Howa .223 sporter and a new shooter

[davetheaviator]

Hi all and thank you in advance ,

I’m new to all this have just got my license and pta and have got myself a howa .223.

Was this a good first choice.?

Any info on the best factory ammo to shoot from this rifle, or what break-in procedures I should do, would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

[SCJ429]

Fiocchi make some budget ammo using Hornady Vmax which I have seen shoot well in a couple of Howas. I would run it in by firing a shot and then clean the carbon out, then check to see if you have any copper fowling. If you do, clean it out and fire another shot. Keep doing this until you have little to no copper fowling.

[marksman]

l think its a good first choice for sure

really no-one can tell you what the rifle will like to shoot
you need to buy a couple of boxes of different ammo that you will want to pay for in the future and try them out yourself
the rifle will show you by small groups in what it would prefer to shoot
there are other things that come into play as well eg.. the rest you shoot off, your technic ect but it all comes together in good time
what l would suggest is that if you are going to take advice at the range for example have a look at the person who is giving advices target to see if they can do what they are talking about, usually everyone is friendly but the guys who have very small groups will be concentrating on shooting
good luck with it

[bladeracer]

Hi all and thank you in advance ,

I’m new to all this have just got my license and pta and have got myself a howa .223.

Was this a good first choice.?

Any info on the best factory ammo to shoot from this rifle, or what break-in procedures I should do, would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

I think Howa specify a barrel break-in procedure for their rifles, try their website or the manual.

[Potatoes]

I got one (howa 223 stainless sporter with 1 in 9 twist) for my first over a year ago. Save the brass, its a gateway drug to reloading.

My advice is fire off no more than one shot per minute if you want to see how good your groups are. My point of aim shifts on a hot barrel.

I used hornady tap 60gr vmaxs. $135 for 200 rounds. When compared to my reloads, i think they may be seated a bit deep for great accuracy. They regularly get 1.5 moa, so if you are only going to use the factory stuff, there may be better options.

I am pretty happy with choice for a first rifle. There are plenty of threads on this forum on how make them a bit better. I’m thinking of going a howa in 308 next, likely with the heavy barrel though.

[davetheaviator]

Thanks for the reply’s I appreciate it.

[Steve-0]

The Howa is a great first rifle. I brought a varmint 223 and it shoots very well considering it's still in the hogue stock.
I stuck with the osa 55gr blitzking and all things going well it can very well nearly have 5 rounds touching at 100 and have seen consistent 1.5' 200m groups

[JimTom]

223 is a great choice mate for a first centre fire calibre. As for the Howa, I personally have had nothing to do with them however I haven’t heard a bad thing about them. Seem to be quite popular.
Out of curiosity davetheaviator, what do you fly mate?

[Kelsey Cooter]

Bought my howa 223 in 2015 because 3 of my mates all had howa 223s. Have put almost 1500 shots through mine, I bloody love it. I've always shot osa blitzkings

[Wapiti]

Great choice davetheaviator, especially for a first centrefire.

I think they are excellent firearms when comparing other brands in any calibre chosen, great foundation of an action with twin lugs giving great mechanical advantage opening the bolt with its 90' lift. Slim bolt and therefore action (possible with a twin lug action) keeping weight down as compared to full diameter 3-lug cheaper to make designs that sell for more, but cost less to make!
The Mini range takes this one step further with a scaled down action for the cartridge, making the rifle even more compact and lighter than average other brands using a huge blocked out action designed for larger cartridges.

The trigger is easy to make into a 2lb trigger very simply too.... without spending a cent.

I initially bought one to do a dirty job rattling around in the dust without much care, to save other rifles costing way more, but quickly found it to be the equal of them. So got another with varmint barrel, and it's outstanding too.

Ours shoots groups as small as my Sako Varmint, and a HS-Precision factory job, as small as could be asked for in a factory rifle.
Handloads with 55gn VMax projectiles and 2206H powder shoot on on top of the other. As crows pecking the newborns here in the drought find out real fast. Something about those .224 VMaxs, even the 60gn load that we bought 1000s of for $135/200 shoots insanely and seems to lift the effectiveness on ferals suited to the cartridge noticeably.

As mentioned earlier here, the 55gn Blitzking ADI factory load is a winner too, but I think they have switched to VMaxs now so you mightn't find any.
Another factory load that shoots about 1" @100 in ours, is the 55gn soft point PPU ammo, when it's on special on the coast here it's $11/20 which is awesome value. The cases cost more than that. The projectile performance on kangaroos doesn't give anything away to any ammo 3x that cost.
Sadly, I've seen brand snobs bagging this ammo out big time, I can only imagine that anything else they say is irrelevant too. Of course some firearms hate certain ammo, you just have to try a few out.

[in2anity]

I'll just just say, Sierra bullets are good bullets. Doubt you'll regret using em, whether it be via handloads or factory.

[davetheaviator]

Hi jimtom

I fly a wagabond which is a home built pipercolt basically.

Cheers

[JimTom]

Nice one mate, I just did a search and had a look.

[JimTom]

Nice one mate, I just did a search and had a look.

[davetheaviator]

Hey Jimtom

Yeah she gets me out of trouble flys well, have a ballistic parachute installed into it and have lycoming 0235 up front.
Wife hates it, but we all have to have something to look forward to.. you fly .?

Cheers

[JimTom]

Yes mate. I fly for work. Sure beats working for a living.

[solarpak]

Hi all and thank you in advance ,

I’m new to all this have just got my license and pta and have got myself a howa .223.

Was this a good first choice.?

Any info on the best factory ammo to shoot from this rifle, or what break-in procedures I should do, would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

Dave,
one of my first centerfires was a stainless howa in 223 with the 12 twist barrel - and shooting the winchester 55 gr bulk-pack factory ammo it would shoot 0.5 MOA every day. As usual foolishly sold it to a mate (to help him out!) - and then he ended up selling it off !!
Sometimes you sell off a rifle that just works stupidly.....

You cant go wrong with the howa m1500- a lot of rifle for the coin

C.

[Michael08]

You bought one of the cheapest bolt action mag fed rifles in the country, of course it’s gunna be great! All jokes aside mine shoots 1/2 moa and feels PERFECT to me, unless mines the exception you bought a fantastic rifle!

[Oldbloke]

I don't own a Howa, but what does my head in s how these rifles are consistently high quality and low price. Constantly you hear of other makers that are much more expensive and people end up getting lemons. You would think that they would all get their act together in the year 2020.

I bought 2 bolt action Marlins, one is a 223 the other a 30-06. Both s hoot well and both very cheap. $500 & $650.

[in2anity]

I’ve been shooting field pos sling comp with an old howa 1500 rebarreled to 223 recently. The gun is reliable and hella smooth. I prefer a single stage, so I swapped for a Timney - but other than that the gun never lets me down. It shoots Vs if you can.

[Khalild]

Been looking at the .223 varmint as my first rifle between all the positive reviews and the fact that my local gunshop seems to always have them on sale. Might be on a winner.

[Silkwaveblue]

So the ammo I would try is Buffalo River Game King 55 grain, i have shot it out of a Howa and shoots great.

I might ruffle a few Feathers here but I am not a big believer in the break in process. Just clean the gun before you shoot it.

After you have shot it just give it a light clean. I am a firm believer that a Copper fouled barrel shoots better.

Do a simple clean, one wet patch down the barrel wait a few minutes then put a bronze brush down the barrel once in once out.

After that pass a lightly oiled patch down the barrel once and put it away until next time. ( Make sure you patch the oil out before you shoot again ).

I do this with all my rifles including my Magnum calibre rifles and all shot under MOA @ 100 meters.

Keep it simple!