riddleofsteel
Member
I had been looking at the NEF Handi-rifle for some time. The great price and the top break, single shot, action had attracted my attention for some time.
I finally broke down when I finally saw one in 25-06. This has always been a favorite caliber of mine. I own a 25-06 Sendero that I use for deer and varmits so I already had dies, brass, bullets and powder. I did some research over at the NEF forum at another message board and I have to admit I almost did not make the purchase after reading how particular some NEF's can be. According to my reading some Handi's suffer from premature opening of the action, poor/weak ejection, eratic grouping if you rest the rifle on its fore end, ect, ect.
When I got my 25-06 NEF home I fired it with less than satisfactory accuracy results;
Unpolished bore 117 grain Hornady Custom ammo, rested under the hinge, no washer in the fore end 100 yards
I was pleased when the rifle's lockup performed normally and the ejection was effective and positive. On the advice of some of the guys on the NEF forum, I polished the bore of my 25-06 Handi-rifle with some Flitz compound and added a rubber washer to the barrel hanger bolt to isolate the barrel from the forend. After stroking the bore with Flitz and throughly cleaning out the residue I went back to the range;
Polished bore 117 grain Hornady Custom ammo rested under the fore end. I decided that I would never rest the rifle on the frame or hinge in a field hunting situation so I started resting it on the fore end.
Note the first shot from a clean barrel is higher than the rest of the group from a dirty barrel
Polished bore with my handloads 117 grain Hornady SPBT with H4831
Here the first shot from a clean barrel was wild to the left. I can not swear the wild second shot was not my fault. The barrel has never needed two fouling shots to settle down before.
I have come to the conclusion that the temperature of this rifle's barrel makes very little difference in the group size or impact point. However, the condition of the barrel as far as dirty or clean makes a great deal of difference, so does the point you rest the rifle on.
I shot a couple of 4 round groups and settled down to squeeze out the best group I could. I knew it would shoot better rested under the hinge so I took that posistion.
The result was a four shot group of slightly less than MOA.
I think it is clear that this NEF benefited from a good bore polishing. I think it will only continue to improve its accuracy. It may be my imagination but the rifle seemed to group and shoot better as the day went on. I did notice that with either type of ammo used the rifle never threw a group that would have been a liability on a deer's chest at any resonable distance.
I think I will take this Handi hunting tommorrow. One last day left for deer here in NC. Maybe I'll get lucky.
I finally broke down when I finally saw one in 25-06. This has always been a favorite caliber of mine. I own a 25-06 Sendero that I use for deer and varmits so I already had dies, brass, bullets and powder. I did some research over at the NEF forum at another message board and I have to admit I almost did not make the purchase after reading how particular some NEF's can be. According to my reading some Handi's suffer from premature opening of the action, poor/weak ejection, eratic grouping if you rest the rifle on its fore end, ect, ect.
When I got my 25-06 NEF home I fired it with less than satisfactory accuracy results;
Unpolished bore 117 grain Hornady Custom ammo, rested under the hinge, no washer in the fore end 100 yards
I was pleased when the rifle's lockup performed normally and the ejection was effective and positive. On the advice of some of the guys on the NEF forum, I polished the bore of my 25-06 Handi-rifle with some Flitz compound and added a rubber washer to the barrel hanger bolt to isolate the barrel from the forend. After stroking the bore with Flitz and throughly cleaning out the residue I went back to the range;
Polished bore 117 grain Hornady Custom ammo rested under the fore end. I decided that I would never rest the rifle on the frame or hinge in a field hunting situation so I started resting it on the fore end.
Note the first shot from a clean barrel is higher than the rest of the group from a dirty barrel
Polished bore with my handloads 117 grain Hornady SPBT with H4831
Here the first shot from a clean barrel was wild to the left. I can not swear the wild second shot was not my fault. The barrel has never needed two fouling shots to settle down before.
I have come to the conclusion that the temperature of this rifle's barrel makes very little difference in the group size or impact point. However, the condition of the barrel as far as dirty or clean makes a great deal of difference, so does the point you rest the rifle on.
I shot a couple of 4 round groups and settled down to squeeze out the best group I could. I knew it would shoot better rested under the hinge so I took that posistion.
The result was a four shot group of slightly less than MOA.
I think it is clear that this NEF benefited from a good bore polishing. I think it will only continue to improve its accuracy. It may be my imagination but the rifle seemed to group and shoot better as the day went on. I did notice that with either type of ammo used the rifle never threw a group that would have been a liability on a deer's chest at any resonable distance.
I think I will take this Handi hunting tommorrow. One last day left for deer here in NC. Maybe I'll get lucky.
