Howa rifles

S

skeetlee

Active member
The corn is coming down as i type this and it wont be long and it will be time to do a little coyote hunting. I thought about building a custom rifle but that would cost to much with what all else i have going on at this time with the shoot room/range and all. Heck every time i go to Home depot it cost me 200 bucks!! Anyway i need a varmint rifle to hunt with this fall. I also need a varmint rifle to shoot the factory gun class at the ground hog shoots i plan on attending in the coming year. The custom class is only 20 shots so it is kinda silly to drive 5hr just to shoot one class. Plus if you shoot the factory class you can go for the two gun award. So i need an accurate varmint rifle to pull two different purposes. Hunting/varmint shoot shooting. The Howa seems to get pretty good reviews and they are fairly affordable. They dont offer much in the stock department but that bell and Carlson stock they have is probably ok. I am not much on savage rifles and Remington actions are pretty hit or miss. Maybe this howa would be a solid choice? Any of you men shooting one? Any ideas? I am thinking 243 or 308. I can load some 110gr v-max if i go 308 for the coyotes. i dont save pelts anymore anyway. The varmint shoots the varmint hunters association put on, you need to be able to see your shots, thus the 308 idea. A 243 may be just as good though. Most will depend on what i can find for sale at a good price. lee
 
Factory varmint rifle

I'll admit I'm not familiar with Howa, but I am familiar with Savage and Remington and wouldn't count either of them out. - nhk
 
Like you I am not to big on Savages, but last winter I picked up a couple of Stevens versions, in the sporter configuration and chambered in 223,and after a little bedding work and a sharpshooter trigger kut I had them both down to consistent 3/4 inch shooters. With a better (less flimsy and wider fore-end) stock I am sure that I could have turned them into consistent 1/2" shooters. I paid $275 for one them NIB with a Simmons 3x9 (which I immediately gave to someone I didn't like) and I paid $200 for the other one used, but still in nice condition.

I don't know what type of groups it takes to win your local matches but for an inexpensive accurate rifle you might want to reconsider Savage. Based on my experience with a sample of two I am impressed with how well they shoot, and how easy it was to make them shoot.

However, after all of the brag on them I still ended up selling both of them just because they were so ugly, roughly finished, and ill-balanced that I could not stand to keep them.

drover
 
I am with you drover. I have owned one or two. never kept them long enough to shoot them, but that stamped metal trigger makes me cringe. I know they are supposed to shoot good, but i have plenty of friends who have them and they are like anything else. Sometimes you get a good barrel and sometimes not. I have one buddy that went through 7 factory savage 6br barrels before he found one that would shoot. this probably isnt the norm though. I have another buddy that has a couple and they shoot really really well. Bottom line, is simple. I just dont care to own one. I really think the howa may have the most to offer. I have read that there triggers are fairly simple in design and not to problematic to tune up. There is a smith over on sniper hide from across the pond and he claims that the howa actions are pretty darn straight. I dont know, i have lots of ideas but i rarely act on any of them. If i can find one at a fair price i just might give it a go? Lee
 
The last time I was in Sportsmans Warehouse they had practically any caliber you wanted for $349 - that was in Boise. I don't think that they have stores that far East but I have seen them in a couple of other stores for the same price so they should be some around for that price. I have read that they are doing some changes to the trigger and stock on the newer ones and that is why the older model is at closeout prices.

Good luck on your search.

drover
 
Lee,
It all comes down to stock and trigger availability. I think that with anything that you plan on upgrading, if you are not careful, you can paint yourself into a corner.
Boyd
 
After doing a lot of reading one would be real surprised with all the available options for the howa rifle line. Tom manners is making stocks for them and that is the biggie with me. Also these actions have a built in recoil lug,kinda like a surgeon action. I think that is a great idea. The bolt comes with an m16 type extractor so no further need for an upgrade there. I just dont see anything about these rifles that concerns me? Like i said though, will see! Lee
 
Howa

As I said, I'm not familair with Howa so I did some searching trying to find out more info (like a factory link) and the Howa action may be the same action as the Weatherby Vanguard. The barrel threads may be metric and the barrels can be difficult to remove. That's just what I found, but not much out there on them. Russo and Manners make stocks. - nhk
 
Lee,
When bare M700 actions weren't available a few years ago, I bought several Howa 1500 bbl'd actions as the basis for custom rifles. I set one of my lathes up with gear changes to cut 1.5 metric threads and went after it. Used a GreTan action truing fixture, and found there wasn't a lot of work needing done; however, after dialing one in, you might as well go ahead and make the light cuts needed to get it as close as possible. I included single point chasing the receiver threads - more out of curiousity to see how difficult it was to accomplish with metric threads than necessity.

I bbl'd the first one in 6XC with a 28" Bartlein 1:7.8tw in sendero contour and plunked it into a B&C #6560 stock - it shot & functioned just fine. I used a Rifle Basix trigger on that one, and was favorably impressed. Later purchased a McMillan A2 and swapped the rifle into that stock. I've still got a couple of short actions, and may use one for another personal rifle, even though Brownells has the 700s available again. I feel the Howa extractor is quite a bit less likely to cause problems than the stamped one that Remington uses.
 
Got a couple of those barreled actions, put one in a McMillan for a guy who loves it in .308, another went to a friend in .243 who cut the barrel to 20" for his son who was just starting out, said it shot great.

Yes, the barrel thread is metric. Be careful in clamping them, they ARE cast receivers. I've never heard of any probs, but info is knowledge, and knowledge is power....
 
A few years back (1994) a friend bought a bargain Howa in 270 with a 3X9 Redding scope for $179 on sale at WalMart. To our mutual amazement while developing loads for it, we had no load that shot over an inch @100yd. The favorite load was 4350 @100culver, with a 130gr Nosler ballistic tip. The Redding scope had to go though. Would not adjust reliably. The Smith & Wesson rifles were Howa actioned.

virg
 
Two things combined to really put a crimp in the Howa rifles.............

1) S&W only showed groups an inch or larger in their ads. The ad company and S&W mgmnt. thought nobody would believe how good the S&W-Howas really shot, if they showed the real groups shot by the factory (S&W) and customers.

2) Lear-Sigler, when they bought S&W, didn't know $--T about guns, and didn't care, all they wanted was Piper A/C, and Bangor-Punta wouldn't sell just Piper, it was "Buy it ALL, or skip it." Lear came in and said, 'No more anything, except S&W handguns will be sold."

They killed off a good medium-priced, well-made holster, along w/the rifles, 2nd gen shotguns, knives and belts and buckles. Put a BUNCH of people out of work at the holster plant in NC, too.

As far as the lug like a Sturgeon rifle, Skeet, its actually closer to the SAKO than a Surgeon.
 
I bought one a HOWA 1500 30.06 in a hogue piller bedded floated stock with scope 3x10x50 package deal out of gander mountain. The hole thing is drab green the action is blued. I went back 3 times befor I bought it nice price 589.00 out the door. After getting home disassembling of corse it looks like it is biult off a REM 700. But with a 3 posistion safety same lay out as a 700 but the bolt release is on the top left M16 extractor and floor plate release is on the front of the trigger gaurd. Research dont find nothing thats not all ready here. Other than goggle HOWA Barreled Actions and yes thay did biuld the vangaurd & for S&W that just build dont a stock. I gess thay fyger were goi to restock any way LOL http://www.gandermountain.com/modpe...enterfire_Rifle_Package&str=howa&merchID=4005
 
EGW used to sell one piece scope bases for the Howas - with zero or 20 MOA slope - for $39. Last time I called them to place an order for a couple more, they said they'd entered into a contractual agreement with Legacy Sports, and could no longer sell them. Now I see they've got them listed again on their website, but they're now $69.95. Good news - one pc. base for a long M700 will fit & work on a Howa LA. Bad news - so far, I haven't been able to find one pc. bases for the short 1500s anywhere else.
 
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