strut

Are these little rifles as good and accurate as most say they are or did the 2 I've owned just turn out to be non-shooters, I went thru 2 rifles and 4 scopes and about 100+ rounds of ammo and still could'nt get either one to shoot a 3" group at a 100 yards, I finally traded and ended up with a Savage, within 9 shots my last three could be covered by a 3/8" circle. I would still like to have a Handi Rifle but I want it to shoot, if it won't group I don't want it.

frizzellr

Don't know what to tell you. I had two of them and they both shot very well, although the 243 Win was picky about loads.

max the dog

The NE Handi Rifle is great if you keep it limited to what it's designed to do. I bought the slug gun version for $120 and find that when loaded with Win super X sabot slugs it can print 4" groups at 100 yards using a ghost ring sight. Slugs aren't know for accuracy but it's still perfect for what I need as I hunt in Illinois brush country where no shot is going to be longer than 100 yards. I've also found that it's accuracy doesn't differ too much if I shoot offhanded, I still get 6" groups at 100 yards.
I also bought the .50cal muzzleloader barrel for $75, the 12 ga 3 1/2 inch extra full choke turkey barrel for $55, and a 20 ga modified choke for small game for $35. So for $285 I got 4 different guns for 4 different uses. It's not the perfect gun but it does the job. With it I've taken 6 deer, 4 wild turkey's, loads of pheasant, ducks, geese, squirrels, rabbits and a lone coyote who got too close.
The 3" accuracy you found is good enough for almost all hunting. Only Varmint hunting and extreme long range hunting needs accuracy under a 1/2". You could probably ge that 1/2" accuracy with the .223 or .243 bull barrel as it is designed for accuracy.