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Picked up two NEF Handi Rifles. One from the classified here and will be coming in on Monday.

So, I got a .223 and a .243. The .223 is a sweet little shooter and makes clover leafs at 50 yards. I haven't shot it farther yet. The .243 should be in Monday.

Anyone got much experience with the Handi Rifles? Seem like fun cheap guns to play with.

Both these will be for my boy. I'll get him started on the .223 and the .243 will probably be his first deer getter.

-Jake

Just one in .17HMR. Very accurate rifle.

Ed

i love them got one new in 44mag an sent it back to h&r to install a 357mag barrel for it both shoot good. bout a nother one in 308 and it shoots good. they are not bench rest guns but good hunting an nock around guns

How long ago did you have your barrel fitting done? I've heard that they don't do that anymore, but if they do I'd like to have one done as well.
-Jake

Neat little guns that deserved better than they got from the Freedom Group. I also think they got a little carried away with offering too many models and cartridge offerings. .35 Whelen?

Brian Pearce reviewed a couple some years back and liked them, and our own Mule Deer has a .243, I believe, and his wife used a .308 in Africa, if memory serves(!).

The promised Henrys look even nicer, but they've not said anything about fitting extra barrels.

I've owned seven of them. They are great little truck guns, but I had issues with the wooden stocked ones - a 22 Hornet and 30-30. Just the luck of the draw. I had to play with the forestocks and ended up taking a little wood off and using nylon spacers on the screws. They shot okay after that, but it took me awhile to figure out. The best Handi I had, but foolishly got rid of, was a 308 Survivor rifle. I had too many 308s and that one got traded away. I'm carrying the 308 Survivor in my avatar pic.

I have three left, but they are all keepers, and all have synthetic stocks. A 44 mag, a 444, and a 22 Hornet. The 444 is a kicker and not particularly comfortable to shoot. I haven't taken this one out hunting, but it carries well. I cast bullets for the 44 Magnum and 444. A 255 gr. Lyman 429244 and a Ranch Dog 265 gr for the 44 Mag. A 325 gr. Lyman 429650 and Lee 310 gr. for the 444.

I never owned a 223 or 243 in a Handi. Just a couple of things with bottle necked cartridges when you're shooting them from a Handi. Headspace. When the shoulder moves forward and the action does not like to close, don't try forcing it shut. You are better off to invest in a Redding body die and pushing the should back so they will chamber.

And I wouldn't run any of the cartridges at maximum loads. The action strength is fine, but I have noticed that all my Handis preferred approximately 1.0 grain less than max. for best accuracy. Keeping the velocity down a bit also helps to reduce the forward movement of the shoulder.

I still use a headspace gauge for my 22 Hornet. If it fails - IOW, the shoulder has moved forward too much - I give the offenders a little squeeze with the body die. Straight walled cartridges aren't as finicky IME. It makes sense though. There's no shoulder to mess up the works.



This was my 30-30 (above). The stock was worked on. If JB reads this thread, he will recall when he tested a new Simmons scope, some years back. A 4x32. I believe he got a prototype to use. I bought a production scope. It truly was a POS. The reticle came loose inside and slowly started turning. The scope in the above pic was a replacement Bushnell 2-7x32 3200. I wanted to like that 30-30, but it gave me fits and I got rid of it too.

The last bit of strange is my Tactical Hornet. I was shooting this rifle with just a scope, but no bipod, cheek piece or "tactical" E-Z Pull trigger. It was shooting pretty good. .75 to an inch at 100 yd. My friend said I would shoot better groups with a CZ or even a Savage Model 25. I told him I was just breaking in the barrel and would be converting it to a "Tactical" Hornet. That's why I put the bi-pod, cheek piece and EZ Pull trigger on it. The EZ Pull has since gone away, but I kept the bi-pod, with the addition of a rubber pad, so that it would grip the forestock firmly.






The little Handis are fun to play with and shoot. It truly was a shame that they closed the doors there. You will get many years of fun with them. Just remember about the headspace and don't push the velocities too hard.

They made them in 35 REM but they are hard to find

One warning. Oil in the lockup mechanism can cause the gun to pop open after firing.

The older Handi Rifles were consistently good shooters. The later ones were hit and miss. I ran into several with bad crowns and faulty rifling. I sent a 44 mag back 4 time and never did get one that would do better than 4" group in 50 yards. My older 45-70 Handi Rifles are tack drivers. I have one in 223 that I was considering selling as it was not very accurate. Instead I had the chamber reamed to 556 Nato. That turned it into a very accurate rifle. The same batch of bullets that were marginal in the former chamber are very accurate in the new one, clover leafs at 50 yards.

THEY WERE GREAT GUNS TILL MARLIN GOT THEM THEN SLIP A LITTLE BUT WHEN REMINGTON GOT THEM THEY WERE JUNK NEVER HAD A BAD ONE AND NEVER OWN A REMINGTON ONE NEITHER