NEF accuracy

It is not that it "will" loosen up due to stretch... but it has and does on occasion... If you are shooting only manufactured loads, even +P loads, I am betting the 200 #1-level handloads that I ran through mine were "stouter..." And my gun is fine also... But I know of three guns that have rattled loose on heavy charge loads... A Whelen, .444 and a .45/70... All were from extended use with max+ loads which were "unadvisable," (or so they were told by myself and others)... At any rate, this is no smear on Handi's... I love them and have invested considerable thought, time, money and "elbow grease" on many projects over the past 30+ years...

P.S - the latch is the minor concern, it is primarily the hinge pin (or barrel some might say) which can and does "flex" during firing, when it does not fully rebound after the shot, play is introduced... This is a situation that would not affect 99.5% of shooters...
 
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hoytcanon said:
It is not that it "will" loosen up due to stretch... but it has and does on occasion... If you are shooting only manufactured loads, even +P loads, I am betting the 200 #1-level handloads that I ran through mine were "stouter..." And my gun is fine also... But I know of three guns that have rattled loose on heavy charge loads... A Whelen, .444 and a .45/70... All were from extended use with max+ loads which were "unadvisable," (or so they were told by myself and others)... At any rate, this is no smear on Handi's... I love them and have invested considerable thought, time, money and "elbow grease" on many projects over the past 30+ years...

P.S - the latch is the minor concern, it is primarily the hinge pin (or barrel some might say) which can and does "flex" during firing, when it does not fully rebound after the shot, play is introduced... This is a situation that would not affect 99.5% of shooters...
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If those "200 #1-level handloads" of yours are stouter than the Buffalo Bore ammo I shoot in my 45-70 Handi they are stout indeed. Perhaps too stout because Buffalo Bore pushes the pressure envelope right up to just shy of the SAAMI maximum.
 
I have had a handi in 45-70 for a couple years now, love it with 525 grain cast bullets. I just bought three more spanky new ones a .357 mag a 35 Remington and a 35 Whelen, have them all scoped now but have not got out to shoot them yet.
 
bunny said:
I have had a handi in 45-70 for a couple years now, love it with 525 grain cast bullets. I just bought three more spanky new ones a .357 mag a 35 Remington and a 35 Whelen, have them all scoped now but have not got out to shoot them yet.
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You'll like em'! I have all three also, I love the 35's... but I reamed my .357's to MAX and my .35 Rem's to .358 Win's... the Whelen's are still the way the colonel intended them...
 
Gunoholic said:
Would 35 Whelen be possible?
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Huh? Would .35 Whelen be possible for what? You can buy an OEM Whelen... Epps has half a dozen in stock right now... And a few are in the Camo Synthetic stocks that quite a few Handiholics prefer... Are you asking what the ream options are for the whelen... Cause a few years back I reamed one to the Ackley version, but was not impressed and sold it to go back to the standard Whelen... I have a bolt and semi Whelen also and didn't want to confuse the ammo...
 
hoytcanon said:
Huh? Would .35 Whelen be possible for what? You can buy an OEM Whelen... Epps has half a dozen in stock right now... And a few are in the Camo Synthetic stocks that quite a few Handiholics prefer... Are you asking what the ream options are for the whelen... Cause a few years back I reamed one to the Ackley version, but was not impressed and sold it to go back to the standard Whelen... I have a bolt and semi Whelen also and didn't want to confuse the ammo...
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I meant in the NEF single shot rifles.
I don't see 35 Whelen NEFs on any of the vendor websites.
There used to be NEFs advertised in 500 S&W but I no longer see them either.
I would definiely buy one in 500 S&W but I procrastinated too late. Now they seem to have vanished into the mists of time.
 
Gunoholic said:
I meant in the NEF single shot rifles.
I don't see 35 Whelen NEFs on any of the vendor websites.
There used to be NEFs advertised in 500 S&W but I no longer see them either.
I would definiely buy one in 500 S&W but I procrastinated too late. Now they seem to have vanished into the mists of time.
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Your searching for the wrong thing... "NEF" New England Firearms has not exsisted since 2007... The company was amalgamated under the "H&R 1871" banner... Now simply known as H&R... As I said Elwood Epps has a half dozen on the H&R SB2 Handi rifles in .35 Whelen in stock... They will occasionally get the .500 S&W also, but don't have any right now... Check Gagnon Sports also, Gerry carries Handi's and .500 S&W's... When i get a chance, I'll post a few pics on this thread of a few swap barrel sets that I have put together...
 
I think Remington owns the NEF/H&R amalgamation.
Not a good thing for any brand name as it wasn't for Marlin.
I've actually been searching on the Cabelas.ca, Wholesale, Frontier Firearms websites under single shot rifles and don't see anywhere near the selection I saw a few years ago.
 
Remington does own, H&R... I have not noticed a deterioration of quality since the move to Ilion... What we have noticed is an improved trigger... Never a bad thing... Although I do a trigger job on all of my Handi's anyway...
 
Gunoholic said:
I think Remington owns the NEF/H&R amalgamation.
Not a good thing for any brand name as it wasn't for Marlin.
I've actually been searching on the Cabelas.ca, Wholesale, Frontier Firearms websites under single shot rifles and don't see anywhere near the selection I saw a few years ago.
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Cabelas seems to be ditching the single shot. They had a wide selection of T/C's a couple years ago as well as a fair variety of H&R/NEF guns. I'm guessing they don't move off the shelves fast enough to suit management.
 
kennymo said:
Cabelas seems to be ditching the single shot. They had a wide selection of T/C's a couple years ago as well as a fair variety of H&R/NEF guns. I'm guessing they don't move off the shelves fast enough to suit management.
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Since the SIR takeover by Cabelas I have noticed that alot of firearms related stuff is on backorder.
I rejoiced at the takeover announcement thinking Canadians would have access to the abundance of gun related products shown on the American website.
The reality is that just the opposite has happened.
SIR had a lot more stuff than Cabelas.ca.
So far I'm totally unimpressed by Cabelas Canadian operation. :mad:
 
With each new H&R one gets a funky clunky Marlin "safety lock". :p

Also IIRC since 2007 they changed from the spring ejectors to simple extractors.
 
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I should have grabbed a Handi in 500 S&W when I had the chance.
Frak !
I have one in 45-70 and another in 308 Win.
They're (at least the pre-Remington ones) a lot of gun for the money.
You'd think that not even Remington could screw up something as simple as a single shot but after looking at a few post Remington Marlins "Remlins" I think it's entirely possible.
 
kennymo said:
Cabelas seems to be ditching the single shot. They had a wide selection of T/C's a couple years ago as well as a fair variety of H&R/NEF guns. I'm guessing they don't move off the shelves fast enough to suit management.
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And most everything else gun related is on backorder at Cabelas.ca so I really don't know what their raison d'etre is at that store for shooters.
Old Earl Robinson looked like he was 110 years old when he sold the Winnipeg SIR store to Cabelas but he had just about everything and anything I needed back in those days in stock.
With the new website we have at least a clue what Ellwood Epps has for sale in that big barn of a store in Orillia, Ontario.
For years the Epps inventory was the best kept secret next to the blue prints for the atomic bomb.
I'll bet Epps missed millions of dollars in sales because customers didn't have a clue what they had in stock while SIR/Cabelas, Wholesale Sports, Frontier Firearms and others got the business because they were running vendor websites with pictures and credit card processing capability. LeBarons website is no prize but at least it works and isn't bad once you get used to it.
I wish Epps would take the next step and show pictures of the guns on sale on their website.
I checked the Epps website and they do have H&R single shot rifles and I bought one.
2 years ago I'd have no way of knowing that unless I drove 150 miles to the Orillia store and another dealer running a modern website would have got the sale (and deserved it for being on the ball).
 
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I recently picked one up in 22-250 with the plastic thumbhole stock. Haven't had a chance to put it on paper yet but did run a few rounds through it to function check it and get it somewhat sighted. Fires and extracts just fine and the trigger is actually pretty decent. Probably be another week before I can shoot it for groups. Got me thinking that I'd like to have one with iron sights too. Are the iron sights any good on these?
 
super7 said:
I recently picked one up in 22-250 with the plastic thumbhole stock. Haven't had a chance to put it on paper yet but did run a few rounds through it to function check it and get it somewhat sighted. Fires and extracts just fine and the trigger is actually pretty decent. Probably be another week before I can shoot it for groups. Got me thinking that I'd like to have one with iron sights too. Are the iron sights any good on these?
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The irons are functional on Handi's... Williams rear notch and solid blade front... I switched all of my iron sight guns to either NoDak NDS-38's or Skinner peeps, mostly with Williams One-Piece Ramp FireSights.
 
I have a 204 Ruger in the Ultra Varmint, synthetic dragunov style stock, did the O-ring mod and it still won't group any better than my Browning BPS, kind of a disappointment really

Tb
 
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