I bought myself a brand new synthetic stocked .223 Handi, Friday, two days ago. I had my LGS order it for me. I went and picked it up and I was in a hurry, and didn't check it too good. When I got it home, I found that it was very difficult to get it to lock up. It would lock up, but I really had to work at it to get it to do so. Well, I went to the FAQs stickies here, and found the cure. I had to fit the barrel to the receiver. I followed the instructions, and really didn't have any problems doing it. Now, every is hunky-dorie, and it acts like all my other Handis and like I've had it for many years.
What I learned from this is that I will be in the market for some more barrels when I ain't broke, in the not too distant future.
I want to thank everyone who contributed to the FAQs stickies. They're a life saver.
Anyway, I wished Freedom Group or Cerebus or whoever the hell they are would just plain old go away.