45LC Classic Carbine - barrel swap, extractor vs ejector

[lctrcjim]

HI Guys, I'm about to buy my wife a 45LC Classic Carbine (she wants a 'cowboy gun' to go with my newly restored 1881 Marlin)

I have a couple questions. I see H&R has a barrel swap program. For several reasons, I'd rather have the rifle in 30-30 or 44 mag rather than 45LC. (cost, availability, oomph)

Do you think there's any chance to actually special order it with a 30-30 barrel? Does H&R do special orders such as this?

And

Does the 45LC Classic Carbine have an ejector or an extractor? If it does come with an extractor, can it be modified to eject the spent shells?

Thanks for your help & advice!

[quickdtoo]

All centerfire rifle barrels come with extractors, they don't do special orders for individuals, even for distributors and retailers they require a minimum order of 250 firearms, but you can send the BC Carbine frame in for an accessory barrel, they'll fit all barrels except the 10ga based shotgun barrels to it.

Tim

[lctrcjim]

Thanks Tim! It just seems a little odd & convoluted that they would offer interchangable barrels, but not do it right from the get-go at the factory - that they make you buy the stock rifle from a dealer, then mail it back to the factory. Oh well.............it's a great looking little rifle & I've heard great things about them. Even adding $100+ to the price, it's still a pretty good value.

About the extractor, there are no mod's that can be done to get it to kick the spent shells out?

I just read something on the internet to the effect that H&R used to offer ejectors? Is that correct? Do those older barrels fit on the newer receivers? I hope I'm not wearing you out.

Thanks!!!  Jim

[quickdtoo]

If frames and barrels were made to tolerances that would allow over the counter barrel sales, the rifles would cost as much as Contenders and Encores. 

Older barrels were all ejectors, but starting in 2004 centerfire rifles were offered with extractors and they gradually switched over to extractors on all centerfire rifles, only rimfire and shotguns have ejectors, spend some time reading in the FAQs, you can convert an extractor to an ejector, but H&R won't.

Tim

[lctrcjim]

Tim, gotcha - will do some more reading & will leave you in peace..............thanks for your help, advice, & patience!!!

[quickdtoo]

See the barrel fitting info in the FAQs, you can also fit second hand barrels yourself. 

Tim

[lctrcjim]

Tim, I'll leave barrel fitting to professionals - I love wood working & am halfway decent at it, but  metalwork, not so much...........especially if a screwup on my part would first become apparent a couple of inches in front of my face.............

OK, one last question (this time I really mean it) 44 mag barrel vs 30-30 barrel? It appears you see a LOT if not all the feedback here...........is one or the other more problematic or trouble-free?? (Not talking cartridges, just if one barrel or another seems to have fewer complaints)

Thanks!!!     Jim

[quickdtoo]

30-30s are one of the most popular and accurate of all H&R chamberings, but the late model 44mags are very popular too, the older overbore barrels have given the 44mag a bad reputation, but even they would shoot well when handloaded with .432" cast bullets or pushed hard with max loads.

Tim

[Doublebass73]

Just a suggestion because I'm a big fan of the .45 Colt in the H&R, for the price you're going to spend getting a barrel fitted at the factory you could get setup with some cheap reloading gear for the 45 Colt and enjoy that carbine just the way it is. It's a fun plinker with no recoil and plenty of power to take down a whitetail within reasonable ranges. If you reload to +P levels from the Ruger-T/C section of reloading manuals it has more muzzle energy than a factory 30/30.

[gcrank1]

Right on!........get it and use it for a while. I bet you (she) will like it just fine.