Graybeard Outdoors banner

SB1 vs SB2

5K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  nanuk-o-dah-nort 
#1 ·
I've hung around here for a tad bit of time, and I keep seeing the same thing. Folks jumping thru hoops to fit such and such load to a SB1 frame. "Can I do this?", "Can I do that?"

My answer is shed twenty five or thirty bucks more and get yourself a SB2 and be done with it. All my Handi rifles, pistol calibers included, live on SB-2 frames. Only my Huntsman, versa-packs and shotguns live on SB1s.

I enjoy some very nice Handi stock and custom calibers you can't have on a SB1. .22-250, 7mm-08, .308, .356/.358, .30-40 Krag, .445 Super Mag and .45-70 the way I load them. There are lots more you can't have on a SB1. Get smart, go SB2.

I always keep at least two spare SB2s and they always make fitting a new barrel easy.

Pete
 
#2 ·
If you're buying a receiver for the purpose of fitting new barrels to it then yes it makes sense to find an SB2 but if you already have an SB1 at home and you want a caliber that H&R used to fit to the old cast iron frames then why not run the receiver you already have? I ran a 45 Colt Carbine barrel for years on an SB1 that I already had in house with hot Ruger-T/C load data and had no issues. Before I fitted the barrel it took me all of 5 minutes to calculate the breech thrust of the .45 Colt with max loads then compare it to the .44 Mag which H&R fitted from the factory to SB1s to know I was safe.

At the time I would rather have spent 5 minutes doing math than waiting a week or two for an SB2 to come up in the classifieds, waiting another week for the money to get to the seller in the mail, another week for the seller to ship it to my FFL, another few days for me to make it to my FFL, more time to run the background check plus the extra money an SB2 costs over an SB1 along with the additional FFL fee. What's jumping through hoops again?
 
#3 · (Edited)
Oh Pete, you know how it is, GOOD advice is often wasted......
My 'custom' 357Mag Special is on an SB2, case colored, the rest are factory but thinning the herd now that I see 'two targets'.
For some projects the SB1 firing pin will be more of an issue even if the frame will take the pressure safely. That alone speaks to using the SB2.
Problem around here is that no matter the price of the action I gotta add another $40 for the transfer unless it is a gun show find. That made me decide to stick to whole guns right off.
 
#4 ·
You can find a small firing pin on a SB-1 frame, but you still can't shoot a .270 with it.

I think dinking around with SB1 frames is just miserly stupid. You waste more time and money trying to find out the limits you can work with than if you just started with a SB2 frame.

Pete
 
#8 ·
It takes less effort to figure out what barrels work on an SB1 than it does to reply to this thread. Smoke em if you got em.

Sent from my SM-S765C using Tapatalk
 
#10 ·
Then why is everyone running around with their tails in the air??? It's not BARRELS they're worried about, it is LOADS. Barrels too, to a lesser degree. It is pretty much a given as to what barrel you an put on a SB1, but what you can push thru it is another story.

Again I say, Quit the worry, Quit the Fuss, take a SB2 Bus.

Pete
 
#13 ·
Here's a side note: With parts like transfer bars, firing pins, hammers, etc. no longer in production what is an sb1 receiver worth in parts value compared to what they sell for whole? I think the parts value is higher than the typical $45 going rate. And almost all the parts are interchangeable with the sb2.
 
#14 ·
I like SB2s and don't see a need for a SB1 other than for a shotgun (which I don't have any from H&R) and spare parts. I have never had a second thought about which barrel was going on which receiver. If it fit, it was safe. I'm still confused about my H&R even made 3 different receivers when they could have made only two, rimfire and centerfire. Maybe that was one of the straws that broke the camels back...

Thanks, Dinny
 
#17 ·
Some things just work well. I tried my hornet barrel on 2 different SB2 receivers, my best load shot about an inch. I put it on a frame that came on a 20ga , small firing pin, nice case colored finish-- 5/8" right off the bat. Needless to say it stayed there. I dont shoot any high pressure rounds anyway, and I certainly would not put any bottle neck rifle barrel on one-- but for handgun loads--they work fine.
 
#18 ·
I was brought a handi rifle to check out that was sticking fired cases. Yep. It was a 270-ON A FREAKIN SB-1 FRAME! Large firing pin as well. I told the owner he had a pipe bomb, he just didn't know it, YET. I tried to buy it just to clean the gene pool. He told me I didn't know what I was talking about and left with it. Oh well.
 
#20 · (Edited)
up here, the odds of finding a receiver without the rest of the gun is slim to none

it doesn't matter if it is SB1 SB2 or SB3... NO ONE sells just a receiver

Parts are non-existant.
Routinely the parts suppliers in the US will not ship north

I have taken to buying ANY SB1 shotguns to get parts if I need them

once I have laid up a nice supply, I'll sell off barrels to offset the cost, so I can try my hand at stubbing.

we have some short 9mm barrels available up here for sale recently. I think they'd make real nice 9x39AI or something similar.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top