I have been buying and using H&R products for 30 years, guess that makes me long term.
I would like to see more pistol chamebrings in the Handi rifle. Strikes me that if you can get the 243,270,280, 308,30-06 and 35 Whelen to eject/extract from the barrel, it would be a snap to get the 45 ACP to do the same. No, there is not a lot of call for, no one has ever offered such a rifle, a great trainer for young shooters
A properly chambered 45 Colt would find itself a home in my house....NOW
The 410/45 Colt is an abomination that will never accurately shoot the 45 Colt.
A 32-20 would be "da bomb" (as my daughter would say), but what confuses me is that the H&R 32 Magnum has never been offered, yet this cartridge the H&R name. The near death of this cartridge is a result of gunrag writers and has nothing to do with the usefullness of the cartridge
People have wanted a 41 mag for a long time. There has also a steady demand for the 35 Remington. I'm sure neither of these would be barn burners on the profit ledger, but added together, there is a strong demand for such simple chamberings in an affordable rifle
I'm looking very strongly at the Taurus pump/lever action rifle simply because it is chambered in an offering I cannot get from you, namely the 32 Mag. Why a company would abandon it's namesake is beyond me. What kind of world would it be if Smith&Wesson didn't chamber the 357 or the 44 Mag?
On another note, I cannot imagine what it must be like to be able to imprt a firearm for less than it would cost you to build it. I have no grudge against the Chinese arms, I owned serveral of the Norinco 1911 pattern pistols and found them quite servicable. I don't buy American guns for any patriotic reasons, I buy American guns because over 30 years of using firearms I have found American steel to always have a durability, useability and resell edge that imported guns do not share.
Now for the real criticism. Marlin advertized that it was going to bring out a lever action in 32 Mag, a rifle aimed at the CAS folks. Good Move! But it ain't here yet, from what I've heard the few guns that have made it out don't funtion properly. What gives?
?? If there is a reason American makers (guns, auto and otherwise) are losing ground with American buyers, this is it. Who, Who I ask would bore and rifle a barrel to far faor our of date specs, and chamber it with a neither/nor reamer?
Marlin NEF is who. I have a 38-55 NEF that is a 379 groove diameter yet will not properly chamber a case with a properly fitting bullet in it. The 38-55 Marlin lever action has the same problem. What kind of boneheadedness is this? USRA solved the problem right with the introduction of the 375 Winchester in the 94BB, they used a 375 groove diameter, the proper, modern diameter for this size. All bullets are so sized, even the bullets in the ammo Winchester makes. But who is making a barrel to fit it? Nobody. Go figure.
I purchased a 357 Magnum NEF 2.5 years ago. The throat was so long that it was impossible to make or get ammunition that fit the chamber properly. To solve it, I reamed the barrel to 357 Maximum. I took a barrel that wouldn't keep 5 shots on a paper plate at 50 yards and made a shooter out of it, so have many others. Problem is, how many purchased the NEF 357 rifle to get an inexpensive plinker gun and wound up with something that wouldn't shoot, and instead of researching and haveing the gun fixed, they sold it or traded it and now speak bad of NEF...."I had a 357 that wouldn't shoot for beans" If this is not keeping you up at night it should be. We haer the same complaint constantly of the 223. What gives? When peole talk about improving your quality control, this is the kind of problem they are talking about.
I have a frame serial NP235XXX that has the worst trigger possible on a rifle. If I send it in for another barrel, you will fix the trigger free. If you have the time to fix it now, why wasn't the time taken to fix it when it was first made? When people speak of quality control, this is what they are talking about.
Finally, it would be nice to see Marlin/NEF offer a 375 with their name on it. Lots of folks around the net ahve talked about a 375 JDJ, and all say that the 375 JDJ is a propriety round. Who is JD JOnes anyway?
Winchester offered a nice 375 cartridge years ago, the 38-56. It is a 45-70 necked down to 38 (These days it needs to be a 375) A modern version of this woudl be a seller amoung the people who are your bread and butter. It would fit easily in the NEF or the 1895/444 platform and loaded to the modern pressures usable in those rifles it would be a great big bore cartridge and would fill a hole in the existing casrtridge offerings available. No, the average American shooter wouldn't know what to do with it, but the average American shooter ain't your bread and butter. You would sell lots of these I assure you.
Would I buy stockif offered? Depends. It is hard to consider buying stock in a company that botches introductions of products aimed at their bread and butter clients (the 32 Mag Lever) it is dificult to consider buying stock when the company buys offshore product to shore up its product line while doing little to improve its product line.
My question to you is this.....Are you shooters yourselves? Do you attend CAS shoots, do you go to events like the Cast Bullet Association gathering? Do you take the time to go out to different shooting clubs and ranges and shoot and talk with the folks there?
Tat you are here says you are making the effort, and speaks volumes to me about you. Now if I can just get you to make an H&R 32 Magnum Handi Rifle, and the 375 Marlin has a nice ring to it too :grin:
