New Handi In 223

[Nebraska Kelly]

I came across a New England SB2/223 bull barrel at a gun show this weekend. It is a new rifle. It was purchased two years ago by one of our local gun smiths. He said he bought two of them at the same time and never got around to doing anything with this one. It looks new in the box to me. He claims to have not shot it. The gun says New England on the receiver. He included a set of weaver high rings. The cost out the door was $200 no tax. I had a scope needing a rifle and this was a good price. Is there anything I should do to this gun other than clean the barrel before shooting it? I want to start this one out right. If it was yours what would you do? I was thinking about just cleaning the grease off the lockup area and cleaning the barrel and trying it. How important is it to JB the barrel before shooting it? I will try the o ring if it wont shoot without it. But I want to keep it as stock as possible if it will shoot. I have a white box of winchester 45gr hollowpoints on hand. I also have some black hills ammo loaded with 60gr berger bullets. I used those for deer at close range in the past.  I appreciate any suggestions and will post my results as I try them.  Thanks.
Nebraska Kelly

[shaner]

sounds like yu have a good plan to start clean it an shoot it man , run a few hundred thru it and see what happens , then fix what needs fixed, if yur cases stick then polish the chamber, ive had then go both ways , some never stick. others all the time , just go have fun with it let us know we will help ya out

[lik2hunt]

Better pull it completely apart and give it a thorough cleaning. Pull the buttstock by removing the recoil pad, then a 9/16 socket on a long extension or two together to remove the stock bolt in the bottom of the hole. Remove the foreend and the barrel. You should have 5 parts now; pad, buttstock, action, barrel, and foreend. Flush the action real good from every angle and in every opening you can find with brake cleaner, then quickly follow up with some good lubricant, I use Tri-Flow, but any good one that leaves a teflon coating will work. Let it get alll over the receiver and wipe it off good as this will restore the lustre that the brake cleaner will dull. Next clean and polish that barrel! Use Sweets 7:62 or another good amonia based solvent first, then make 50 passes with some Flitz or JB Bore Bright (not Bore Paste). Then flush it out with some Outers bore scrubber or similiar product, dry patch it really good and then Sweet's it again, and then dry patch really good again, and then apply a light coat of Rem oil or good gun oil. Something else I do, that I've been doing since I was a kid, is to apply a coat of Vaseline to all the metal surfaces, worked 30 years ago and still works now.
Sounds like a lot of work I know, but it will be worth it when you go to the range for the first time. Don't forget to bore-sight your scope beforehand too. You have purchased one the most infamously accurate shooters in a Handi Rifle so feel confident. I'd stay away from those 60 grainers to start with though, probably will shoot them after a 100 or so rounds tho. Good shootin' and keep us posted.

[MSP Ret]

Lik2hunt was right on the money for the correct way to do everything!!!
Also, do yourself a favor and start shooting your Bull Barreled H&R .223  with Winchester White Box Value Pack Ammo available at Wal Mart and other places for about $13-$14 per 40 round box. Get the 45 Grain JHP's (it may be marked "Varmint"). They have proven to be the most universally accurate from these rifles. Stay away from Wolf ammo and military 5.56 ammo, Good luck and have fun!!!!....<><.... :grin:

[hellacatcher]

In some cases it seems like it takes a number of shots to get the barrel broken in so if it doesn't start out right don't give up on it. Lik2hunt is right and it may shorten the number of rounds to break-in. Heck just have fun with it.

[Nebraska Kelly]

Well. I did ask. I will follow the complete disasembly and cleaning with break cleaner and the barrel swabbing. It does sound like a lot of work but I will do it. I will let you know how it shoots next week. I am off work next week for weeks vacation and will have the time to get it all done. One question though? Why the brake cleaner treatment? Is it to get the grease off the lockup? Thanks.

Nebraska Kelly

[shaner]

wow liks2hunt thats a surgery u just discribed hahaha , i do about half that after few hundred rounds,, when u getthat slugger let me know if it was dirty ,let me ask what do yu lube the reciver  with afterthe brake cleaner inside the reciever , the tri flow? dont it collect crud

[lik2hunt]

One thing that I did forget to mention is that before I reassemble the gun I BLOW the receiver out thoroughly. I have a bobtail truck with glad-hand attachments for a trailer so I purchased one of the air hoses that attaches to it and I blow the receiver out until it is dry, I mean until I'm sure it's dry of the Tri-flow and only the teflon residue is left. This could be done with the canned air like is used on a computer but would take longer and probably a few cans. I know that one of the blower attachments can be bought at Wal-Mart and maybe, if you can find any FREE air anymore, it could be done at a service station.
I only use the Tri-Flow for lubricant in the receiver, yes, but only after I have blown it out good. Technically anything that is moist or lubricated will collect crud. Just redo the flush before every season and you should be alright. I used to use CLP before I discovered the Tri-Flow.
The brake cleaner will cut just about anything and dries DRY. That's why I use it. But it will make you think it has even cut the blue off your gun too. Just hit it with any oil or gun lube right afterwards and it shines right back up.
One other thing that I do is after I have cleaned the barrel I use a cotton ball wrapped around a piece of cleaning rod dipped in rubbing alcohol and swab out the chamber, this cleans any lubricant out and pretty much stops the stuck cases issue. This can be done before you store it or right before you head out to hunt or to the range, but should be done before you shoot it after this "surgery".
The new Ultra Varmint .243 that I just purchased was the cleanest H&R from the factory that I have ever gotten, but I wouldn't have known that had I not gone thru this process.
Takes about an hour or so after you've done it a couple of times, well worth the effort. My .243 put shots #9 and #10 at .676 center to center.

[lik2hunt]

One question though? Why the brake cleaner treatment? Is it to get the grease off the lockup?

Yea and every other moving part. H&R's are notoriously dirty from the factory and if your gun was never cleaned like this, probably still is. I've handled guns in pawn shops that were 2-5 years old and still had the factory "gunk" on them. You can always tell by rubbing your finger across the breech face and if it comes back black and greasy then there ya go. If your gun is older than one year, if it has a serial number in which the second letter is before a "U" or a "V", then I would clean it really good, heck I'd do it anyway, but as you can tell, that's just the way I am now after this...........................
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=45255&highlight=saga

[Nebraska Kelly]

I used butch's solvent and JB bore paste (coarse) to polish the barrel. Cleaned the barrel repeatedly and completely. It was nice an shiny when I got done with it. It was windy and hot in nebraska today. I had worked all night but wanted to see how this gun would do. I took off for the country at around noon. Being so tired from working all night I was not real steady. But I wanted to get an idea of how the gun shoots. I used some 55gr soft point ultra max cheap ammo to sight it. It shot an easy one inch group with my first 5 shots. I then switched to winchester white box 45gr hollow points.  It shot those about the same. I was not doing my part today. This was just to get the scope set and have a little fun. It shot very well. It was consistent. Meaning no matter how I held the gun the groups went to the same point of impact. Except for one time when I let the front swivel stick on a sandbag. It shot high then. But only 2 inches higher. It was shooting good for a first time. I wont go into anymore group size because all the problems were of my making from not holding the gun well being so tired and it was HOT outside and windy. I could tell the gun will shoot well. I am going to scrub the bore again then take it out on a cool day when I am capale of doing my part.  I will get around to doing the brake treatment in the not to distant future. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Nebraska Kelly]

I thought you may like to know my results so far. I did polish the barrel again after my first shooting session. It is one shiny bore. I shot the rifle again thursday. I mentioned I have some black hills 60gr soft points that I used on deer in the past. Well I got around to shooting those today. I was not expecting much after all that I read about 45 and 50 grain slugs being the accuracy kings in the handi. My results so far have shown-----

1. 45gr winchester whitebox hollow point.  about 1 1/4 inches so far average.

2. 55gr Remax remanufactured ammo with soft points. about 1 inch average so far.

3. 60gr blackhills using berger bullets. A 1/2 inch group about 3 inches higher than my other groups. I think that is because they stay in the barrel longer and the recoil is at a higher point befor bullet exits the barrel.   I was only able to shoo that one group because the case stuck on the last shot and I did not have a cleaning rod with me. I was sure dissapointed. I wanted to shoot several groups to see if the first 1/2 inch was a fluke. I dont think it was though.
That is remanufactured ammo and the cases dont seem to be sized as well as the other remanufactured stuff I have. The round went into the chamber hard. I was wondering if it would stick. I will try all my blackhills ammo and sort out the poorly sized cases. They did not all feel that tight.

I guess what I have learned so far is that there are not absolutes about these rifles. You dont really know until you try that load. It dosnt matter that someone elses rifle wont shoot that particular load. I am very satisfied so far with this handi. It does not wander all over the target. I admit I have not shot over 50 rounds so far. I know it is not even close to being broken in yet. I will be shooting more this weekend.
Kelly

[quickdtoo]

Kelly, did ya polish the chamber??? Shooting normal loads, not hot handloads or milsurp, you shouldn't have a problem with stuck cases in a clean chamber. Dirt, oil or solvent in the chamber will cause stuck brass. Polishing the chamber should eliminate stuck brass if the chamber isn't too rough to begin with. I polished my .223 Ultra before I ever shot it, now after 200-300 rounds, never had a stuck case yet....FWIW, Black Hills reman ammo has been reported to be reloaded brass that's been shot in military arms and more than one case separation has been reported here in a Handi.

Tim

[Nebraska Kelly]

Hi Tim. Yes I did polish the he-- out of the barrel. I have had no problems with any other 223 ammo sticking other than that black hills stuff. The factory winchester stuff falls out of the breech. That black hills stuff I have is not sized well. It is military brass that looks kinda rough. The rifle is not at fault here. It is the ammo pure and simple. The point I was trying to make on the last post was everyone saying that heavy bullets dont shoot good out of handi's. But mine likes the 55 and 60 grain slugs very much. I was suprized after reading so much about the 45gr stuff working best. It might as I get the barrel 'shot in'. But it sure dosnt need any help to shoot the heavy bullets right now. I was just thinking no matter what you read about these guns they all act as individuals. I am glad mine likes the heavy bullets.
Kelly  

[handirifle]

Kelly
I went looking into the Berger bullets, after reading your post, and see that they recommend 1 in 12 twist for a lot of their bullets up to and including 64gr.  Might be worth a try to get some of those for my 223 UV.

Glad they worked so well for ya.

In my new 243 barrel I shot some OLD reloads and new reloads.

One case went in snug and, like you, I wondered if it would stick....yep it did, but I always take my cleaning stuff to the range now and was able to clear it quickly.  Other than that no problems.

I'm gonna try some other powder/bullet combo's and maybe a factory load or two.