H&R Handie rifle in 44 Mag ??

[Johnch]

I talked to a guy tonight that wants to sell a 44 Mag barrel , for the Handie rifle
I am going to see if it locks up tight on my frame .
Have to see how it looks and his final price


Anyone have one ?

How dose it shoot ?

Dose it have a .429 bore , or is it over sized like I have heard some H&R barrels are ?

How heavy of bullets will stabalize with normal loads ?
I was hoping to shoot the Lee 310 gr bullet


John

[dk17hmr]

Most of the 44mags from what I read are over sized, if not all. If the price is right and doesnt fit on your frame let me know I would be interested.

[Scrounger]

I talked to a guy tonight that wants to sell a 44 Mag barrel , for the Handie rifle
I am going to see if it locks up tight on my frame .
Have to see how it looks and his final price


Anyone have one ?

How dose it shoot ?

Dose it have a .429 bore , or is it over sized like I have heard some H&R barrels are ?

How heavy of bullets will stabalize with normal loads ?
I was hoping to shoot the Lee 310 gr bullet


John

They are Marlin barrels, you do the math... Go to the HandiRifle Forum at Greybeards, those guys are the experts. They can instruct you on fitting the barrels to your action using strips of aluminum from beer cans. I kid you not. The devil of it is, it works!
http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php?board=126.0

[OBXPilgrim]

Several from Greybeards found the bores slugged .432". I've been tempted to help one of those guys out of their misery by offering to buy one from them. I bet someone would jump all over the suggestion.

[MtJerry]

I have a 44mag barrel for my Handi Rifle. As the others have mentioned, they are notorious for being slightly over bored.

Mine slugs out at .432.

However, that doesn't mean they are not shootable. Just depends on what boolits you decide to shoot out of them.

For condom bullets, hornady xtp's shoot very well over a heavy load of 296.

For cast boolits, I am currrently using a lyman 429244 that is a dream when loaded as cast and not sized (they drop at .432).

As for performance, I reamed my 44mag barrel out a few years ago to 445 Super Mag and am getting near 444 Marlin performance.

GREAT deer rifle ...

Good luck to you.

[Johnch]

Well I checked it out .
Fits like it was made for my frame
We talked about the price over a cold drink
I ended up trading him ( my ) cast bullets for it
2l thousand each of 9mm , 38 and 45 and 500 - 400 gr GC bullets for his 45/70
It had been shot 99 times
He gave me the emptys and 1 loaded round along with a scope mount

It needs a good cleaning and it has a little surface rust .
I will then slug it

Hope it slugs close to .429 , but I will be happy with .432
As I talked to a guy that has one that slugs .435

John

[Scrounger]

Good deal. Jeff223 has a .445 SuperMagnum reamer you can turn by hand to give you that chamber. I understand he is generous in lending out the reamer. You can still shoot .44 Specials and Mags in it but with .445 brass you can almost match .444 Marlin performance. I have heard 300 grain bullets at just under 2000 FPS.

[dubber123]

I think they all are 1-38" twist, which is pretty slow. I have heard that many don't shoot too well with over 300 gr. bullets, and may show signs of instability even at 300 grainers, as witnessed by oval holes on paper. I would really like one, but I'm waiting to see if they will tighten up the twist. I think their 357 barrels are 1-18" for contrast. I've never understood that.

[Marlin Junky]

They are Marlin barrels, you do the math...

I wouldn't make that generalization. NEF's .444 barrel has a 38" twist. Marlin dumped the 38" twist for the .444 seven years ago. Also, NEF's .357 Magnum barrels (at least the one I have) measures .356" in the grooves and incorporates a 16" twist.

MJ

[Scrounger]

I wouldn't make that generalization. NEF's .444 barrel has a 38" twist. Marlin dumped the 38" twist for the .444 seven years ago. Also, NEF's .357 Magnum barrels (at least the one I have) measures .356" in the grooves and incorporates a 16" twist.

MJ

Marlin owns NEF. The NEF barrels are Microgroove. I don't think Marlin's going to let them buy barrels from anyone else as long as they have in-house barrels available. You could always call NEF and ask them. If it matters.

[lovedogs]

I'm not positive about this but I don't think H&R/NEF bbls. are made by Marlin even though Marlin is their owner. I know for sure that their Buffalo Classic bbls. are Green Mountain bbls. and would guess the Handi's are, also.

[357maximum]

Good deal. Jeff223 has a .445 SuperMagnum reamer you can turn by hand to give you that chamber. I understand he is generous in lending out the reamer. You can still shoot .44 Specials and Mags in it but with .445 brass you can almost match .444 Marlin performance. I have heard 300 grain bullets at just under 2000 FPS.

Last I knew Jeff gave his reamer to the owner of Coyote Guns the one that makes aftermarket TC barrels.

[jeff223]

357max is right.Paul at Coyote Guns has the reamer now.if you need a barrel rechambered to 445sm you can call him .here is his number 260-691-2684

Paul is a great guy to deal with and his workmanship is very good and he builds great barrels.here's my 17 inch 30-30ai Coyote Guns barrel on me Contender
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pf790c0f6cc6ee8c642aaa8fa5a656b91/e92febcb.jpg
this Coyote Guns barrel is a great jacketed boolit shooter too.under one at one hundred yards about two inch at 200yards and ive been shooting between 3 and 4 inch groups at 300yds.i even shot one group at 300yards at two and one half inches.

thats enough said about Coyote Guns barrels[smilie=s: