New England Firearms Handi Rifle - 30/30 Winchester
I started this project in January, 2007. It was plagued with problems from the beginning.
I worked for a week assembling 300 cartridges to take for a weekend at the range. On the morning of what was supposed
to be the first shooting day, I dropped them on the way out to the truck. The plastic containers burst open and the contents
scattered all over the driveway.
A couple of weeks later, after re-assembling the dropped loads, I finally got to shoot. That's when a brand new Simmons
Pro Hunter four power rifle scope self destructed. 17 shots and it was destroyed. So much for Simmons quality.
The reticle slowly dropped down inside the tube and canted to the left. At first, the movement was almost imperceptible.
As the interior glass gradually migrated out of alignment, I was slowly twisting the rifle farther to one side with every
shot, in an attempt to line up the cross hairs. It took 10 or 12 shots before I noticed what was happening.
June rolled around and so had the good weather. With a new Bushnell Elite 3200 2-7x32 scope installed, it was time to
begin testing in earnest. Well, not quite... I shot the chronograph with the very first round! A phone call to Mississauga,
Ontario and I had a replacement housing and sensors on the way.
It wasn't until mid summer that my luck started to change. The NEF Handi is hunting accurate 1.5 inches@100 yd. It
seems to like 150 and 170 grain bullets the best, but I'm not finished experimenting yet. The new Master series Simmons scope
did not impress me. I won't make that mistake again.
