Posted on 02/25/2010 5:45:20 PM PST by marktwain
Sarah Palin has another gun—a Henry Big Boy .44 Magnum lever-action rifle, stamped with a unique serial number: PALIN-001. Engraved with the words, “Presented to Sarah Palin, February 16, 2010, Arkansas Republican Party,” the rifle was a gift to the former Alaska governor, who headlined a Republican Party fundraiser last week at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Palin made note of the gift in the opening lines of her speech. “I scored a .44 Magnum. It's beautiful, and I thank you,” she told the crowd, as if the people of Arkansas themselves had bored the barrel, carved the stock and engraved the brass receiver.
The man responsible for the donated rifle was a New Jerseyite, Anthony Imperato, president of Henry Repeating Arms Company in Bayonne (his family once operated an arms company in Jacksonville). He presented the one-of-a-kind gun to Palin in a backstage ceremony before her speech.
There was at least one other gun in the building that night. On one of the silent-auction tables flanking the speaker's dais, past a photo of Ronald Reagan and a photo of Palin framed together and titled “Voices of Conservatism,” was another Henry rifle. It was exactly like Palin's but with its own distinct serial number: GOP-001.
Backstage before the speech, Imperato stood at a waist-high cocktail table in the windowless VIP area, waiting for his chance to present the rifle to Palin. Asked why he was donating the guns, Imperato said, “I'm just a nice guy.”
An event volunteer, Patrick Rhodes, stepped in to steer Imperato's answer. “If I could put words in your mouth, ‘What better way to emphasize our support of the Second Amendment?' ”
Between the two of them, they went on to link Palin to Abraham Lincoln, “who was a Republican” and who also owned...
(Excerpt) Read more at arktimes.com ...
That’s a nice gun, love those Henry repeater rifles!
Okay. That does not even LOOK like a Henry rifle. More like an 1866 “yellow boy”. And is that really a brass frame, for a .44 mag?
Nice.....a nice gun for a good lady.
Good Hunting, Sarah.....
It’s beautiful, and I thank you,” she told the crowd, as if the people of Arkansas themselves had bored the barrel, carved the stock and engraved the brass receiver.
That sentence, Jaman, such a silly, angry, mean little stretch, makes you a 14 yr old girl. Nothing more.
Beautiful rifle.
you can’t even give a thank you without a dig these days
Yeah, they are more like copies of an 1894 Winchester with a brass "Yellow Boy" frame. I have a replica of an 1873 Winchester in 44/40, which was a direct descendent of the original Henry.
A brass frame is more than enough for a 44mag rifle. The 44 mag may sound like a big deal for pistols but it basically has about the energy of a 243 or some such, i.e. it’s low end power for a rifle cartridge. It’s significantly more lethal on most American game at most normal ranges i.e. inside about 100 meters than many cartridges with greater ballistics, but lethality and ballistics don’t correlate strongly and that’s a sort of a long story.
She knows how to handle it too.
Besides being an absolutely BEAUTIFUL custom piece, it'll knock down just about anything that walks the earth.
She has herself a very nice collection going.
- It’s approximately 6-7 pounds
- One of a kind custom solid billet upper hand fit to a forged lower made of 7075 T6 alloy
- Vltor Enhanced Modular stock with the state of Alaska engraved on the side
- Satern machining single point cut rifle barrel 1/20 twist, with an integral flash hider milled into the barrel with an 11 degree crown, chambered in .50 Beowulf
- Composite G10 hand guards with spiral pattern cut
- SSA Geiselle 4 pound trigger
- Magpul trigger guard
- Eotech 512 holo sight
- One seven round magazine
- Ergo small grip
Nasty, petty little article by a reporter who is doubtless a nasty, petty little liberal.
Nice looking, American made rifle.
Nice gun! But YIPES! Look at the guy’s face. Creepy!
It's still a fine gift.
As I understand it, the .44 mag can be a great cartridge for deer-sized game at the appropriately short ranges, but it needs oomphed-up handloads to realize it’s potential and I’ve been reading for years that lever-action rifles do not give good case support and power loads are not recommended.
Other than that, a 44mag bullet picks up an extra 300 - 400 fps in a rifle barrel and assuming a halfway heavy 44mag load, will just totally drop anything you'd ever find in North America while 300 mag rifle bullets often don't. Basic bottom lines are that there's no real way to make a bullet which expands properly both at 400 meters and at 70 meters, and something like 90% of all the killing of game animals in the real world is inside of 100 meters.
That big Marlin lever-action in 44mag or 45/70 is basically America's most lethal gun. The 45/70 version with heavy ammo will drop any African game.
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