Thanks for the update Doc, although we already knew about the equipment upgrades at Ilion, they also have a new wood processing plant, and Ilion has a new barrel making facility being built that will take over barrel production for Marlin, to include hammer forged barrels, whether the HF barrels will end up on H&Rs I don't know yet tho. The upgrades are also why recent production is down and H&Rs on shelves are in short supply, they've concentrated on just their best selling products during the transition at Ilion. As for "at NEF", New England Firearms doesn't really exist anymore, it's all but gone from the website, the only reference to it is on the imported shotguns and the starter pistol, as well as in the repair section for the imported shotguns, everything else is H&R, products like the Handi used to be marked NEF, but for the last couple years even they're marked H&R.
Tim