Handi Rifle

striker

striker

New member
Howdy Fellas, My brother has gotten a NEF Handi Rifle recently and absolutely loves it for the rifle range. He and I are avid Coyote hunters during the winter here in South West Utah. I am seriously considering a .223 rem. in the same rifle. NEF is offering the gun for $199.00 plus a $20 mail in rebate, making the rifle only $179.99. Pretty tempting aye? My question to all of you enthusiests out there is, What is are the goods and bads about this rifle? I am talking about the nitty gritty facts. I am pretty decided on the caliber, just need comments on the gun, and other suggestions if ya have'em. I greatly appreciate all of your input and will give consideration to all of your thoughts and ideas. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Last edited:
Hate to be a wet blanket, and since your bro gots one and loves it you'll probably get one too. You will find as many swear at 'em (me included) as by 'em. They can be tricky and for me, cheap here is just cheap, not inexpensive. Put in a little extra get get a T/C G2 if ya want single shot and get some advantage of different cartridges if ya want.

I you look closely at Greybeards you will find lots of issuses w/ NEF not the least of which is accuracy!

Just my $0.02 and HO.
 
I just bought the 204 for my wife and it is shooting 3/4" groups. I have a 223 also and am working on loads for it. The TC is probably better but I think the NEF is just fine. You can get other caliber barrels for it just like the TC only half the price. I dont think they are a bad gun at all.
 
I have had 3 over the last 4 years (have a .223 now). Though they aren't the prettiest single shot out there, I think they are a decent firearm for the money. All the ones I have own have shot and functioned great. The .17 HMR would shoot 5/8" groups @100, and the .223 that I have now for a second yote gun will shoot into 1" with winchester 45gr. whitebox loads. The only change I made to them was an o-ring between the forearm and barrel to get rid of the contact except at the mounting screw. This seemed to really help it. Granted TC etc. are alot nicer firearms, but on a budget, it's hard to beat the Nef.
 
I have a NEF in a .223 and LOVE IT. I coyote hunt with it and it is deadly accurate. I do handload and really enjoy shooting my NEF. It is the best value around.
 
I have one, my dad has one,and my buddy has one. all of them are .223's, and on all of them the ejecters will sometimes stick which became a major problem when trying to get in a second shot. you get what you pay for,lets put it that way and thats why I now have a Ruger.
 
Howdy back atcha, Striker!! What they all said, cept for that Mark fella, he gave up real easy on his 45-70 he had, I could say the same thing about just about any firearm made at one time or another and they all cost more than twice what a Handi sells for!! To read some of the gripes on the Encore boards makes ya wonder sometimes!! I have 26 barrels and 14 frames in many different persuasions from rimfire to a shotgun, to 3 custom calibers in 405 Win, 45-120 and .338-06, don't have a one that won't shoot moa or better. Have a .204 Ruger Handi, .223 Ultra Varmint and .22-250 Fluted Ultra Varmint in the varmint calibers. Sometimes they take a bit of fine tuning, others shoot well right outa the box. For those with sticking brass, keeping the chamber clean and dry and giving it a good polishing will do wonders for eliminating the problem, I haven't had a stuck case in hundreds of rounds in any of em unless it was my fault for not wiping the chamber after cleaning at the range. All the new rifles will be coming with mechanical extractors so that should eliminate that problem once and for all. Check out Graybeard's NEF/H&R Centerfire forum, lots of extremely happy Handiholics there to guide ya if you have a problem. I spect that Longcruise fella is gonna take a shot at the Handis, but they are well worth the money for the most part. Some do have problems, but H&R/NEF CS is the best, they will bend over backwards to fix what ain't right.

Tim
 
I appreciate all of those who have responded to my query. Some good people on this site who are willing to help a fellow junkie out. God Bless
 
Common complaints = Rough chambers/bores, eratic accuracy issues
Commons pros = they are cheap, some shoot very well

I shoot TCs and have yet to see a Handi/NEf that can even come close in the accuracy department....but they are less than half the price....like I said ....cheap.
 
Well I am on the other side of this fence. I traded mine after a year of never getting the thing to shoot (243 NEF).
I tried two scopes (bushnell and a leupold), factory ammo, reloaded ammo, back to factory ammo and still got nothing better than an 8 inch pattern (group). Yes it was ugly to look at the targets.

These guns are a roll of the dice. Blow on the dice and see what you get. Sorry but I got snake eyes.

You get what you pay for.

Just my opinion but I would pass.
 
Shooting my Mach 2 is about the most fun I've had with my cloths on in a long time..... it is a brop the PD's dead in the dirt gun out to 100 yards or so. All my center-fire calibers are of the T/C Encore nature though.
 
Quote:
I spect that Longcruise fella is gonna take a shot at the Handis,



Hah! The gauntlet is thrown down /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

And, no, I'll not "take a shot at the Handis". The Handi Rifle cheer leading squad over at Graybeards prefers to label me a "handi basher", but that is not an accurate statement at all. I simply relate the facts as they are regarding my experiences with the NEF Handi rifle.

I'm far from being a "basher". In fact, last Saturday during a deer hunt I carried an nef 30-30 for most of the day. It's a nice little rifle and while it doesn't shoot anywhere near moa, it don't have to. All it has to do is put a bullet within a six inch circle out to 150 yards, and it will do that.

I have up close personal experience with five handi rilfes. Two .223's, two 30-30 12 gauge combo guns and one .308. I gave one of the 30-30 combos to a relative who has used it in OK to kill several deer and several hogs plus a turkey with the 12 ga barrel. He is a young kid and he loves it. His shots are in the 50 to 75 yard range and the gun is easily up to task under those circumstances. He is shooting loads that I did for him with 180 grain speer mag tips over 4895 powder.

The two .223's and the .308 were not worth fooling with. They shot about the same as the 30-30's, but what does anyone want with a .223 or .308 that can't shoot better than about 3 moa? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Visit the Graybeard forum and read for a few days, you will discover every possible accuracy remedy and improvement method so far imagined. All of these were applied to the three guns and none of them acheived any improvement. Note that the vast majority of the discussion involves how to make a handi rifle shoot! Wonder why you don't see that kind of discussion centering around the Tikka, Rem, Win or any number of other well built rifles!

You can buy other rifles for $200 to $250 dollars and get excellent results right out of the box! Why spend a couple hundred on a rifle and then another hundred or so on ammo, reloading components, etc., only to decide it's not worth your time? Between the purchase price and components I spent right in the neighborhood of $400 bucks trying to make my .223 shoot. I sold it at a gun show to a fella who was all excited about getting a handi rilfe. I got $175 bucks for it. Two months later I saw the guy at another gun show trying to sell it for the same $175 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[edit: lest you think that i treated this fellow badly, I told him exactly what to expect from the rifle, but he was convinced that he could apply a "fix" that would make it a shooter]

Same goes for the other .223 and the .308, just not worth playing with.

OTOH, I walked into a local shop and bought a .223 Tikka T3 Lite for $450 bucks (sorry to say they are closer to $550 now) and found it to shoot sub moa all day long with any ammo I used in it. It even shot the Wolf steel cased stuff pretty good (but I don't recommend it).

Can't tell you how many times Handi lovers have posted a three shot group measuring sub moa and then told me how great their guns shoot. None of them ever showed off a series of four five shot groups when asked though! Any rifle can and will shoot an occasional great, even one hole, three shot group. The laws of averages say it must happen /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So, Handi lovers will once again call this post "bashing", but I'm just trying to save you some misery. You might get a good one, but it's a crap shoot.
 
Last edited:
It isn't bashing if it is a personal experience. That being said, you have to agree that experiences of others is just as accurate as yours. Sure you mightnot buy another, but lots of people love them!!!

I infact love them. I have 2 in .243. 1 was new and 1 was used. The new one shoots much better than the used one. I tend tho think that the ones you find used are probably the ones that don't nshoot that well and that is why people are getting rid of them.

My advice would be get a new one and you will probbaly be fine.

Just my opinion.

C
 
I've owned two of them thus far, one in .223 and one in .17 HMR, and have thoroughly enjoyed them both. Both grouped well for me personally.

Nah, Longcruise isn't bashing. He's just relating his personal experience. Nothing wrong with that. However, I do think there is some value in considering the amount of positive experiences versus the amount of negative. I think it's safe to say, as often as the topic of NEF & H&R rifles come up in this place, that the bulk of experiences that have been shared have been overwhelmingly positive. Doesn't mean everybody's is or will be. We're dealing with manufactured mechanical devices here, errors and problems are going to occur in the manufacturing process. It;s just a question of how often and how well they're controlled for. If there are a lot of people having problems with a certain type of gun, that's one I personally am going to avoid. But a handful of people having problems with a particular type of gun shouldn't be all that surprising.
 
Quote:
Nice post, LC! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Tim



Hmmmm, is this the Tim I think it is? Yeah gotta be with that 338-06 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Nice to hear form ya.
 
RUST
those buggers rust at the mention of humidity. I have never seen the likes of it.
BALANCE
The handi rifle balances like a piece of firewood.
BEAUTY
Life is to short to hunt with a ugly rifle. I have often wondered what the wives of the "NEF crowd" look like I mean good lord look what they will settle for!
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top