7.62x39 Handi barrel

[DalesCarpentry]

I was wondering what you guys thought about the 7.62x39 Handi barrel. I know they don't make them anymore but thought maybe I could find one. I was at Gander Mt today and they had ammo for it at $3.99 a box of 20. I think it would be a good cheap round to shoot. Do you guys know any of the pros and cons to this round. It seems it would be good for varmints.

[stimpylu32]

Dale

Unless you are going to handload for it save your money to buy a 308 or 30/30 or 30-06 , the cheap ammo is not worth what you would spend on it , trust me . 

stimpy

[darat100]

gotta agree with stimply.  mine hates the cheap stuff.  you won't be happy unless you load your own.

if you do, it is a great one to have

[MnMike]

For about the price of a barrel, you can buy an SKS. It is not a tack driver, but it is fun. It seems to shoot all ammo with the same medium accuracy. In bad weather (limited range shooting), I take mine out deer hunting (with good Federal ammo) and leave my nice guns inside. I also use it for varmint control.

JMHO

mike.

[stimpylu32]

If you want to shoot cheap ammo , go with an SKS , i picked up a Yugo copy at the same time i got my Handi and of the 2 the sks gets about 10 times the trigger time , its just a FUN gun .

And if you want a 30 cal to hunt with get a 30x2 .

stimpy

[DalesCarpentry]

Can these 7.62x39 barrels shoot sub moa with good factory ammo ?

[PartsMan]

I also have an itch for a 7.62x39 handi.
Not interested in moa
They are easy on the shoulder and the ears.
Some of them had trouble shooting cheap ammo because of hard primers.
I think that's why they got discontinued.
Would also be perfect to make a 303 out of.

[myarmor]

As much as I like the little Russian, I ended up trading mine off. The chamber was too deep and made for a headspace problem. The light pin strikes weren't too big a deal with mine as was the firing pin would only stretch out so far and made for a very small dent. Not enough to ignite.
A shame too, as it's a cool little round to play around with.

I echo what Rich said too, not to best choice if your looking to shoot cheap ammo in. Which seems most people wanted that.
 Though SKS's are a TON of fun.


-Aaron

[twocan]

Mine will shoot sub moa with a good factory round. But out of 20 rounds 3 or 4 will not go off. My hand loads have all went off so far, now if i could get a good round worked up. This pic is my last load i shot @50yrd ok but not what factory rounds will do.

[darat100]

I have not been able to get moa out mine yet, but definately minute of deer. (and that is all I ask of it)  If I can hit clay pigeons at 150 yards, I am perfect.  It does that easily.

[plottrunner]

Ther is one listed on ebay right now.....


http://cgi.ebay.com/H-R-NEF-Handi-rifle-7-62x39-barrel-22-w-Scope-Mount_W0QQitemZ320098542255QQcategoryZ31709QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[wtroger]

I am sure that most of the experienced 7.62X39 shooters understand the reason for the hard primers on the military surplus ammo. You all mention your sks's well just release the bolt on an sks and let it load a shell then remove the shell unfired from the rifle, you will more than likely see a small imprint on the primer. These rifles have a floating firing pin and every one I have handled will do this. In order to keep slam fires at a minimum they had to harden the primers. So if your Handi's firing pin protrusion is on the low side of spec and/or the hammer spring is a little light or the head space on the excessive side then the miss fires will occur. The use of reloads with the standard rifle primer will stop most of this because it takes less of a strike to set them off. I will not shoot reloads in my sks because of the slam fire issues. I do pull fmj bullets and reinsert the 123 gr Hornady soft point. I will probably do a stub project in 7.62X39 but will use a .308 barrel and reload using the 308 sizing spud. That is what I did when I built my Mauser in 7.62X39 and it is very accurate. By the way that is a nice target twocan. I use accurate 1680 powder for my 7.62X39 reloads and the load I use is documented in the manuals. I have good luck with that powder in this round.