A friend purchased one of these rifles in 223 cal. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the accuracy of these rifles? any information is appreciated. thanks

You talking the H&R single shot, break action? If so I have found that these may be iffy as far as consistent accuracy. My best buddy bought one each for his sons. One in 243 Win. for his youger son and one in 308 Win. for the older. I helped he and his son sight these in. The 243 shot great. It shot Federal Permium (100 gr. Game Kings) lights out ... right at 1.5 MOA. The 308 was a 3.5 MOA at best "dog" despite me trying many,manyhand loaded combinations.

some of the calibers in the H&R/NEF are notoriously average and some are absolutely fantastically accurate.
I have 9 different calibers and the .223 is superb along with the 45-70, .22 Hornet, .22 Mag, and the .50 caliber muzzleloader.
There's another webpage devoted to the rifle and it's followers: Graybeards

Had a .223 years ago with headspace issues....

My buddy has a .223 that shoots lights out, he also has a .243 that won'thit a barn wall from the inside, with100 grain bullets. He just bought a .17HMR that I shot a half inch group with at 100 yards yesterday, and was pickin' apples off a wild apple beside my range at 150 yards.

My wifes scoped20 gauge rifled barrel is a wicked mean lil' bastid on deer...........

My stepson had the 308 and dog is being too polite to describe how bad it shot.

I had the .223 before I traded up, and two dozen woodchucks wouldn't be any deader with anything else..

and after I fixed the ejector, it was a pretty decent little rifle

tell ya what, it DID teach me a lot about handloading the .223
nothing factory shot better than 1.5 moa...
it took about a dozen different load/bullet combos, but when I sold it, I gave the guy a hundred rounds of handloads and the recipe, and shot a nickle-sized group with it, with him watching...

Ive got a .243 Handi-Rifle and it will blow the ba!!s of an ant at 200 yards consistantly.