new 223

[sureshot2040]

hey pards
i have just got thru setting up my new 223 handi
i picked it up today and put a scope on it and boresighted it
i also cleaned it real good and put the spacer under the forearm
i have some rem 55 gr mc factory stuff and some hornady 55 vmax factory
i also have wwb 45 gr varmint hp and last but probably least silver bear 62 gr stuff
i plan to shoot it out to around 300 yards at crows and paper and maybe a yote if i can call one up
i know every gun is different but which of the above loads should be the most accurate?
btw this shooter is different from any i have seen it is a heavy barrel with regular wood stocks but the wood looks alot better than the pallet wood i usually see on these shooters it is what i call tiger striped and i think i have heard of it reffered to as fiddleback? grain
i thought the heavy barrel was only offered in the survivor or the ultra??

anyways i plan to send her in after the new wears off and have em fit a bc barrel and a heavy 308 barrel to it
then i would have one gun that would just abt take care of all my needs as far as long guns go
the 308 would be for deer and with the right sight setup the 45-70 could do my long range steel work
all for less than my cousin put in his encore with just one barrel

sorry for being so long
just a happy camper
sureshot

[quickdtoo]

Congrats!! The SB2-323 is a 22" bull barreled model with hardwood stock, sounds like that's whatcha got. Some wood is much nicer than others, and yours sounds nice. Try all the ammo, but I would put my bet on the .45gr WWB, but some of the 55g stuff works good too.

Tim

http://hr1871.com/Firearms/Rifles/youth.aspx

[myarmor]

Same here, congrats. My 223's are my favorite Handis, and I am sure you will be pleased with it. My Ultra 223 took some time to break in and I shot it in with many rounds...and some frusteration .. but I got her worked out and she's now my go to gun. One of the best shooting rifles I own.
A good bore polish really helps.
And I agree, got some pics??

-Aaron

[sureshot2040]

thanks guys
i will try to get some pics up soon although i dont have a digital cam i will have to go the long way around
one thing i noticed on my gun
it acts like it only has an extractor not an ejector when i break it open it just pulls the shell out abt a half inch?
is this something they changed since i owned my last handi??
the old one would throw it back behind you abt 10 ft
sureshot

[myarmor]

Yeap, all new centerfire barrels are going this way to extractors. And the rate of twist changed recently in the 223s from 1-12 to 1-9 which is most likely what yours has.
Many here have their own takes and prefferences on ejectors and extractors. I personally like my ejectors, but to each his own.

[sureshot2040]

is the new rate of twist better or worse?
as far as accuracy??

[myarmor]

Neither of mine are a 1-9. Mine have ejectors and are 1-12's.
 But from what I hear from all our members here they love theirs, and are able to shoot a little heavier bullets. However they seem to shoot the lighter ones good to. I wish one of mine were 1-9 so I could work up 55gr load.

[lefty red]

Good Luck SureShot!

BTW, how do you go about "polishing" a barrel?

LEFTY

[quickdtoo]

Bore and chamber polishing is covered in the FAQ and Help sticky.

Tim

[sureshot2040]

hey pards
i shot her today for the first time
thought i had the scope set but the first shot hit three inches high at 25 yards
i cranked her down and to the right a little and put one bullet one inch to the left of dead center so i cranked it down a little more and shot a three shot group that was the diameter of two bullet holes it looked just like two bullet holes touching each other one had to go directly in the other hole all this was shot off the top of an old bar stool while i was kneeling on the ground behind it not the stablest of rests
i cant wait to get her down to my cousins range and get her on some sandbags
i do believe this one is gonna be a shooter
right now i have her hitting two inches low at 25 yards???  i know the hornady bullet box of the 55gr v max says 1.49" at 100 yards
so what should it be at 25yards? i know most guns i have shot were set around and inch and a half low at 25 yards
any reccomendations?

im real happy with this un
sureshot

[fastbike]

May also be an Ultra Varmint SB2-823. 24" bull / "cinnamon laminated" stock. I just got one of these. My first H&R. Haven't shot it yet, but hoping for some time this weekend.

Larry

Congrats!! The SB2-323 is a 22" bull barreled model with hardwood stock, sounds like that's whatcha got. Some wood is much nicer than others, and yours sounds nice. Try all the ammo, but I would put my bet on the .45gr WWB, but some of the 55g stuff works good too.

Tim

http://hr1871.com/Firearms/Rifles/youth.aspx

[quickdtoo]

May also be an Ultra Varmint SB2-823. 24" bull / "cinnamon laminated" stock. I just got one of these. My first H&R. Haven't shot it yet, but hoping for some time this weekend.

Larry

Not likely, the resin laminated stocks don't have any fiddleback in em, and they're also checkered. Some of the plain wood stocks have pretty nice wood in em, saw a .204Ruger at the local BiMart last week that had some pretty nice grain for a beech stock compared to most Handis. The pic below is an example of a fiddleback stock, this particular stock is checkered tho. The bottom pic is an SB2-823 Ultra .223.

btw, welcome to GBO since this is your first post!

Tim

[Fazak]

I've owned two Handi rifles,... both of them in .223.

Everyone has their preferences, but there's just something very proper about a Handi chambered in the hot little .22 caliber cartridge.

[Fazak]

My Ultra 223 took some time to break in and I shot it in with many rounds...and some frusteration

Ditto on the break in required for the .223 barrels. On my first outing with my .223 I was frustrated to the point of giving up on it. It would group a few fairly tight, then throw a flyer regardless of the load.

I've put about 200 rounds through it now. Before taking it out yesterday I gave the barrel a good cleaning with copper solvent then followed with typical bore cleaner. I was also trying a new load which used the 50 grain Remington PSP over 25 grains of H4895, commercial cases and CCI BR primers. The flyer situation seems to be eliminated.

Like many others, I've learned that Handi's are very sensitive to how they're placed on the shooting rest. I've also learned that they have to be handled with an easy hand when shooting from a rest.

My .223 is really starting to demonstrate consistency now. I still have to work on my benchrest technique for this rifle,... and some more load development is going to be in the works,.. but from yesterday's performance I'm convinced that 1 MOA is attainable with my Handi.

I have several other rifles of various types which I've been working with for a while, but this little, basic breakdown single shot is proving to be the most enjoyable that I've experimented with in a long time.

There's just something very satisfying about it's elemental simplicity.