Any known issues with 1989 vintage .223 Handi-Rifles?

[John C]

I'm looking at a 1989 vintage .223 Handi-Rifle.  It'll be my first one, if I get it.  Are there any issues I should know about before I lay down the cash?  It looks to be in pretty good shape, and the seller is asking $165.  He has 300 rounds of Hornady ammo that I'm going to try to negotiate into the deal.

I've been reading the forum, and sometimes there's some info out there about certain subsets of these rifles, so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks,

-John

[bikerbeans]

The twist rate "should" be 1:12 so you will be limited to the lighter .224 bullets, probably 55 grain & smaller.  The reason I say the twist should be 1:12 is I had a 1988 223 and the twist was 1:14.

BB

[John C]

Thanks, Bikerbeans, that's exactly the sort of info I was looking for.  That'd be interesting if it was 1:14 twist; apparently that's the original twist rate of the M16.  I wonder how well it would even shoot 55gr bullets.  As I understand it, the change to 1:12 was to increase bullet stabilization.

-John

[bikerbeans]

John,

I didn't shoot the 1:14 all that much but it did seem to be okay with the 55 grain FMJBTs, hornady I believe.  I sold the barrel to another GBO member but I can't remember who it was.  I let them know about the twist rate and it was okay for him because he was going to shoot 40 to 45 grain bullets.   The one you are looking at is probably a 1:12, I have only read about one other 1:14 223.  Someone at the factory probably made a 223 barrel out of a 22-250 barrel blank.

BB

[carbineman]

As you know hr1871 will not fit additional barrels of certain type to your action. If you want to add an accessory barrel this should be taken into consideration. It is all in the FAQ's listed in the top section of threads in the forum.

[Spanky]

I used to have an older 223 Handi with 1 in 12 twist and it shot real good with 55gr. ammo.



Spanky

[tobster]

They have also been determined to be "gateway' Handi's!!!

[olsmokey]

I seem to remember checking my 223 and I think it was 1-14. Been so long ago I forgot. Gonna check it tomorrow. How do you date a Handi? Have no idea how old it is. Are the 1-14 rare?

[John C]

I dated it by asking the seller for the first 3 digits of the serial number.  I then cross-referenced those letters to the dates in the FAQ, which showed it be a 1989 model.

-John

[John C]

As you know hr1871 will not fit additional barrels of certain type to your action. If you want to add an accessory barrel this should be taken into consideration. It is all in the FAQ's listed in the top section of threads in the forum.

Actually, I did NOT know this.  I knew that SB1 frames are restricted, but not that some SB2s have additional restrictions.  So, THANK YOU for pointing this out.  The depth of knowledge on this board is awesome!

After carefully studying the charts on the NEF site, I see that the older handi-rifle frames are restricted to calibers similar to the T/C Contender (pistol caliber, 45-70, .223, .30-30), and the newer frames will take anything.

-John

[olsmokey]

I double checked the 223 I have and it is definately 1-14 twist mfg. in 1993. So maybe they were running short on 223 blanks and used 22-250 blanks?

[John C]

Olsmokey;

How well does it shoot?  Have you tried different bullet weights in it?

It looks like I might have missed out on the deal.   No worries, I'll get the next one.

-John

[olsmokey]

It shoots good, the heaviest bullet I have used are 55grs. The bullets I use most are 50gr. Sierra and 45gr. V-Max. By the way what is a ''gateway'' Handi?

[John C]

I think the term "gateway" is a reference to "gateway drug".  It's the easy one to get and use, and then, before you know it, you're hooked!

-John

[gcrank1]

So really dont be concerned that 'they' wont fit barrels to it, you can, but why bother if its as good a shooter as most report. You will end up with more, and complete working guns are way better than swap barrel set ups for 'grab & go'.
Oh, and have fun, thats a good buy!