Just bought the Henry Big Boy .357/.38 lever action rifle.  It was a couple hundred more than the more utilitarian gun I was looking at, but it's gorgeous and shoots really well.

Except for the barrel, all the external metal parts are polished brass:



It even has a brass plate on the butt of the rifle.



This thing is nice enough to hang over my mantle as a piece of art.  

I was at the Clark County Shooting Complex yesterday, trying it out.  After I got used to it, using open sights, I was able to ring the steel gong at 90 meters every time using either .38 or .357 ammo.  It chambered my reloads just fine too.

I got a lot of attention at the range shooting it.  A guy next to me was trying to talk me into getting a red dot sight for it.  I think it would junk up the look of the rifle.  Besides, I'm dead accurate inside 90 meters.  I can't see shooting at ranges much more than that with open sights.  I don't see myself taking up deer hunting again, but if I did, the .357 has a max suggested range of 90 meters for hunting big game anyway.

The 20" barrel gets .357 rounds moving at a much higher velocity.  My 6" barrel pistol will get a magnum round going at about 1,400 ft./sec.  The 20" carbine gets them going at about 2,000 ft./sec.  That's almost proper rifle ballistics out of a carbine firing pistol bullets.

The rate of fire I was getting was impressive.  I was putting ten rounds on the gong in ten seconds.  Firing that fast, I'd sometimes miss one or two shots, but not by much.

The gun is small, easy to handle, has almost no recoil at all (even firing hot magnum rounds), and is evil accurate.  If you were at a dead run, 50 meters away, running serpentine, you wouldn't have a chance.

I won't own a gun I don't shoot, but this thing is so pretty, I'm reticent to get it all dirty by shooting it.