Who has a HOWA in what config and how you rate it.

[Bennybigbores]

Have a howa blued varmint on an axiom tactical stock, bipod, additional forward pistol grip, 10 shot mag kit, additional rear monopod, modified trigger adjustable from 1/2 to 2lb, 10-40x60 ZOS scope, muzzle brake. And I can easily say it is one of the most accurate platforms I've shot from fine tuned some 75gr Speer hollow points and the holes are consistantly touching out to 150m, the ZOS scope is an over kill and for the cheapest scope which I actually bought to use as a spotting scope, it has performed flawlessly and amazingly clear optics for a $170 scope. I will continue to buy howa rifles as I upgrade, replace or extend my collection, allowing a bit of mix and match between stock aswell. Anyway that's my thoughts im interested to hear more positive or negative.

[Combat_Wombat]

This is my cousins stainless varmint in .308 with a 3-9 VX-2 on top. Runs so well that hand loads aren't a significant improvement on accuracy

[NukeBOMB88]

I've got a Howa1500 sporter with a Houge stock and a 6-20x50 scope that the gun store sold me with the gun which I cant identify the make of. The gun has run flawlessly with all of the factory loads that I've put through it . It's a great gun , if I had to give it a rating out of ten I'd give it a 9

[tom604]

howa 1500 223 houge stock 4x14 scope 3cm 5 shot group at 100 with hornady 53gr,,great gun handloads not so much i can get three touching then the group spreads out to 5/6cm still good enough for hunting but annoying. must be the recoil

[headspace]

Got 2 Howa's, one is a 308 light sporter 22" barrel Boyd's Classic laminated stock and a Leopold 3-9x50. Puts 3 shots in a little over half an inch at 100m. The other one is a heavy barrel 223 with a Boyd's laminated thumbhole stock and a Vortex 6-18 Crossfire11 scope. It will do under half inch all day. Both rifles are blued steel, not a fan of bright metal.
JD

[1290]

Nice piece of wood on that one combatwombat.... must be aftermarket..

My Howe is a blued 338winmag, dont use it though, only picked it up to take the chamber out to something more serious.... Theyre well made rifles, cant fault them.

[Gwion]

Howa .223rem, heavy barrel cut down to 17.5". Pillar and epoxy bedded into a Boyds left hand Feather Weight Thumbhole. DNZ GameReaper mount with Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40 and Atlaswerx Floorplate & AI DBM. Ebay trigger job to 2lb no creep.

Shoots 0.7-0.5MOA with current handloads and about 1-1.2MOA with factory loads (or did in original configuration: Hogue stock, rail and cheap mounts).

How do i rate it?

Functionality: 8/10
Aesthetics 6.5/10

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[Die Judicii]

Howa (Horrendous On Wild Animals)
Mod 1500, Varmint, Stainless, Laminated Thumbhole stock.
22/250
Glass pillar bedded, and Floated
Trigger 1.5 lbs
Started off with Nikko Nighteater 6-24 x 56 and now with Zeiss Duralyt 3-12 x 50

Headspace says he's not a fan of "bright metal",, (a roll of McNett camo wrap fixes all those probs, with no sticky residue, and can be reused)

This rifle is probably my favorite, and certainly the most consistent and accurate.
When new, I bought cheap ammo just to run it in, and got such good results that I've never put anything else through it.
Would certainly recommend the Howa brand to anyone.

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[Blackened]

Moved for you Die Judicii.

[bigfellascott]

Got 3 of em myself, also own a Sako and I can honestly say I prefer the Howa's! Don't get me wrong the Sako is a nice little rifle but I just find the Howa's to be brilliant hunting rifles, they just work for me.

All mine sit in Boyds Stocks (not into stocks made from old Garbage Bins) I'm a metal and wood man.

22.250


100m Group - 22.250


204


140m Group - 204


222


200m Group - 222

[Die Judicii]

Moved for you Die Judicii.

Many thanks ,, I don't know what I did wrong to achieve that tho.

[Bennybigbores]

They are nice looking rifles both Scott and die, love the thumbhole stock too, got one on my savage, thinking of buying same stock as dies and a light weight barrel and action in .223 and put the axiom on it and the thumbhole on the varmint .243, but that will have to wait till the rem 7600 paid off!

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[Press]

I think this thread has inspired a few new Howa purchases going by comments in other topics

+1 for them from me, my Talon and Hunter are tops.

[Bennybigbores]

Here you go Ausdub, bumped up howa review if you didn't find it

[fuggle]

Two Howa's in this guns safe.

Sporter in .308 and Varminter in .223.

Varminter is my favourite for sure. Super accurate, no escapees from this

[Tonit]

I'm almost on the same page as Tonit, Varminter in 22-250.

As a .308 sporter. Great minds think alike

[deye243]

4 howas this way 2 x 223 243 7mmrem mag all 1moa or better .... 3 in boyds stocks and i dropped the 243 in a B&C .

so i rate them very highly especially for what you pay for them and they feed so smooooooth i quite often pull the bolt

back and slip me finger in just to make sure i picked one up

[bigfellascott]

4 howas this way 2 x 223 243 7mmrem mag all 1moa or better .... 3 in boyds stocks and i dropped the 243 in a B&C .

so i rate them very highly especially for what you pay for them and they feed so smooooooth i quite often pull the bolt

back and slip me finger in just to make sure i picked one up

They are indeed excellent value for money, just a good solid performer that gets the job done time after time without fuss - love em. All mind have been dead easy to get a load for, first time out every time I end up with a load that shoots, I wish I could say that about my Sako and Ruger, I still haven't got either of those where I'd like them in that regard (one day I'll nut out what they like I'm sure but she's been a frustrating journey so far especially the bloody Sako, I've tried all manner of load/projectile combo's and nothing so far has been what I would call good enough, but I will keep trying, the Ruger I haven't put a lot of effort into I must admit, (I've still got a heap of handloads from the previous owner to use up before I get stuck in and get it sorted properly). I'm fairly confident it will shoot once I do a bit of experimenting with powder/projie/seating depth etc

The one thing I did notice about the Sako is its pressure bedded about 4" or so from the forend of the stock, so I might just remove that and see what diff that makes, hopefully it improves thing. It's a beautiful little rifle, nice and light etc and I'd really like to get it shooting the way it should.

Sorry for getting off topic fellas.

[1290]

Leave it be big fella. ...leave it be... I'm 87.5% sure you will NOT improve it, it's there for a reason.

[Seconds]

The one thing I did notice about the Sako is its pressure bedded about 4" or so from the forend of the stock, so I might just remove that and see what diff that makes, hopefully it improves thing.

I haven't got a link handy but I've read in various places a few people trying that and I'm pretty sure it almost always made things worse...

[bigfellascott]

Yeah that's the reason I haven't done anything too it, just not sure it will or won't improve things. I guess I could always put a pressure point back in if it does make it worse.

[Arth]

It's the same for the original Ruger Hawkeyes. They're pressure bedded and not meant to be free-floated.

Read plenty of people who floated them because they thought it was best practice and accuracy went to pot.

[1290]

and R700s.... how many shooters have 'improved' there Rems by removing the pressure pads...

[deye243]

and R700s.... how many shooters have 'improved' there Rems by removing the pressure pads...

you got that right...

pressure point bedding was brought about to fix the problems of bodgy action bedding , you will see an improvement if you bed the rifle and get rid of the pressure point and then work up a new load to suit ..

pressure point bedding is good for vertical stringing

[lapp]

Why only for vertical stringing out of interest?

[deye243]

as the barrel heats up it expands = more upward pressure unless you wait a fair amount of time between rounds then it's not a problem

[lapp]

Nevermind... Brain fart moment.

Expansion on the bedding makes obvious sense. So used to everyone taking about free-floating I wasn't thinking it through.

Brain fart...

[deye243]

Brain fart i have plenty of them haha

[1290]

the steel is stressed, stresses created during manufacture, hammering the barrel, rifling the innards.....when the barrels are produced they are 'occasionally' resembling bananas - so either a hydraulic/hammer or other huge press, along with the 'craftsman's' eye... is used to straighten them back out..(further stresses induced) with the heating it will cause the steel to relax and try to return to its earlier state/position. As opposed to simply expanding with say the 'hole' getting bigger and the barrel lengthening; it may expand more on one side with the muzzle tending ever so slightly to say 2 O'clock.

....so, the pressure pad/pads will reduce this movement somewhat as well as dampen the oscillation of the barrel on discharge = less barrel movement/ more predictable bullet landing spot (muzzle starts moving before bullet departs...). upward pressure via pads would reduce the up and down movement (>vertical stringing).

Free floating barrel would oscillate in more of a symmetrical, circular pattern, stiffer barrel, smaller circle.

[MrClark]

Really interested in one of those Ranchland Compacts in .223 has anyone seen or handled one? Seems like a great roo gun (professional roo shooting of course) with the detachable mag system you couldnt go wrong