Howa 1500 builds **post them**

Howa 1500 with an LRI fitted K&P 28" MTU Contour 1:8 Left Twist with an Ultrdyne Apollo LR brake sitting in a Woox Exactus precision stock using the Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56 in a 30 MOA American Defense mount sitting on a 25MOA rail.


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Howa 1500 20" Heavy .308 SA from Brownells, got it with the Memorial Day discount out the door for $419 from my FFL after ePICS (PA NICS) fee.

Threw it in a MDT XSS-XL Gen 2 with a Talley picatinny rail, MDT 7 inch ARCA section, PRS Lite, B5 Systems T22 grip, and a SF3P waiting for my RC2-762 to be approved.

NF 7-35 F1 in a Reptilia 1.54 AUS mount with a diving board.

Was not expecting much for under $1100 all in minus the glass and mount I pulled off an M110A3. Shot 5rd groups under 0.75MOA at 100yd with Federal GMM 175s. The piece of shit MDT GRND bipod fell apart though, stripped screw inside, have an RMA opened up will get an accutac next time
 
Does anyone own this rifle or have any insight on it? I recently bought a MPA Matrix rifle 6.5 CM, but I won't see it for 16-18 weeks.
I still need to learn fundamentals and everything about shooting basically so I decided to buy a .22LR to practice with until my other rifle comes. This is the one I am considering. Also will I have any issues mounting a scope to this? I can't tell if the sights that come it are removable or not.
 
Back in 2014, I bought an old Howa 1500 chambered in .308 off a buddy for $200; he'd won it in a local gun raffle. I finally decided it was time for some upgrades.

I swapped out the stock for a Stocky’s Stock VGA and drilled and tapped it for an SRS mini Arca rail. The original Nikon Monarch scope was replaced with a Leica Amplus 6, still SFP but now its capable of dialing for distance. I’m excited to see how it shoots when I hit the range next weekend.
 
Anybody know a shop that has howa barrels with barrel nuts ready to go out the door?

Also, what action wrench and barrel vice do you guys recommend? My barrel just started shooting crappy and losing speed. It's shot out so now I'm looking.

Is Criterion going to be the only option right now?

 
How's everyone cleaning their bolts?

I've had a few light primer strikes. Not surprised, I haven't cleaned the damn thing ever. I've got the bolt all stripped out. I was thinking of putting the bolt body and firing pin assembly in acetone for a bit to remove old grease. Then wipe with an old toothbrush, then re-oil with some hobo oil.
 

I did do something wrong. I cut off too many coils. Even after screwing the trigger adjustment screw all the way in to compensate, it's still not right.

I ordered the Gun Bloke spring kit. From what I understand, he's not very good about shipping orders from Australia timely. Now I got a jacked up trigger. My fault.

If anyone has a factory HACT actuator spring, I'm interested. That will hold me over through deer season.
 
Does anyone know if this barrel will fit in this stock? The barrel is listed as "medium ci tour" by Brownells. The B&C stocks come in standard or heavy barrel fit. The one below is standard, would assume the heavy contour stock is too large but not sure if the standard is too tight or not.



 
Would i still be able to get away without having to bed this set up? I have the howa heavy barrel in 308 in one of the B&C stocks cut for heavy barrels. Not bedded. Required a little adjusting to get the barrel to line up relatively even in the channel, but now shoots super accurate.
 
Answering the question you didn’t ask…

My Howa in my MDT ACC Premier without bedding out shoots me. It did the same when it previously rode in an Accurate Mag chassis.

My theory is that since Howa is a unique square-style action that nobody else makes, tolerances on Howa-sized chassis can be tighter than on chassis built for 700-style actions, as 700-style chassis must be made to fit a wide variety of manufacturers and their tolerances or lack thereof.

YMMV.

-Stan
 

Find an m8 (or whatever thread pattern they use) stud or bolt and cut the head part off. It should be long enough to stick all the way down below the stock and have enough threads to still get a washer and nut on your bottom metal.

With said stud on the action, you will fill the recoil lug area with lots of compound because the stud will push some out so make sure to put enough. Then drop it in. You're gonna use a nut to kinda just help securely so don't tighten it too much. Just by hand is enough.

Even with the stud in place and filling the area in the action for the action screw hole, still put release agent all in there and on the stud.
 

Winchester and Ruger have entered the discussion... ;)



I've had good results pillar bedding my Ruger M-77 receivers, and they have the added complication of the angled forward action screw. I first bed the pillars to the action and stock, then bed the recoil lug in a second separate step. I epoxy bedded my Howa's recoil lug into my stock's aluminum bedding block as it didn't show full contact across the rear face of the lug, so that was a very simple process. Bedding a Howa into a more conventional wood or composite stock shouldn't present any unusual problems, just be sure to bed only the bottom of the receiver and the rear-facing surface of the recoil lug as you would with any other action.
 
Oh and by the way, you bed the entire area of the recoil lug. You don't need to tape anything off on the recoil lug as its angled shape allows it to come out with ease. They are designed to allow for complete bedding around them.
 
Thank you for identifying my area of ignorance.

I assume that Ruger only fits Ruger inlets, Winchester only Winchester, Howa only Howa etc?

I.e. none of the square actions are interchangeable across platforms as the R700s from multiple manufacturers are?

-Stan
 
My thought revolves around lots of companies with various levels of talent make R700-style receivers and stock and chassis manufacturers have to leave enough room in their products to reasonably to fit them all.

If a stock or chassis manufacturer is making a product to fit a Howa, Ruger, or Winchester, shouldn’t the stock or chassis manufacturer be able to make their stock or chassis tolerances tighter since they are only worrying about fitting one manufacturer’s product?

-Stan
 
O.K., I see your point. You would think that's the case as Howa appears to manufacture their receivers to tighter tolerances than Remington alone ever has, not even considering all the 700 clone-makers. It's very doubtful that any stock or chassis fitment issues are the fault of Howa.
 
I'd expect no less than bedding. In my experience it really sucks to open up a barrel channel in a stock, I've done that a few times, never a B&C though!
 
I'm a little mystified with Brownells listing a 30 cal bbl for the 300 Win Mag with 1/2-28 threads...?? Is it a misprint, or does Howa really thread a 30 cal bbl for a 22 cal suppressor?

I've used Bell & Carlson stocks for several Howa bbl'd actions that came with the heavy/varmint contour bbls, but not in that specific stock. Stocks I've used with the heavy bbls are: 2093,1013, 6550, 6560, & 2998. If the bbl doesn't center in the stock's bbl channel after you've snugged the action screws, take a close look at the rear tang & how it fits into the inletting. If it's bearing on one side more than the other, that will usually be the cause of the bbl not being centered. Cutting a bit of relief in the side that's bearing on the tang will center things up; you just need to wrap enough tape around the bbl at about the mid point in the bbl channel before bedding so that it will center the bbl when the bbl'd action is put into the stock, and use enough bedding compound to fill the gap you cut at the tang area.