Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters NEF Handi rifle

Looking for help. I have 3 handi rifles well 2 rifles one shotgun. My sons girlfriend wanted to get him a rifle since she didnt have alot of money for this purchase I suggested 223 bull barrel handi rifle.To our surprise it does not eject it pops the case out about 1/4 inch with scope and gloves its impossible to deal with. Factory said to bad so sad they wont fix it to eject , dealer wont take back because we shot it any ideas, Factory said they have recieved complaints for a year but they refuse to do anything has anybody have any ideas to fix this problem. We wont buy anymore thats for sure. thanks

Send it back to the New England-Marlin in Conn .They will make it right.

That is the way the 'new' ones are supposed to function. They did away with the ejector a few years ago. I have the older version of the .223 bull ultravarmint and it ejects the fired or loaded cartridge when it is opened. Mine is circa 2000 or so. Plateau Hunter

The older Handi-Rifles had ejectors that would clear the spent shell out of the chamber. From what I understand, the newer Handi-Rifles utilize an extractor, which behaves in the manner in which you describe. The spent casing is only pulled out of the chamber a bit, and one must then remove the casing.

Yep they have extractors now not ejectors. Must have put a couple of eyes out.

The 1998 year it was made throws the spent case 6-8 feet.

I wish my Hornet only extracted. I am greedy about those little pieces of brass.

See if some one wants an extractor and will trade an ejector?

I'd live with it.

As I understand it, the newer .223 Handi's are equipped with a 1-10 twist barrel instead of the previous 1-12 and will stabilize the heavier bullets much better.

Didn't know they had changed the twist, but wonder why didn't they make it a 1-8" or so.

if i had to guess on that it would be the fact that most folks that shoot the bullets that could utilize that fast of a twist would be useing a rifle akin to real target shooting and not be buying a handi rifle. not meant to bash the handi rifle, but it is what it is and as a whole not one that you tend to see in any serious target shooting on a regular basis.

you have a better gun at the range and hunting sence you don't have to look for cases or shells after opening

That's fair enough, but I remember reading just recently a post from another member of the campfire about the 62 grain Federal Fusion load in .223. It might or might not run in a 1-10". There are those who would smite deer with such a load.

Try using gravity....point the muzzle up and the case falls in your hand...Not exactly rocket science.

My daughters .243 Handi has an ejector and I just sold a .223 heavy barrel ejector. Both were a PITA since I was always looking for the Lapua brass it just threw 8 feet behind me. Or even worse, if you forget to cover it when you unload it in the deer stand, it would throw the live round out twenty feet below into the leaves....

If you still want an ejector barrel, try Greybeard Outdoors in the Handi Classifieds..

Doesn't Lapua brass cost more than a Handi rifle?

Not much a solution since-

1) While from about 2000-2008 Marlin DID own NEF/ H&R, the plants were in two different states (Marlin in Ct and NEF in Mass.)

2) The Marlin factory NEVER has serviced NEF products- only Marlins

3) The NEF/H&R plant in Mass. was shut down and production moved to Illion ,NY after Remington bought them and Marlin out last year. Any servicing of the NEF rifle is done there.


The change to extractors was made when Marlin still owned NEF. They were damned if they did and damned if they didn't. As you can see on this thread, about half the folks who have extractor barrels wish they were ejectors and vice versa.

Greybeard Outdoors also has a FAQ in the Handi Forum with insturctions on retrofitting an ejector.

I have 3 of the things right now, with a little tweaking you can get them to shoot real well, and you can afford them. Changing the ejector to extractor was a real mistake IMO; but the rimmed cases seem to work OK, I learnt to catch the brass when the action is opened.

The ejector models didn't eject some rimless cartridges very well, and were problematic. H&R will service all NEF products.

There's nothing to fix because there's nothing wrong with the barrel. It's designed that way.

I love my Handi Rifles. They shoot great.

I have one in .22 Hornet with an ejector, wouldn't eject for a long time, had to do all sorts of stuff to get it working, and not sure what did the trick. Still won't eject my handloads. I put my thumb over the cartridge head before breaking it fully open to keep it from launching the case. Bought the wife one in .243 with an extractor, works much better as far as a positive removal of the fired case from the chamber, but the gravity suggestion doesn't work, fired case fits tighter than that. Finger removal is fairly easy.

I had a mid 90's version that would throw the darn things like 8 feet...or none at all. You have to resize the brass full length or use factory - I assume that this is factory fodder and the gun is designed to do as stated above???

Either sell and get an older one or live with it, I say, and be careful to full length resize if you reload