I have been offered an NEF(New England Firearms)break barrel in 223,the thought of only burning 20gns of powder than the 65gns in my winnie appeals to my stingy nature.
I'm only shooting foxes so would be using a 40 or 30gn bullet. Are they reasonably accurate or should I bite the bullet and buy another rifle that I have been offered, namely a CZ american in 221 fireball.
regards
griff

Not sure about the CZ but the NEF along with winchester 45 grain bullets is super accurate in every nef i have seen you cant go wrong with it.

I realize that the NEF has a cult following, but I had one chambered in 22-250Rem that could be called "any good" if you were talking about using it as a door stop. I'll never own another one, period. I would advise you to find something else and if you want a break action get a T/C Encore, as they are what the NEF rifles try to be, but fail miserably.

I have three NEFs and they all shoot well. The most serious problem with them is the trigger. They have an extremely hard pull that cannot be adjusted. I'm told that some gunsmiths can do trigger jobs on them that can help. At the new prices I'm seeing for the NEF, I think I'd spend a bit more and buy a Stevens bolt gun.

I've got an NEF .223 I bought in 1988. It's trigger is fantastic. It shoots the Win white box 45s into about an inch and 55 grain Ballistic tips into one tiny little bug hole and 40 grain BTs into about 1/4 inch. I have a Leupold 2x7 compact on it and it pretty much stays in my pickup. Makes a real handy little package.

My brother bought one in .22-250 and the trigger was horrible. He traded it off for something else.

NEF will fix the trigger for ya for free.

Are they worth it? Depends on what ya end up with and how much you spent on it.

I have a NEF .223, it took awile trying to find an acceptable load but finally did using 55gr bullets, trigger pull was bad, sent to gunsmith got down to 3.5lbs. my biggest gripe is gun is so heavy, I find myself grabbing Ruger or Tikka

I agree with Red C. My .223 NEF works fine, shot a crow at 300 yards with it before and at 100 yards shoots one inch groups with just some factory Black Hills 50 gr. VMax. The trigger on mine is hard too. That said, I'd also probably second Red C.'s opinion on a Stevens bolt gun.

quote:

Originally posted by Tanoose:
Not sure about the CZ but the NEF along with Winchester 45 grain bullets is super accurate in every nef I have seen you cant go wrong with it.

My .223 Handi-rifle shoots reasonably well. The only complaint is the trigger.
NEF will indeed fix it for free, if you send it to them.

You can do it yourself, or have someone help you that has done this type of work before, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself.

Here are some links:


Handirifle FAQs


DIY Instructions

The instructions have part one and part two.

Hope this helps.

---Mike