Can /should I fit 357/ 44 mag barrel to Mid 70's H&R Topper 16 ga

[dandonnell]

Gentlemen/Ladies - as the title sugests I would like to fit a 357 or 44 mag barrel to my older Topper 16 ga.   This was the first gun I ever bought back in the mid 70's.   I still remember the price - $38.00 at Richways department store.   I realize that the stronger frames are more ideal but I do remember them offering extra barrels in 44 mag and 30-30 back then.   Any problems ?   Also, the color case hardening (probably the torch method) was rubbed off when I tried to remove some surface rust back in my youth using navel jelly.   What's the best way to refinish ?   This is a great board with loads of info !

[blaze]

In my opinon you'd be better off buying/trading for a a H&R/NEF 30-30 or 44 mag rifle.  The early H&R guns (pre '77, I think ) used a snap on forend rather than later models with screw on forends (used different barrels).  Also the earlier H&R shotguns had a larger firing pin (most rifle models used a smaller firing pin).  In addition the fitting of any current barrels to the older H&R frames can be a problem, the specifications can be a little different.  I've have/had a number of the older('70-'80) H&R  30-30, 22 Hornet and 357 mag rifles and combos.  All worked great, but not all of the barrels were even close to being anywhere near interchangeable.  I've refinished several older H&R frames by one of several bluing methods.  Hope this helps and keep/refinish that old H&R 16 ga of yours for all it's memories.

[dandonnell]

Thanks Blaze.   Mine does have the screw on fore end.   If I could find a 357 barrel what would be a going price ?   Also,  did I read somewhere on this post that these frames were cast iron ?  Will that take a bluing solution ?

[quickdtoo]

Pre '87 H&R frames made by H&R Inc were cast iron, I would recommend having it done professionally if you want to restore the original case coloring, done wrong it could make it a bomb under pressure, specially with a  35-36kpsi load on it from a 357 or 44 mag. As blaze said, mixing older barrels and modern frames and vice versa may or may not work, the frame tolerances on the old cast iron frames apparently was huge from all the reports here from those that have tried it, including myself. I had an early '70s Topper 158 30-30 that I checked the  fit of the barrel to over 30 of my modern frames, none would come close, I really liked the slim contour or of the older barrels.

Tim

[dandonnell]

Tim,

What was far off from the older barrel fitting  - was it the distance from the hinge pin to the standing breech or the width between the action bars ?   When replaceing a barrel typically do you need to replace the forearm because of the different contour of the rifle barrels and is the screw lug position usually off ?

[quickdtoo]

Underlug length is the issue when swapping barrels, if it's close, it can be altered per the barrel fitting info in the FAQs. Modern barrels generally have heavy tapers in comparison to H&R Inc rifle barrels, H&R only offers one barrel channel on modern rifle forends, so new forends aren't normally required, slight fitting modifications are usually required to get the best accuracy tho, that's all covered in the FAQs too.

Tim