[Jim K]

Run from it. Those guns (and all H&R's and IJ's) are OK as long as they work, but they tend to have problems, and as soon as trouble crops up, someone decides that the gun is not worth taking to a gunsmith and decides to do a bit of amateur "surgery" that almost always makes things worse. If you decide to collect those guns, fine, there are still lots of near new ones around for a collection. But as using guns, I advise avoiding them. And definitely avoid the ones that show signs of trouble or of having been worked on.

(OK, I know you have one that your seven times great grandfather bought from George Washington, and it has always worked perfectly, but it is the exception.)

Jim

 

[Jim K]

I don't think H&R set out to make expendable revolvers. In the late 19th century, their quality was almost on a par with S&W and Colt. But they never were able to do a really decent upgrade of that 19th century design. They kept trying to correct problems with the hand, the cylinder stop, the hammer lifter system and so on, but they were between the proverbial rock and hard place. They needed to overhaul their whole design, which would have meant changing their whole manufacturing process and that they just could not afford to do, especially after they decided to compete on price rather than diesign and quality.

Jim