Home› Main Category› General Firearms
ken55
Posts: 782 Senior Member
Handi - rifle in .243
ken55
Posts: 782 Senior Member
Stopped by the LGS this afternoon to shoot the breeze and fondle some rifles when I found a consignment Handi-Rifle in .243 with a Weaver 3x9x40 on QD mounts. Synthetic stock - like new condition - scope is excellent - trigger is not bad. Thinking of it as a knock-around rifle. Tag says $225. I'm thinking the scope is worth a goodly part of that price but what say the group? [It's been almost 6 weeks since I bought a rifle so I guess I'm due. :devil: ]
Replies
Dad 5-31-13
Here a handy level made from an old mount and a vial from a $1.00 plastic level from Hardware store. A lille drilling, and some Aluma-Black.
CPJ, I think my when I bought it was a little over $200.00.
But now? I'd get a Ruger American, Savage Axis or Mossberg bolt gun and be done with it.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Well, if you are comparing a new NEF with a new entry-level bolt gun, that's a good point. But I think it's apples and oranges to compare a used $200 rifle with a good scope to a $300 or so rifle like those mentioned earlier in the thread. If I needed or wanted another bolt gun, this Handi-rifle would obviously not be a contender anyway. I'm just looking at it as a can't-hurt-it, compact, light weight, single-shot rifle in a usable caliber. It's not only 2/3 the price of the others mentioned, it's also much shorter and lighter. It's just a different thing, IOW. Maybe use it to train my grand daughter.
Anyway, I'm not sold on the thing in the first place - just hadn't seen one in a while and got curious about it.
I'm with you, brother. It's a nice turn of events the last few years that there are so many "entry level" rifles that will shoot so well - much better than what is really needed for hunting. I'm generally biased towards the old hunters like the commercial FN Mauser you just picked up for about the same price as the dinky little plastic stocked NEF shooter - now, that was a find! I haven't shot my own 1950 vintage commercial FN very much but it sure looks nice sitting there in the rack.
Yeah, that's what attracted me in the first place, Freezer - I like the idea of having a useful light weight rifle that I won't worry about getting messed up. It's for sure a plain-jane gun but like you said, it has a place. I appreciate the input, sir.
It's a J.C. Higgins Model 103.229 with the original J.C. Higgins 4x scope, made sometime in the 1940's. I think it's the same as a Marlin Model 81. I bought it several years ago at a pawn shop for almost nothing ($25 IIRC) in really bad shape - had to pound the bolt open and the barrel was full of crud. It had all the parts and cleaned up pretty good, though. A range test showed it not only still works, it's pretty accurate, too. The scope is like looking through a drinking straw but I like that it's original so I will leave it as is. The top one in the photo is the carbine version of the Marlin 39, from about 1955-56. I had it out plinking a few weeks ago and got back in touch with how much fun it is to kill tin cans with a .22.
If it doesn't meet the accuracy expectations, keep the scope if you like it, and sell the rifle.
If you like it-Great Buy!
"The Un-Tactical"