How Do You Like Your Stainless Steel Handi?

[Mainer]

We've been having lots of rain up here in the Northeast, which has made me consider stainless for my next Handi (which I am absolutely itching for).

How do you guys like your stainless steel Handis?  I handled one at the Kittery Trading Post.  Seemed to have a matte finish.  I imagine it could be sprayed with matte paint for an even more subdued appearance.

[quickdtoo]

I love mine, but I didn't get it for the supposed resistance to weather related issues....I've hunted on the wet side of Washington state all my life and have never had a problem with rust or corrosion on any blued  firearm using a good protective gun oil. I've read of some that use a good wax with excellent results, too. In a marine environment, a stainless firearm should have some advantages, but for us land dwellers, in my opinion, I don't think they're necessary....but they sure look cool!!! Unfortunately, on a Handi, the parts that need to be SS are blued, all the internals are the same including the trigger, hammer and sometimes the barrel release, seen it both ways.

I installed a brushed steel trigger guard and spacer on my '06 to enhance the appearance of being all SS. :wink:

[Fred M]

Mainer.
223 Rem. (SB2-2S3)
243 Win. (SB2-4S3)
270 Win. (SB2-2S7)
30/06 Sprg. (SB2-3S6)
22/250 Rem. (SB2-2S5)

If a 22" barrel suits you the SS barrels have one other benefit besides not rusting. If the stainless is 416 the barrels are stress free while the normal barrels should be stress relieved which is something H&R is not doing.

In short SS barrels shoot better, because more consistent bore dimensions can be maintained during manufacture.
That is the theory because I don't know what these barrels are made of.

But there are not many different SS gun barrel steel made most all are made in one or two steel mills. There is one special SS steel made for Lothar Walther a proprietary steel and that barrel steel would not be found on a Handi.

[Mainer]

Tim:  Nice looking rifle! :grin:   Where did you get the brushed stainless trigger guard and space?

Fred:  I know almost nothing about metallurgy.  What do you mean by stress free barrels?

[quickdtoo]

Thanks!!! Got them from H&R, they come blued and aren't stainless, I brushed em myself with a steel brush wheel on my bench grinder. The set is expensive at $75, though!!

[Fred M]

Mainer.

SS barrels have to be heat treated to get the proper Rockwell hardness.
This relieves the stress and actually reduces the bore by realigning the molecules. Then the button rifling will uniform the bore and the same time introduce some stress. A real good barrel is then stress relieved again.
I doubt that the second relief is done by H&R. So a SS barrel could still have stress. The sequence of operation maybe different from mine.

Lilja bores, reams and button rifles the barrel and then heat treats. The bore will contract to the final dimension minus 0.000x to allow for finish lapping. Of course these barrels cost more unchamberd than a whole Handi rifle.

The only way for you to tell if you have an even bore, you have to push a slug though th bore and feel if it gets tight or loose and measurements taken at both ends

Regular barrels supplied by Green mountain are not stress relieved.
When metal is removed from the outside the steel relaxes and the bore getss bigger. Button rifling will indroduce stress since no material is removed and will shrink the bore some.

The heat treatment of the SS barrels on a Handi makes me think they are more uniform. This could very well be a wrong asumption.

[Mainer]

Fred, thanks for educating me! :grin:

[kufford]

Tim

Did you ever run any groups through her? I was curious to see what you got...

ken

[quickdtoo]

Ken, Haven't got to the range yet, maybe take it when I get my smokepole ready for late muzzleloader...