I just picked up my first cowboy gun.  A Henry Big Boy in 357.  I searched videos on youtube and the tear down looks pretty complex.

I mean it's not an AR.  So what would the normal cleaning cycle be?  How often should I do a complete tear down?  

I don't want to spend 2 hours of cleaning after 1 hour at the range.  Any advice?  I can't wait to shoot this thing.  I can't stop looking at it.  

Generally a lever gun is cleaned from the muzzle.  Be VERY careful not to damage the crown, you can buy a bore guide to help protect the crown.  I am not a fan of cleaning from the muzzle because it pushes crud into the action.  You can flush the action after cleaning the bore with an aerosol solvent like CLP or Ballistol.  Shooting lead ammo will require more cleaning than shooting jacketed ammo.  Lead fouls the rifling a lot faster, but it's also easier to clean.  Copper jacketed ammo will take considerably  longer to foul the rifling but can be a sombich to clean.

Boresnake?

Boresnake?

And we have a winner!

 

But you should go the extra mile and take the appropriate size square cleaning patch, fold it in four and snip the inside corner (with scissors or a nail clipper).

Now you've got a hole in the center just large enough to put the brass weight from the boresnake through.

Give the patch a liberal dose of your favorite cleaner (I like Hoppes #9, myself) and put it on the boresnake.

Run that baby through the barrel FROM THE BREECH TO THE MUZZLE.

Repeat until a dry patch is clean enough to suit your level of anality.

A drop of oil on the top of the bolt (while the action is open) keeps it running smoothly.

No worries about damaging the crown of the barrel.

This is my standard practice after a range session with my Henry .45Colt and Remlin .357Mag lever guns.

A Marlin is a lot easier to clean, but a boresnake looks usefull for the Henry  rifles

Boresnakes are good. I use them for a quick clean. However, after the first pass you are dragging a lot of that crap you cleaned out back through the bore. IMO you can't get a bore as clean with a boresnake as you do with a cleaning rod, brushes, and patches.

 

If you clean from the muzzle use a bore guide (plastic or brass) to center the cleaning rod in the bore. You're not going to hurt the crown with plastic or brass. Many rods come with bore guides. I've seen some shooters throw them away because they didn't know what purpose they served. I shoot a lot of lead bullets in 30-30 and 357. I would need a bunch of boresnakes to get the barrel really clean.

 

I clean the action on lever guns by spritzing some gunscrubber inside occasionally, making sure it drains out or evaporates (be careful of it getting on the wood) and squirting a few drops of CLP into the action and on the bolt where I can get at it. This is followed by working the action a few times to spread the lube around. No need to completely disassemble the action unless the gun has gotten soaked, rolled in the mud, or is broken.

 

This has worked for me for over 40 years with Winchester, Marlin, Henry, and Rossi levers.

I don't have a lever gun, but perhaps one of the Otis cleaning kits would be an option. Allows you to feed the cable from the breach and pull through brushes and clean patches each time.

I don't have a lever gun, but perhaps one of the Otis cleaning kits would be an option. Allows you to feed the cable from the breach and pull through brushes and clean patches each time.

thats what I use, have a 3' brass cable dont even remember when, where I got it. that thing is a trooper, countless passes thru the mosins and more recently on my henry. nice heavy swivel ends lets me use brushes, mops , patches. I'll probly cry when it breaks, have had a long time.

A Henry Big Boy is easy to clean from the breech.  Open the action so the lever points downward, remove the lever pivot screw (slot head, use the correct hollow ground size so you don't bugger the slot), pull the lever downward and out, then pull the bolt straight out the back.  The ejector has a pin that sits in a hole on the receiver left side, remove the ejector.  Now you can clean from the breech end.  It goes back together very easily in the reverse order.  Tighten that lever pivot screw good, but you don't need to go nuts.

 

You might want to stuff a wad of rag below the chamber to catch the bore drool while you are cleaning too.

 

Also keep an eye on that lever pivot screw from time to time, they tend to loosen up..

A Henry Big Boy is easy to clean from the breech.  Open the action so the lever points downward, remove the lever pivot screw (slot head, use the correct hollow ground size so you don't bugger the slot), pull the lever downward and out, then pull the bolt straight out the back.  The ejector has a pin that sits in a hole on the receiver left side, remove the ejector.  Now you can clean from the breech end.  It goes back together very easily in the reverse order.  Tighten that lever pivot screw good, but you don't need to go nuts.

 

You might want to stuff a wad of rag below the chamber to catch the bore drool while you are cleaning too.

 

Also keep an eye on that lever pivot screw from time to time, they tend to loosen up..

That sounds exactly like the Marlin. Henry is the same? From what others here have said, it seems Henry is more involved, making me think it's not the same as the Marlin.

Thanks for all the advice.  I still haven't had a chance to shoot it. Hopefully this weekend.  Are there any upgrades I should consider.  From what I reading replacing the sights is a popular improvement.  

I don't want to put a scope or red dot on it.  I have plenty of other rifles with optics.

That sounds exactly like the Marlin. Henry is the same? From what others here have said, it seems Henry is more involved, making me think it's not the same as the Marlin.

 

Yep, this is a good video from Hickok45 with a Marlin 336 that I used for guiding the first cleaning of my 357 Big Boy.  The process was the same.

 

 

And here are the full breakdown instructions from Henry.  Features the 44, but is the same for the 357.  Make sure you have the right tools and take your time.  I played the video in parts and followed along both for the disassemble, lubrication, and reassembly.  It's not difficult and I'm not exactly mechanically inclined.  

 

https://www.henryrifles.com/henry-instructional-video-series/big-boy-h006/