Howa 1500 243 Varmint, two choices, conundrum.

[crows2332]

G'day,

Looking at two variations of a similar Howa 1500 243 Varmint 24" barrel.

First option: Brand New, Howa 1500 243 Blued Varmint 24" barrel, older synthetic stock (not hogue), not pillar bedded, internal mag, $550 new price, but extra $100 for courier and LGS transfer/accepting fee, so $650 couriered to LGS & transfer fee.

Second option: 2nd hand, Howa 1500 243 Stainless Varmint 24" Barrel, between 700 & 900 through it. Hogue pillar bedded stock, after market trigger, but unable to ascertain brand/fitting details, internal mag, for $650, possible inclusion of load data for a good grouping reload.

I like new and un muddled with, also like the "idea" of stainless & possible all ready to go reload for it. Negative is I don't have reloading gear, so either rifle will be using factory ammo for a while until enough coin for the gear.

Possibly be re-barrel in future to 260 or 243 improved once shot out, but doesn't really effect the choice of which one.

Similar price, slight variation one brand new, the other stainless but 900 rounds through it. Both available now.

It'd be used mostly with a bipod or some kind of front rest, so the flex in the 2nd hand Howa with the hogue stock may be a pain/negative.

Does one toss a coin, or is there a more scientific way of coming to a conclusion

Cheers

[crows2332]

I figure it's a first world problem to have, but sometimes when ya stuck on the edge, a push either way may be just what's needed to get the grey matter thinking on it better, or seeing what's been overlooked.

[No1Mk3]

G'day crows2332,
I really feel you will not be happy with the Hogue stock off a bipod. I would go for the new rifle in the earlier stock which didn't seem to attract the negativity of the Hogue. not that the Hogue is bad, but it doesn't suit bipod or resting far forward. Cheers.

[crows2332]

Howdy No1Mk3,

Thanks for the post. The store owner that has the new one, did mention that he thought the old synthetic stock they had didn't flex as much as the hogue. (I wasn't sure if that was store speak to sell a rifle, or legit, but I guess if one hears enough about the same detail, there must be something to it)!

900 rounds are through the 2nd hand stainless version. I'm probably a far from a gunsmith as you could get, so with any possible throat erosion or wearing like that, I'd likely not know. I think the main sticking point for me was that with the 2nd hand stainless. The unknown there, I guess like how much has someone flogged the engine of that 2nd hand car being looked at.

I was told the 2nd hand stainless with the right load, does some very tight groups less than MOA. I figured it's possible the new one would do the same with an eventual load for it, but not sure on it being a given!
Thanks

[Carter]

I figured it's possible the new one would do the same with an eventual load for it, but not sure on it being a given!

Most Howas do mate.

They're pretty accurate of the shelf without any work, you can be pretty confident the new one would shoot under MOA with a half decent load.

[scotty87]

Either way you'll be happy with the Howa mate, I prefer the older trigger for my hunting .308 but it is harder to get working right, a bit of DIY gun smithing is required see here. I plan to have a crack at lightening my trigger tomorrow on my day off.

The newer HACT 2 stage trigger is great out of the box but 2 stage triggers are not to my liking.

I shot this group at 100m with a hogue pillar bedded howa .243 varmint at 100m, just using factory remington ammo 80GR PSP.



they are great shooters IMO.

[sandgroperbill]

Old thread,he would have chosen and purchased quite some time ago.

If it were a recent/current thread,though, I would say get the new rifle as a no brainer. 900 less rounds through the barrel would be enough for me to decide with a .243. Add the stock (not overly important as you can always change stocks) and the fact that you know how its been cleaned since new, etc and it really is a no brainer

[Gwion]

Same. Would go new. That is possibly 1/3 of the barrel life gone. Better stcks and a trigger job are pretty affordable. For about $850 , all tolled, you'd have a great shooter.

[scotty87]

Old thread,he would have chosen and purchased quite some time ago.

If it were a recent/current thread,though, I would say get the new rifle as a no brainer. 900 less rounds through the barrel would be enough for me to decide with a .243. Add the stock (not overly important as you can always change stocks) and the fact that you know how its been cleaned since new, etc and it really is a no brainer

thats what I get for not reading the thread at least it might help someone else make a similar choice.

[crows2332]

g'day, and thanks to you all that have added to the post. Much appreciated.
I kick a lot of car tyres before plunging over the edge, so it's all great information for the pros/cons for which direction one may look at this scenario.
Unfortunately, sometimes, I gather too much information, and end up going around in circles with the voices!
One day, I'll stop gathering info, and do something useful with it.
Cheers for the posts and thoughts.
crows2332

[RoginaJack]

Just out of curiousity, what price can your LGS supply the rig for?

[crows2332]

At the time of fielding the two examples there, the best of 3 firearms stores in the area was towards $850 for the howa 1500 varmint blued 24" and more for the stainless.
I like to shop locally for anything possible, and go higher than prices quoted elsewhere also when possible, but $200 cheaper (was $300 cheaper but $100 lost in transfers), would be a good deposit on a scope (saying deposit, as for me to fetch a decent scope after forking out for the rifle, I'd be layby-ing the scope).

[MalleeFarmer]

I recently bought a blued howa 24" HB fluted .308 brand new for around $580 from memory. My only advise on Howas is buy a barreled action and source your own stock or pay the extra to upgrade to a walnut or laminated stock the Houge and plastic Howa stocks suck backside. Another thing my Smith told me was if you plan on doing work such as Rebarrelling go with Chromoly instead of stainless as it is substantially better quality steel than the Howa stainless. (According to him)

[RoginaJack]

I must admit I'm not a fan of stainless barrels for field use - nice shiny and flashy.

[crows2332]

Thanks for that RoginaJack & MalleeFarmer.
Doh! re: the stainless for re- barrelling, I didn't know that. One of the thought process's was re barrel the stainless howa 1500 in either 6mm again, or maybe 260rem, so was thinking of of the 2nd hand one as an "action" rifle, to use for a project. Funnily enough, similar to your new rig MalleeFarmer. Which looks and sounds great by the way.

[MalleeFarmer]

Thanks for that RoginaJack & MalleeFarmer.
Doh! re: the stainless for re- barrelling, I didn't know that. One of the thought process's was re barrel the stainless howa 1500 in either 6mm again, or maybe 260rem, so was thinking of of the 2nd hand one as an "action" rifle, to use for a project. Funnily enough, similar to your new rig MalleeFarmer. Which looks and sounds great by the way.

I will backpedal a little here. He said that in reference to me buying one or the other new especially for a donor action. The main reason he cited was the stainless actions are softer and tend to gall up when machining and also the bolt lugs gall with excessive use (keeping them lubed would help but if you're like me I'm a bit slack with greasing bolt lugs.) Not a huge issue if its just a hunting rifle but for a precision rifle it's not ideal.

[crows2332]

Hi MalleeFarmer,
Thanks for clarifying that. All good and that's interesting with the stainless action and galling, or stainless material in general there.
Lots of traps for the uninitiated & plenty of paths that can be walked before finding out it wasn't the best!
It may end up having to be more for precision as word on the stree is the farmer who owns the land that allows me to shoot there, is selling up soon, so whatever rifle might end up having to be used at a range, until another property comes along. Might have to rethink and err on the side of precision, in case the farm does get sold.
Anyway, good tips, cheers for that.