Do you remember your first Handi?

[GrampaMike]

Do you remember your first Handi?

Mine was the Christmas year that I was 13, it was a gift from my step-father.  A pallet wood 30-30 Winchester, the best Christmas gift I ever got.  We were living out-in-the-sticks (as my mother always said) of northern lower Michigan.  I hunted everyday after school, remember this in the early 1960's, a teenager hunting on our own property, there wasn't any "Hunting Seasons" for me.  We hunted for what we needed for the supper table.  Anyway that 30-30 will always have a special place in my heart, maybe that is why I have so many of them now. 

[JerryKo]

Well,...Mine wasn't that long ago.  I had a Long Tom Classic 3" 12ga handed to me and shot it well, its was around 1999-2000.  Then I bought my sons 20ga Pardner for a mentored hunt here in PA,...he was five so that was a little over 3 yrs now.  A 270 from there and acc 357mag barrel for him also.

But My first Handi was a 45-70BC, that I ordered and finished the Brass hardware for.  Stupid me sold it when I wanted something else.  Oh well.  Im still relatively young,...so I have a lot to learn.

Wished I had some Toppers handed down,...there is an old 410 that was my Grandpappy's that I never got to meet.  But I think it is a Sears model...I'll have to look it over one day.  I haven't seen it in about seven years.  Its at my sister's house.

Cant wait to read some better First stories.

Jerry

[quickdtoo]

My first was a 12ga that my Dad gave me when I was about 8 or 9, hunted grouse, pheasant and rabbits mostly, even ducks once, most memorable day was a grouse and three ducks. One year at deer camp my uncle challenged me to hit his hat with it, he put a rock in his red Efrem Crusher and gave it a toss, I ventilated it good for him, he was surprised to say the least!! 

Tim

[Piney]

Had read an add in a sports magazine about the Handi, and the part about locking up tight as a bank vault intriged me; so I had to check one out. This was in 1998 when I went to the candy store and looked at a .22mag. sportster and it was kinda love at first sight. So what did I do I bought 1 full sized Handi and 1 youth model for my wife in that cal. We have had a ball shooting these things and many tree rats have made supper for us. Oh! since then I have gotten 10 more of these toys to play with in various cal./ga. and can't forget the Versa Pack.  Really love these and enjoy hunting and plinking with them.

They do lock up tight as a bank vault! Ha! Ha! 

[knight0334]

Summer of 1988.  Dad bought me my first gun, a Remmington 66 or 77 Apache, but my 2nd, 3rd and 4th guns that summer were NEF's  12ga, 20ga, and .410 in that order.

[canon6]

Summer of '73, 45-70 Shikara(sic)  I have had at least  one NEF/H&R ever since.     Doug

[petemi]

About three years ago I went to a local candy store, traded in a couple of guns, ordered a stainless .357 Blackhawk and walked out with my .45-70 Handi.  At about the same time I found all you characters here and came home.  20 rounds through the .45-70 and I was addicted.  Of course, all the B.S. floating around here had nothing to do with it   I really got hooked on the straight walled chamberings.

Pete

[blind ear]

My firt handy I bought for my son. Built in 1987 I had the barrel cut off and a rifled choke tube installed. cut the stock down too short and the first time he fired it it nailed him in the forehead. He was 10 at the time and deservedly so he still gives me grief about that. He is 27 now and a fine sportsman and man in general. Works hard and asks for nothing.

The gun has a 20 ga USL barrel now but hasn't hunted yet. (My boy killed his first deer with the slug tube.) The gun with the tube was my truck gun for many years of fish farming and took care of many wire gnawing, leavy boreing muskrat and neutra and angry moccisans. With its short ugly/mean barrel (Pattern spreads like a tornado) It is still a regular lap gun when I ride the back country.

[Sourdough]

Had many H&R shotguns for years before the Handi Rifles came out.

My first Handi was bought in 1994 as a spare gun for Moose camp.  A 30-06, and I still have it.  When I went to sight it in I found it shot tight groups, and the more I shot it the better it got.  That winter when I went out on snowmachine I took it along.  That was the year my buddy used it to kill a Wolf at 1000 yards.  Soon it was the only rifle I would take when knocking around in the hills during the winter.  I won't hesitate to shoot wolves, coyotes, or a fox out to 500 yards with either my Handi 30-06 or my Ultra .223. 

During Moose and Grizzly hunts I carry larger rifles, but the Handi is usually there as back-up and for the smaller stuff.  After snowfall and the bears go in, the Handi's are all I take.  Yes, the Handi will take a Grizzly Bear, but if I have a choice, I'll take a .338 just in case it gets  up close and personal with the bear.

[LONGTOM]

My first was way back in the mid 60s.
It was a beautiful 410 Topper.
Full choke, with ejector.
I loved the way it kicked those shells out at you when you broke it open.
Made for a quick second shot.
The color case was much nicer back then also.
Sold it long ago.
I have since replaced it but I wish I still had that one.
My first gun!   DUMMY!!!



LONGTOM

[Graybeard]

So far as I recall it would be the H&R .30-30 with full mannlicher type fore end I had at the first PD shoot with me. It belonged to my best friend Billy Doss prior to his death and then I wound up with it for the sum of $100 the same price he paid for it when he bought it used.

I don't recall precisely how long I've had it but relatively speaking not that long as I'd not had it long at all prior to that first PD shoot. If I ever had one prior to it I sure don't recall it. I never owned a single barrel shotgun in my life and sure don't recall any rifles in the handi prior to this one. It, the BC that I gave up on for too much recoil and the hornet now turned .25-20 are the only three I've ever owned and likely the only ones I eve will.

It's doubtful I've fired 100 shots thru them all combined and none yet thru the hornet turned .25-20.

[jim36]

I guess it was in the 60's that I got my first one. I don't remember the year but I remember the kick that I got from those #6 High Brass Winchester loads. Full choke 12 ga. squirrel getter, from the top of those old Hickory Trees. I think the first one I shot was my Dad's 410. My brother got that one when Dad passed at 93 years. Lots of memories from those days. Handies were about all we could afford. I am thankful for those days. " HAIL HAIL TO THE HANDY"
                                    jIM

[GrampaMike]

I think I understand now.

The Handi is like a "Family" gun, you don't mind loaning them out to family and friends, not because they are cheap, but because they are dependable, easy to operate (even your Uncle Bert can understand them), fun to use, ...they just work.  I don't loan out my Ruger #1's to anyone, not even to myself, they are just too pretty and have too nice of wood, always being careful with them (don't like having to be that way).  I guess that is because I could not afford them when I was younger.  But the Handi's I just seem to enjoy the most, they are more like me. 

The people who own and use them are just different.  Read some of the other gun brand forums here, none of them are as friendly as this one.  It is a different kind of friendly here,  like "FAMILY friendly" or like "OLD LONG TIME friends" friendly.

[cwlongshot]

Dont know for sure.. I know like many of you I had the shotguns since forever.
  But a rifle... a real handi..... maybe a it was a 30-30 or 22Hornet I know it was the early 1980's, right aft high school. Anyhow it's long gone, traded off for something else. The one that began the "fever" was the 357 Maxi bought used from a customer/friend who I had made a shorty slug gun out of a 12Ga H&R. I want to say 1992 or 1993.

CW

[Westbound]

I don't really have an interesting story.
I was searching online for info for the 45-70 Handis and found this site.
I ended up lurking for a few days, then I joined and asked a couple of questions.

Right before Christmas I walked into a gun shop to see if they had any 45-70s.
They only had the Buffalo Classic, so I looked at it and left.  I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I went right back after work, paid the man the cash and I've been happy ever since. I've since then added a 270 barrel, but I have lots of Handi plans!!

[dave hall]

The first Handi (rifle) I bought was the Nat. Elk Federation 35 Whelen. Not a cartridge I wanted at the time,but I knew it was a collectable.I sold it 2 wks. later and made a little off it. .I just remembered I had a 20 ga. when I was 12.

[newdad]

when i was 12, my much older half brother came over and asked if i wanted to deer hunt with him. he gave me a 158 topper in 20 gauge and some slugs and let me shoot it a few times. we didnt kill nothing that year but the next year he asked me again and this time brought me the same 158 topper with the 30-30 barrel on it. openeing morning i went to the spot he told me to go, and 15 minutes later killed a 5 point buck, my first deer with that little 158. he sold me the gun with both barrels and i kept it and hunted with it for i think 2 more years and then let my buddys talk me into selling it to buy a "bigger" gun. i sure regret selling it back to him, the old farts still got it and wont part with it for nothing...  if it hadnt been for him, i may not have ever gotten interesed in hunting.

[Doublebass73]

I bought a 12 gauge Pardner, that started the addiction for me. I quickly fell in love with the simplicity of single shot break action guns. I ended up getting rid of it only because of the kick. It got replaced with a 20 gauge and all is well. I hunt strictly with H&R single shots now for everything from small game to whitetails. I see no need to buy repeaters for hunting, I make the first shot count. Having only one shot makes you focus so much more.

[spikehorn]

 I got a 410 sometime in the mid to late 80's don't rightly remember exactly when it was or how much I paid that time of my life is preety hazy. Glad i've grown up some since then! sold it sometime in the early 90's. I think it was the year my son was born which is 92 Ibought a 12ga tracker II from the sporting goods department of fays drug store NIB for $110, then in then in 01 bought a used 22 hornet sold it to a guy who collected hornets for a modest profit. Don't have any of those guns anymore but wish I still had them all.

[shaner]

well the first was a 410  before it was nef it was a H&R pardner that was 1968 maybe , the second or first rifle  handi was a 22 hornet in around??? 1985 i think,  and how many since then a lot of you know ive had a bunch , and remember the old H&R site   wow that was fun

[Dinny]

NEF .410 Shotgun in 1994.($92)
  I bought it because the squirrels were all hiding in the leafy treetops and I couldn't get a good shot at them with the .22lr.  Boy did I learn alot about shotguns, their patterns and how chokes work.  I didn't hit a single squirrel for 2 years.  Finally killed one with three shots. Then I got my Ruger 77-22 scoped. Only missed a few since then, 1998.

I traded it off in 1999 with 5 notches carved into the palletwood stock, 1 for every night I spent lost in all 50,000 acres of the Hoosier State Forest. I learned how to read a compass after that.

Thanks, Dinny

[xhare]

My 45-70.  Purchased in 1991 in Bismark, ND.  I was stationed in Minot AFB, so Bismark was a rare trip. Still have that rifle, it is amazingly accurate.

[holahead]

My first Handi was a 22 Hornet. I was 18 years old and had no idea about these great little rifles. I was in a pawn shop just looking around and I first thought it was a H&R 410. I told the saleman to let me look at it. I then saw it was a 22 Hornet. Never heard of such a round then. I bought it don't remember what I paid for it but it was well under $200.00. Great shooting little rifle. Got in a little bit of money needs a few years later and had to sell it to a then co-worker. I have tried to buy it back from him on several occasions but with no luck.

[AtlLaw]

A 30/30 in the early 80's I believe...    Got a 45/70 barrel for it.  Still have the rifle and 45/70 barrel but a member here has the 30/30 (now 30/40) barrel.

[fredster22]

  I started later at about the same time as my 2cd marriage, mid 80's, bought a 20 ga for a truck gun and couple years later a Mod
158 357 mag for the same reason. Both boys learned with both & we still have them. Bought a hornet in 99 and didn't buy another
until I joined this site in Jan 09 & fell back in love with them again. Now they outa control like rabbits, they keep multiplying, last count
about 20 and me & the boys thought about rehab but now my grandson is gettin that look in his eye ....      Fred

[jeepmann1948]

Mine was a 158 22 Hornet. Bought new in the early 80's Along with a Tasco World Class 3X9. If I remember correctly out the door with 2 boxes of shells for $150.00. Scope cost almost as much as the rifle!
  It got banned  from the San Angelo Gun Club's Annual Turkey shoot because I loaned it to 6 other shooters who along with myself each won a turkey for breaking 5 clay pigeons at 200 yards (5 shells per shooter). The club president told me Never bring it out for another turkey shoot which I thought was very narrow minded of him!
 Used it for several years on kids hunts around Mason Texas with very good results. Matter of fact one of the kids I took  has grown up and returned to help guide so he has it, using it passing on the love of hunting to Kids not fortunate enough to have parents to take them . I miss it but  it has a good owner and seeing lots of use.

[The Hermit]

I started with a Pardner 12 ga. 3 1/2 chamber and ended up with a new 45-70. Its got a 3x9-40 scope on it and knocks down everything I've ever shot with it. Love those big holes. Sounds like i'm addicted to them huh?



   The Hermit

[PawPaw]

My first was bought in 1974, a 20 gauge so that my new bride could hunt with me.  I paid $80.00 for it, NIB.  We were doing a lot of bird and rabbit hunting at the time.  She quit hunting when the kids came along, but the Handi remained, teaching kids to shoot.  There's been several dozen cases of shells through that shotgun over the decades since.  When she and I split up in '98 she took it with her and I really couldn't quibble as it was her shotgun all along.

But, I had to go buy another one.  For grandkids, you know.  I've got several in the locker now.  And one on order.

[AtlLaw]

I've got several in the locker now.  And one on order.

Grandkids!?   

 

[PawPaw]

I've got several in the locker now.  And one on order.

Grandkids!?   

 

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.