Howa Mini or CZ 527 ?

[jovialjosie2002]

have to agree with the you jovialjosie2002, both my Howa's are slick as , almost Tikka like. $22 Trigger spring kit transforms them in tack drivers and bluing is very deep, definitely as good as a CZ which i have 1 of.

A mates newish 527 in 22 hornet has had loads of issues and has take alot of reloading to get it to even group close to moa, something the Howa mini's do with ease. The CZ's are an absolute rip off.

Absolute ripoff here in oz....they are sooooooo much cheaper in USA & Canada. Even in Europe the cz is much cheaper than here. I may be able to "fix" the feeding problems in my cz527 by purchasing a new magazine....but I just refuse to give Cz and wincheater australia another centavo of my money. Besides the heap of junk should have worked from the start....and it never did. So I now have a 4 round magazine that works most of the time....provided I use Hornady steel case.....it just wont feed any brass cased ammo at all. I don't see that many Howa's on the second hand market.....however, I see a heap of cz527's....and cz don't sell anywhere near as many rifles as Howa in oz.

[Member-Deleted]

I don't see that many Howa's on the second hand market.....however, I see a heap of cz527's....and cz don't sell anywhere near as many rifles as Howa in oz.

Good point Josie. They say no one ever sells a shooter, and Howas come right, straight of the box. I wonder with the Howas though whether the relatively few on the second hand market isn't also partly the economics of it. When you can get a brand new Howa for $569, how much would someone pay for a second hand Howa .223 that has had 1500 rounds through it and a few scratches on the blueing from the paddock? $200? $300 if you're lucky. Might as well hang on to it.
The CZs start at a higher price so there's more invested so to speak, and more $ to try to recover.

Your experience with the 527 would have turned me off CZs too. Why they ever discontinued the 550 is a mystery.

[in2anity]

One could say the quality of the howa action is actually better than the new era Remington 700s. That and they have a better extractor on them.

[Bill]

Ask any gun smith who mills bolt handles or threads barrels for muzzle brakes who makes the hardest forged action, he'll most likely say Ruger or Howa. Remington bolts are soft.

Howa bolts and actions are forged along with the hammer forged barrels, receiver takes Rem 700 base so easier to set up that the CZ dovetail. Cheek weld on Howa's so much better than the CZ. Probably the main reason I wont touch one.

Howa Varmint barrel is only 20inch so is more a Bull barrel and why it's 2lbs lighter than the CZ Varmint, it still cracks 3000fps with 90gr Speer TNT and 2920fps with the 100gr AMAX, when the barrel has a few more rounds down Id expect to get close to 3000fps with 100gr.

Obviously the Howa plastic bottom and mag contributes to the weight advantage, I have had zero issues with over 700 rounds down range in my 2 Howa mini's.

[in2anity]

The way I see things, Howa are a bit of a “sleeper”, where you’re paying more for the brand with CZs. The finishes on the CZs ARE generally very nice though...

[InisBineest]

For what its worth, i'd be mad too if any of My CZs were duds, but in my experiance of using 10 or so CZ rifles, none of them were. I've only used two Howa's, and as i said before, the were good for the money. One of them had a bit of an extraction issue, but it was managable. But that was just one of the two I have used myself.

As a side not, i have sold a few CZs as well, each time i get 80-90% return on their purchase value. I keep them in good nick, but they resold fine for me. (Why did i sell them then, calibre change for one, shooting style for another, and a wacky as trade in where i ended up crazy on top for the third:)

[wannabustbunnies]

I have been looking at getting a 6.5 Grendel as well. I have a mini action in .204 already as well as a couple of regular Howa 1500's.
I have the mini action in a Bell and Carlson stock with DIP bottom metal as I wasn't a fan of the standard stock. The B&C is much stiffer but the stock and bottom metal was $$$

I discovered the Ruger Predator model in 6.5 Grendel recently, they are around the same price as a mini action, come with a rail already and run AR style 10 round mags which are less than half the price of a spare mini action magazine. I haven't handled one yet but I am tossing up between the two if I end up gets Grendel.

Just another option to keep in mind