Funny you should post this. I just got back from the range, breaking in my new Howa Mini Action 7.62x39 in a Boyd's stock.
Here are my impressions: The barreled action is an absolute steal at that price. It's a bit stiff and the safety needs to be smoothed out through use, but I'm sure it will get there. The trigger breaks real clean, but is about 1# more than I'm used to. But it's a clean trigger, so I can still shoot it well. Like others have said, I'm not a fan of the mag release position. The plastic bottom "metal" hasn't given me an issue though. I torqued down the action screws by hand as much as I would any other rifle, and no problem.
I'm not thrilled with the weight of the Boyd's (Classic) stock. It's heavy. I am used to light synthetic stocks now, in the 22-25 oz. range. This stock is 2 lbs. 12 oz. or nearly 2x the weight of the stocks I'm used to. The other thing is the action fits a bit sloppy in the stock. They overcut it, no doubt in response to people who were complaining about having stocks that were not inlet enough early on. I figure I'll eventually just bed the front recoil lug and rear tang.
The whole rifle (empty) with 2-7x33 Leupold scope weighs in right at 7 lbs. 1 oz. - about the same as most of my other hunting rifles.
Having said that, straight out of the box, this thing is a shooter. Even in the "sloppy fit" of the Boyd's stock. I used an abbreviated break-in period using steel-case hollow point ammo, cleaning it after every shot for the first 5, then after every 3-4 shots after that. Despite it being a brand new barrel in a loose stock, it still shot very, very well. 1-1.25" at 100 yards with the steel case hollow points, and just over 2" at 200 yards with my handloads. I made no attempt to let the light contour barrel cool down, and I was still fine tuning the scope. Given a good break in and if I let the barrel cool a bit more, I can see this thing easily holding MOA or better at 200 and 300 yards.
View attachment 802702 View attachment 802699 View attachment 802700 View attachment 802701 View attachment 802703 View attachment 802704