I generally always thought of handi's as trash guns for most of my life, just for people who could not afford anything else. I saw many, mostly varmint , some deer guns, and none impressed me. My nephew had a 22-250, and another had a 270, nothing wrong with them really, just not what I had envisioned owning some day. I had dreams of going out west at that time, maybe even Alaska.
Then came reality. One day I woke up and I was OLD. The farms around me had all shrunk from quarter and half sections to 5 and 10 acre tracts, those dusk til dawn lights sprang up like mushrooms. I had grandkids.
My wife had went through multiple surgeries for breast cancer and her arm and shoulder were permanently affected, and I had an 8 year old grandson that was wanting to go hunting with me, so I needed something extremely simple, foolproof, light recoil, and cheap. Something I was not going to get paranoid over scratches,being dropped, pulled through fences etc. I was in walmart one day and they had a handi youth model combo on sale for $239, a 243/20ga. I figured at that time(2007 0r 08) that was as close as it was going to get to what I wanted.
The wife could kill snakes with the 20 ga, but did not want the trouble of a long gun. The 243, although the grandson manned up and shot it, was still a bit much. Someone told me about the barrel accessory program and so I sent it in for a 357mag barrel and a BC barrel. (Watched Quigley one too many times and sure could not afford a sharps.
) The grandson shot the 357 and you could see the smile just spread all over him like syrup. Next gun season he killed 2 deer. About that time I heard of this site, and got kinda caught up in the whole swap thing.
Alot of thought has taken place since then. First, the handi is a helluva lot more gun than I ever gave it credit for. The triggers are not bad at all. Accuracy, while not stellar, has been entirely adequate. I love the simplicity and feel of the gun. I have come to realize that there is nothing in the hunting and sport shooting world that I need "more gun" for. I have settled on trying to collect all the rimmed versions. Very little of my hunting will ever take place at 200yards or more. Whitetails are probably the biggest thing I will ever shoot with one. In my entire life I can count on one hand the times that I missed the first shot and killed the second (except squirrels
) With the handi, the performance is about ME more than the gun. I handload, cast all my own bullets, have developed my own loads. That gives me real satisfaction. I have killed somewhere in the high 70's to low 80's of deer, the last 7 with my handi's, plus 3 by my grandson.
He is learning that if you do it right, one is enough, to be patient and prudent.
It may sound silly, but when I walk through my woods I am somehow in equilibrium with nature, not overpowering. If I do my part correctly I will be rewarded. If I have a semauto with night vision and electronic calls etc, I don't feel that. I may be a more effective killer of game, but that is not the purpose of what I do. It is like putting on a pair of shoes that REALLY fit.
Just sayin......