Henry Golden Boy 22lr Lever Action

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Every summer the extended family takes a trip around the west and spends a few days in Ketchum, ID. I've used that opportunity to introduce my kids to shooting starting with my son and bolt 22s. The Hurtig shooting center in Hailey is a great place to work with kids. Lots of steel, covered shooting positions and friendly people.

Started my son with 22 bolt guns prone and now he runs his AR like a metronome on the steel.

Started his sister this year after some apprehension on shooting. Thought it would fitting for the location so I got a Henry Lever Action 22 Golden Boy with a youth stock. What a hoot to shoot. Hurtig has two arrays of knockdown plates that were really fun to work the Lever Action.

The Rifleman I am not.

Pretty happy with the rifle. Fits the kids pretty well. Nice trigger and a smooth action. The half-clock setting is not very far off fired so it it hard to see at a glance. I guess no 22 Lever has side loading, so you have to load the tube from the muzzle end. Held 10 22lr initially, it takes 12 now.

Then ball on post and the valley aiming is new to me. Not a precision tool, but got me on 12 inch steel at 100 yards.

Great rifle to have some fun with and play cowboy. Good looks with the mirror finish on the brass receiver. 100% reliable.

[BuzzinSATX]

Sounds awesome! I love the actions on those Henery 22's.

[tigershilone]

I'd like to see you use that in the Steel Dogs match this weekend! :p

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I'd like to see you use that in the Steel Dogs match this weekend! :p

I thought about bringing it just for giggles. Talk about making the 30 yard one interesting. Son's CZ still is acting up. I'm going to work on it today and give him the option of not shooting if we can't get it back to feeding right. It still has a tendency to want slide the bolt out if run vigorously. I don't have issues with it, but he does. Of course he actually finishes the 60 sec course of fire with time to spare, so I'm not going to question his bolt running skill.

With vacation and work travel, I just haven't had time to tear it all down.

[Hmac]

I have a Golden Boy in .17 HMR. It's a pretty rifle, but some caveats...


The golden finish on the zamak pot-metal receiver is just painted on, not plated. It scratches and scuffs very easily and can't be polished out
The action is smooth as butter, but it's not necessarily reliable. Cycle too fast and you'll get a difficult-to-clear jam
The larger lever-loop is really practical - a valuable add-on IMHO
Customer service at Henry is typically excellent. Send an email and you're likely to get a reply right from Anthony Imperato, the owner. They really do bend over backwards.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I see what you mean about the receiver. I thought it was solid brass. I'm starting to understand why they had scroll work on old guns- it hides scratches ;)

[Ohsheepdog01]

I taught my kids to shoot on a large loop Henry 22 as well. A friend cut down a spare stock to youth length. My boy took to it like a natural. It's still their favorite rifle to shoot.

[pgh_builder]

Henry's get all the attention, but the best lever action 22 you can buy is the Browning BL-22. It's almost double the price, but the quality and craftsmanship is far superior. It's a rifle you can pass down for generations.

[FirstBsure]

I am happy with my Henry GB .22 LR. & .22 Mag.

[Xbox and ARs]

Am I the only one who thought the Henry Golden Boy looks tacky and has a god awful stock angle? That said whatever gets someone started.

[ThirdWatcher]

Henry's get all the attention, but the best lever action 22 you can buy is the Browning BL-22. It's almost double the price, but the quality and craftsmanship is far superior. It's a rifle you can pass down for generations.

+1. My youngest daughter still has hers (about twenty years after I gave it to her as a birthday present).

[ralph]

Henry's get all the attention, but the best lever action 22 you can buy is the Browning BL-22. It's almost double the price, but the quality and craftsmanship is far superior. It's a rifle you can pass down for generations.

Not to mention it can feed shorts, longs, long rifles in any combination in the tube, and they'll work just fine..I have one, they're way better than a Henry..

[Esq.]

I own and have owned many lever action .22 rifles. I have a BL-22, it's a good rifle. I have a Winchester 9422, owned a model 250 for several years, I owned a Mossberg 402 Palomino for a dozen years, had a Ruger 96 for about as long. Hell, I even owned a Remington model 76 nylon lever gun.... To me, the Marlin 39 is the king of rimfire lever guns. They were made in so many different configurations, rifles, carbines, round barrel, octagon. All takedowns.....Just excellent rifles.

[Hmac]

It's a pretty gun, no doubt, just not a particularly good one. It looks good in a saddle scabbard, but if I have a serious varmint problem, I'll use a serious varmint gun that can take a usable scope and saddle up the 10-22 with Kidd action and barrel.

[NoBodyImportant]

I bought my son one the day he was born. The wife sent me out to get a slurpy so I walked in the gun store next door.

[_Stormin_]

Am I the only one who thought the Henry Golden Boy looks tacky and has a god awful stock angle? That said whatever gets someone started.

I think it is in fact just you. I have one in the collection. It's fun to shoot, incredibly easy to teach even the most novice of shooters to use, and cheap to run if you're footing the bill for ammo for the group. It makes even "non-gun people" smile a bit. Heck, I think that the lever action may be second to last on the grabbers list, just in front of the break open shotgun.

[keyzard]

Kind of fell in love with the look, but not the "new" price. I stumbled on one used in a LGS.....struck a fair deal and it came home with me. I made the mistake of letting my wife shoot it.....I may have lost this one....

I was pleasantly surprised at how accurate it was no matter what ammo I fed it. And the action was nice also, maybe not the best but definitely better than what I expected.