new member

[Scibaer]

hi, new member here, ive been lurking for a few days now. i went looking for a rifle for deer,hog hunting and decided a single shot rifle would be nice. and after looking around i came across the NEF handi - rifle.. and so went looking for a forum for it. and, well, here i am, lol ..
anyhow i have a question, im going to buy a new handi - rifle and was looking and saw they offer a few different calibers. so out of the calibers that im intrested in, what would be the best choice for deer/hog hunting. 30.06, 308, 7mm08, 35whelen, or the 45.70 gov. ?
pros and cons of these rounds, calibers ?
slainte, glenn

[stimpylu32]

First off - welcome to GBO and the crazy world of handi rifles . will need a little more info to anwser your ???s .

1 what range will the shots be at / close or far

2 what type of cover will the shots be in / woods or open fields

3 how much recoil are you willing to take in a hunting rifle / light or heavy

4 factory or handload ammo / some handi's shoot well with factory ammo and some shoot alot better with hand loads

[quickdtoo]

Welcome aboard!! I'd have to say any of em would be a fine choice depending on the ranges you expect to shoot, any of them would make a fine choice under 150yds, I will say that the .45-70 is my favorite and the most fun to shoot of the bunch! What Stimpylu32 said!

Tim

[Datil]

 Welcometo the wonderful world of Handi's Also to the forum.
 All Handis in calibers from 243 to 45-70 make good deer rifles
 depends on range and type of terrain and cover, size of deer.
 By the tme you get as many handis as Quickdtoo you'll be
 true Handi-holic. Good luck Marv.

[Scibaer]

thanks,
 the yardage would be 150 yards tops. ( 50 to 75 average )
 medium to heavy woods and some swamps ( mid and upper, lower michigan areas )
 i can handle 12guage or 300 win. mag recoil just fine. ( hunting and sighting in situations )
 probably just factory loads. ( as long as they shoot and preform ok )

is the 45-70 the big penatrator i hear it is ? whats details of the 35whelen ? how would you describe the porformance of the 45-70 and 35whelen ? i can get a new 7mm08 in my area for $239, hows that for a good price ?
cheers, glenn

[stimpylu32]

Glenn

The 45/70 is my 2nd. favorate cal. in a handi , you can get factory loads from mild to wild and for what you want to do with it , i can only say one word ( perfect )

Don't know about the 35 as i have not shot one .

[quickdtoo]

The 35 Whelen is a nice round, but if you're shooting factory ammo, you're limited to one factory offering unless you go with semi custom ammo at $35-$45 a box. .45-70 factory ammo starts at around $18-$28 a box and you have several offerings from Rem, Win, Fed and others to choose from. Recoil isn't bad in most of the factory ammo unless you go with the semi custom from Buffalo Bore or Garrett. Walmart sells the Handis for $200-$212 depending on wood or syn stock, but they have to order them usually, their supplier may not have what you want in time for hunting, just depends, the clerk should check availability at the time of the order. For deer/hogs, either the Whelen or .45-70 would work fine, but the .7-08 certainly wouldn't be a bad choice either and ammo costs less too!!

As usual, please read the FAQ and Help, there's lots of info there that will help answer some of your questions.

Tim

[Scibaer]

well i dont like the sounds of only having 1 choice for factory ammo.  is the 45-70 the deep penatrator and heavy hitter they say it is ? is the recoil any heavier then a 12guage slug gun ?  and one more question, why is the 45-70 limited to 150 yards ? i though it was a long range round ? its it because of the short barrel length of the handi at 22 inches ?
slainte, glenn

[poncaguy]

The 7mm-08 would be ideal to start with, accurate, not much recoil, and would take care of hogs, deer, elk.........

[quickdtoo]

First of all, the .45-70 cartridge is available in 3 power levels, trapdoor or orginal 1873 firearms, levergun levels of the Marlin1895, and modern rifle levels of the Ruger #1 and bolt guns. The Handi is capable of the levergun levels and a touch more.  The .45-70 under the proper conditions can be considered a long range round, but that's for shooting targets of known range and knowing the trajectory of the round is critical to connecting at those ranges. For typical hunting conditions, a stout upper levergun load in the .45-70 can have a MPBR(max point blank range) of around 230-250yds or a bit further, but that's not what most factory loads will be capable of since they're loaded to trapdoor levels of around 1800fps for a 300gr bullet. The same bullet at 2400fps will give you an MPBR of about 230yds for a 6" kill zone, IIRC, and at substantial recoil close to that of the .375H&H!! You can see the trajectory of 2 common 45-70 factory loads at the Remington web site's ballistic comparison page, their 300gr and 405gr bullets. The trapdoor loads would be effective for sporting purposes to about 150yds due to the rainbow trajectory.

As Larry has stated, the 7-08 would be a fine choice, get the .45-70 barrel later if you want to, that's the nice thing about the Handi!!

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/ballistics/

Tim