Should I trade my Henry Big Boy .357 for an Uberti 1873 .357

[RLROCK]

My first post here. I just became a member.

I went to my first silhouette match with my Henry .357 and didn't do so badly. 18 out of 40 with iron sights and hadn't shot the Henry over 25 yds before that.

I was watching others shooting with mostly 1873 models.

So my question is what would I be getting if I traded the Henry for the Uberti .357 Special Short Sporting rifle other than the pistol grip. I read that the 20" is easier to handle than the 24".

Thanks.
Rich

[Chuck 100 yd]

Your question boils down to personal preference. As long as the Henry is accurate enough to consistently deliver the bullet on target ,and it fits you and all what else do you need ?
Practice,practice,practice. Be the first in your club to shoot a clean match with a Henry!

Welcome to the forum!!!

[boolitshooter]

Welcome and enjoy this group.
Plus 1 on what chuck said, but you can never have too many rifles.
How did the Henry shoot? Do you reload? Do you shoot SASS or CAS?
There is a tremendous amount of knowledge here.
Steve

[Shasta]

Welcome to the fire, RLROCK!

I would agree with Chuck 100 yd as it being a matter of preference. Don't get rid of your Henry for an 1873 just because that's what the other guys shoot. An 18/40 score puts you in A class, which in my experience as a Match Director is where most competent shooters begin.

I am a "seasoned" old retired guy and I shoot a lot of silhouette. For my aging eyes, I much prefer a long barrel with a globe front sight and a Marble's tang rear sight. I like my rifle to be muzzle heavy as I can get a steadier hold that way.

As you attend more matches, you will get to know the other shooters better. Note which competitors consistently shoot well. I can just about guarantee that if you ask, they will gladly let you try their rifle on some practice targets before or after a match. That will go a long way to help you determine if a different rifle may be a better fit for you.



Shasta

[Griff]

1st & foremost: and Welcome to THE Forum! 2ndly, what Shasta said.

[Blaine]

Welcome!
(It might be too soon to give up on what most others call a quality rifle)

[AJMD429]

Wait long enough and you'll probably wind up with both. Don't ever sell a harder-to-get one to buy an easier-to-get one.

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forum!

I've always heard that Henry's are fine rifles. Before you go trading it off you might want to find out just how well it shoots. There are a lot of things you can do to make your Henry shoot better if you want to keep it. Better sights might help. Different weight bullets, and different loads.

If I had a Henry I'd be real temped to work with it for a while before I wrote it off.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

For what it's worth, the Henry Big Boy is a stronger action than the Uberi 73.

[MrMurphy]

What they've said.


You're shooting silhouette, which from what I know, is a pretty slow shooting sport. I don't own a Henry because they're frontloaders and that ceased to be a good idea in 1866, but my requirements are not yours.

Don't buy a new rifle until you KNOW you can outshoot the one you have. Which may be never.

Trigger/action work, sight change, practice, practice, practice.

[retmech]

If you're talking the Henry Big Boy they are very accurate and also are heavy enough to be pretty steady for off hand shooting. The 73 won't knock over anymore targets than the Henry. What you need to do if you really want to knock over more targets is find a load that your Henry likes. Learn the trajectory of that load so you know where to hold at the different ranges or what sight adjustment you need for a given target. Once that's accomplished, practice, practice practice. The Henry is more than capable for a 40X40 score.

[RLROCK]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

I appreciate the help and support.

I'm wondering who might be able to do trigger and action work on the Henry Big Boy.

[Pete44ru]

My first post here. I just became a member.


So my question is what would I be getting if I traded the Henry for the Uberti .357 Special Short Sporting rifle other than the pistol grip?

Welcome to the fire !

A trade would most likely result in a bad case of wallet rash.........



.

[pshort]

Howdy RLROCK,
Welcome to the forum... I have both, but that doesn't help you out, does it ?...
You can lighten the trigger a bit by putting in a lighter weight hammer spring.
It takes the same one as a Marlin....

Paul

[RLROCK]

So I took apart the Big Boy to clean the action up but now have noticed that the lever is harder to open than before. I losened the screw on the left side a bit and that seemed to help a little.

Is it normal for that screw to be doing that, or did I reassemble it wrong?

Thanks.