Anyone put together a gun on a Howa action or a Howa barreled action? What did you think of the Howa barreled action?

Dave,

I know you asked for Steak but the Pork Chop version is; the Howas are selling pretty well here in Europe with the Hogue overmolded stocks in both the short & long actions and all I've been party to are pretty much a Remington 700 clone & so far, tack-drivers. Plus here we get a real (can't speak for stateside liability) easily adjustable trigger that can be done in a coupla minutes to meet the needs of those who prefer a lighter-weight hunting trigger or a real light-weight Varmint rifle trigger.

I can't imagine that their barreled actions are much less than a Howa w/o a factory stock. If you can fit an after-market or custom; you ought to be Good-to-Go.

Having said that; the stateside Crew I shoot PD's with all shoot Howa's ('cept for the odd HB Remington 700 or Savage 10) in .223 Rem, .243 Win. & .308 Win. and they're all (both the shooters & their gear) real Shooters. They swear the Varmint Howa's are about the best value on the market. When the barrels are toast they re-barrel and that with standard after-market stuff not custom hand-lapped high priced premiums either. They just keep on shoot'n.

The Howa is a good action. Its just a Sako clone.

weathery, colt, mossssberg, SW, and others have used this exact action for decades...

They are very popular here in Aus.

Have a good reputation.

My .22-250 Howa barreled action..

JC

Hi JC,

What stock is that please?

Thanks!

WL

J-C,

Very nice looking rig you've assembled there. If it shoots as good as it looks it must be a fine Boomer indeed.



The "white stuff" on the ground makes for a nice background ...... Br-r-r-r.

quote:

Originally posted by ARWL:
What stock is that please?

Bansner...High Tech Specialties

In fact this gun is one of the very first "Alpine" models Mark produced. He still makes them today. I had been looking for a good deal on a used one for years. I purchased this one with the scope, virtually brand new, for a small fraction of what it would cost to put it together. Needless to say I am extremely happy with it!

JC

Here are the specs:

BANSNER'S "ALPINE HUNTER" Rifle:

•Howa 1500 stainless steel barreled action/Milled receiver for a more attractive appearance and engraved “Alpine Hunter”.
•Trigger is tuned and set at a crisp 2 1/2 pounds. Features 3-position safety.
•The factory barrel is fluted, re-crowned.
•All metal is coated in our durable polymer Ti K-Cote.
•High-Tech Specialties, Inc., fiberglass stock with cheekpiece is fully pillar-bedded, fitted with a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad cut to your LOP and painted in your choice of textured paint.

------

This is a fairly typical 100yd group with most factory ammo. Being more picky with ammo and when I am shooting very well groups will shrink to around half that in good conditions.

If the Howa action is a Remington 700 clone will it fit in stock built for the Remington?

Mark,

Nope. They are not a Rem 700 clone. They are a clone of a Sako action (not sure which).

Stocks are available from most if not all of the aftermarket makers.

Jeremy

quote:

n on a Howa action or a Howa barreled action? What did you think of the Howa barreled action?

Dave

I believe the Howa 1500 is a copy of the SAKO L61R. The earlier Howa 1500's (vanguard, etc) are hardly distinguishable from the L61R's.

I am a big fan of the Howa 1500's, they just keep getting better. I would take the new Howa's over just about anything that comes in a green box.

quote:

Originally posted by farbedo:
Mark,

Nope. They are not a Rem 700 clone. They are a clone of a Sako action (not sure which).

Stocks are available from most if not all of the aftermarket makers.

Jeremy

Thats good to know. I was considering trying to get one but was concerned about finding a stock I wanted for it. I looked on Stockys Stocks but they didn't have what I was looking for. I have had really good luck with Bell and Carlson Stocks. Do you guys know anyone who carries B and C stocks for the Howa? Or if they even make one for it? Thanks

The only B&C stock I could find is the Weatherby style so I went with a High Tech, Bansner, from Brownells.

Sarco currently has some classic style older B&C carbelite stocks for the Howa 1500. They are decent, but I think they need to have pillars added.

The current ones are in the Weatherby style.

Boyds makes their laminate and walnut for the Howa. Hogue offers them, Blackhawk/Knoxx, High tech, MPI.

Re: Sako clone (not).

Years ago (late 1960's), Howa produced a rifle it called the "Golden Bear" which was an (almost) exact duplicate of the Sako L61R Finnbear. Even the three-lug bolts would interchange. Although there are no records readily available, it is believed that Sako pressed an international patent suit to force Howa to withdraw the Golden Bear from the market.

Howa subsequently designed the 1500 action, which bears a number of similarities to Sako actions, but differs in a number of ways, enough so to avoid patent infringement. The Howa 1500 is not a clone of the Sako, any moreso than the 1903 Springfield is a clone of the '98 Mauser -- the two actions simply share a number of similar systems. A stock for a Sako is not a drop-in fit for a Howa.

None of this is to disparage the Howa 1500, which is a very serviceable action. But it is not simply a "Japanese-made Sako".

However, there does appear to be some actual nexus between Sako and Howa. It is believed that Sako contracted with Howa to produce some parts for its rifles which were for export to Australia. This probably had something to do with the then-existing Australian tariffs which favored certain manufactured goods with Pacific Rim origin or content. Howa seems to have attempted to take advantage of access to the Sako blueprints to build its own complete knock-off rifles.

quote:

any moreso than the 1903 Springfield is a clone of the '98 Mauser -- the two actions simply share a number of similar systems.

That was the position the US government took regarding the Springfield action but Paul Mauser prevailed in his patent suits. The US gov't paid patent fees to Mauser until Germany lost WWI, after which the victor determined the vanquished deserved no further patent fee payments.

The Howa is an excellent push feed action. I tend to describe it in terms of Howa vs Remington. Howa has an integral recoil lug, 1 piece bolt, M16 style extractor(not the sheet metal one remington has), a firing pin assembly that is super easy to remove with just your fingers, and a bolt that locks when the safety is on. It accepts scope bases made for the Remington 700.

I've used them a lot because I can buy them a lot cheaper than the Remingtons and I don't have to pay extra to put in a proper extractor or buy an oversized recoil lug. The only downside right now is the lack of aftermarket support for bottom metal. I'm pretty sure Dave Kiff @ Pacific Tool and Gauge is working on that.