How to Assemble the Most Useful North American Hunting Rifle Battery on a Tight Budget
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Disclaimer: I do not now, or ever have, nor has any of my family or friends worked for H&R, NEF, Marlin or Remington. I mention only H&R Handi-Rifles because I have started to put this rifle battery together myself and I have read enough owner and test reports over the last four years that the brand is known to be of good value, quality and reliability. The synthetic models also will hold up well with rough field use and last for many years. A testament to their durability is the difficulty of finding used Handi-Rifles. Also, H&R/NEF are the only complete line of budget break-open rifles manufactured in the United States. I am also only interested in North American brand firearms, specifically, United States by brand and source of manufacture, because the goal of building this particular rifle battery is that when you are done, it is from tip to toe, an American (U.S) rifle battery. - 2
The most important information about each rifle caliber
I have assembled the following information about each rifle in the battery: Weight; Barrel length; Zero set; Effective range or Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR); Recoil based on the different ammunition each rifle uses; What game, pests, predators and varmints are best harvested using each rifle. - 3
H&R/NEF Barrel Accessory Program
H&R/NEF have what is called The Barrel Accessory Program. If you are on a really tight budget, this can be a God-send and save you hundreds of dollars over time as you build out your budget rifle battery. The way the program works is you buy a rifle with an SB-2 frame, basically any centerfire rifle. Then you can send the frame and forearm back to H&R with a check for a little over $100, and they will custom fit a new barrel of your choice. This program means you can add barrels, not rifles, and save $150 every time you do so.
Another terrific aspect of this is that if you have more than one shooter in the family, you can buy as many complete guns, and then just add barrels to build out the battery, and everyone can carry a rifle in the field with many different barrel selections.
Unlike the more expensive Thompson/Center single shot rifles, every H&R barrel DOES NOT fit every H&R frame. If you have say five rifles, and you took off all the barrels (a very easy thing to do), and you jumbled up the frames and the barrels, and then randomly put barrels on frames, some may lockup really tight, some may not lock up because they are too tight, and yet others may lockup but be too loose. This is why H&R hand-fits each barrel to each frame for you. A good gunsmith can also take an H&R barrel and fit it up for you.
The basic rules - Almost any SB-2 center rifle frame can be fitted with another file, muzzle loader or shotgun barrel. The exceptions are the 357 Mag and 44 Mag, they will support only their specific barrels. Also, the 22 LR, 22 WMR, and 17 HMR rimfire frames can only be fitted with other rimfire barrels. - 4). An important concept: Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR), the basics. Bullets exit barrels and travel in an arc, at first rising and then falling along their path. To make sure we can hit a target consistently, it is important we know just how much that rise and fall is. If we know it, we can work out the maximum range at which the bullet will more or less hit the spot we are aiming for. I label this rise and fall "TRAJ", short for "trajectory". For a 22 caliber bullet, the accepted rise and fall is 1.5". So on a ground squirrel 90 yards away, your bullet will strike 1.5" below the cross-hairs, and at 45 yards, it will hit 1.5" higher than the cross-hairs. Hit the squirrel anywhere in between and you kill it. With bullets larger than 22 caliber, the standard rise and fall is 3" above and 3" below the cross-hairs, which makes sense, when you are shooting at much larger animals, even though they may well be a lot further away than 90 yards.
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H&R 22 LR Sportster
Purchase your 22 LR rifle. The best use for the 22 LR is to hunt game and pests up to 5 pounds body weight out to 90 yards with authority. "Authority" in this context means that you have a VERY high probability of a clean, one-shot, and therefore humane kill. If you have doubt about this, then you are not matching the caliber to the game. The H&R 22 LR will cost around $150 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great first gun for the new shooter. - 6
H&R 22 WMR Sportster
Purchase your 22 WMR rifle. WMR stands for Winchester Magnum Round. It looks like a 22 LR, same bullet but the case is about twice as long, therefore can deliver a lot more energy at the same distances, and out-range the 22 LR. The best use for the 22 WMR is to hunt game and pests up to 18 pounds body weight out to 123 yards. The H&R 22 WMR will cost around $150 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great second gun for the new shooter. - 7
H&R 22 Hornet Synthetic Handi-Rifle
Purchase your 22 Hornet rifle. The 22 Hornet is the smallest of the centerfire cartridges and develops seriously more killing power and effective range than the 22 WMR. It does this without a similar increase in muzzle blast, and is therefore much quieter to shoot than its big brothers the 223 and the 22-250. The Hornet can operate effectively to about 175 yards and is best used to hunt game and pests up to 30 pounds body weight. The 22 Hornet will cost around $260 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great third gun for the new shooter. - 8
H&R 357 Mag Synthetic Handi-Rifle
Purchase your 357 Magnum gun. The 357 Mag is a pistol cartridge that is very effective in a 22" rifle barrel. These rifles can also shoot the cheaper and less powerful 38 special and can be very cheap to practice with compared to a rifle that uses traditional centerfire rifle cartridges. The best use for the 357 Mag is to hunt game, pests, predators and varmints between 12 pounds and up to 150 pounds body weight, out to 165 yards. Using Hornady LeveRevolution ammunition can increase the effective range to 200 yards. The 357 Mag will cost around $225 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great fourth gun for the new shooter. - 9
H&R 44 Mag Synthetic Handi-Rifle
Purchase your 44 Remington Magnum gun. The 44 Mag is another pistol cartridge that is very effective in a lever-gun. These rifles can also shoot the cheaper and less powerful 44 special and can also be cheaper to practice with compared to a rifle that uses traditional centerfire rifle cartridges. The best use for the 44 Mag is to hunt game and dangerous predators between 125 pounds and 300 pounds body weight, out to 159 yards. Using Hornady LeveRevolution ammunition can increase the effective range to 185 yards. The 44 Mag will cost around $225 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great fifth gun for the new shooter. - 10
H&R 30-06 Synthetic Handi-Rifle - Part 1
Purchase your 30-06 Springfield gun. The 30-06 has the distinct reputation of being as close as possible to an "all-around" rifle, by virtue of the fact that you can buy factory ammunition with bullet weights from 125gr to 220gr. You can also buy managed recoil rounds for the recoil sensitive shooter. You can do so much with the 30-06 that I had to split it up into three parts just so I would not leave any important capabilities out. Using 125gr bullets you can shoot game, pests and varmints between 18 pounds and 65 pounds body weight, out to 269 yards. The 30-06 will cost around $265 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great sixth gun for the new shooter. - 11
H&R 30-06 Synthetic Handi-Rifle - Part 2
Using 150gr to 180gr bullets you can shoot game, pests and varmints between 90 pounds and 300 pounds body weight, out to 240 yards. - 12
H&R 30-06 Synthetic Handi-Rifle - Part 3
Using 180gr to 220gr bullets you can shoot game, pests and varmints between 400 pounds and 1000 pounds body weight, out to 200 yards. - 13
Suggested Recoil Reduction Strategy for the 30-06 Springfield: 1) A 125gr bullet reduces recoil by 50% compared to a 220gr bullet. 2) Managed Recoil Loads (lighter recoil) are available for this caliber, or 3) For an all-around recoil solution for a 5'10" shooter: Reduce stock Length of Pull (LOP) by having your gunsmith cut 1.75" off the length of the stock, refit the standard recoil pad, and add a Limbsaver (small) slip-on recoil pad. This should bring felt recoil down from 20 ft lb to about 10 ft lb with 180gr bullets, more like a 30-30 Win recoil. - 14
H&R 45-70 Synthetic Handi-Rifle
Purchase your 45-70 Government gun. The best use for the 45-70 Govt. is to hunt game and pests between 400 pounds and >1500 pounds body weight out to 131 yards with traditional ammunition, and 175 yards with Hornady LeveRevolution ammunition. The 45-70 will cost around $265 new from just about any source that is convenient for you. Used examples are hard to find. This is a great seventh and final gun for the new shooter. - 15
Suggested Recoil Reduction Strategy for 45-70 Govt.: For a 5'10" shooter: Reduce stock Length of Pull (LOP) by having your gunsmith cut 1.75" off the length of the stock, refit the standard recoil pad, and add a Limbsaver (small) slip-on recoil pad. This should bring felt recoil down from 19 ft lb to about 10ft lb using 405gr bullets, more like a 30-30 Win recoil. - 16
Help a new shooter climb the recoil ladder
Help a New Shooter: Another important aspect to any practical rifle battery that spans all potential hunting uses in North America, as the calibers and power of the rifles range from the diminutive .22 LR to the bone crushing 45-70 Govt., it presents the new shooter and their mentors with an increasingly more aggressive ballistics "ladder" that the new shooter can climb over time. As they grow into the joys of shooting and hunting, they can do so without the danger of being scared off or developing bad flinches by being introduced to too much rifle and too much recoil, too early in their relationship with the sport, by slowly climbing this battery ballistics ladder and mastering each "rung of the ladder" before they climb to the next highest.
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