Hi guys, new member here are the .44 and 12 barrels good?

[NewYorkRifleMan]

I started off with a .357 Handi rifle and shot close to 1000 rounds through it without failure. I was hooked. I sent it off and had a 20 guage youth and a .308 heavy barrel with the adjustable sights put on. I like the adjustable sights because my closest range is a 30 yard indoor range so optics are kinda not needed.

I'm gonna mail off my receiver to HR and have them mate a .44 and a 18 1/2 inch 12 guage barrel. I had no idea they made the 18 inch barrel on the 12. What are your takes on the .44? Thanks

[quickdtoo]

Welcome aboard!! Where'd ya see the 18½" barrel, they don't list one on their web site or in the 2005 barrel list??

I'll let the 44mag shooters give you a heads up on them.

Tim

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

[NewYorkRifleMan]

Thank you for a warm welcome. You'll be seeing me here a lot. I come here and my Crosman Air Gun Forum. http://www.network54.com/Forum/275684/

I called and chatted about the Ultra Rifle in .223 HB and talking scopes. He told me that if I wanted accuracy don't interchange anything with it, just keep it .223 and save your other rig to interchange barrels. Fair enough if you ask me.

I asked about the 12. I said, if I paid more money, could you chop it to 18. He said na, we don't do that.....oh wait, let me see, we have a batch of some 18 1/2 barrels. He said that if they got a big order for a specfic barrel length from a store or something to that affect, they would make up a special batch of them. I said....sweeeeeeeeeeeeet. A great behind the door bedroom gun. I have the youth 20 at thats, i think, 20 inches long. I can point that with one hand. But a short 12 always works, just hold it tight!

This gentleman was very informative. I have his name here somewhere. The senior employees are they key to everything, they're a wealth of information. I've read that Alaskan hunters/bush piolts carry single shot 12s with very short barrels as bear protection. If it works for them, it will work for a New Yorker.

[Cookiemann]

Hmmm!  I have a factory fitted youth 12ga.  That is 22".  I will have to check out the 18 1/2 barrel.  That would be SWEEEET!  I, too, have never heard of this.
Cookieman

[myarmor]

I agree, it would be pretty cool to have a shorter 12. Though it's pretty easy to cut one down yourself, it's nice to have it already done for you.
I had a 44Mag barrel and recently traded it off. You will hear reports of the bores being a hair to big if you do a search. There are a few that gave up on them because of this.  However mine shot well, when I had all my ends tightend up. The 44Mag is an excellent little cartridge and very capable or taking game. Especially out of a long rifle barrel. It's a fun barrel, with very little recoil and just a tad muzzle jump. I'll probably get another later down the road. Just too many projects and not enough time to do them in
-Aaron

[Ranger J]

I will start off by saying that there are those who say that their .44 shoots well.  Unfortunately as of yet mine doesn’t.  With the oversize bore and the slow twist finding that ‘just right combination of bullet and powder has so far eluded me.  My bore measures just a little less than .432 or maybe it’s a little more than .431. :grin:   The only place I have been able to get .432 bullets is at Beartooth Bullets and with the shipping they are just too expensive for everyday shooting.  As my barrel seems to be an ‘in betweener’ I have also worked with .431 Laser Cast bullets, which are considerably cheaper.  Non of the loads that I have so far tried give me consistent accuracy, although those in the neighborhood of 1100fps or so seem to hold the most promise.  I have been loading bullets of 240g and up.  Perhaps a lighter bullet would be stabilized better by the slow twist?
From the above you might get the idea that I don’t like the .44 barrel.  Actually just the opposite is true; it has much to recommend it.  It has little recoil in the Handi and is quite capable of killing deer size game out to around 100 yards.  I have shot my .44 barrel more than the other three barrels I have put together.  I just loaded up a half box each of 2 new loads that I hope to try this week at the range.  By all means get the .44 barrel if you are a reloader.  I enjoy mine even if it frustrates me at times.  One of these days I am going to find that magic load for it and then I will be a real happy camper.
RJ

[Cookiemann]

NewYorkRifleman,
In regards to your original post about the 18 1/2 12ga barrel,  I spoke with Jennifer in CS this morning and was told that the only 12ga 18 1/2" barrels are the ones for the Pardner Pump.  Just thought I would pass that along.  
Believe me, no one will be more dissappointed than I, to get this news.  I have a 22" youth, but I would really like to have a 18 1/2 with sights on it.  I guess I am just gonna have to have my gunsmith take care of that for me.

[gregszanyi]

I've had my .44 for about a year now and I've fired several hundred rounds through it. "I luv it", very accurate out to 85 yards and just a few inches of drift at the 100 yard mark.

This is a great little gun to start a small kid hunting with. Low recoil and low noise, but enough killing power for most deer in the south. Most shots in the south are less than 100 yards anyway. I usually have my ground blind set up for shots at 70-80 yards and I will not hesitate to use my .44 So have fun!

[Ditchdigger]

The 44 mag barrel is alot of fun to shoot,and can be made a little more accurate by seating the bullets out to the lands. If you want to increase the range,run a 445 supermag reamer in it,and you've got a real hoss gun then. And you can still shoot 44 mag,and 44 specials in it.  Digger

[Markus]

Dang it! I was all excited about a 18" factory 12ga barrel. My wife will be happy that I am not spending more money on yet another barrel though.

[JPH45]

I will start off by saying that there are those who say that their .44 shoots well.  Unfortunately as of yet mine doesn’t.  With the oversize bore and the slow twist finding that ‘just right combination of bullet and powder has so far eluded me.  My bore measures just a little less than .432 or maybe it’s a little more than .431. :grin:   The only place I have been able to get .432 bullets is at Beartooth Bullets and with the shipping they are just too expensive for everyday shooting.  As my barrel seems to be an ‘in betweener’ I have also worked with .431 Laser Cast bullets, which are considerably cheaper.  Non of the loads that I have so far tried give me consistent accuracy, although those in the neighborhood of 1100fps or so seem to hold the most promise.  I have been loading bullets of 240g and up.  Perhaps a lighter bullet would be stabilized better by the slow twist?
From the above you might get the idea that I don’t like the .44 barrel.  Actually just the opposite is true; it has much to recommend it.  It has little recoil in the Handi and is quite capable of killing deer size game out to around 100 yards.  I have shot my .44 barrel more than the other three barrels I have put together.  I just loaded up a half box each of 2 new loads that I hope to try this week at the range.  By all means get the .44 barrel if you are a reloader.  I enjoy mine even if it frustrates me at times.  One of these days I am going to find that magic load for it and then I will be a real happy camper.
RJ

Ranger J, Have you considered casting your own? Might want to consider it, it'll make your shooting cheaper and give you th eability to tailor your bullets to you barrel. My 44 had a .432 groove diameter. It would shoot jacketed stuff fine, but it took a while to find a good cast load for it. Don't know what is available commercially, I cast my own, but if you can find a softer bullet that is at least 430, I'm willing to bet it will shoot for you. The slow twist is no problem, I have a Marlin 94 in 44 Mag that shoots a 310 grain cast bullet well enough that I can hit a pop can 90% of the time. It will typically keep 'em in 2 1/2" at 50 yards. A 270 grian bullet will be found to be near perfect in it's balance of velocity and retained energy. Mine would put 270's, cast or jacketed into 3/4" to 1 1/4" groups at 50 yards. These were 10 shot groups, I got this accuracy for 2 years and my buddy who has the gun now continues to get it. I know the soft bullet goes against the modern grain, but it will surprise you. My 357 Max and 38-55 both sot to 1800 fps with no leading and 10 BHN bullets and cut out 1" holes with 10 shots.

[NewYorkRifleMan]

I found the guys name who I spoke to, his name is Gordan. He told me that when I send in my frame and request for the 18 1/2 barrel, put down 'attention gordan' because no one knows where those barrels are. Its like the secret key or secret code in a video game. He said he had a bunch of them.

I'm getting the 12 barrel, the .44 barrel, and a trigger job.

Then I may order the Varmit Choate stock but keep my regular forearm.

[mt3030]

As ditchdigger mentioned, the 445 Super rechamber may be the way to go. Several former GBO members did this rechamber and they were all pleased. If you do a search, some of their posts on load development should still be around.

[Cookiemann]

Well, looks like I will be calling CS again today.  I spoke with Jennifer.  I thought she put me on hold to talk with Gordon, but I must have been mistaken.  I will check it out again.  I also got a reply to me email about the same question and was also told that they only have 18 1/2 in the pump barrels.  Hmmm.  Thanks NewYorkRifleman.  
Cookie

[NewYorkRifleMan]

a batch of them laying around and if I sent in my frame and requested the short 12 barrrel, no one will know where it is. Being that he said this, i worte his name down. I"ve learned this the hard way which is why I always get their names. I'm sending my frame out this Friday beause I go to work late that day. That would be pretty sweet, a shorty 12 HR. I love these rifles/shot guns !

[NewYorkRifleMan]

modtifyed to accepet that cailiber? Thanks.

[Ranger J]

Digger
   You mentioned something I haven’t tried yet so I am going to load some cartridges with the bullet further out to engage the lands.  Also like the idea of the 445 but more power won’t help until the accuracy problem is solved.  It would be like in pool where if you can’t shoot well, then you just shoot harder.  Doesn’t seem to work in pool either.

JPH 45
   Just what I need another hobby!  :wink:  I know zilch about casting for smokeless although I have cast a lot for black powder guns.  There I always used pure lead except for my .75 cal Brown Bess in which I used wheel weights, as it was smoothbore and a loose fit at that.  Are the Lee molds, which cast especially for liquid alox any good?  I have a 70-LB lead ingot now holding a shed door closed, so pure lead is no problem.  When you are talking about soft cast I guess you are talking about something a little harder than this.  What is the fastest you drive your soft cast bullets?  Do you use a gas cap?  Lots of questions. :?
RJ

[JPH45]

Ranger J, If you are casting BP bullets, then casting for smokless will be no biggie. A decent soft alloy for smokless is wheel weights adn lead at a mix of 1 to 1 with 2% tin added. This will run about 10 BHN. I'm driving straight wheel weight to 1500+ in my Marlin 94 44 Mag with no trouble with a plain base bullet. I took the Lee 430-310-RF and milled off the top .100" eliminating the gas check. Makes a bullet that weighs right at 265 grains. I was driving this from a Handi 44 with 12 grains of Blue Dot and getting 1275 fps, with 24.5 grains of 1680 it'll give 1400, seated long over 26 grains it does 1550.

Check out www.castboolits.gunloads.com there is a group buy currently underway for an oversize 44 bulet of 265 grians I believe it is. Look under the "Group Buys"

[DPRinks]

I have a .44 ,mag. barrel, it is .431" groove .
I was not hapy with this size, SAMMI standard is .429".
I called customer service, I asked them what the nominal groove diameter was.
They said, .431", with a tolerance of + - .002"
So, H&R -NEF barrels can be from .329" to .333" and be in spec.
The only way I can get a useable level of accuracy is by casting big bullets , at least .3325"
Don