With both announced and prospective presidential candidates prowling the landscape, ’tis the season for demonstrations of support for issues held dear by each party’s voting bases. Which is why Henry Repeating Arms GM Andy Wickstrom recently handed a new rifle to Badger State gov Scott Walker at the 50th Annual Governor’s Fishing Opener earlier this week in Hayward. The new-for-2015 Henry Big Boy Steel model in .44 Mag was manufactured at Henry’s Wisconsin plant in Rice Lake and features a serial number WGF50 to honor the event . . .
The NRA A-rated deer and duck hunter was, as you’d expect, appreciative. Here’s Henry’s press release:
HAYWARD, Wis., May 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was presented with a Henry Big Boy Steel .44 Magnum rifle at the 50th Annual Governor’s Fishing Opener on May 1, 2015. The rifle was manufactured at Henry Repeating Arms’ plant in Rice Lake, WI. It features custom serial number WGF50 in honor of the event.
Andy Wickstrom, General Manager of the company, presented the rifle along with Jim Onarheim, Vice President of the Hayward Lakes Visitor and Convention Bureau. The Governor was cited for his positive influence on tourism, hunting and fishing. The event took place at Pat’s Landing Resort on the Chippewa Flowage in Hayward, WI.
Scott Walker is the two-term Republican Governor of the State of Wisconsin, and a possible Presidential candidate in 2016.
“The best thing is just to be out on the water having a good time and I think that’s what people love about Wisconsin,” said Governor Walker of the event. It’s the day local sportsmen and women wait for to kick off Wisconsin’s fishing season.
The New for 2015 Henry Big Boy Steel was designed with the modern hunter in mind. Available in three calibers, .44 Mag, .45 Colt and .357 Mag, capacity is 10 rounds. It features a 20″ round barrel that delivers quiet and smooth accuracy. The barrel is topped with a fully adjustable rear sight with white diamond insert and a beaded front sight. The receiver is matte finish and comes drilled and tapped for easy scope mounting using Henry’s BB-RSM receiver scope mount. The checkered American walnut stock comes with a sturdy and impact resistant recoil pad.
Very Lincolnesque.
Oh Henry! Good ‘for them…I like Walker. Rauner in Illinois seems to be taking a page out of his play book-I hope so.
He’s the only GOP governor I would vote for.
That will look nice over the Oval Office fireplace…
Nice!
Does Lyman make an aperture rear sight for it? That’d make it a deer slayer in any brush
love em on my Marlin 30-30. Ever since I bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 mag, and started rolling my own ammo, i’ve wanted to try .44 mag on deer or hogs. This sucker’d increase my reach a good bit
Don’t know about Lyman, but take a look at the selection from Williams Gun Sights – (www.williamsgunsights.com). I put one of their WGRS receiver peep sights and a fiber optic front sight on my old Marlin .357, and am real happy with the combo. Definitely helps these old trifocal eyes.
I am not familiar with lever action rifles. Do they all use pistol type ammo? If so, then they are all basically short range rifles, right ? Seems like with that kind of ammo their longer range accuracy would not be very good.
Many lever rifles use pistol ammunition, but the most popular lever-action deer rifle is the .30-30, which is definitely not pistol-caliber. The photo on the wiki page shows it between a 5.56 and 7.62 NATO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.30-30_Winchester
From what I understand, because levers need to be fed from a tube and were originally not meant for a cartridge shaped with a tapered point, the pressure subjected to the magazine is a problem with the higher forces from modern cartridge explosions. I think that’s why you don’t see higher calibers in levers. But even so, today’s levers can probably handle a lot more than the past models but maybe aren’t “safe” enough for gun manufacturer’s legal teams because of the obvious litigious atmosphere of today, so why bother? Just a way of protecting themselves from suits. Then their lawyers won’t…
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
…go ballistic.
Hot .45-70, .348, and.50-110 are pretty high-pressure.
YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
*guitar riff*
Huh? Browning has been making the BLR in .300 Win Mag and .450 Marlin for decades.
Those are box fed, IIRC.
Perhaps I’m misreading you, but it has nothing to do with pressures– a Marlin action (before they went to FG crap) will take all the pressure you can reasonably throw at it.
The problem is the possibility of a chain fire in the mag tube due to the pointy tip of one round resting on the primer of the one in front of it.
Hence the reason damn near all 30-30 rounds are SP and also why Honady’s Leverevolution rounds really are a revolution.
When you run a 1500fps pistol MV .357 – 158gr round out of an 18″ barrel on a Marlin, you are getting up to nearly 2000fps MV. Pretty effective out to 150 yards. Good brush gun – short, light, handy, same size as a .30-30. And Winchester made their Model 1895 lever gun in .30-06 and .405 Winchester – Both of them are high energy rounds. Teddy Roosevelt liked the .405 Winchester/1895 for dangerous game in Africa.
This is a great PR stunt. I didn’t even know this rifle existed until I read this press release. I’ve always wanted a Henry Big Boy but have been somewhat put off by the brass look. I already own a Henry .22 (it’s my favorite gun), looks like a steel .357 is in my near future!!!
Yeah but… no loading gate.
Dammit Marlin! Get your shit together!
Whoops, sorry. Should have looked first. Looks like some models are chambered for rifle rounds and some for pistol type ammo. Would be fun to shoot one and see how accurate it is for me.
Matt on Demolition Ranch has a mag fed lever action in .308 that he busts out some times. Everytime I see it, I start drooling a little bit.
By “mag fed” do you mean box mag?
Because that would be… something I really need to know more about. And by that I mean “incredibly cool”.
Ahh. Either there was an edit or or I misread your comment. I thought I saw “.357” not .308. So a Browning BAR.
Very cool, but less interesting to me than the possibility of a box fed detachable mag lever action in .357.
That’s… yeah, I think so…. that’s my dream gun. In stainless.
I’m really excited about Walker, I’d say he’s the most anti-union candidate.
With a Republican Congress, Senate and Presidency we could effectively outlaw labor unions by passing a law similar to what was passed in Wisconsin in 2011, except it would be national, and apply to wages as well as benefits and pensions and would apply to both the private and public sector employees.
People can have their group that talks to management, but not a union that demands and bullies management and regular employees alike to get what they want!
If we’re lucky enough to get all three, the first thing they need to do is change the Federal employment rules, so they can start firing all of the Bolsheviks that Clinton, Bush, and Bammy hired at all of the agencies that make our lives so miserable. That effectively amounts to union busting of the uncivil servants.
Then repeal the NFA, GCA, Brady Law, and the Hughes Amendment.
Amen.
Sounds good to me!
I would like to see the public sector managed but not the private sector. Good, bad or ugly minimize the Feds involvement and manipulation of the private sector. Keep them out of it.
Or is it just a “commemorative” version of something the pawn shop already has?
I saw him speak here at Tuesday night and was very impressed. I have been politically active for 36 years , and he
is quite impressive. he has the record to back up the rhetoric. If you want to influence politics, send him a donation. or anyone you really like for that matter. $100 now will matter a lot more than $1000 would in the general election. the early primary season is really the best chance to make any difference. https://donations.scottwalker.com/donation/15bs09/?utm_campaign=15BS09&utm_medium=Text&utm_source=Bing
Walker is the man. I can’t wait to see how he does next year. He’d make a good QB for our side. The other team is featuring a washed up cheater from an old dynasty- and I’m not talking about Tom Brady.
I live in SE Wisconsin just outside of Milwaukee county. Walker was a Republican County Executive in a very Democratic Milwaukee County. He is a straight shooter and the real deal. He told us what he planned to do and that’s what he fought for.
Progressives are very afraid of this man. He won election, beat a bogus recall attempt by an even wider margin, survived a witch hunt of a partisan John Doe investigation, and won reelection.
I hope running for President won’t change that, because we could use a man like him.
Doesn’t make up for the fact he hates hard working union people. Not all republicans support gun rights and not all dems are anti-gun, just remember this.
Hey, I’m in a union too – except mine is voluntary.
With that being said, the current liberal progressive union movement is one of the downfalls of our nation.
I’m a big fan of both Walker and Henry. I would vote for him in a heartbeat and I really enjoyed shooting my Henry yesterday. I will have to replace my Henry with another Henry if my grandson becomes an Eagle Scout since I promised it to him if he completed the requirements.
To bad he can’t keep the gun, because doing that would be corrupt.
Wisconsin’s ethics are pretty draconian, as I recall. That being said, if Walker reimburses Henry for the full MSRP, and he still needs to pass a NICS check(insert snicker here), I think he’d be in the clear.
If Walker wins the Presidency, that rifle will have one hell of a provenance.
I meant to say “ethics laws”. Edit function seems to be hit or miss on this site.