H&R handi rifle

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kyhunter

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Im curiousif any of you out there have any experience with these single shot break open guns especially in .45-70. Ie got a pretty good place to get one for a reasonable price and have never dealtt with any H&R's before.. Thanks
 
I used to have one in .22-250, a buddy of mine had an identical one, my never did shoot even with good optics, his is a tackdriver. sometimes it would break open when I fired it, it is a low priced rifle and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. as for one in .45-70, good luck with the recoil, probably put a good bruise on your shoulder, loosen some of your fillings if not your retina.
 
I have an H&R buffalo classic in 45/70. (32 inch barrel) Excellent accuracy. In my state there are a lot of handi rifles, as they are considered "primative weapons" I know many owners, on the shorter Handy rifles, it is a crap shoot on accuracy, some are great, some not so much. The 32 inch models all seem to be very accurate. Also with the heavier weight of the 32 inch barrel the recoil is about the same as my remington 700 in .270. I'm shooting hand loads 350 gr flatnose jacketed projectiles, powered by H4198. They will go through a 6 inch sweetgum tree and kill the deer on the other side.
 
I also have a Buffalo Classic. The Handi seems to do best with rimmed cartridges like .30-30, .45-70, and .22 Hornet. I like them, especially in these three calibers. I want a .45LC carbine barrel for mine. Go over to the Graybeard Outdoors forums and check out their H&R forums, lotta good info there.
 
Handis are just that, inexpensive break open rifles that shoot accurately with good ammo. I have three and at least another half-dozen barrels. The Poor-man's T/C Encore. I have a .45-70 barrel and it is an excellent shooter with loads it likes. Despite measuring at .458 (grooves) it loves .461 diameter lead slugs at "trapdoor" velocities/pressures/recoil. 5 slugs inside 1.5 inches at 100 yards off the bench are common with 405/450/475 grain bullets at 1200- 1400 fps. A good shoulder pad and recoil pad are suggested for all but the most intrepid. I also have .30-30, .357 Mag, .44 Rem Mag, .223 Rem, 12 Gage rifle, 12 Gage full choke, and 20 gage rifle barrels for my trio. Can't get any more "handi" than that!
 
I had a .223 Handi Rifle that would not hold three inches at 100 yards even with Federal Premium ammo. I traded it at a large gun shop for a Rossi stainless steel Model 62 pump .22 LR and have never looked back.
 
I fired a friend's Handi rifle in .223. Remarkably accurate rifle for a single shot, low cost rifle from a not so popular company. Will have to get one myself eventually.
 
I've got the Rossi (which I think is identical, if not very close to the same thing) with three barrels, it's a nice accurate little single shot that's been very reliable. I toss it in the truck as a backup gun when hunting, and between .22lr .243 and 20-gauge I'm covered for pretty much anything if my primary rifle craps out on me.
 
I've got one in .357 mag and its an accurate little guy. With 38's it has next to no recoil and eats up my super hot magnum handloads too.
 
I have a Classic Carbine in .45 Colt and an older Handi combo in 30-30, .357 mag and .410 bore. I've had the Handi for close to 20 years and shoot it regularly. The .45 Colt is just a couple years old and is a very nice gun for the money. I really enjoy shooting oddball loads like .454" round balls and light .45acp bullets.
I agree they're best with rimmed rounds. There are a lot of reports about hit or miss accuracy with rimless rounds.
Since head spacing is also a variable with Handis, I wonder if rimmed rounds handle bad head spacing better than rimless ones?

I think you'll love the .45-70, especially if you hand load.
 
Sheffielf shooter, I have a friend, who bought a .223 H&R handi rifle too. He couldn't get 3 foot groups either. The problem was he was using
62 gr. 5.56X45 ammo he could lay his hands on at work. You have to remember, .223 and 5.56X45 ARE NOT THE SAME, also the rate of twist in the barrel of a perticular weapon requires a certain weight bullet to stabilize properly! Let's not blame a firearm when feeding it an improper diet, as my friend did!
 
I'd like to have one in 30-30 with a 24" barrel to load the 125 grain BT.
 
There is also a healthy owner's group discussion forum that has lots of good information on fixing the quirks of these inexpensive rifles. So all in all if you like the idea of a break open single shot that is cheap then it's likely a safe purchase. And if you are a little handy at tinkering with your guns then you could use the hints to correct any issues you should find.
 
Sun Tzu warrior wrote:

Sheffielf shooter, I have a friend, who bought a .223 H&R handi rifle too. He couldn't get 3 foot groups either. The problem was he was using
62 gr. 5.56X45 ammo he could lay his hands on at work. You have to remember, .223 and 5.56X45 ARE NOT THE SAME, also the rate of twist in the barrel of a perticular weapon requires a certain weight bullet to stabilize properly! Let's not blame a firearm when feeding it an improper diet, as my friend did!

I clearly stated that I even tried Federal Premium ammo which is .223 Remington stat brass loaded with Sierra boat tail hollow point bullets. They were 50ish grain projectiles and that was my final play after trying the econo .223 lines from Winchester and Remington.

I did shoot some Wolf steel case 5.56 ammo that was on hand just out of curiosity. It grouped as well as the other pricier cartridges mentioned above, but the auto ejector would not pop out the fired cases. I fired a few rounds of the Wolf for accuracy testing from a freshly clean bore and would gently eject the fired cases from the chamber by inserting a cleaning rod and tapping until they let loose. Assumed it was due to the slightly different cartridge specs and/or the varnish that the manufacturer coated the cases with.

I don't have anything against the handi-rifle. It's simply that kyhunter asked for opinions and experiences, and I felt I should offer mine.

I don't like to have to tinker with a new firearm to make it do what I expect from it. Some do. More power to them.

Oh, by the way, I did not say "three foot groups". I said three inch groups.

There are tons of .223 sporters out there in the used gun racks that will hold 2 inches or much better at 100 yards for five shots with factory ammo.

Also, I tried two different scopes with good track records on the rifle to make sure it was not a case of bad optics.
 
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No experience in .45-70, but I've got one in .30-30 (also have one of their 20ga shotguns and a Rossi in .308).

It works well - particularly for rimmed cartridges like the .30-30 or .45-70. I didn't even bother to scope mine. Just kept iron sights on it. Its good enough for me to consistently break clay pigeons set out at 75 yards which is good enough for me to deer hunt with it.

I found it used in a pawnshop for $125 IIRC. Had some surface rust to clean off and the rear sight blade was missing (H&R sent me a new one for free), but other wise was a great purchase.
 
If your first handi is a success, you will come down with a Handi-addiction for which no cure is necessary, just bigger gun safes.

My current project is a .357 reamed to .357 MAX. With a 16 1/2 inch barrel, I am getting sub-moa accuracy and 2150 fps with a 180 gr. bullets. Better than a .35 Rem with less recoil. On average, a Handi out of the box will be more accurate than a Ruger No. 1 or Encore out of the box in my personal experience. The only accurate No 1 I ever owned cost me many hundreds more to make it sub MOA. The only gun that is consistently more accurate than a Handi is the EABCO 97D at over a thousand a pop with several months wait.

http://www.dandtcustomgunworks.websitetoolbox.com/?forum=92466
 
I've heard the 45-70 can be a bit snappy in the recoil department compared to a heavier Sharps or Rolling Block. Also the twist seems to be optimized more for the 350-400 grain bullets, not the big 500+ bullets commonly used at long range. None of that means it's bad, just how it was built.

Personally, I have a 223 heavy barrel. It's not so great with 55 and up bullets, but when I tried some 50 grain bullets with a different powder, it settled in at 1" or so at 100. So maybe it's just a fussy feader.

Also, I wish a knew someone that specialized in a trigger job for them. They could use one of those. :)
 
Handi rifles are great, there are real simple fixes for one that has issues such as opening after the shot. They have quite a following for good reason, cheap, reliable, accurate, rugged.
Some laminated/fluted models are quite pretty too.

2 complaints:
--the hammer spur should be lower for optics usage
--hard to make changes in trigger pull
 
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