Howa Mini's & 90gn Pills???

[PoorShot300]

For the Howa and reloading tinkerer's, i'm interested to hear of your experience with a 1:7 or 1:8 and running 80-90gn pills on the later mini actions.

Could you please share if you had any 'feed' issues of the longer COAL from the oem magazine?

Secondly, How many use an ACIS (or similar) mag, and is any 'tweaking' required?

I'm led to believe the latter have a deeper cartridge well that helps with longer pills, but not owning one, and wary of Web info., i thought i'd ask here as to the compatibility of the two.

Cheers

[bladeracer]

For the Howa and reloading tinkerer's, i'm interested to hear of your experience with a 1:7 or 1:8 and running 80-90gn pills on the later mini actions.

Could you please share if you had any 'feed' issues of the longer COAL from the oem magazine?

Secondly, How many use an ACIS (or similar) mag, and is any 'tweaking' required?

I'm led to believe the latter have a deeper cartridge well that helps with longer pills, but not owning one, and wary of Web info., i thought i'd ask here as to the compatibility of the two.

Cheers

Do Howa specify what the magazine length is in the Mini action?
I would've assumed it's designed to feed .223 which specifies 2.26". My AICS mags are 2.55" - which works up to about 80-82gn. ADI lists the 90gn bullets at COAL of 2.38".
Short action allows up to 2.8" overall cartridge length normally. Longer than that you need to single-feed them. I think most competitions where you'd be using the longest VLD/ELD bullets you'd be single-feeding anyway - like F-Class.

[bladeracer]

For the Howa and reloading tinkerer's, i'm interested to hear of your experience with a 1:7 or 1:8 and running 80-90gn pills on the later mini actions.

Could you please share if you had any 'feed' issues of the longer COAL from the oem magazine?

Secondly, How many use an ACIS (or similar) mag, and is any 'tweaking' required?

I'm led to believe the latter have a deeper cartridge well that helps with longer pills, but not owning one, and wary of Web info., i thought i'd ask here as to the compatibility of the two.

Cheers

8" twist should push 80's just fine, probably not 90's but you could certainly try them.
The only way you could run AICS mags in the Howa would be in a custom rifle of some sort. Being single-stack single-feed though makes it pretty easy to get them to feed.
I don't have any .223 on hand but I load .204 with the 24gn, 32gn and 40gn at 2.29". But the 55gn .204 is 2.48" which feeds in the AICS .223 mags, but not the Ruger .223 mags - they only feed to 2.30".

[PoorShot300]

Do Howa specify what the magazine length is in the Mini action?
I would've assumed it's designed to feed .223 which specifies 2.26". My AICS mags are 2.55" - which works up to about 80-82gn. ADI lists the 90gn bullets at COAL of 2.38".
Short action allows up to 2.8" overall cartridge length normally. Longer than that you need to single-feed them. I think most competitions where you'd be using the longest VLD/ELD bullets you'd be single-feeding anyway - like F-Class.

Thanks for that bladeracer, and as a store ammo buyer to date, i haven't looked that deeply as most sites are limited in actual dimensions... i am slowly getting into the 'mechanics' of calibres/rifles, whereas prior it was just a matter of load & shoot to find some good store ammo (.22 & .30.30 w/Revolution)...i thought i read elsewhere the Howa box was 2.48??? i just recall the AICS being deeper and wondered if they were a straight fit or need jigging?..

Seems the industry is being led by BR guys and the consumer market is slow to catch up...why else very few manufacturer's having 1:7 or 1:8 bbl's?

Speaking of which, most of my 'target' work will just be alone rather than joining 'competitions'... i can't afford to get that serious.

*EDIT*... yeah, i am thinking in terms of aftermarket chassis for the AICS mags once i've had some fun under the oem setup.

Cheers

[bladeracer]

Thanks for that bladeracer, and as a store ammo buyer to date, i haven't looked that deeply as most sites are limited in actual dimensions... i am slowly getting into the 'mechanics' of calibres/rifles, whereas prior it was just a matter of load & shoot to find some good store ammo (.22 & .30.30 w/Revolution)...i thought i read elsewhere the Howa box was 2.48??? i just recall the AICS being deeper and wondered if they were a straight fit or need jigging?..

Seems the industry is being led by BR guys and the consumer market is slow to catch up...why else very few manufacturer's having 1:7 or 1:8 bbl's?

Speaking of which, most of my 'target' work will just be alone rather than joining 'competitions'... i can't afford to get that serious.

*EDIT*... yeah, i am thinking in terms of aftermarket chassis for the AICS mags once i've had some fun under the oem setup.

Cheers

There are downsides to the tighter twist rates, you probably don't want 7"-twist if you want to shoot rabbits, or even just shoot more cheaply. The serious competition long-range bullets are more expensive than the lighter hunting stuff. I wouldn't go tighter than 8" for a hunting .223, and if you're happy with the plethora of bullets under 55gn you can go up to 12" or even 14" twist.

[PoorShot300]

That's a fair call balderacer, i i came to that conclusion as well, 1:8 and allow leeway for some lighter loads on furry's...