what handi rifle barrel(s)?

[jonp]

I bought one last year in 35 Whelen for $200 from Buds with the intention of sending in the the frame for a 45-70 Buffalo Classic but those barrels are not in stock.

So....any suggestions?

[sdcitizen]

I'd try to convince a machinist friend to do barrel stubs in the desired calibers. That fella could stay pretty busy nowadays.

[Goatwhiskers]

Jonp, I presume you know that the Handi is gone, there are some various barrels left that they will sell till they're gone too. If you check over on the graybeard site in the Handi forums there is a classified section where you can eventually find what you want. There's also flea-bay, but those folks are nuts. Often a barrel will fit correctly, if not there's plenty of info at the above mentioned site on how to fit a barrel, and believe me it's not hard if you have any ability at all. Good luck! GW

[jmort]

Gun Broker eBay

[jonp]

I do know the news. the question isn't where to get the barrels it's what calibers I should get them in

[Tackleberry41]

I was on ebay not long ago looking at some Handi barrels, you could buy a rifle for the same money.

[crazy mark]

I have a 243, 30-30, 308, 357 mag, 357 max, 44 mag, 45/410 and 45/70. 4 frames. 1 SB-1 and 3 SB-2. The 357 max is on a SB-1 frame.

[jmort]

The .30-30 and .357 are cast friendly. .44 mag or .500 S&W would be cool. There are some .45-70 complete rifles for $279 on Gun Broker.

[leftiye]

What calibers do you like? I myself have tried to have a full range of calibers to cover all game. The idea was to have a one gun survival combo. If I went for one barrel it would be a Whelen or a .375 Win (this is due to my desire to use cast. jacketed is a whole nuther thang). More than one would be a .444 Marlin (the .44 mags have 1 in 38 twists and less knockdown), or a thutty thutty. And so on. As was mentioned earlier, custom barrels are the answer too as H&R selection sucks. Another direction would be to buy a bunch as they're not going to be available for much longer.

[dragonrider]

Did they completely discontinue the handi rifle or just stop fitting additional barrels for those wanted them?

[Whiterabbit]

35 max is amazing. After that, I like the shotgun barrels, 20ga slug. If you can get a 12ga slug, a muzzleloading insert would be awesome for some black powder fun.

I had a failed dream of (maybe one day) making my own stub from a junk barrel and making a 7mm white rabbit out of it, which is basically a sort of 300 blk but in 7mm with a REALLY long neck for loading cast boolits in designed at rook-rifle level power. Hard to say no when the pressure plans are miniscule.

[Four-Sixty]

Grab a .357 barrel if possible. When I take family to the range, I can't pry the .357 handi out of their hands.

I have a CVA hunter in 44 Mag on order. Already have a 35 Remington. They are great rifles. Better for field carrying, lighter and a glass smooth, and light trigger.

[Catshooter]

Dragon,

The Handi is gone, done.

Barrels? Well, the 223 is nice or can be turned into a 225, 30-30 of course, and the 45-70 is too cool for school. Other than that, what do you like? 243, 25-06, and others have been available.


Cat

[Whiterabbit]

As long as used barrels are available on cast boolits, ebay, gunbroker, and GBO then the Handi will never be gone or done. The trigger is as light as you care to polish it. The weight is well..... typical for a handi rifle.

[Whiterabbit]

you know, instead of a stub, I wonder if a 12ga 3.5" chamber could be cut to 3.4" and used directly as a stub for pistol-type cartridges. solder in your barrel of choice.

The chamber OD would only be 12ga shotsell sized. Dunno if that's enough meat for a low pressure cartridge? I imagine so, since they make 357 and even 45 colt inserts for 12ga....

OK, more I think about this the more I have to do it. Almost a no-brainer. My 7mmWR cartridge may live yet. 162 grain boolit at 1000 fps. should be like an oversized 22rimfire.

[thegatman]

I love handi's. Have a receiver on gunbroker now. SB-1. Love the 45-70's. Barrels are getting pricey.

[wgr]

Do,nt know about riflr barrels but i have 3 black powder barrels fitted to handi frams. they are not stubs a smith made a underlug for them just like the factory barrels.

[blixen]

30-30! I've got one with a 16" barrel. Great for cast. I was going to convert it to extraction but I've gotten good at catching the brass on the fly.

[GhostHawk]

I started with a .223 in a bull barrel, was able to get it into H&R in time to get the last of the accessory barrels.

However they did run out of .357 barrels, putting my order into limbo for near 2 months.
Thanks to Brian56 at GBO forums he was able to find my order, find the problem, I agreed to a higher price Talo barrel.
He removed the rear sight, put a scope mount on it for me.

And he had a 7.62x39 stashed away which he fitted for me.

Then I noticed that Grabagun.com had some pretty good deals on the last of the H&R Rifles.

Like a .444 for 207$ and a .300BO for just a few dollars more.

So I bought one of each as much as an investment as planning to use them.

So now I have 4 receivers, 5 barrels, 2 wood stock sets, 2 composite. I'm keeping my eye's open for reasonably priced older stock sets. My last one was off a mid 70's shotgun and I got it for 30$ and I'm tickled pink with it.

I do intend to start the .444 off pretty light with some .214 gr bullets over light loads of Red Dot.

[jonp]

Buds has 7-08 for about $200 shipped. I was thinking of getting one but IDK. I have a 35 Whelen already and was thinking of a 243 and maybe a 45-70

[JohnH]

The .30-30 and .357 are cast friendly. .44 mag or .500 S&W would be cool. There are some .45-70 complete rifles for $279 on Gun Broker. Every 44 Mag Handi barrel I've seen runs at the SAMMI spec of .432 or slightly higher. I got an NOE 434429 mold and it solved all my accuracy problems with both my NEF and a Rossi '92 44 Mag. Just a heads up on what it will likely take to get a 44 rifle barrel to shoot