First day with my H&R ultra varmint, disappointing

by the sounds of it I must have been one of the very lucky ones
I have owned two H&R rifles one in 204 rug another a USH 12 ga
the 204 shot the smallest groups I have ever fired in any gun I have had past or present
The USH is the best slug gun I have ever owned
Lucky ?
 

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You can go over to Graybeard Outdoors and consult with the Handi rifle "experts" and you will get loads of advice but for the most part you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. While you are over there, ask your self "why is this whole forum devoted to the myriad of fixes apparently needed to make these guns shoot?" Answer; cause they are crappy guns!!! quote

but if you go to the tikka forum half are asking how to fix their tikkas or why cant their tikka shoot. its a manufactures specfic form of course your going to have questions from people on why my rifle is doing this or doing that thats what forums are for to ask questions usualy about problems not as many people post about how great their rifles are so its always going to be squewed (sp) and yes i do have a H&R and i do like it is it the best rifle out there no but i havent found one (i think im preety close though with my weatherby though:)and probably not going to but im going to contiune to look as to the expert at gbo their great guys and seem to have alot of faith and money into their rifles to be crappy guns but what do i know

 
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NastyDaddy101, I've already opolgize for being a A-Hole and now your gonna get me started again.
My two favorite sayings are: You can't polish a turd, and You can't make chicken salad out of chicken crap!
I'm sorry for what I said and bless all the starving pygmies in Africa.
 
Originally Posted By: White Eaglesome people think that small groups need high dollar rigs
hate to see small dollar make big waves i agree i have a cheap rem. 700 in .243 that shoots
 
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There was a guy and his 14 year old son that the range today and each was shooting a NEF in .243 Win. They had two different kinds of factory ammo (sorry, dont know what it was) and 20 rounds or so of handloads someone gave them to try. Neither gun shot better than 3" at 100 yards. Both guns were wearing 3X9 scopes, Bushnell Banner I believe but that should have be adequate I would have thought. Neither the man or his son left feeling very happy about their rifles.
 
There was a guy and his 14 year old son that the range today and each was shooting a NEF in .243 Win. They had two different kinds of factory ammo (sorry, dont know what it was) and 20 rounds or so of handloads someone gave them to try. Neither gun shot better than 3" at 100 yards. Both guns were wearing 3X9 scopes, Bushnell Banner I believe but that should have be adequate I would have thought. Neither the man or his son left feeling very happy about their rifles. quote

maybe there crappy shots? i've seen people who couldnt hit the broad side of the barn at the range but ive never thought that its the rifle fault figured they just couldnt shoot theres too many varables to blame it on the rifle when you were just watching some one else shoot it
 
They are what they are. I have a .223 ultravarminter and have had it about 10 years or so. It shoots 'good enough' for me. It will print around a 1" group consistently at 100 yards-sometimes a little smaller, sometimes a little larger. However that is good enough for me and my purposes. It is my out of the safe over the door rifle when I need a rifle to be 'handy'. I have never had a problem with it popping open or ejection/extraction problems either. Guess I got lucky with this one as I have seen lots of posts about handis with problems. It is heavy and I think a Stevens 200 is probably a better option but don't think they build one in .204. Good luck with your rifle. TnTnTn
 
Originally Posted By: RustydustThere was a guy and his 14 year old son that the range today and each was shooting a NEF in .243 Win. They had two different kinds of factory ammo (sorry, dont know what it was) and 20 rounds or so of handloads someone gave them to try. Neither gun shot better than 3" at 100 yards. Both guns were wearing 3X9 scopes, Bushnell Banner I believe but that should have be adequate I would have thought. Neither the man or his son left feeling very happy about their rifles.

I agree it may well be the shooters.
I have a couple of Ultra's... Varmint and Hunters
All shoot well and accurately. The hunter in 308 has some vertical poi shifting some different ammos. Good groups (about 1-1.5MOA)
My point is the gun will shoot. My buddy can shoot the same gun and get 3MOA. Between where he rests the gun on the bags and the hard trigger, he just can't shoot it.
I've been shooting these guns for almost 40 years and I am very used to shooting them.
My 243's, 223's shoot under or about MOA and the 22mag shoots just over MOA.

My 9 year old son can keep all of them at about 1-2MOA... with only about 3 years of experience.

Are they a benchrest gun? No. Are they acceptable as a shooter for hunting? You bet.... if you can shoot them.
I belive that some people are better off with something else. But used values at $100, you can't beat them!
I am always looking for a good used one that someone is selling cheap ($50-75) becuase they couldn't get them to shoot.
An SB2 frame can be sent back to the factory and a new barrel in an offered chambering for about $44-130 plus they will do a free trigger job on it if you ask them.
http://www.hr1871.com/Support/accessoryProgram.asp
 
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Quote:but if you go to the tikka forum half are asking how to fix their tikkas or why cant their tikka shoot. its a manufactures specfic form of course your going to have questions from people on why my rifle is doing this or doing that thats what forums are for to ask questions usualy about problems not as many people post about how great their rifles are so its always going to be squewed

Never heard of a "Tikka Forum" and googling it turned up only threads from a wide variety of hunting and or shooting forums. Maybe you can help me find it?

Also, I was not advocating the Tikka as our OP's solution. There are plenty of bolt guns out there that cost more or less than a Tikka and will give excellent out of the box service.

The GBO forum is not a manufacturers forum. H&R does not have a forum that I can see. At one time they were a sponsor of the GBO nef site but pulled out so as not to appear to be endorsing many of the suggestions and fixes being recommended there. Not that they were dangerous, but the legal dept always rules on such matters.

Quote:as to the expert at gbo their great guys and seem to have alot of faith and money into their rifles to be crappy guns but what do i know


They are great guys. So what!? They aren't great guns.
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Wonder why they have so much money in those guns? There's only a few ways to spend money on them; new wood, scopes, etc., the same stuff one spends on any rifle. Their "O" ring bill is probably in the hundreds though.
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BTW, the five I worked with all had great triggers.

When the ejector does work it'l put your eye out faster than a Red Ryder. When they don't work you better have a rod with you to knock it out. Unless, of course, you have applied NEF "fix #11", polishing your chamber so as to reduce chamber sticking.
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I realize that my posts on this topic have been serious bashing of the NEF, but my only intention has been to help our OP arrive at the inevitable conclusion before he invests too much into it. After all, his original reason for the purchase of the Handi was to economize.
 
When I read this a while back, I too went and Googled for a Tikka forum. Never found one. I did find a few random posts about older Tikkas that had probs on other forums. I hope the Poster can find a solution other than a ton of money to rectify the probs. Good Luck.
 
I keep browsing this post and can't help but to comment on occassion. I don't mean to critisize. but 1"- 1 1/2" groups are not a good group. IMO!! Why pay a few hundred bucks for a rifle and XX amount for a scope, then buy four or five box's of ammo at about $20.00 per box, trying to find a load it likes, to end up with a rifle that shoots 1 1/2" groups. What size is that group at 200yds.? I'm sure it isn't getting smaller the farther out you shoot. The same money plus a few bucks would buy a good Stevens or Marlin that will shoot and with out all the heart ache. The ones I had were nothing but a pain in the arse and nothing but trouble and unless its free, I'll never spend another cent on one. JMO as stated before.
 
I was dissappointed with the repeatability from the Ultra Varminter. It was very inconsistant. I am much happier with my SD AR-15 in .204 It shoots consitantly tight groups, good enough to compete with as well as hunt, although it is alittle heavy. On the flip side, I outfitted my daughter with a .223 handi-rifle, and it works just fine. So my concern is with they build from gun to gun. There should be a little more consistancy and thus reliability.
 
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