My Handi Rifle - so far

[WebMonkey]

I've always been a fan of break action shotguns.

When i turned my attention to rifle cartridges, i discovered i 'got in' way too late to capitalize on the h&r/nef handi series.

I stumbled upon a NEF stamped handi in .223 with a scope. $160.00 u.s. out the door.
sweet!
this barrel is the default barrel and i keep it 'handi' with softpoints for varmint control on the homestead.
it has an extractor

I got a 20ga barrel off ebay for something like $25.00 u.s.
it was discolored really bad but certainly serviceable.
i stripped and steel wooled it. then fake blued it. it always comes out grey/brown because i'm not good at it.


i shortened it to 18.5", put cva sights on it and a polychoke II.
now, before you get too upset about the polychoke, this polychoke is the rem-choke version and simply screws out leaving the barrel ready to accept any 'normal' rem-choke threaded choke.

it has an ejector

lastly is a .357 mag barrel with factory sights.
i will not be reaming to max as i am happy with the poor ol' mag.

it has an ejector that i will most likely change to an extractor.
before this barrel came home, i used a chiappa x-caliber 8" rifled insert in the 20ga barrel.
it'll be nice to have my daughters hunt with this barrel next year.
lee 358-158-rf over 7.2gn unique

It came with the synthetic stock with the 'slender' forearm.
i bought, from choate, the 'store-arm' forearm.
it came with 2, no tool, forearm screws.
the shotgun barrel has a different thread so it was nice to get both thread type screws with the easy on/off forearm.

'monkey

[GhostHawk]

I caught the bug just a little earlier than you.

I was able to get a .357 mag barrel fitted to my .223 at the factory, along with a 7.62x39 barrel.
I then bought 2 complete guns from grabagun new old stock, .300Blackout with black composite stock, and a .444marlin with camo composite. Both the .357mag and the .444marlin are awesome shooters with light loads of Red Dot.

From there I found a 9mm stubb job for sale reasonable. And 3 shotguns from the local pawn shop.

I had been hunting for almost 4 years for a .45colt barrel which I found here some months back.
It dropped onto my .300BO frame like it was made for it.

Barrel prices seem to be dropping some, for a bit they were hitting the 500$ mark. But some sense seems to be returing to the market.

There are still whole guns for sale. Out of the way pawn shops, Gun Broker, etc.
If you have an itch just have to keep scratching till you find one you can live with the price.

My best shooters are all dedicated guns, no swapping, no messing around. They are scoped, sighted in and carefully put away with loads worked up.

On the other side of the coin I have one hard case that has the .300BO, the 9mm, a 12 ga shotgun barrel, and the .45colt. All fit on the frame. But between guns, barrels, and scopes that is a 1000$ box.

But it would do most anything a person needed to do I reckon.

[725]

Love those H&R's. Some of my most fun in the field has been with them.