H&R Topper Jr. Opinions

I have had a Topper 88 for over 30 years. I bought it new for 40 bucks. They are a good basic shotgun.

Probably the same shotgun as my Topper 88.

Simple, reliable, and painful to shoot with 12 Ga slugs or buckshot.

The ejection is almost murderous - empties come out of the breech almost as fast as whatever is being fired comes out of the muzzle . Don't point the breech at your face when you break the gun open with a fired shell in place.

Of course, this speeds up your rate of fire, if you hold an extra shell or two between the fingers of your shooting hand... roll the gun 45 degrees to the outside at the shoulder, break it open, slip in another shell, close the breech, cock the hammer and you're ready to fire again almost faster than it takes to tell it, with some practice.

Next time ask before you make a purchase. You should have bought Winchester 37 instead.

They are great solid shotguns.

just try to find a win 37 for 100-125 dollars. i have owned many win 37,s and they were not built any better than a H&R, they both have their faults. i bought this HR deluxe 12ga 3"mag with vent rib and choke tubes for 130.00 OTD at a close out and it has become my favorite run and gun spring turkey gun, i use a magic marker to cammo the nickle reciever for turkey. eastbank.

I also grew up with a topper jr model 490 .410 shotgun, still have it to this day and never had a malfunction with it.

Except for deer, all my shotgun hunting is done with either a Topper 12 guage or a Topper .410.
Standard field loads are tolerable in either gun, they point well, swing fast, and pattern where expected.
Really ticks my hunting buddies that I kill more rabbit and pheasant than they do with their Citori and Beretta 686 shotguns

I recently acquired a Topper Jr., and wondered if anyone has experience with it or its older brother.

Click to expand...

Funny, I might have acquired it's older brother.

It's an H&R, but w/ "Columbia" engraved on it.






I've put near a box of game loads through it as well as some reduced-recoil 00buck. Like Onmilo just said, it patterns where expected. The rate of shell ejection is almost comical! I'm going to practice the Fred Fuller technique.

I'm going to practice the Fred Fuller technique.

Oh, I didn't invent it, and I sure can't claim to have done so ... but it was taught to me so long ago, I can't even remember which one of the "old men" in my past showed it to me. I've been through a lot of shotguns since then.

If you want to see a variation of the concept on video, take a look at Clint Smith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NSLxxDWpOI.

Note where his empties go... thus the suggestion to roll the gun outboard 45 degrees before opening the breech.

I said that with tongue-in-cheek... I would have attached someone else's username to the technique if they had posted it. Hee!


Clint and hickok45 are my two favorite internet-video shooting hosts... thank you for posting that.