Today my wife called me at work: "UPS delivered a long cardboard box. It says 'H&R'".
It was all I could do to keep myself from jumping up and yelling the Homer Simpson "WOOHOO!!!"
I sent a Handi frame in on February 3rd to be fitted with a .357 barrel. With the posts in the last few days about availability of this caliber, the call I expected was one from NEF, asking me to pick something else. Instead, the box contained my rifle, fitted with a nice new 22" barrel in .357 Magnum. I must have made it just under the wire.
All looked perfect -- lockup is tight, bore is clean and rifling is sharp, with a rather long tapered leade. As MSP Retired has noted, it looks like .357 DW might chamber OK. For now, I'm happy as Homer Simpson in a donut shop with plain old 357 Magnum.
I noticed that the middle scope filler screw had a stripped head. I picked at it with an X-acto, trying to uncover the remains of the slot. The screw had a weird, "mushy" feel to it, so I tapped the knife with a little hammer, and discovered that it is made of, as my son used to say when he was 2, "PWASSIC!!" Yep, the cost-cutting gurus at Marlin are supplying plastic filler screws to NEF. I just pushed the blade into the remains of the screw and backed it out.
Weather allowing, I'll post a range report Sunday night. I already have some mild cast-bullet loads made up, and lots of .38 Spl service loads to try out.
WOOHOO!!!
