H&R 999 Sportsman and Variations

[Old No7]

An H&R Model 999 Sportsman 9-shot .22 top-break was the very first handgun that I ever bought. It was eventually sold off to buy a beautifully blued S&W Model 17, but I've always liked the top-break design. Fast forward 30+ years and I started to get back into collecting top-break models. At one time I had a variety of models and barrel lengths from H&R -- and also a Webley in .38-200 just because I could -- but eventually, I decided to focus my interest on the 999 Sportsman series and any related variations.

For your viewing pleasure, shown below are several 999 Sportsman and the related variations I've managed to acquire over the years. I also used to have the Model 926 non-auto-ejecting 4”, and a "1 of 999" factory engraved 6” Sportsman (with the box and medallion), but those were sold off years ago.

Top row:
2" Mdl 299 New Defender (same action as 999)
3" 999 1st Model
4" 999 3rd Model
6" 199 Single Action
6" 777 Ultra Sportsman (single action, short cylinder)

Bottom row:
6" 999 1st Model
6" 999 2nd Model
6" 999 3rd Model
6" 999 Nickel (factory finish)

Tight groups!

Old No7

( Click image to enlarge )

9 Sportsman med.jpg

[Ray]

Way back in the day the local outlying otasco (there was an older one downtown) franchise, a cubical metal & glass building like many modern automotive parts stores today, that stood alone in the middle of the parking-lot where would someday be wallyworld #329 had the basic, dept. store h & r 999 under/behind glass. The little special-ed albino freak Ray would drool spit and snot on that glass case until the clerks or management would shoo me out of the store.

There was one clerk who was a distant kinsman of sorts who would let me handle the nine-shooter if the management was absent. I remember with fascination how the extractor star would surprise you. I also remember the grip-stocks being much thinner than your examples as my little spastic mitts could comfortably grip them. I think I was in my 14th. year before I got around to shooting one. This one had the fuller grip but its double-action was not exactly smooth or consistent throughout all nine shots.

Thanks for the prompt to pleasant memories past. That same otasco store later had a .50 cva mountain pistol that
I literally wore the oil/shellac/varnish finish off of the grip.....but only when "uncle peanut" was working and his boss(es) gone to tiffin or to the bank. I pity the eventual buyer as I had riveted the cone in trying the trigger pull.

[Grizz]

that is a cool collection, they look like they are straight-shooters...

[jeepnik]

Being a southpaw a standard 4" 999 was the first handgun I bought. Still one of my favorites and frequently finds its way onto my hip when I go to the desert. I usually carry it with the first round up a shot load.

[EdinCT]

I remember a handsome women stopping by the neighbors with one and she would keep the cans jumping at 35 or so yards. My Dad was a Colt man and he was dumbfounded by that women's being able to wield what he would of felt was a inferior revolver. I think they are pretty neat.

[.45colt]

Very Nice Collection.!

[Bill in Oregon]

I'm a big top-break fan, too, Darryl. The Webleys simply stopped me cold when I would see one at a gun show. The only gun I have ever had stolen from me was a Mk. II four-inch birdshead model that I was fond of shooting in company with a Mk. III Martini Henry whilst wearing the foreign service helmet and shouting "Front rank, fire!" to myself.
I had to have one of the H&R 999s, and I believe it was the six-inch second or third model. Like Ray, my memory was that the trigger was unremarkable in both single and double action, but who cared, when you could pop that baby open at the range and those unfamiliar with top-breaks would be quite surprised by that palmful of empty .22 cases tumbling onto the shooting bench all at once.
Very swell collection!
And by the way, if anyone out there wants the break-open experience at an affordable price, I can vouch for the Webley Mk IV CO2 pellet revolver. It looks at a glance like the pure quill, and it feels and operates like one, too.
https://airgun-world.com/article/gun-te ... lver-in-22

[Ray]

Billy.....,er pardon, mister powell.....

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[Ray]

And.....the little white plastic end of the mainspring assembly that resembled the head of a shuffleboard cue was susceptible to degradation from oils/solvents. Many a h&r revolver of all designs were carried to the gunsmith disassembled and loose in a cigar or shoe box after that part failed. Hereabouts, there was one old retired tinkerer without a fed. licence who could get them back together and all the regular gun-shop owners would use him to reassemble both h&r revolvers and remington nylon 66s.

[Bullard4075]

My very first pistol experience of any kind was a 999 Sportsman. The grip - old style,one piece felt -then and still- felt so natural. Very few grips even today feel so ...normal... strangely enough the P-35 High Power is another. I still have that 999.

[Bill in Oregon]

Ray, your skills at retrieving archival material are down right spooky.

[Ysabel Kid]

A very nice collection indeed! I especially like that little snubbie.

[Ray]

Ray, your skills at retrieving archival material are down right spooky.

I am assuming the webley was there.....or was it a howdah ? Tranter .54 perhaps ?

FHG-2024-6-385x391.jpg

[Paladin]

Great revolvers. I gave one to my sister when she started taking the kids hiking.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’ve seen these at gun shows but never actually had one in my hands.

I definitely see some advantages

[GunnyMack]

I've got one floating around here, needs a few parts to get back into running condition. Been so long I can't remember for certain exactly what parts are missing but I know it needs grips! It was a basket case when it arrived.