I've been wanting a Handi Rifle for our primitive weapon season here in MS for quite a while and finally got one a month or so back. Looked around for the best price and availability and wound up getting it from WalMart. The price was $255 for the pallet wood stock version. After getting it home, I cleaned it up well and looked it over for imperfections. The only thing I noticed was the forearm fitting wasn't the greatest. It seemed to be over to one side a little. I sanded out the imperfections in the barrel channel and opened the hole for the mounting lug a little. It seemed to be in bind there. I then decided to get one of those HandGrip stocks from Midway USA. When I mounted the stock, I noticed that the forearm was again over to one side more than the other. After a closer inspection, I discovered that the lug mounted on the barrel is a little off to one side. Trying to figure out what to do about this. Was in WalMart again the other day and noticed they had a HandGrip rifle in 444 Marlin; I looked it over and noticed the forearm had the exact same problem as mine. Their forearm lug mounting fixture must have been off when making this round of barrels or something. I think about the only option is to do what some of you have done and drill the hole out big, add a bushing and bed it in. If I just enlarge the hole over to one side to offset it, the mounting screw will just center it back up. The only other thing here is the buttstock on the Handigrip is so light, that the barrel weight wants to cause it to tip forward. If you lay it on sandbags just ahead of the hinge pin, it feels like the gun is mostly barrel and wants to tip that direction.
Next I purchased a set of RCBS dies, some rel 15, some Hornady FTX 200gr sp bullets, CCI large rifle primers and resized some Fed 30/06 brass. Started out with 55gr of powder and seated the bullets one caliber deep. Seated a caliber deep, the bullet was still a good ways from the lands. If you want to approach the lands, a 250 gr bullet would be much better. I shot the 55gr load and a 56gr load. Accuracy seemed to be pretty good. Less than 2" at 100yds. The trigger on this gun is stiff. It is smooth and has no creep, but it feels like it takes about 8 lbs to get it to release. May have to work on that. The barrel bore seems to be really smooth and I didn't see any copper deposits after firing 19 rnds. Was extremely easy to clean.
Last night after cleaning, I got to looking at the scope and made an observation. I had the scope slid back to where the hammer spur and hammer just cleared the adjustment ring for the variable power on the scope. After shooting it the 19 times, I've noticed that the scope seems to have moved forward about 1/16 to 1/32 of an inch. Right after getting the gun, I removed the scope rail, degreased everything, and locktighted the screws and base to the gun. The scope is mounted with Leupold Rifleman series rings. I tightened the screw tight enough that they would squeak or stick and make a popping sound when tightening. I also made sure the rings were slid all the way forward in the slots on the base. Not sure what else to do here. I thought about maybe lubing the screws that tighten to the base and the ones that hold the top caps on so they will allow me to tighten them more, but have some concern that this will promote loosening in the future. Everything seems to be tight enough that I would have never thought anything could move. Even with the scope movement, I still had less than 2" groups. Hard to believe that could be possible.
So, with all that said, my first impression of this rifle tips toward the positive side. Will have to deal with the offset barrel lug issue, work on the trigger pull, secure the scope and add some kind of weight to the buttstock to help ballance the gun, but overall I'm pleased with this gun. Oh, and I really like the looks and feel the HandiGrip stock when added. Will finish working up a load after making the improvements and will let you all know what happens.
