistent 1 inch groups at 50 meters with reloaded ammunition. I ended up adding a leather sling to the factory sling mounts and love the way it feels when carried on my shoulder. With its light weight, you hardly know it is there. Like my Henry lever action .22, I plan to get many years of plinking out of this rifle and really like the compact length and lower weight that the carbine model provides as compared to the 20" model or other models from other manufacturers. If you are looking for a great looking and fun-to-shoot pistol-caliber rifle at an affordable price, choose this one, you will not be displeased! And best of all, it is made in the U.S.A.

Has not been fired but I love the weapon. Price was somewhat expensive, but the shipping time was short. I’ll shall update my review post-firing. Purchasing transaction was short and simple.

Beautiful gun, a blast to shoot.

One of many guns my family has bought from Buds. This Henry is a nice addition to the line-up. It shipped and arrived fast. Can't complain about Bud's. The rifle, however, had a few issues right out of the gate. The ejection of empty shells was weak. They rolled out of the chamber. We had a few failure to feeds. But the most odd problem was when we fired .38+P and .357, if you didn't have your hand on the lever it would drop open about 1 inch. Now for the good news. Henry is taking care of the issues. They were fantastic about getting the prepaid shipping label to me, and actually WANTED to fix those issues. The rifle is well balanced, and light weight. Beautiful fit and finish. And this one was shooting bullseyes at 15 yards right out of the box. This rifle is great, and I have confidence that Henry will deliver a perfect rifle.

I love it . Me and the boys shot it alot

The big boy arrived on time and in perfect shape. I eyeballed the sights straight before shooting and first shot was a bullseye at 25yds. Shot a 3" group at 100 yds, one being a bullseye with the factory sights shooting factory 158gr ammo. Trigger is great and cycles 158gr 38s just as well as the 357s. Great lil carbine!

Big Boy Steel Large Loop was exactly as described. Fit and finish are perfect. Lever action is smooth. Very happy with my purchase.

I was very pleased with the first impression of this product. The lines of the receiver were sharp and strait. No bad polishing or washed out screw holes. Stock finish was excellent as was the checkering. Couple complaints. Butt stock fit at rear tangs was off in the vertical about 1/16 . Metal fit between receiver and lower assembly off. Both these things are correctable and I will probably do it in the future (long time gunsmith). I have a Williams Foolproof receiver sight ordered. My old eyes don/t do open sights very well. However, from what I did shot, it seems accurate. Keep my fingers crossed. This is my first Henry rifle and I'm thinking it won't be my last. Ross W.

Prior to this .357 Magnum Big Boy Carbine, I had two other BB models both with 20" barrels. This Carbine is by far the most accurate, easy-to-handle, and well-balanced Henry rifle I have. The looks of the wood on the stock and forearm are always "what you get." I am fortunate that this Henry has beautiful wood color with easily-visible, bold grain patterns. Easy to say this one has the best-looking wood on any of my Henry rifles! I recommend this lever-action Carbine for your next Henry.

So far so good. My first shot was dead center and a little high but it was my first shot. Had my buddy's kids with us for their first time shooting so was more focused on them and all the safety stuff but ran a box through it and was very please. Beautiful gun.

Just got mine a couple of weeks ago from Buds. Very smooth transaction I did the Lay-away 90 days. Still haven't Shot this baby as of yet but I sure will. Henry and Buds Guns are the Best.... Get ya a Henry from Buds ya wont be sorry.....

I have shot around 200 hundred trouble free rounds so far, and 2 coyotes one at over 1 hundred yards, 1 shot each. very accurate for my needs and a whole lot of fun. A very nice rifle and very handy I strongly recommend it.

This is an incredibly great gun. It shoots excellent and is very sturdy and well built. Bud's is fast and efficient. They do everything they say they will do. I have purchased several firearms in the past from Bud's and they have always been the same. I look to them first before I buy anywhere else.

A fine rifle chambered for .357 magnum. Higher velocity from a rifled 16" barrel with negligible recoil absorbed by it's 6 1/2 lbs frame.The beautiful walnut stock goes perfect with the simple, no-nonsense lines of a lever-carbine. My other Henry is in .22 magnum.

Very pleased, delivery was fairly quick and gun was just as I imagined

I absolutely love the finish and action on this rifle. It has a super smooth lever, and a fantastic trigger pull right out of the box. There are plenty of accessories to go with it if one were to choose to add a sling or scope or red dot to the top. It shoots super smooth with .38 spl & .357 mag. For my pocketbook I prefer to shoot .38 spl out of it. Everyone complains that it is not a side loader, and I will call this a benefit to the rifle. Yes if you are irresponsible you could lose the magazine tube insert, but gun owner misplaces their magazines? All in all this is a great little rifle that I can shoot as well as the kiddo.

Picked this up from my FFL last week and have been having a ball with it ever since. The sights took a little minor tweaking but other than that, perfection. It cycles everything I`ve run through it from several variances of home brew and factory .38 specials, .38 +Ps, full blown .357 mags. It just eats up everything I`ve fed it. I feel like a kid again with my first .22. LOL I`m looking forward to running this through my chrono to compare velocities of my revolvers. From 25 yards in, which is my plinking and max distance of my home range there was no need to hold any different from say a target velocity .38 spcl to a mag load. it will be interesting to see how it behaves when I get to a 100yrd rifle range. This might pull a little home varmint control duty but mostly it`s just a fun gun. The local deer are taken care of with my Henry .44 mag. Awesome brush gun with the right loads. Life is good...