H&R Handi Rifle/Survivor as poor man's scout rifle?

[cluttonfred]

I mentioned this in another thread on the Stevens 200, but thought I'd better start a new thread.

First off, let me say up front that there are any number of milsurp, magazine-fed bolt-action rifles that would probably make a better scout than the H&R single shots. That said, I do think that the H&R single-shots do make rugged, inexpensive general purpose rifles for everything from plinking to hunting to SHTF.

Here are a couple of candidates:

H&R Survivor

H&R Synthetic/Stainless/Superlight Handi-Rifle

There are a lot of options there, but mostly we are talking 20-22" bull, standard or light barrels (in an action that is already 3-4" shorter than the equivalent bolt gun) in .223, .243 or .308.

I'd love to hear (and ideally see) both ideas and actual H&Rs modified to fit some of the scout concept--reasonably light and handy, glass and and iron sights, possibly forward scope mount.

By the way, has anyone seen one of the new Handi-Rifle synthetic stocks in person? From the pics I have seen (see the slug combos for example) they look to have a nicer "finish" than the older ones. Maybe they are now standard on all the new rifles?

Anyway, feedback welcome, join in!

 

[SpookyPistolero]

I've been interested in those for a while as a general purpose woods gun, but I just can't stomach the weight. They all seem to be near 7 lbs., which is just too much for a single shot IMO. A good, basic levergun will likely weigh a good bit less, or a 12 gauge.

 

[cluttonfred]

Here are the rough weights in .223...

Superlight Handi-Rifle = 20" light barrel = 5 1/2 lbs
Survivor/Synthetic Handi Rifle = 22" bull barrel = 6 1/2-7 lbs

I have absolutely no idea why the 1/2 lb difference between the last two, unless the Survivor-type stock is substantially lighter because it is hollow.

The Superlight is clearly the way to go in an unmodified rifle if weight is a concern, but you could certainly drop as much as two pounds from the bull barrel models if shortened to 16 in.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

This is just me, but if I could only take one rifle in the woods as a survival (hunting) tool...it would be my Marlin lever action 44 magnum.

 

[SaMx]

I read Jeff Cooper's original description of the idea of the "scout rifle," and the design is really supposed to be a very light weight and fast handling bolt action .308. people became focused on the forward mounted scope, and call anything with a forward mounted scope a scout rifle, but it was only really included because Jeff felt the normal position of a scope over the action got in the way, and I believe he originally wanted it to feed from stripper clips as well.

anyway, the ultralight handi-rifle comes close, it certainly meets the weight recommendation.

 

[paintballdude902]

i have seen some great looking marlin leveraction scout rifles

thats where i would start

 

[alemonkey]

I just bought a handi in .223 but haven't shot it yet. I do have to say it is probably the best balanced gun I've ever held, with a heavy (not bull) 22" barrel. As for it being too heavy, I never looked up what it weighed, but I thought it felt just fine to carry all day. It's so short that I think it would make a great brush/woods rifle.

Can't wait to get a 45-70 barrel for it and see just how big of a bruise I can get!

 

[alemonkey]

One more observation...I don't see the purpose of the forward scope mount on a Handi Rifle. You don't need to worry about it getting in the way of loading. I'd just use the factory scope mount in the regular position. For a quick handling rifle, maybe a fixed 4X scope with backup iron sights. That's what I'm thinking of doing when I get a 45-70 barrel, but no reason it wouldn't work well on any caliber.

Man, I really need to get a scope on my Handi and get it to the range....