howa mini 7.62x39

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troy fairweather

troy fairweather

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i see brownells still have some of the minis on sale. id like to get the 7.62x39 light barrel they have them for 219 right now hope there still there on Tuesday. im working a a gun shop right now the owner said he gets the dealer discount so i my get it cheaper but 219 is a good price. i looked at the boyds stock in the camo laminated for bout 137. i think this will make a nice small deer rifle. i think ill just put a Nikon 2-7x40 on for now. just like to know what u think. thanks troy.
 
troy fairweather said:
i see brownells still have some of the minis on sale. id like to get the 7.62x39 light barrel they have them for 219 right now hope there still there on Tuesday. im working a a gun shop right now the owner said he gets the dealer discount so i my get it cheaper but 219 is a good price. i looked at the boyds stock in the camo laminated for bout 137. i think this will make a nice small deer rifle. i think ill just put a Nikon 2-7x40 on for now. just like to know what u think. thanks troy.
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I like the idea.

I REALLY, REALLY....REEEAAAAALLLLLY, wanted one of those. But I want it as a very light hunting build and the only stocks available (without going full blown custom) are the Boyd's. Boyd's stocks are solid and good for the money, but light they are not. I've managed to remove enough material on a few to get them down around 1.5lbs, but I just really didn't feel like doing it again.

So I blew my money on a new 9mm.....that my FFL still hasn't ordered cause he wants something too lol.
 
You can get the MDT LSS chassis. Should be lighter than the Boyds.

I have the LW thumbhole Boyds stock on my 6.5 Grendel Howa Mini light barrel. It's not light, but not super heavy. It weights just over 7 lbs with a Leupold fixed 4x scope.
 
LoonWulf said:
I like the idea.

I REALLY, REALLY....REEEAAAAALLLLLY, wanted one of those. But I want it as a very light hunting build and the only stocks available (without going full blown custom) are the Boyd's. Boyd's stocks are solid and good for the money, but light they are not. I've managed to remove enough material on a few to get them down around 1.5lbs, but I just really didn't feel like doing it again.

So I blew my money on a new 9mm.....that my FFL still hasn't ordered cause he wants something too lol.
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i have to talk to my boss. he knows someone at boyds maybe i can get a inletted blank to slim it down.
 
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.

IMG_0011.JPG IMG_0012.JPG IMG_0013.JPG IMG_0014.JPG IMG_0015.JPG IMG_0016.JPG
 
Delawarean said:
You can get the MDT LSS chassis. Should be lighter than the Boyds.

I have the LW thumbhole Boyds stock on my 6.5 Grendel Howa Mini light barrel. It's not light, but not super heavy. It weights just over 7 lbs with a Leupold fixed 4x scope.
Click to expand...
i like the chassis but id like to do this as a hunting rifle. read post 4. but i thinks i can get some good weight out some under the barrel and in the butt stock as well as smiling it down.
 
Newtosavage said:
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
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looks very good i think u are the reason i looked back at brownells to see them all gone. i did not think they would have any left. maybe most ppl just want the hole gun and most seam to want the the bull barrel witch they have for 20 some bucks more. i can take lost of weight from the stock i may even shorten the for arm some. id bead the action to. i plan to reload for it but like to try that 154 sp they have its cheap to. yours shoot real good nice to see that. im thinking the same thing with the scope with the 2-7 range but a Nikon don't have the cash for a nice Leopold. thanks for the pic is that the camo?
 
Don't have the howa, but the wolf 154 grn sp is awesome in my cz. I debated the lw mini action, but i just don't like the bottom "metal" and another proprietary mag to deal with. I may end up with one though, and run it as a single shot...
 
adcoch1 said:
Don't have the howa, but the wolf 154 grn sp is awesome in my cz. I debated the lw mini action, but i just don't like the bottom "metal" and another proprietary mag to deal with. I may end up with one though, and run it as a single shot...
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i i had the money i like the cz very much but i can put the howa together for half the cost of the cz. ill get the cz one day the full stock to lol.
 
Newtosavage said:
BTW, for you handloaders - if you're not trying CFE BLK in your 7.62x39 you don't know what you're missing. I was a die-hard RL-7 user for years, but not anymore!
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i have some normal cfe 223 i will get some of the blk for me and my dads sks. what is different from the normal cfe granular size?
 
I picked up my 7.62x39 Howa mini barreled action this week. I'm going pretty much the same route you are talking about going - boyds stock and a 2-7 scope. Definitely very happy with the barreled action at this price. Trigger is around 4#, would like to get that down a pound. Stock, scope, and mount are on the way. Hope it shoots as well as newtosavage's.

My plan is a light weight field/truck gun. The CZ527 is 6 pounds, and the barreled Howa action is 3.6, so I would need to shave about 6oz off the boyds to get it similar to the CZ. My hope is to get the whole package with the scope and mount under or around 6.5lbish. Not going to get too hung up on that, handy, slim,and fast pointing are more important.

I like the idea of iron sights on it too, I will be interested to see what you come up with if you go that route.
 
high country said:
I picked up my 7.62x39 Howa mini barreled action this week. I'm going pretty much the same route you are talking about going - boyds stock and a 2-7 scope. Definitely very happy with the barreled action at this price. Trigger is around 4#, would like to get that down a pound. Stock, scope, and mount are on the way. Hope it shoots as well as newtosavage's.

My plan is a light weight field/truck gun. The CZ527 is 6 pounds, and the barreled Howa action is 3.6, so I would need to shave about 6oz off the boyds to get it similar to the CZ. My hope is to get the whole package with the scope and mount under or around 6.5lbish. Not going to get too hung up on that, handy, slim,and fast pointing are more important.

I like the idea of iron sights on it too, I will be interested to see what you come up with if you go that route.
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its nice to see im not the only one doing this lol. i have bases and rings will have to wait a couple weeks to get the scope. what brand are u getting. 6oz u should get that from under the but plate using a foster bit to keep from splitting the stock. i have never had a howa trigger apart but one pound sounds easy.

there is a place that makes a aluminum bottom metal but there $100. the the savings over the cz is less. if i have problems i will pillar it. and for sights i have to measure more and look around to see what will work best. id like to find a way normal shooters can add sights. o and what color stock did u get.
 
someguy2800 said:
I've had that howa mini action in my cart on brownell's 3 times and the 20" fluted 308 twice, but darn it, I just don't need them and can't justify it. I need to go find another milsurp somewhere to scratch the new gun itch.
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i just hope they still have them on tuesday im surprised they still have them. happy hunting.
 
It shouldn't be hard to shave off that weight. In my experience, boyds leaves a lot of meat. I will definitely take some under the recoil pad, and probably shorten the forend a little because it is sized for a 24" barrel. That plus some shaping of the cheek rest and pistol grip area should shave off a good bit.

I grabbed a Vortex Crossfire II 2-7 on sale now at Midway for $130. Haven't used a Vortex, but in that price range (budget, but not ncstar or tasco cheap), all the brands seem pretty similar performance wise. It will go in a one piece DNZ mount.
 
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