toot wrote:
HerrMesser wrote:
Is that H & R Topper 158 have a long barrel on it? I have one with an 18 1/2" barrel in 12 ga.
Rad
I had an H&R TOPPER that I had barrels in 30/30 .410, 12 gauge ,20, 16 gauge. back in the day you could buy them for $20.00 and just file on the locking lug till it would close and VIOLA!! then they would only send extra barrels to a gunsmith to be installed!!.
WOW! Been a while since I've been here!
Anyway, I was told by H&R that they stopped selling barrels to anyone but gunsmith's because they found out people were putting Handi-Rifle barrels onto Topper/Pardner receivers.
Eventually, this became an in-house "barrel exchange" program.
The problem there is H&R actually made two different receivers.
In later years they were known as "SB1" and "SB2".
The SB1, which was used for the Topper/Pardner guns used a hollow receiver. Strong enough for shotshells and pistol caliber rounds, but rifle rounds work at a much higher pressure and those receivers were found to fail under constant use (from what I've heard, this is especially true with the post bankruptcy guns).
The SB2 was used in the Handi-Rifles and used a non-hollow receiver.
The added beef allowed those receivers to hold up to constant use of higher pressure rounds.
It also added about 2-3 lbs. to the weight of the gun, so if you think the difference is minor, think again!
In fact, when I wrote to H&R, they wouldn't even sell the rifle barrel, if they knew the gun it was to be fitted to were a shotgun.
The only way for you to do a 2-gun system with them was to buy a Handi-Rifle and then they would be more than happy to fit your existing shotgun barrel to that receiver (or you could just live with owning two complete guns, too).
While I've heard of many accounts of guys fitting .30-30 barrels to their 12 gauge Topper's with no ill effect, the practice is not recommended.
Dean