H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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Warning and Disclaimer: Make sure that the firearm is unloaded before going further. Also, be aware
that if you modify firearms from factory stock, you are likely voiding your warranty. If you can't afford to
try this project as a learning experience, DON'T ATTEMPT IT. Important: NEVER, EVER HAVE LIVE
AMMO of the caliber of the firearm you are working on IN THE SAME ROOM. Only inert "Dummy" rounds,
"Action Proving rounds or "Snap-Caps" should be allowed in your work area. Be SAFE, not sorry.
AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL IF YOU ARENT WILLING TO BEAR ALL THE LIABILITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY OF CHECKING FOR SAFETY AND PROPER FUNCTION AFTER ANY TRIGGER
WORK, DONT ATTEMPT IT. YOU ALONE ARE LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY OR DAMAGE.

Part II - Lightening the trigger pull and reassembly.

Overview:
There is no magic to lightening the trigger pull weight on the Handi-Rifle. To bring the pull weight down to
an acceptable 3.25 - 2.75 lbs all you have to do is a complete light polish and lubrication of the internals.
Basically you are just overcoming the effects of friction on the rough finish of some factory parts. Only a small
amount of smoothing on any one part is required to achieve an overall effect that is much better than the
factory pull. It is essential that you dont just grind away at the internal parts; take care and read these
instructions through completely before you begin. If done at the factory this handwork would add a quite a
few dollars to the cost of these firearms and truthfully, for a majority of the intended market, the heavier trigger
isnt an issue. However many shooters who discover how handy the Handi-Rifle is want to take performance
to the level of a truly great hunting or target gun with a lighter trigger pull.

Heres a tip:
This next step is not necessary and can be skipped without affecting your results at all. I did it because I was
going to do a bunch of Handi triggers and I wanted a better fixture for disassembly. I ordered two transfer
punches from MSC Industrial for about two dollars each. Transfer punches are prick punches that come in exact
sizes, in this case 3/32 and 3/16 like the two pin sizes used in the Handi action. I clamped my frame (padded)
against a piece of 1/4 thick by 2 tall aluminum stock I bought at the hardware store. Then I ran the transfer
punches through the frame and rapped them with my hammer to make exactly located marks to drill my slightly
oversized holes (7/64 and 7/32). Sand the holes and the rest of the aluminum smooth when finished.

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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First, assemble your hammer, trigger and lifter/striker assembly on their 3/16 splined pins on the outside of
the right side your frame. To obtain contrast for photography, I did the same using my aluminum fixture. The
first photo below shows the parts in the hammer down postion - the second shows them at the full cock
position. Moving them gently to avoid scratching your frame side, work your parts in the same way and pay
close attention to how they bear on each other. These are the areas you must polish to ease friction in the
trigger, hammer and action parts.

All pin holes, pins and bearing surfaces must be smoothed while taking care not to enlarge pin holes or
reduce the pins they ride on by more than one or two thousandths of an inch. Any more than that and
undesirable play and slop will creep into the trigger pull. The areas highlighted below in yellow will require
polishing; the exact tools and methods best used will be shown in the pages that follow.

A Arrows indicate an area to polish that is out of view - in this case the
slot in the barrel catch that the lifter is sitting in.
B This arrow indicates the hole area in the lifter that you cant see.
C Arrow indicates the flat sides of the extension, including the back side
that you cant see. I only had to polish this part on one of the three
Handis I worked, but do inspect it for rough spots.

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Polish all three 3/16 splined pins. Polish the pins by locking the splined end in a hand drill and spinning
them in LIGHTLY held 600 grit wet sandpaper. Work the sandpaper back and forth so it doesnt stay in
one spot. Note the two shiny rub marks from roughness of factory parts on the unpolished pin in my hand
in the first photo below. This roughness is what we want to eliminate throughout the action.

Gauge your pins with calipers before polishing. Even if they dont get as shiny as the one in the photo,
stop when you have removed a max .002 of material.

600 grit wet sandpaper wrapped around the 5/32 punch does nicely to polish the insides of holes on the
hammer, trigger, lifter, extension and catch. Use a popsicle stick and sandpaper to smooth any rough
spots in the slot inside the disassembled barrel catch. Remember that you are lightly smoothing, not
enlarging the holes.

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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When the pins and holes are polished, reference

the diagram from page 3 and remember the
surfaces that bore on each other when you
assembled those parts outside your frame. Polish
these surfaces with your Dremel using a round felt
polishing wheel and a fine metal polish. I used the
Flitz polish shown. DONT POLISH HOOK OF
THE HAMMER WITH THE DREMEL. BE VERY
CAREFUL TO JUST LIGHTLY POLISH THE SEAR
BY DREMEL, THEYLL BOTH BE POLISHED
WITH A STONE IN THE NEXT STEP.

Polishing gets those felt Dremel wheels

black fast, but they last a LONG time. Spin
in a rag to remove build-up, then apply
fresh polish.

Note how rough this surface of the

hammer is. The surface Im pointing to
only bears on the sear section of the
trigger while cocking, but once you stone
the sear smooth, why would you want it
to rub over and over on a rough surface?

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This surface of the lifter that the hammer

bears on when pushing it to the fire
position must be polished to a slick finish.

Polish this area of the sear the hammer

rides on while cocking slick with the
Dremel. Dont go past the area on the tip
indicated by the yellow line.

Also notice how bright and smooth that

section is after polishing. Im polishing the
hammer tip that pushes the lifter up here.
It needs a real slick finish as well. Work
around the tip and polish the top before
finishing.

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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If your pull was less than four pounds before disassembly, the steps on this page regarding stoning
the hammer and sear should NOT be done until you reassemble and check pull weight. You cant
go back if you take the pull down too light without buying a new hammer and trigger/sear. So if your
weight was less than four pounds, go on to the lubrication and reassembly instructions, check that
pull weight and, if it is still too high, come back and JUDICIOUSLY go through these stoning steps.
Also, correctly stoning angles on the tiny areas of sears and hammers is an artform unto itself that
gunsmiths study for years. A little goes a long way, so proceed with caution.

The angles you are going to stone on the sear and hammer
are fairly easy, but you are only going to SMOOTH the
surfaces at the angles shown, not re-cut them. And a lot will
depend
figure
onon
your
your
specific
specific
hammer
hammer
and
and
trigger.
trigger.
Use
Use
a magnifier
a magnifier
and inspect them. The hammer hook Iatscanned
right is not
at right
a perfect
was
90 degrees
not
a perfectwhen
90 degrees,
enlarged.
butI stoned
two I worked
the hammer
were. Ilocked
still stoned
upside-down
this
one like the
in arest,
padded
locked
vise
in with
a padded
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vise with
stone
thepressed
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against
stone
pressed
the faceagainst
of the ithook.
like it was
Give90
20degrees.
strokes or
Then
so atI angled
the
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the
stone
indicated
and gave
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20 short
strokes
yellow
or soline.
at the
If you
breaking
dont feel
angle
you
have the skill
indicated
by the
to keep
short your
yellow
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you dont
at thisfeel
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youacross
have
the skill
whole
to surface
keep your
face
strokes
- DONT
even
tryat
it. these angles across the
whole surface face - DONT try it.The two surfaces I
smoothed on the trigger sear tip are detailed below.
Dont forget to keep your stone saturated with
honing oil! And keep those strokes consistent
and parallel to the surface angle.

I would only stone the hammer hook as indicated above and give the sear about 10 to 20 light strokes
at the 90 angle shown below, then reassemble and check pull weight. If still too heavy give the sear
section about 20 more light strokes on your oiled stone. Make sure to keep the whole surface you are
stoning in contact at the correct angle for the complete stroke to avoid rounding off the corners of the
engagement surface. Light strokes means almost no downward pressure on the part at all.

90

The photo at right

shows how to hold
the trigger and
stone correctly, not
the exact angle to
stone...

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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Lubrication, reassembly and safety checks.

Lubricate as directed on the package with a high
grade trigger lube like Brownells Action Lube Plus,
the moly lube sold by Midway USA from Wheeler
Engineering, Wilson Combats Optima Lube or
Tetragun "G" Grease. I prefer the Brownells lube
and the thicker greases in general. Its not that
easy to access the Handi action and the thicker
greases stay put for a long time. Also, greases
require that you pay extra attention in the field to
avoid dirt and trash entering the top of the hammer
slot and mucking the action up.
Brownells permanent lube, Action Magic II, would
seem ideal for a hard-to-get-to action, but most
shooters like to clean their bores with solvents that
tend to leech out later, and it shouldnt be used. If
petroleum based solvents mix with the dry Action
Magic II, a gummy mess results. Stick with moly
greases and similar products.

Use generous amounts of lube at this point, as the handling

required to reassemble the action parts will tend to remove a
good bit of what you apply.
I keep a couple of cotton swabs and paper towels handy for
removal of excess lubricant.

Use toothpicks to spread the

lube inside holes and evenly
across all surfaces that you
polished. Set pieces aside
after lubing on a piece of
paper towel ready to be
reassembled.
Right before inserting the pins
back into the frame, dip the
ends into your grease. The
extra will be left outside the
frame as it slides into the hole.

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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The arrow at left points to the lobe of the barrel catch lever that must engage
the barrel catch. When reassembling, make sure that the barrel catch lever
correctly engages the barrel catch/lifter assembly before going further or you
will have to diassemble again and it can be frustrating. If correctly
assembled, grasping the barrel catch lever and working it up and down will
cam the catch/lifter assembly back and forth smoothly. If not, try again until
you get the proper alignment of the "teeth" of the lever to the barrel catch.
Assemble the lubricated barel catch, lifter and lifter spring into a unit using
your slave pin. Put some action grease on the slave pin first and it wont fall
while you are trying to fit the catch/lifter assembly into place.

This is not easy to do, so be patient. In

these two views of the catch/lifter
assembly, note the thinner arrows
pointing to where the legs of the lifter
spring must sit in the two parts.
The thicker arrows point to the gear
recess that the lobe on the barrel
catch lever must engage to function
correctly.

This view shows the frame upside down looking into the
triggerguard slot. Insert the unsplined end of a 3/16 pin into
the topmost hole in the LEFT side of the frame.
Once you have aligned the frame holes and the catch/lifter
assembly, insert the 3/16 pin until the splines touch the
frame, pushing the slave pin out the right frame side. Work
the barrel catch lever up and down to see if the barrel catch
cams back and forth. If it does, go on to the next assembly
step. If not, insert the slave pin back in the right frame side
hole and use a punch to push it into the center of the
catch/lifter assembly once again. Fully remove the 3/16
splined pin from the left side and try once again to align the
catch lever lobe and the barrel catch gear recess correctly.
Repeat until successful. Do not fully seat the splined pin!

Slave pin comes out here.

&
back
m
t ca
Mus

Left side of frame.

.
forth

Splines.

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Once the barrel catch pin is partially seated to the splines

and the catch functioning, use your needle-nose pliers or
assembly tweezers to work the hammer back in positon.
Have your splined hammer pin ready to insert (unsplined
end first) from the left side of the frame once you align the
frame and hammer pin holes.
Note the stud the pliers are holding in the photo at left. The
short leg of the hammer spring will be retained by this stud.
As you push the hammer pin in, only insert it a hair past the
hole in the hammer. You must install the hammer spring
before inserting the pin until the splines barely touch the left
side of the frame.
Some of the photos on this page are a little
blurry, but you can get the idea.

Take the hammer spring by the long leg as shown in the

photo to the right and slide the hole created by the coils
between the hammer and the right inside of frame.
Make sure the hammer pin will pass through the holes in
both the hammer and the hammer spring coils and then
seat the pin until the splines of the pin touch the left outside
of the frame.
Its a little hard to see but the white arrows in the photo to
the right are pointing to the short leg of the hammer spring
that must be retained under the hammer stud and the long
leg pointing at you out of the frame bottom.

The two black arrows are pointing to the splined ends of

the hammer and barrel catch pins barely touching the left
frame side.
Dont seat these pins any further yet.

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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Triggerguard assembly tips: Put the trigger up through the guard, snap the trigger extension on the trigger as
it was when you disassembled, line up the guard, trigger and extension holes and slide the slave pin in. Use a
punch to align triggerguard, trigger and the extension, then put a dab of grease on the slave pin and push it in
the hole from the opposite side from the punch.
Align with punch and slide the
slave pin in place.

When the slave pin is in place, put a dab

of grease on the ends of the barrel catch
and trigger return springs and insert those
ends into the holes they reside in, and
they are less likely to fall out when hands
are at a premium.
Notice how thin the plastic is around the
slave pin on the triggerguard to the right.
Make sure the frame and triggerguard
holes are aligned before driving the lubed
splined pin in to avoid damage.

With the triggerguard assembled, you ready to add a dab of action

grease onto any area(s) like the sear tip etc. that you may have rubbed
the lube off of while doing this reassembly.
Right before reinserting the triggerguard, snap the long leg of the
hammer spring up on the little ledge inside the frame as shown at the
left.

Read the rest of this page and the next two pages completely and then
get all the tools and parts within easy reach of your right hand before
going on. Getting the triggerguard back in place isnt rocket science,
but having three hands would help...
The first thing to do is to rotate the trigger extension up and around the
back side of the hammer pin, and between the left side of the hammer
on the inside of the frame.

H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle Trigger Work

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When you are trying to install the triggerguard

assembly and you can't figure out how to get the barrel
catch spring on the front of the triggerguard to slip into
its position under the catch and allow the front of the
guard to go into place, you can insert the triggerguard
in the frame and use a large punch to wiggle the
spring back under the barrel catch. This is made
possible only if you really make use of all of your
fingers and thumbs. With your left hand, use your left
index finger to raise and hold up the barrel catch
release. Your left thumb must be ready to push the
rear of guard into postion.

Have the large punch and the two triggerguard pins

near your right hand to access easily. You MUST have
the catch lever raised with your left finger to have
(barely!) enough clearance for the barrel catch spring.

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Once you have the guard in place you must hold it in

there against all the pressure from the springs with
your left hand and reaching under the frame, insert
the unsplined ends of the lubed pins by hand or
(better) have a helper put the pins in while you hold
the guard in place with BOTH hands. It may help to
align the triggerguard with the frame using your 3/32
punch through the right side front pin hole. Flip the
frame over and tap the pins with a hammer until the
splines just touch the left side of the frame.

Test function before reseating the splined action

pins fully. You don't want extra wear on the frame
and pins by finding out after you seat them that
something is wrong.
Check and see what the pull weight is before
seating pins. If the pull weight is still too high,
disassemble the triggerguard once more and
LIGHTLY stone the top of the trigger that functions
as a sear. KEEP THE FACTORY ANGLES.
Reassemble and check pull weight again.

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Run these checks BEFORE the final seating of the splined pins, and again AFTER seating them.
Three things to test for before firing - if your weapon fails any of these tests, seek the aid of a professional
gunsmith if you cant troubleshoot the problem yourself:
One: I would clamp the frame with the hammer cocked in a padded vise and hit the frame with a rubber mallet
or slam the frame, cocked, onto a carpeted floor. Do this front and back of frame, about a dozen times without
the hammer falling. Some sort of impact test to see if you can make the cocked hammer slip engagement is
called for. Of course, if your transfer bar is functioning as designed, the gun should only fire if the trigger is
pulled and held to the rear. The hammer falling without the trigger being pulled would defeat a MAJOR safety
feature and leave safety to the secondary system - not a good thing.
Two: I would also make sure that the transfer bar/firing pin functions correctly. Cock hammer, let hammer fall,
keep trigger held to the rear. Until you let go of the trigger the firing pin should stick out of the breechface.
When you let go of the trigger, it should withdraw back into the breechface. Do this several times as well. If
the firing pin doesnt withdraw upon releasing the trigger, then you must find the cause through disassembly
and inspection. Closing the barrel with the firing pin sticking out of the breechface and a round in the chamber
could easily cause your weapon to fire accidently.
Three: Put the barrel on the frame and press down on the front of the barrel and make sure there is good
positive engagement of the barrel catch. You don't want the action to come open when you touch off a round
if it is assembled wrong.
Im sure you have noticed I havent mentioned trimming or replacing springs on this firearm, as I see no need
for inviting the liability and possible lack of reliability of doing so. Trimming or replacing the trigger return spring
could increase the possibility of accidental discharge from an impact. Doing the same thing on the barrel catch
spring increases the likelihood of negative function of the barrel catch - dont do it. A safe lightweight pull can
be achieved without altering any springs.
These instructions apply only to current production firearms of H&R 1871. Ive noted at least two styles of barrel
catches have been made in the past and I have a disassembly book that shows that old style catch on guns
that are new enough to have the transfer bar/lifter instead of the half-cock hammer. The difference is in the
amount of lobes or teeth on the barrel catch that has to engage the ratchet on the bottom of the barrel catch
lever upon reassembly. If your firearm is mechanically different than my photos upon disassembly, I would
carefully reassemble and seek the help of a professional gunsmith.
Using the methods above and not going further into the dangerous area of changing factory geometry of the
parts, just smoothing them and lubricating them, my 30.06 pull went from a 10 pull average of 4 15/16's lbs.
down to a 3.1 lbs. average. The .308 went from 4.75 lbs. to 2.75 and the 25.06 went from 6 lbs. to 2.85.
Do not take the weight of pull below 2.75 lbs., as it is potentially dangerous. A lower than 2.75 lb. trigger and
gloved hands on a hunting rifle could be a BAD combo considering the cramped triggerguard on Handis.

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To do the final pin seating, reverse the wood (or metal) fixture to the left side of the frame and make a flopped
version of the 2 x 4, frame and fixture clamped sandwich from the disassembly instructional. Pad that fixture if
you made a metal one to avoid scratching the frame.
Make double sure all of the pin heads to be seated on the left side of the frame are indeed the splined ends,
and carefully drive them back in place with the appropriate pin punch. Reach under the frame after every few
strikes on a pin and feel for the head to come through the right side. Seat them evenly and if you drive any pin
too far to the right side, flip your 2 x 4, frame and fixture sandwich again and gently tap that pin back a bit.

Remember to check safety function and pull weight once more after seating the pins fully - safety first!
When youre satisfied with your work, reassemble stock and barrel in the reverse order of the disassembly
instructional and enjoy your new trigger.
A couple of additional tips... a minority of people have emailed me and said they didn't find it necessary to
polish the pins and holes. If your Handi doesn't show the rub marks from rough finish I pointed out in the
instructional, then you may not need to. If they are already smooth and loose fitting, polishing would only
add "slop" to your action. This seems to be a rarity though, as most people have written that it helped and
it was required on all three Handi-Rifles that I worked. One person wrote that he lived in a VERY cold climate,
and he was opposed to using a action grease on the internals. If you do live in such a climate, then a lighter
lube that BONDS to the parts like Tetragun oil, Miltech lube or even the lighter Tetragun "G" grease might
be better choices.

Future AFM projects:

Reworking a surplus Browning Hi-Power into an IDPA Custom Defense Pistol, converting a stainless Ruger
Blackhawk .45 Colt into a short-barreled Bisley, Nylon Surgery and a basic gunsmithing supplies essay.
Stay tuned! - perklo