Micro-groove rifling in H&Rs

[quickdtoo]

A lot of folks have referred to H&Rs as having micro-groove rifling, the topic was brought up recently in a 357mag thread and Larry mentioned that he had the remains of a chopped .22Lr Versa Pack barrel that looked like micro-groove to him and offered to send a piece of it to me for examination which he did, thanks Larry.  After comparing it to my Glenfield, I have to agree it sure looks real close to me. It's not identical, but the micro-groove pattern has changed over the years and mine is 35 yrs old or so.  That said, I did get an email reply from my Marlin contact after asking about it, he said to his knowledge H&R had never used the micro-groove pattern, but in the last few months of operation at Gardner they did use some Marlin tooling and it was very possible they did use it then, but there's no one to confirm that since Gardner is gone.

The first pic of the sectioned barrel didn't show the rifling well, but it will clear up any skepticism that bores are blued as well as the outside of the barrel, it's almost as blue as any Handi I've ever seen!! I then used some BC Bluing and Rust remover so the rifling could be seen better in the second pic.

Tim

[Badnews Bob]

That sure looks like the rifleing in my 1894 .357,  I wouldn't worry about it thou I've never had a problem shooting cast boolets out of mine.

[trotterlg]

That is an excellent picture, and I had never given any thought about the bore being blued.  The barrel was never fired by me, and by the looks of it never fired at the factory either.  This was one of the last Versa Packs made, wish I had bought both of them when I had the chance.  Larry

[LaOtto222]

How many lands are there? It looks like way more than 6. Didn't the Marlin micro-groove have 12 or 16 grooves depending on caliber?

BTW micro groove barrels will shoot lead bullets. Look at the 22 Long rifle, they are exclusively lead (with a very thin copper coating in some cases) and my Marlin 1894 will shoot cast bullets just fine; if they are of proper size.

[JerryKo]

Nice work,... but as far as blued bores, is that a good thing or bad thing?  I would think a few jacketed rounds and a bore brush cleaning would remove it all eventually anyway.  But in a 22lr shooting only lead bullets, what would be the effect if any of the blueing? 

The 22lr versa barrel I have also looks like the same pattern, but I think it is at least 2yrs old.  I'll recheck the serial number on the Rec.  It was a three barrel combo(410, 22lr, 243).

Buy the way who says a .410 is useless.  I took three large rabbits yesterday with 1/2 once #6 pellets with the full choked barrel.  Only one kicked twice after I fired. All shots were fifteen yds or less, give or take, and in full briar patches.


Jerry

[LaOtto222]

I think the 410 is a very good rabbit gun and a fair quail gun. It certainly will do the job in the hands of an experienced wing shooter. I still recommend 20 gauge guns and light loads for young people and beginners, I think it is a little more forgiving than a 410 so their experience is a little more fun while they learn the ins and outs of shotgunning.   

[JerryKo]

Good point!

I checked the frame it is a NW making it a 2006.

Jerry

[quickdtoo]

Maybe the only M-G barrels H&R offered were on the Versa Pack 22lr, I checked my HX(2007)youth 22Lr, it has the same rifling as my 22mag, 17hmr and 17M2, virtually identical to all of my H&R bores, just a lot smaller!!! Reading the email I sent Marlin and the reply, he didn't specifically check on rimfires, just the 35 Remington and bigger bores that were inquired about, but it's actually a moot issue since there's no one to ask what was done at Gardner to confirm any of our speculation, and what a shame that is, all of that knowledge gone forever.

Tim

[Tallwalker]

Tim, that looks like the rifling I saw in the  30-30 barrel recently. I don't know if it's microgroove, or not, but it looked similar glancing through it. By the way,  barrels are not plugged when they are hot blued at gun factories, so all regular production barrels are blued on the inside.

[quickdtoo]

Yeah, I know, my smith told me that a few years ago, but this the first "proof" of blued bores that I've seen. 

Tim

[JimG]

I'm no expert but my .22lr VersaPack and my 981t Marlin have identical looking bores. That tells my the H-R is also a MicroGroove barrel. Same number of grooves and lands.

[skifastchad]

I'll agree with JimG here.  My versapack 22lr seems to have the same barrel as my marlin model 60.   The sight holes are drilled in the same place, same diameters, same grooves, and same semi gloss finish.

I always wondered if they just use marlin barrels turned down and stubbed into offset breech ends.

[JerryKo]

My other son has a Marlin Buckaroo 22lr.  It has the same "M-G" rifling as the 22lr Versa.  Probably used the Marlin barrels in the stubs since they might have been on hand.

Jerry

[greg916]

I have a 30-30 I thought was microgrove