Do any of you own one of these and what are your thoughts on this rifle?

They are a very nice rifle for the money. I have had 2 or 3 over the years.

Howa's are tack drivers And good looking rifles. Not too pricey for all you get.

Have had three. A308 heavy barrel synthetic, a 308 sporter synthetic, and a 6.5x55 wood. All were good to excellent shooter, just too new for my tastes. Would recommend over Rem 700 any day.
Mike Allred

I own a 270 stainless with the Hogue synthetic stock. It is a good rifle. The trigger is a little creepy. It shoot as good as my Remingtons.

the only negative about Howa rifles are the action and barrel have metric threads and a lot of smith's lathes will not cut metric threads. Other than that they are universally liked.....I've never read a negative post about them.

I've got the Weatherby Vanguard version. Nice rifle, a very good shooter.

I've had a Weatherby Vangard (Howa) for 4 years and I would buy another in a heartbeat. I may buy one in 7mm rem mag and convert it to a 416 taylor. I'm thinking seriously about it - I love the action.

I have a Smith & Wesson 1500 (also a Howa) in 30/06, also a very good rifle.

My son and I own 3 Howas (.223 Rem, .243 Win, .30-06) and 2 Vanguards (7mm-08, .300 Weatherby) between us. IMO they represent excellent value for the money spent.

I have a 1500 Heavy Barrel .22-250 and absolutely love it. Very accurate, even with factory ammo.

I had a Smith & Wesson 1500 (Howa) in .222. Picked it up at a pawn shop. A good value for the money ( $169 ). It shot fair was a little throaty but still near MOA. I decided to rebarrel it. Now it has a Lilja 7 contour and is a .222 Mag. A very good shooting gun. I'm always on the look out for another good action. I'd buy a Howa in a heart beat.

I had a Smith & Wesson once in 243 that I cut the stock off and used for my wife for a while. Nice rifle but I think it was a little heavy for a 243.

I have a brand new Howaby Vanguard 300 WBY. Shoots great right out of the box. Trigger needed some adjusting and is passable.

I trashed the tupperware stock and replaced it with a B&C Medalist.

I really like my Vanguard and am pretty close to getting a stainless Vanguard in 338 Win Mag.

The Vanguard is one of the best deals out there

This is my opinion. Your opinion may vary.

ZM

murftj, I have the same rifle and mine shoots little groups with the federal tbbc 55 gr moly factory fodder. Nice rifle for the money and fun to shoot. I do have some creep in the trigger than I plan on remeding this spring.

I shoot the Winchester USA 45 gr. JHP (white box) that sell for around $18 for 40. Very nice effect on prairie dogs!

I have/had a couple the nice thin is that the actions have all been much smoother than the typical remingchester you buy nowdays. Kind off funny seeings how it is the cheaper end. those I have had all shot well and the triggers are pretty easy to adjust down to pretty good. all in all a fine choice if you ask me.

I quickly tried a Howa 308W synthetic stock, some years ago; I could get a surprising thight group at 200 m. I was really impressed.

I have the Smith and Wesson version in 1700 LS. Excellant rifle. Have owned it since the 1980's.

I've owned a Weatherby Vanguard (Howa) in 270 Wby Mag for many years. It's extremely accurate, and the action is very nice. One Hell of a great rifle for the money. I would highly recommend without reservation. Best, Starcharvski.

Got a deal here; Howa S/S in 30-06 with a S&B Classic 1,5-6x42 for 1200$.. I know the Classic is getting replaced by the Zenith, but I think its still a good deal. Im getting better stock to it though!

Brand new.. I just hope the store has more when I call them tomorrow.

I have A howa rifle it is A 1550 in 270 win walnut stock and blued BBL.all in all it is nice shooter.

I had the Weatherby Vanguard version in .243.
The action was one of the smoothest out of the box that I've ever handled. However the rifle was as fussy as hell about loads, which is the reason I sold it.
No matter what, it wouldn't shoot ANYTHING except Nosler Partitions ( and if you saw the price of those in the UK, you'd know why I sold it ). One thing I will say though is that with the partitions, the accuracy was outstanding and I'm talking one ragged hole at 100m with three shots.

I traded for a Tikka 595 which shoots most bullets with great accuracy. If it hadn't been so fussy, I'd have been more than happy with the Howa, nice finish, well made and slick.