tango2echo
Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2008
- Messages
- 811
There have been several threads recently about the Howa rifles and how well they shoot out of the box and overall quality. I thought I would share this experience for those who have questions about them. This rifle was bought by a family member who asked me to shoot it an sight it in.
Rifle is a Howa M1500 stainless .308 with the factory composite stock and Nikko Stearling scope. 80f SE winds (direct x-wind) at 5-8kts. Ammo was Winchester 150gr SP ($16 a box)
I inspected the rifle, torqued the action screws, and adjusted the trigger for a 2.25lb pull. Surprisingly crisp and clean for a factory trigger. The bolt could use lapping though.
The rifle was laser bore sighted and fired at 25 yards to check zero, then fired at 100 yards and adjusted. All shots were 1 minute apart with 5 minutes between groups. The bore was cleaned between each group.
The first group for accuracy measured 1.32". Subsequent groups measured as low as 1.10" and as high as 1.45" with the Winchester ammo. These were 5 round groups, and a total of 30 rounds on the day.
Day two was with handloads. The loads:
New Win Brass trimmed and sized.
CCI LRP
Hornaday 168gr Amax
Varget
(Starting load was 43.0 grains and then work up in .5 grain increments to 46.0 grains)
Groups ranged from 1.3" to .45". 44.5gr was the best from this string, so I loaded 44.3/44.5/44.7 at the range (which is in my back yard
)
44.5gr was once again the best at .56". I fired a total of 6 groups of five rounds at 44.5gr. They measured .45", .56", .60", .89", .53", and .94"
To date the rifle has 85 rounds throught the bore and has shot as well as .45" for a 5 round 100 yard group with carefully crafted handloads, and as "poorly" as 1.45" with Winchester silver box cheap stuff.
I told the owner there was no need to do further development and gave the rifle to him with 40 rounds of handloads.
Overall, pretty darn good for a $500 rifle with a factory scope, and actually much better than several "custom" rifles costing much more that I've seen recently. I doubt every Howa is this good, but I've owned 3 and shot 6 Howas now and all have done less than 1.7" at 100 yards.
T2E
Rifle is a Howa M1500 stainless .308 with the factory composite stock and Nikko Stearling scope. 80f SE winds (direct x-wind) at 5-8kts. Ammo was Winchester 150gr SP ($16 a box)
I inspected the rifle, torqued the action screws, and adjusted the trigger for a 2.25lb pull. Surprisingly crisp and clean for a factory trigger. The bolt could use lapping though.
The rifle was laser bore sighted and fired at 25 yards to check zero, then fired at 100 yards and adjusted. All shots were 1 minute apart with 5 minutes between groups. The bore was cleaned between each group.
The first group for accuracy measured 1.32". Subsequent groups measured as low as 1.10" and as high as 1.45" with the Winchester ammo. These were 5 round groups, and a total of 30 rounds on the day.
Day two was with handloads. The loads:
New Win Brass trimmed and sized.
CCI LRP
Hornaday 168gr Amax
Varget
(Starting load was 43.0 grains and then work up in .5 grain increments to 46.0 grains)
Groups ranged from 1.3" to .45". 44.5gr was the best from this string, so I loaded 44.3/44.5/44.7 at the range (which is in my back yard
)44.5gr was once again the best at .56". I fired a total of 6 groups of five rounds at 44.5gr. They measured .45", .56", .60", .89", .53", and .94"
To date the rifle has 85 rounds throught the bore and has shot as well as .45" for a 5 round 100 yard group with carefully crafted handloads, and as "poorly" as 1.45" with Winchester silver box cheap stuff.
I told the owner there was no need to do further development and gave the rifle to him with 40 rounds of handloads.
Overall, pretty darn good for a $500 rifle with a factory scope, and actually much better than several "custom" rifles costing much more that I've seen recently. I doubt every Howa is this good, but I've owned 3 and shot 6 Howas now and all have done less than 1.7" at 100 yards.
T2E
