Although they're not as common, I see used NEF Handi Rifles show up at the local shops.  How well do they perform?  What type of groups should one expect from these rifles?

Gtg. 1"groups w/ decent ammo. They are pricy tho, even used. Whats the specifics OP?

I bought one in 30.06 then sent it back for a 5.56 bull barrel and a rifled 3 inch slug barrel. I wish now I had a .357 mag barrel too. But rifle barrels were accurate and the slug barrel had irons and was a hoot to shoot. It also punished on both ends.

I also had one in 30-06, great light weight hunting rifle. I shot two nice bucks with mine before I sold it. Was very accurate with 180 Winchester bonded. Gtg..

Excellent little rifles, unfortunately the market has pushed prices higher than is reasonable.  I liked my 30-06 and .270.

Nothing specific right now.  Right now I'm not looking at any in particular.  Just thinking they're low maintenance and one in .308 or .357 would be nice.  

Decent rifles.  My friend tuned the trigger on his by using a pen spring in place of the original.

Nice and light, easy to carry. They are a hell of a lot of fun to shoot, but the .45-70 rifle is so light that it will beat your ass up.

Love mine need more barrels. My .45-70 is a tack driver.

I've had a bunch.
410, 20 and 12.
I still have the 12ga had Polychoke cut it to 18" and install their adjustable choke.
I still have a Shakari in 45-70, straight stock is not very comfy to shoot.
Never found the 357Max but I had a 357mag and a 22Hornet.
They don't scope well but adding Williams peep sights helps alot.

I have the AAC one in 300blk and it’s a very accurate gun.

I had a .17HRM that was accurate and fun to shoot. I regret trading it, although I do love the gun I got.

The CVA Scout is an available option to the NEF Handi rifle. I always wanted one of the AAC versions in .300Blackout. But after they skyrocketed in price, I got a CVA Scout pistol.

Oh? Do tell?

Does yours eject the brass, or just extract it? Back in my youth I had a NEF .410 that would blast the Hull 10 yards behind me. I expected the same from my 300 BO. No such luck. I have to pull it out with my fingers.

I love my .44 mag.  Got the barrel chopped to 16 1/2" and I want to get a youth stock for it before deer season here (fits much better when I'm wearing my heavy coat on stand).  With 240gr. lswc it will give 1" groups at 50 yards, but  I got some of the 300gr. Hornady XTPs to use for hunting.  

Attached File

After Cerberus bought Remington/NEF, AAC, and several other companies, their marketing guys combined several products to help them sell.  Besides the suppressor-ready NEF's in .300BO, I recall 16" barreled Rem 700's in .300 BO

Think I’d buy a current gun unless it was a smoking deal. CVA seems to be alright. I’ve seen a few of the Rossi guns but don’t know anything about them.

Yes, they made a Handi Rifle in .300 blackout with a threaded 16" barrel.  It had a parkerized finish and was marked AAC.  There was a slight premium, pricewise, over the regular Handi rifles.  I believe the NEF guns were $250-300 and the AAC guns were $350-400.  It was a fairly short run and they are currently going for $600-800.  They were made with the idea of a suppressor host.

CVA makes a .300 Blackout near clone (of the AAC Handi rifle) in rifle & pistol configurations.  It comes with a bead blasted stainless finish.  The pistol has a 14" barrel and the rifle has a 16.5" barrel, both with black synthetic furniture.  They did offer a FDE painted gun with camo furniture in the past, but I don't see them currently on the market.

I got the CVA Scout pistol in .300 blackout during the 'brace ban'.  I got a Farrow Tech pistol grip with AR buffer tube adaptor with the intention of permanently my QD YHM flash hider to make it 16" and adding an AR stock to it.  But the brace ban got shot down, so now I have a brace on it with a 14" barrel.  I added folding AR buffer adapter to it so it would all fit in a small backpack.  It's pretty compact and I am really looking forward to trying some subsonics in it with my can.  If I didn't start a new business venture (and use up all my spare time), I would have already shot it back to back with my AR pistol to see how much quieter a single shot is over an AR with the gas turned off.

I’ve killed a few deer with mine and my son got his first deer with it. Attached File

I had one in .357 for a few years, would have kept it if I’d known their production would end.

I have the long barrel .45-70 version.  NEF and H&R were the same company, just different marketing names.  My H&R 1871 Buffalo Classic is a 32" (yes, I said 32") barrel version with a globe Lyman target front sight and Williams rear aperture sight.  Its heavy, at close to 8 lbs, and very accurate.  Trigger pull is good at 3.5 lbs.

This is a strong action.  I have shot Buffalo Bore .45-70 "Magnum" 405 grain loads with a bit over 2000 fps with no signs of pressure, and similar handloads at 2100 fps, again with no signs of pressure.

However, it has a curved steel buttplate.  Recoil with heavy loads is - brisk!  Its not being a weenie to slip on a Limbsaver recoil pad.

To preserve access to the rear aperture sight, I drilled and tapped the barrel for a scout scope.  Its a Burris 2-7x35 long eye relief version in Talley QD return to zero rings and bases.  Set up that way, it qualifies for our primitive weapons deer season (single action, exposed hammer, straight wall cartridge).  Scopes are legal.

If you take a chamber cast, there's a good chance the 357 Mag will accommodate 360DW ammo.
Or you could borrow/rent a Max reamer and just lengthen the chamber a bit by hand (slowly and carefully). Don't need a lathe to slightly extend a straight wall chamber.

People talking about prices getting out of hand, how much are they?
New were about $250-300, 20 years ago.

Got a few sitting at local shop, push 550-600 asking.

Rossi is making single shot rifles again.  On their site they offer one in 350 Legend, and one in 300 BO. 5.56, 6.5 Creedmoor and an .357 model are coming soon.  The 350's msrp was $333.

I might forego the .357 in favor of one in 350 Legend.  At that price it's less than a 350 upper.

A single shot 300 would make a nice suppressor host

The AAC handi rifles never had ejectors. Just extractors.

And they’re worth a fortune nowadays. I traded mine for around 700 worth of stuff. I’ve seen them sell as high as 800.

My NEF 12ga with the Choate Survival stock would also fling brass when broken open.

Did they stop? For a while they were the only single shots I saw regularly and then the CVA guns started popping up more. Will Rossi sell extra barrels? Extra barrels definitely make them more attractive.

I used to see ads for the Trifecta and Matched pair bundles all the time, but haven't seen any Rossi single shots in awhile.  When I looked at Rossi's site they listed several calibers as "coming soon" which gave me the impression they stopped selling that model.  At the LGS I would find the Brawler handgun versions, but no not any rifles/ shotguns.  I also would see the CVA models, and was curious if Rossi had stopped making them.

Regarding extra barrels, I get the impression their manufacturing level is more like NEF's was and not Thompson Centers, and each barreled action is fitted.  That was the draw behind the Matched Pair and Trifecta lines, where 2 or three barrels were fitted to a specific receiver.  In the old days if you wanted a different barrel for an NEF/ H&R you had to send the action in and have them fit a barrel to it.  TC's were nice because any barrel could be swapped out and be guaranteed to fit properly.

That's why I bought my Encore.

Then they went out of business

I was lucky enough to grab two of the AAC models before prices got too crazy.  Still kicking myself for not buying one at Cabelas when they were $225.

I have a CVA Scout TD in 300 BO and it’s hilariously quiet with my Hyperion and Nomad LT with subs.  


I’m waiting on the Rossi LWC’s to come out, specifically the 8.6 BO version.

Interesting...  Their regular website doesn't mention 8.6  https://rossiusa.com/rifles/single-shot-rifles

Hmmm. Time to sell a rifle?

20 inch stainless scout in 350 legend

Got one in 45-70 too.

I wish these were sold here,
https://broncos.co.nz/firearms/p/bergara-ba-13-stainless-take-down-44-magnum-16-with-gun-bag

It would be rather cool, if someone made uppers for the CVA Scout

@TonyRumore



It is interesting that the CVA upper is serialized to the lower

all the handi rifle tooling is lost to Cerberus's accountancy

TC contenders are done

Gregg Ritz bought TC near the end of April.  I'm curious if they would bring back the Contender and Encore products?

Looks like TC will be back in 2025

SSK makes their Contender

I used to be more into the Handi Rifles, but they don't make a lick of sense anymore. Every once in a while you come across one for like $250, then they make sense. They aren't rare, and they aren't desirable (except to a certain few fanatics). They stopped being made about 10 years ago due to the influx of equal priced bolt actions that are WAY more accurate than they are.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm not giving them credit, but be realistic. It's a dirt cheap break action single shot that 15 years ago you could send in and have new barrels fitted for like $75, or $100 for two. Less if they were on sale. Accuracy varies on them. Some are decent, some are pretty bad. None are what I would consider great. If you are really honest with your good shooters, they are 1.5" at 100 yard guns. The average one is 2" to 4" at 100 yards. Maybe somewhere, somehow, one barrel came out perfect, and fit the frame perfect, and the forend is perfect, and it can deliver honest MOA accuracy, it's not common at all. They are not Thompson Center Encores or Contenders by any stretch.

Triggers on them vary from decent to horrendous. It's really a crap shoot. My ultra slug hunter is probably the best, is a nice crisp 3.5 pounds. I also had a Handi Rifle that didn't even register on the gauge, it was over 8 pounds, and it gritty. They can be polished somewhat, but it's a pretty involved task. They are put together with splined pins.

They are prone to some problems, but it's not that bad. The two common issues are failure to eject, and popping open after firing. The failure to eject can be from a rough chamber or a weak ejector spring. The popping open during firing is almost always a poorly fitting barrel. If you keep the latch and shelf bone dry, those can usually work ok, but the ultimate fix is barrel fit. It can be a little tricky to figure out if its the hook, or the barrel shelf.

Today there are simply better options. I'm seeing regular old Handi Rifles on gunbroker for $450-$500-$600 sometimes more. That's just nuts. You can buy a brand spanking new Henry single shot for the same prices, WAY better fit and finish, way better quality. They are better shooters. If you just want cheap accuracy, a Ruger American is $500, and it will absolutely wipe the floor with any of the cheap single shots for accuracy.

But again, if you find one for a good price like $250, they can be solid. Make sure they lock up solid, it seems many people are slapping different barrels on them that fit loose and are selling their problems. The barrels are NOT interchangeable unless you know how to fit them.

I still buy some H&R/NEF, but it's almost all shotguns. The NEF Pardners and H&R Toppers can be had for really cheap once in a while. The Tracker II's are phenomenal open sight slug guns. The ultra slug hunters are usually overpriced now. I've owned mine for over 15 years, and it's got to be 30 years old, but now people want crazy money for them. Henry makes a rifled slug gun that I bet is every bit as good.

So when are you guys going to crank some out

Yeah I figured I think I’ve asked you before

Well, there were, but they might not be what you are looking for. Currently I only see custom/semi-custom options and I'm sure they are very expensive. One of the last things Thompson Center did that was actually innovative was a switch barrel bolt action called the Dimension, right as S&W send them down the tubes. It's a good rifle, they weren't too expensive I think like $500 10 years ago, but being discontinued I'm guessing barrels and bolts are hard to find now. I don't know what the used market is like, I'm not sure I've ever seen one used in a gun shop.

If takedown is the criteria, the Henry single shot is even better than the H&R's. No need to take the forend off, no tools. Just push the hinge pin out (held in by spring and detent), and that's that.

I'll buy a Henry single shot as soon as they make one in .22 LR. Why's it taking so long?!