what is your thoughts and or experience with howa rifles and actions. I am considering buying one and wanted a little info.

I own a little bit of everything and really like the Howa Lightning .300 WM that I have. It's the old style with the Bell and Carlson stock. Shoots itty bitty groups and is relatively light weight compared to similar models.

I have a Weatherby Vanguard (Howa 1500). Its not a bad rifle, but at the same time, nothing to write home about. Mine shoots real good in warmer weather, but the accuracy goes to hell once the thermometer drops (Yes I have free floated the barrel and bedded the action). I especially like the feel of the stock, but I expect you'll get better accuracy out of a Savage.
Note that if this is an older rifle, there is a recall on them.

I had an older smith&wesson 1500 which is the same howa 1500 and found it to be well made and very accurate.A couple of friends also have howas and vanguards and the results are the same.They are a very good product for the price.

I have a Smith and Wesson 1500 (howa) in .243, its a great gun. Only drawback is its not a lightweight gun, has to do with the stock they used and probably the Leupold i installed. It will shoot close to MOA with factory loads, mostly the Hornady Custom and light mags. You can do better with handloads. I've been using that rifle for about 15years without a problem.

loved mine (.223). hated having to sell it.

if i ever buy a push-feed again, it will be one of these or a vanguard, which is basically the same thing with a walnut stock.

I have a 1500 in 308. It seems to be a well-made, basic rifle. Mine shoots 1 1/2" five-shot groups at 100 yards. The trigger guard is painted, not blued, and the paint does chip off. Paid $290 for mine, and, for what this rifle is used for, would do it again.

Saw a father and son at the range the other day using a Howa .223. The boy (About 9years old) was shooting multi shot 3/4" groups with store bought cheepy ammo.Oh well.

ElCaballero,

I have played with a couple Howa that I owned as well as a few for my customers.

The rifles I have owned were a synthetic blued sporter in 22-250 and a blued synthetic varmint model in 223 Rem.

Both of these rifles shot VERY well with the loads they liked. Funny thing is that neither woulf shoot bullets heavier then 45 gr under 1 1/2" at 100 yards.

BUT, the 22-250 would drive the 40 gr Ballistic Tips to right at 4075 fps and shot an average of .577" for five, five shot groups.

The heavy barreled 223 also likes light bullets as it will drive the 37 gr Calhoon's to an honest 3800 fps with 1/2" average groups.

The 223 has had a little improving done to it by way of a heavy laminated varmint stock which I bedded to the action. On both rifles, I adjusted the triggers to 2.5 lbs for the 22-250 and 2.0 for the 223.

The other howas I have played with were also good shooters. One was a synthetic sporter in 243 that would hold an average group size just a hair under an inch right out of the box.

THe latest Howa I worked with was for a customer who wanted a weather proof, light hunting rifle but did not want to spend alot of money on the rifle.

I ordered a stainless barreled action in 7mm Rem Mag and a tan laminated sporter stock for the Howa.

When they arrived I did have to fit the barrel channel which only took 15 minutes or so and also fitted a kick eez recoil pad to it. With the Simmons Aetac scope and Burris Sig rings and bases, the whole package weights just over 8 pounds.

We decided to shoot the rifle before bedding it because the bedding was actually pretty nice in the action area.

I helped him develope test loads for this rifle and over the last two weekends and 8 test loads later, the rifle has yet to shoot over 1.5". The vast majority of groups have been perfect 3/4 to 1" triangles. He found his load which drives the 140 gr Ballistic Silvertip to 3275 fps with 3/4" grouping. With a bedding job, I'm sure this rifle would play with the 1/2" group size quite often but so far the owner sees no reason to pay for the bedding, with those groups out of a sporter big game rifle, I can hardly argue with him.

I was extremely impressed with the soft matte finish on the stainless Howa and am thinking seriously about building a couple project rifles using this action since high quality stocks are easy to get for it.

All in all I have good things to say about the Howa rifles, would like the smaller bores to shoot heavier bullets better but with the ones they like watch out, for an out of the box factory rifle, they will shoot with any rifle with their prefered loads, sometimes the problem is taking the time to find those loads.

Goos Shooting!!!

50

I think Howa makes an excellent rifle. They've also made rifles for Smith & Wesson and the Weatherby Vanguard line. Not many people who buy one complain to any degree so they must be doing something correctly. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I think I've got one of the odd Howas that doesn't shoot as well as those mentioned above. It consistently shoots 2 rounds almost touching and then the third over an inch away. I have changed the stock from the tupperware factory one to a Bell & Carlson, tried pressure point bedding and now will try free-floating the barrel. It really does shoot well enough for hunting - I just like my rifles to shoot at or below an inch at 100 yards.

I did have a S&W 1500 Deluxe in .30-06 that was my first, out-of-the-box sub MOA rifle. I hated to sell that rifle when I went through a divorce.

[ 10-13-2003, 21:40: Message edited by: Calif Hunter ]