Author Topic: Barrel Wiggles! (Read 1163 times)

Chickasaw Hunter · « **on:** January 19, 2005, 06:42:04 AM »

My Handi came as a 30/06 and I added a 45/70 barrel to it last June. A couple of days ago I put the '06 barrel on preparing for a range session and noticed a little movement of the barrel with the action closed. The movement is from side to side and not up and down. The 45/70 still locks up tight and has no wiggle at all. I've sent an email to HR and fear a trip to the UPS office is in my future. I have now idea why the '06 would develop a wiggle, it's slight but definately there. I've never shot anything in it that would be even close to a hot load in it. Any words of wisdom, suggestions? I have a range day planned since it's suppose to be near 70 here in Denver tomorrow but think the '06 will have to wait a zero for the new scope that's on it. I may shoot the 45/70.

mitchell · « **Reply #1 on:** January 19, 2005, 06:46:06 AM »

if you got th 45-70 from H&R then i would send it back and let them take care of it and while its in there have them put on an other barrel.

Chickasaw Hunter · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2005, 08:24:41 AM »

Yep the 45/70 came from the factory and they fitted it. I think your right it'll probably be best to send it to them. But before I did that I was being optimistic and hoping someone here might have a easy fix that I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the advice. CH

quickdtoo · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2005, 08:48:34 AM »

The barrel could be shimmed, but if it was factory fitted and it was tight to begin with, there may be something wrong that's needs attention, returning the frame and both barrels to the factory would be wise. If there is a problem with the frame, they will need to fit both barrels to the replacement/repaired frame if that is the case. They can issue a call tag for return shipment so it doesn't cost you, but you need to ask for it.

Chickasaw Hunter · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2005, 02:33:58 PM »

Thanks Quick, I hadn't considered shipping back both barrels but that does make a lot of sense. I've sent them an email, no response yet. CH

Chickasaw Hunter · « **Reply #5 on:** January 21, 2005, 06:39:53 AM »

I got an email response back from HR today and they told me that the side to side wiggle was OK nothing to be concerned about. If it had any movement up and down then that would be something to be concerned about. I'm having a little problem getting my mind wrapped around that any movement is acceptable. Just thought you all might want to know this interesting peice of Handi-trivia. They did tell me I could send it back if I was concerned. :?

Fred M · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2005, 06:45:30 AM »

One thousand wiggle = more than one inch dispersion at 100 yards plus all the other loose vibrations you have.

Chickasaw Hunter · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2005, 10:43:09 AM »

Fred, I was hoping you would weigh in on this. My gut tells me that any wiggle is not good, not to mention that it's just irritating to feel that barrel move every time you shift the rifle in your hand. I just responded to H&R and told them that given a choice between a gun that wiggles and one that does not, I'd rather have the one that does not. I told them I wanted to send it back to them to fix. Now I'll wait for their response. I'm a little suprised that they take the position that any looseness in the action is OK. If they won't fix it under warranty I may try to fix it myself. I'm guessing it'll take a shim on the curved surface of the barrel lug? How best to anchor it in place?

Alaninga · « **Reply #8 on:** January 30, 2005, 02:30:49 AM »

first test,,,does it shoot? [accuracy ok?]
I have had several Handi and NEF rifles. One thing to know is that the rifle barrel may have been loose ever since you first owned it,,,but you may not have noticed. A 'loose' barrel can be tight when the forearm is on. The forarms can loosen with use as plastic is involved at the hinge wear point. I do know that the NEF guys will do what you want. I had a 45/70 barrel fitted to my 30/30 [improved]and it came back loose. I sent it back and they fit another that had little if any movement.
My 30/30 [comverted to Ackley Improved by me]was so tight that when the barrel warmed up, the 4th and 5th shots would fly 4 to 8" away from the first three shots WHICH would all touch each other! If I waited a few minutes for it to cool, it would touch the first three shots again. I still have a couple of targets [8 years ago] showing this tendacy. A very tight barrel has no where to go when it warms up and expands. If it is trapped between a hinge pin and the receiver face,,something has to 'warp'.
alan in ga.
>you guys are gonna cause me to buy another Handi Rifle,,I can tell.

MSP Ret · « **Reply #9 on:** January 30, 2005, 02:40:37 AM »

, Welcome aboard Alaninga, sounds as if you have bit bitten by the Handi bug already!!! Glad to have you here. Enjoy yourself and hope to hear much more from you, it sounds as if you will fit right in!!!!....<><.... :grin:

Check out the "1st Invitational Handi-Holic P'dog hunt", a great way to get to meet everyone!!! And your invited!!!....<><.... :grin:

Chickasaw Hunter · « **Reply #10 on:** January 30, 2005, 01:13:16 PM »

The rifle didn't start with a wiggle. Don't think I'd have bought it if it'd had one. But it does now. Talked with HR customer service sevral times on Friday. They seem better on the phone than then they do by email, at least in attitude. I'm not griping they were great when I added the .45/70 barrel. Friday was very difficult because UPS has some right hand and left hand problems. I went up to the local UPS store and dropped off my rifle and extra barrel. They didn't ask what it was and I didn't volunteer. Nothing on the box to indicate what it was. When I got home they called me and told me they wouldn't take it, I had to take it to UPS. I told them I thought a guy with UPS on his shirt standing in a UPS store WAS UPS. Seems I was wrong. So I spend the next couple of hours on the phone with UPS, I'm pretty sure I now know their rules better than most of them do now. I got passed around a lot on the phone and told it had to go next day air (pistols do) and then I insisted they re-read their policy and they discovered it could in fact be shipped ground and they could in fact stop by my house and pick it up (if I paid an extra $2-3) but there is still no way I can go to a UPS store and ship it from there. Now I can ship gun parts and blackpowder guns from the UPS store. If I took the barrel off and the gun was in PARTS would that work? :lol: If I had the .45/70 barrel on the reciever would that be a blackpowder gun? Of course then the .30/06 barrel would just be a gun part? :wink: The most fun of the whole exercise is when you told any of these people you were shipping a GUN it was like you were shipping kiddie porn. But I knew what the law was on shipping but then you have to deal with UPS policy. So I now have a 4 hour time window when the UPS truck will pull up at my house and get my Handi so it can go home for another visit. I thought I'd share with you the joys of shipping I discovered. Next time I will ship with the rifle broken down so it will fit into a shorter box and in parts. :wink:

quickdtoo · « **Reply #11 on:** January 30, 2005, 01:38:26 PM »

UPS and to a certain extent, the USPS have people that don't know the rules. UPS can accept firearms at their Customer Service centers....

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/prepare/guidelines/firearms.html

Quote

Firearms will be transported only between licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, licensed dealers, and licensed collectors, as defined in the United States Gun Control Act of 1968, law enforcement agencies of the United States or of any department or agency thereof and law enforcement agencies of any state or department agency, or political subdivision thereof, and between persons not otherwise prohibited from shipping firearms by federal, state or local law and when such shipment complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws.

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=52756

tanoose · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2005, 01:14:00 PM »

I didn't know you could contact them through e-mail whats there e-mail address, Please And yes i would send both barrels back. They use a rat tail file to fit those barrels and the 30/06 may have worn a little or it can be the pin . Send them both back and if they cant fit the 06 where it wont conflict with the other barrel then they will fit it. If not you might get two new barrels out of the deal. Just remember that this company and marlin only warranty there products when using Remington ,Winchester and Federal ammunition, so if they ask you what ammo you are using choose one of those three. And please let us know how you make out . Later Tanoose

Chickasaw Hunter · « **Reply #13 on:** January 31, 2005, 01:30:32 PM »

tanoose, the email for H&R is hr1871@hr1871.com. I think that's what you wanted. UPS is just UPS.com and thanks for the information on the ammo, I always tend to shoot Remington :grin:

quickdtoo · « **Reply #14 on:** January 31, 2005, 01:59:23 PM »

Quote from: tanoose

... Just remember that this company and marlin only warranty there products when using Remington ,Winchester and Federal ammunition, so if they ask you what ammo you are using choose one of those three.

Welcome aboard!

Please provide a source for that statement. I've read both the Marlin and H&R owner's manuals and there are no statements to that effect in either. H&R doesn't even have a warranty, just a service policy.

As for the filing of the barrel pivot with a rat tail file, the machine marks on a factory fitted barrel are like that of a grinder not a file, I would think they have a jig to do the fitting and adjusting for so many barrels.

http://hr1871.com/repairs/index.htm

MSP Ret · « **Reply #15 on:** January 31, 2005, 02:04:04 PM »

, Hey tanoose, glad to see you made it over here!!! Welcome aboard!!! You will find a wealth of information here as well as many willing to share their knowledge and opinions with you, but don't let that scare you away( :-D )!!! Were a pretty friendly bunch here and if you want fellowship, knowledge, and help, this is the place to come!!!....<><.... :grin:

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #16 on:** January 31, 2005, 02:37:54 PM »

I had the same problem with the UPS store when I sent my Lyman Great Plains rifle back for warranty service. When they told me that they couldn't ship it I countered with "A UPS truck brought it to me, why can't one take it back?" I ended up at the USPS counter with it :? .

Ian

tanoose · « **Reply #17 on:** February 01, 2005, 09:33:16 AM »

Hello everyone on my last post i had mentioned that Marlin and NE would only warrenty there products if you used rem, win, and federal ammo my sorce for that info was a call i made myself to marlin because i wanted to know if i could use Buffalo bore ammo in my 1895 and the customer service rep told me that himself. as for New England i figured it must be the same as they are owned by Marlin. As far as the use of a rat tail file to fit the barrels i got that by calling New England and asking to speek with a gunsmith , customer service will try to answer all your questions but if you insist they will put there gun smith onthe phone and the NE gunsmith told me they fit it by using a rat tail file . It seems rather easy to me as i if the barrel wont close on the receiver they take off a little at a time till it does then check for headspace. And back to the ammo, i also asked if they intend to test companies like Buffalo bore Cor-bon and garret just to mention a few , and at the time there were no plans to. The one thing that always worried me about buffalo bore ammo for the .45/70 Gov't is if you look at the ads they dont state it as this caliber (technically) Its listed as .45/70 Magnum. I made both these calls last year so maybe with all the new ammo coming about m,aybe there ready to look into other ammunition makers. Ruger is another company that doesn't mind putting there gunsmith on the phone. Tanoose

Brett · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2005, 09:47:01 AM »

Seems to me that as long as the ammo is loaded to within SAMI specs it should make no difference who the manufacturer is. I'ld be grumbling about that... or better yet I would not volunteer any ammo information when requesting warrantee work.

tanoose · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2005, 10:56:03 AM »

Yes Brett and also never tell them you reload , thats a big no no . I got just the opposite when i called Smith and Wesson. Last spring i bought a new model 642 airweight snubnose .38 special and wanted to use cor-bon ammo there customer service told me that i should call cor-bon themselves for the answer. They wouldn't come out and say yes or no.Cor-bon said yes so i bought a box and had no problems . But i went back to using CCI as through word of mouth i heard some funny things about there ammo and handguns. And to be honest i really didn't need the extra punch i was getting and neither did my wrist. Later Tanoose

quickdtoo · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2005, 11:21:53 AM »

Quote from: tanoose

I did so with a buffalo classic barrel that i had H&R fit to my .223 varmint. I sold the 223 and the 45/70 barrel fit like a glove on my 410 receiver . But BEFORE i went out to shoot it i brought it to a gunsmith and he checked it for proper headspace. Its one of my most accurate rifles.

http://www.marlinowners.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=51

Tanoose, I'm real curious, how come you didn't ask the H&R smithy if this was a safe thing to do, or did this happen after you talked to em??

Thanks,

Tim

tanoose · « **Reply #21 on:** February 01, 2005, 12:13:59 PM »

Hi Quick that phone call was well before i did that switch. But i did talk with the New England gunsmith last week, and after talking with him my 410 is now a 410 again as he told me not to use the SB1 shotgun receiver i then asked about the 10 guage that this barrel also fits and i have shot a few times , and again my 10 guage is now a 10 guage again. I have already promised the 45/70 barrel to my friend who had bought the 223 that it was fitted to. I have decided to go out and buy a new or used 45/70 handi rifle , and to be honest i would like to get my hands on the new SB2500 (500S&W) when they come out . Customer service told me the other day that the production line will run February and March so they should be available soon. Later Tanoose

quickdtoo · « **Reply #22 on:** February 01, 2005, 12:36:36 PM »

Thanks for the update. :wink: