Howa 1500 build

[T.Mihm]

I've been lurking on these forums for some time. After lots of reading, and finding myself with some money, time, and the sad realization that in 20 years I will be 40 and haven't done very many "stupid" things in my life, I decided today to blow all of my money on a rifle...

I decided to purchase a Mossberg/Howa 1500 in .308 with the regular barrel and wood stock, used for $275 shipped to my door. From there, I went to Stocky's Stocks and purchased a Bell and Carlson Medalist A2 in olive drab with black webbing and the aluminum bedding block. I pulled up Midway USA and ordered a Bushnell Elite 10x40 (since I was surprised that they had them in stock, I couldn't resist) scope, a pair of rings, an EGW 20MOA scope base, and a 9-13" pivot bipod. The total for the whole package including rifle came to about $875 give or take.

I feel like I made out pretty good, considering the Howa package on SniperCentral is $1150 or something like that. Should I be concerned about not having a heavy barrel? Also, has anyone cracked open the Howa trigger set to see where the pull can be reduced? Care to share your Howa build and what you think of it?

I should have everything by the end of the week, and I will post some pictures up when I get a chance. I've been working with my Marlin 925, practicing range estimation and shooting to 200 yards. Hopefully I can get some scrap I-beams turned into steel targets and set them up a few hundred yards out this weekend to see what my new rig is capable of.

-Travis

 

[crashandburn]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Hi there! I too am building a new rifle off the Howa 1500 SA.
I single point cut the receiver face and lugs true to the bolt race way and cleaned up the threads as well as single point cut/trued the bolt face, nose and lugs. So the action is 100% trued.
I went with a CDI DBM so I had to mill out a small part of the action to fit it. I am currently waiting for my McMillan A5 which is coming fully inletted for the howa and CDI DBM and will be bedded. I have a Shilen CM 308 1-10 Varmint contour 24" which I will chamber with a PTG Match .308 reamer. The scope I chose for this back up gun is a Weaver Tactical 3-10x mil/mil.

270$action
225$barrel
630$stock
220$CDI DBM
300$scope
40$rail
60$ rings
--------------
1745$ in parts. Labor will be done by me.

as far as the trigger goes its very simple. The entire trigger group is self contained and attached by one single machine screw.
If you look at the front and back of the trigger you will see that there is one flat head screw on each side (very small). These screws are your trigger pull weight and sear engagement. The sear screw being in back and the trigger pull weight being in front(if i recall right). adjust one screw at a time only moving the screw maybe a 1/4 turn at a time before checking how much you changed it. Be careful and cautious you don't want the sear and pull weight to be so light that your gun slam fires or become unsafe.

This rifle for me will be a test. If I like the action as a alternative to the Remington will be using it for a .260 build later on and upgrading the scope.

hope you enjoy your rifle. I have a feeling I will enjoy mine.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Thanks for the info on the trigger. I feel like I should be able to get away with the regular barrel and stock trigger for a long time, but the Shilen barrel is tempting for me, as is the CDI bottom metal though that's not really necessary for me. It may happen in the future. I just purchased some reloading supplies, so I'm expecting this to be a pretty big learning experience. When will yours be ready to go?

Looks like you're spending about double on your rig, what sort of performance are you hoping for and what loads do you plan on using? I plan on doing some testing with 175 grain Sierra MK's, 150 grain Hornady FMJBT, and for most of my practicing and small game/varmint control, 110 grain Sierra Varminters.

-Travis

 

[cecztayl]

Re: Howa 1500 build

I too am working on another howa 1500 build, more of a put together lol. I have a Howa stainless heavy barreled action in .308 ordered. I do plan on having the action, as stated above 100% trued. Im also putting it in a B&C tactical medalists stock. I am going to mount either a weaver tactical 4-20x50 on it or a weaver euro 4-20x50. I will be putting a 20 moa base on it, not sure of brand yet, and will be using burris xtr rings.

I currently have a .223 howa 1500 20" hvy brl with an axiom stock, thinking of putting one of these B&C stocks on it also. I was able to get my factory trigger to break just before 1 pound, while still maintaining a good safety. With this rifle and my reloads i can maintain 1.5"-2" 5rd. groups at 300yds and under .5" at 100 yds. and have two buddies with the same rifle that can do the same. I am very pleased with the howa.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

I'm curious to see how the heavy vs. standard barrel will pan out. What all did you do with the .223's trigger? Was it all adjustment or did you have to start polishing surfaces?

-Travis

 

[crashandburn]

Re: Howa 1500 build

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> what sort of performance are you hoping for and what loads do you plan on using?</div></div>

I have a pet load with a 190 SMK running 2550-2600fps and I plan on the rifle being 1/4-1/2 MOA gun and to not be as picky with what ammo is shot. The idea of all the true work and upgrading the barrel is to have a more consistent and accurate rifle. Plus I plan on being able to walk on to a tactical competition with this rifle if need be. I know plenty of off the shelf guns especially those in .308 shoot pretty good right out of the box but I have seen a lot of picky ones too.

I am kinda testing this action mostly. If the action performs as well or better than the Remington I would like to start using them more often in my builds since you save a few bucks.

 

[ba_50]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Did you buy a new action only for $270? If so where? I really like the Howa action. Just wish they would come out with a LH model. Thanks.

 

[treerooster]

Re: Howa 1500 build

yes i also would like to know about the standard barrel vs heavy.. i have a howa 1500 in 308 with standard barrel

 

[crashandburn]

Re: Howa 1500 build

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Did you buy a new action only for $270? If so where? </div></div>

I found my howa here on the hide. It was listed at 270$ for the action, bolt, trigger, adl mag box. No stock and No barrel. I have done quite a bit of reading on these actions and I figured I had to try one out for my self. So far So good, fingers crossed

 

[ba_50]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Then you have probably read Dillingers article about the Howa action on Firearmstalk.com. under best rifle actions in the rifle section?

 

[gregt]

Re: Howa 1500 build

You can't go wrong with a Howa, they're a really well made action and not a bad factory barrel. I've got one in 223 and one in 308.

I am setting the 308 up as a tactical/long range rifle. A really light lap showed the lugs mating spot on and I put a Timney trigger on it. It's still running the light factory barrel but is getting rebarelled with a 27" truck axle to 260 Ackley improved in the next couple of weeks.

I made a chassis for it to fit the AICS stock sides and mag. I just like the feel of those stocks. Unfortunately in Australia we aren't allowed to have folders so it's a fixed one. I just need to make up a piece for the bolt cutout to tidy it up but shot it during the last week and it all works fine. I can't wait for the new barrel, it should make a very nice rifle.

 

[Mgordon]

Re: Howa 1500 build

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: moore_ man</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hi there! I too am building a new rifle off the Howa 1500 SA.
I single point cut the receiver face and lugs true to the bolt race way and cleaned up the threads as well as single point cut/trued the bolt face, nose and lugs. So the action is 100% trued.
I went with a CDI DBM so I had to mill out a small part of the action to fit it. I am currently waiting for my McMillan A5 which is coming fully inletted for the howa and CDI DBM and will be bedded. I have a Shilen CM 308 1-10 Varmint contour 24" which I will chamber with a PTG Match .308 reamer. The scope I chose for this back up gun is a Weaver Tactical 3-10x mil/mil.

270$action
225$barrel
630$stock
220$CDI DBM
300$scope
40$rail
60$ rings
--------------
1745$ in parts. Labor will be done by me.

as far as the trigger goes its very simple. The entire trigger group is self contained and attached by one single machine screw.
If you look at the front and back of the trigger you will see that there is one flat head screw on each side (very small). These screws are your trigger pull weight and sear engagement. The sear screw being in back and the trigger pull weight being in front(if i recall right). adjust one screw at a time only moving the screw maybe a 1/4 turn at a time before checking how much you changed it. Be careful and cautious you don't want the sear and pull weight to be so light that your gun slam fires or become unsafe.

This rifle for me will be a test. If I like the action as a alternative to the Remington will be using it for a .260 build later on and upgrading the scope.

hope you enjoy your rifle. I have a feeling I will enjoy mine. </div></div>


What diameter bushings did you use?? I'm having Dave Kiff at PTG make me a second batch of them up so I can indicate off the raceway on the Howa. The first batch I had made up were just a couple thousands too large....There goes $500 down the drain!

Mark

 

[haldir]

Re: Howa 1500 build

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TN223</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I too am working on another howa 1500 build, more of a put together lol. I have a Howa stainless heavy barreled action in .308 ordered. I do plan on having the action, as stated above 100% trued. Im also putting it in a B&C tactical medalists stock. I am going to mount either a weaver tactical 4-20x50 on it or a weaver euro 4-20x50. I will be putting a 20 moa base on it, not sure of brand yet, and will be using burris xtr rings.

I currently have a .223 howa 1500 20" hvy brl with an axiom stock, thinking of putting one of these B&C stocks on it also. I was able to get my factory trigger to break just before 1 pound, while still maintaining a good safety. With this rifle and my reloads i can maintain 1.5"-2" 5rd. groups at 300yds and under .5" at 100 yds. and have two buddies with the same rifle that can do the same. I am very pleased with the howa. </div></div>

What is the twist rate on the Howa 223? How heavy of a bullet can you load for it? What's your choice of bullet(s)? Thanks.

 

[TRAAV]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Very nice. My buddy has a Howa and I was very imoressed with the action.

 

[crashandburn]

Re: Howa 1500 build

MARK! <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> What diameter bushings did you use?? I'm having Dave Kiff at PTG make me a second batch of them up so I can indicate off the raceway on the Howa. The first batch I had made up were just a couple thousands too large....There goes $500 down the drain!

Mark
</div></div>

I turned a solid peice of 403SS between centers to fit the bolt race way ( did the same when truing my remington) and I also made a spider jig for indicating in the action while in a 4 or 3 jaw chuck. I have pictures as well That I'll post when I get home to show how I did it and I'll include a measurement. I know some people will say that you need to harden/precision grind the machined rod so it doesnt warp and stays true but.. I made this for a one time use deal because I didnt want pay to have one made that I might never use again. One cool thing was the rod I turned down for the remington is slightly larger and I was able to re-use the rod and turn it down to fit the howa. This was my test run in truing the howa with the sprider jig method which which seemed to work very well.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

gregt, Way to git'r done. I bet that was an interesting project. How accurate was your Howa with the light barrel?

I picked up two boxes of Winchester 180gr soft points today just to play with, and steal the brass. My stock doesn't come until Tuesday, but I'm going to get everything together this weekend for a sight in and some groups, and hopefully have enough rounds left to extend the range out to a couple hundred yards and see what she can do.

On a side note, (I will probably start lurking the reloading threads for information), I plan on using H4895 for the 175 SMK's, but it seems from my research so far that it's too slow-burning for use with the 110gr Varminter. To the budget reloader, is there a go-to fast-burning powder for lighter bullets?

-Travis

 

[desertrat1979]

Re: Howa 1500 build

you should try Varget, RL15 and other powders in that category for bullets lighter than 150gr. H4895, H4895sc, RL19, H4350 all work good for the 175-190 stuff.

 

[gregt]

Re: Howa 1500 build

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Travis Mihm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">gregt, Way to git'r done. I bet that was an interesting project. How accurate was your Howa with the light barrel?
-Travis </div></div>

It's pretty good Travis, I shot it at 400m on Thursday getting my scope set up and got a group around 2-3" at that distance but it was only on a steel plate so no target to show you. That was with 180gr Fiocchi SST. It does string up a little as the barrel warms up.

I'm sorry now I didn't buy it with a heavy barrel but I wasn't planning on using it for this when I got it. I thought seeing I am going to get it rebarelled, a 6.5mm caliber would be worth a try.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[cecztayl]

Re: Howa 1500 build

twist is 1:12. past 55gr you will start to notice a litte key holing. my best loads are 25.6gr varget and hornady 52gr. bthp. and mine really likes the 53gr v-max on top of 26.4 gr benchmark. I want to play around more with some 50gr bullets.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Went through a box of Winchester 180gr Power-point today. My stock doesn't come til Tuesday but I was too excited to sit around with a .308, a box of ammo, and nothing to do all Saturday. Not a full range report as only 20 rounds were shot on the whole experience, but a good sign of things to come and a big confidence booster for the Howa project.

Took around 8 or 10 rounds to sight it in at 100, then I sent two to confirm, made a small adjustment, and sent two more. Both pairs each were no more than 1" center to center. I was pretty impressed. JBM calculator put me at around 7 MOA to get to 350, and Google Earth conveniently ranged from my shooting position to the tree line of our field right around 350. So I let the barrel cool, pasted an NRA 50yd Smallbore I had laying around on a white piece of plywood and set it up. I also threw a little water in a 2-liter bottle and set it on a low branch on the off chance I'd feel lucky enough to hit it.

I had my brother spotting shots for me with my .22 at 24x zoom. Sent two at the bull. No dust so they didn't go low, but the board didn't move like I expected it to. Damn. We checked it anyway, and low and behold there were 2 rounds 4" or so from each other high and left. Walked back, re-adjusted, and with four rounds left decided to send two at the pop bottle and the others at the bull again. Both shots I thought missed the pop bottle which was disappointing, but I was confident that one shot on the bull was in the black. When we went to check, I found a .308 hole right through the center of the pop bottle just above the water line; went right through and didn't even knock it off the branch. My first shot was just a little low on the bull, and I pulled the second pretty far off.

I'm very impressed with this gun so far. I had to use my backpack up front instead of the bipod because my sling stud hole was pretty stripped out when I received the gun and I didn't want to have a catastrophe so I just didn't put it on. The light barrel really heats up fast, so from here out I'll probably limit myself to 5-shot groups at a time. My trigger turned out amazing. Zero creep and all of 2 pound pull, breaks like glass.

The biggest thing I'm taking from today is that high power rifle and smallbore are two totally different ball games. Shooting position is totally different and I have no experience managing recoil.

So if anyone has any budget minded, cost-per-shot in mind reloads for the .308 Win, do share. Will have pictures up Tuesday when the stock comes.

-Travis

 

[Jbak]

Re: Howa 1500 build

I just bought a Howa used off another member here on the Hide. I've been reading way too much good stuff about them to not want to try one out.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Picked up reloading supplies today; I decided to go with 175 SMK's and Varget powder with CCI primers. Will be doing the "optimum charge weight" load testing tomorrow when my B&C stock arrives.

-Travis

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Gun pron...
(If these are too large, please let me know so I can start figuring out how to resize them... it's been a long day)

"Pre Range Report" Range Report-

I love it.

The barrel heats up pretty quick. I'm also not used to cleaning so often being that we clean our match rifles for smallbore every 4000 rounds. I have loaded rounds with Varget and 175 SMK's ready to hit the bench tomorrow and do some testing. This gun is DAMN accurate. The difference changing out the stock today was night and day for both me and my friend shooting it. We sent a few rounds down range waiting for the stock to come. After a couple shots I heard the UPS truck, and we switched out the stock. The gun went from giving me a bit of a sore shoulder with 180gr Power-Points after eight rounds, to almost being able to spot my shots. The Pachymayer Decelerator pad is incredible, and I've never shot a "tactical" stocked gun; but it makes it so much easier to get the gun settled in your shoulder pocket good and firm without actually bearing down on the rifle. Load up the bipod, square up, and the gun does the rest.

I will post load data, a full range report, and more walls of text tomorrow.

-Travis

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

More range report:

With 44.5gr Varget and 175SMK's seated at 2.800 COAL, this little Howa produces moa or less groups at 100. Since I can't find the SMK's for less than $45 a box locally, and don't know if I'd trust them for hunting, they will probably be left solely for long range steel and paper blasting. They were a lot easier to get shooting good than what I purchased to replace them; 178 gr Hornady A-Max's. These are still a work in progress, but I did achieve a .659" 3 shot group with them (44.0gr Varget at 2.81 COAL). I'm going to do a little more overall length testing, as I have the powder in the sweet spot, but the groups past 100 seem to widen quite a bit. (EDIT - more in depth testing showed 200 and 350yd groups sub MOA, must have been having a bad day?)

I do not have much money left for equipment, but should get the supplies mentioned in the reloading stickies on this site in the next few weeks. I'm going to assume that the SMK's like a bit of jump, whereas the A-max's need to be seated closer to the lands. Whenever it stops raining this weekend or next week, I will set up some more A-Max's seated further out and test them at 350 yards.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a budget long range build that will plaster wood chucks, drop deer, punch paper, and bang steel at impressively long ranges, you should take a look into a Howa. My totals IIRC for the whole build are:

Used Mossberg 1500
<span style="font-weight: bold">$275</span>
B&C A2 Stock
<span style="font-weight: bold">$240</span>
Caldwell Pivot Bipod
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 50</span>
Bushnell Elite 10x40
<span style="font-weight: bold">$250</span>
EGW 20MOA base
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 60</span>
Burris rings
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 25</span>
Lee Loader
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 30</span>
Lee Safety Scale
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 20</span>
Loading Block
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 5</span>
Cleaning Kit
<span style="font-weight: bold">$ 10</span>

Driving to the range in a
vehicle that's worth half
as much as the gun in the
trunk?
<span style="font-weight: bold">Priceless</span>

TOTAL
<span style="font-weight: bold">$965</span>



Not bad.

-Travis

 

[cutnhrse]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Try re-crowning. Seems to be the biggest issue with the Howa factory barrels. 11 degree deep recess usually makes'em come alive.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

I noticed that. It's a pretty melancholy crown on the factory barrel, that's for sure. But my plan is to shoot the ever-living piss out of the factory barrel and get to be a better shooter, and then use a very fat scholarship/federal aid check to put towards a new heavy barrel with a muzzle break come this fall. On that note, anyone have a recommendation on where I should be looking for a good heavy barrel with a brake?

-Travis

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Some real numbers as a final report.

Today was a pretty s***ty day, my buddy and I were getting rained on for the 200 yard testing, but it cleared up later on and we brought some stuff to shoot at and set up at 350 to see what she could do. It all panned out though and turned out well. He spotted me for the course of the testing, learned how the reloading process works, and kicked out some rounds that got sent down range and produced the 350 yard group. I'm adding pictures from my ballistics software (PointBlank) showing the three 3-shot groups at 200 and one 3-shot group at 350. I know 3-shot groups don't say much. I've decided from here on out I'll probably shoot at least one 5-shot group every couple days or so at 200 and load it into my database to see how I'm progressing. So without further ado, screen shots.

 

[cutnhrse]

Re: Howa 1500 build

You don't need a brake on a 308, for starters. Seconed, you really don't need to shoot the barrel out. Being a better shooter is a matter of training, spend your $$ on that and a 22lr. 308 is a low errosion round, you should be able to re-set that barrel back several times without having to swap. It's a decent barrel that can be made to shoot pretty darn str8. Third thing... Pick the round you want to shoot, load it to .001 off the lands and go to work. Also, get a good reamer. If you can't drive'em home after doing those things with that barrel... Step away from the stick.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

I tried to figure out exactly what COAL would be at the lands by First taking a plastic clearing rod I had from an airsoft gun and making a mark at the end of the bore with the bolt closed and the clearing rod setting on the bolt face; then loaded a bullet in a fired case, and slowly closed the bolt until I could feel the bullet just start touching the lands. Touched the clearing rod to the tip of the bullet and made another mark. Measured out at 2.830", so I figured 2.830" or just under would work. For my load development, I shot groups at 2.830", 2.820", and 2.810". The 2.810" shot the closest, with 2.820" second, and 2.830" third. That was with the 178 A-Max's. I found the 175SMK's to shoot great right at 2.800" COAL. What gives? I know that the 178 A-Max seems to work good right by the lands in everyone else's load, but mine does best at what my DIY measurement says .020 off the lands? Hmm.

I have a .22lr, it's not exactly a "trainer", but a good shooter and I will be breaking it out quite a bit, thank you for suggesting it. Totally new to reloading/precision shooting/gunsmithing, so I will try and understand everything you just said lol.

With the resetting the barrel back; do you mean that as the lands creep forward from shooting, I just send the barrel in to have it recut so that the lands are now at the same spot they were when I developed the load?

This is going to sound dumb, but I'm here to ask the stupid questions and write it all down. Does a case reamer also trim the case to proper length, or just ream out the neck. The recrowning barrel idea seems more and more attractive the more I shoot it, and the more I look at the crown. How much would I expect to pay for that?

Thank you for all of the information, by the way. I'm on the bottom hill of the learning curve, everything helps!

-Travis

 

[cutnhrse]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Well, lol, I let someone else load my ammo. I hate re-loading. I just buy the components and seating die if needed.
When I was talking about re-setting the barrel back, I was refferring to having the chamber re-reamed and muzzle re-crowned. You generally will lose about 3/8 off your barrel length, no big deal. When you get into semi to highly erossive rounds is when you need to have spare barrels on hand.
You can run some Tubb2000's through it and most of the time you will see some better accuracy, or same. It won't hurt it. A Re-crown from one of the three smiths I use should cost anywhere from $25-45 bucks.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Posted this in the hunting section, but figured it would be a good end of build posting here. I've been very pleased with the gun so far and it's proven to be a very accurate, repeatable, reliable, and fun.

Saw a big woodchuck mowin down beans in our bean field this afternoon. Took off as I saw him, so I set the Howa out with a couple rounds of 175SMK's in brass I still needed to fireform. Came back later and he was back out there chowin away, so I took a kneel and put one through, center mass. Sent another one just for good measure and that hit his leg and chest and ended his day. I was pretty pleased. Had to have weighed a good 14 pounds at least, weighed as much as my rifle did for sure.

-Travis

 

[MWDG3]

Re: Howa 1500 build

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: moore_ man</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have pictures as well That I'll post when I get home to show how I did it and I'll include a measurement.</div></div>

Pics please!

You guys see this? http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=212905&Number=2428220

 

[pklin1297]

Re: Howa 1500 build


My Howa heavy barrel 1-10 twist rifle. Shoots wonderfully with 43gr. Varget and SMK 175gr HPBT; Lapua brass.

 

[T.Mihm]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Is that a factory heavy barrel? What brake did you go with and how do you like it? Wish I had money for DBM... Someday.

-Travis

 

[pklin1297]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Hi Travis, that is a factory heavy barreled action. The brake is very effective, I got it from a member here (RWS) for $40, and then I had a local smith cut the barrel slightly shorter and thread and index for the brake.

I got the barreled action only from Legacy, I loved that option to be able to buy only the barreled action, and the factory barrel is plenty accurate... I've taken it so far to 600 yards with hand loads but 1/2 MOA at 200 yards is common.

When I have some additional money I will have the action trued and new barrel chambered.

 

[fmsniper]

Re: Howa 1500 build

I built one in 6.5x55 with a PACNOR barrel, shoots great

 

[cutnhrse]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Yep, those Howa factory heavy barrels are very good. You can take a few easy steps to make them better. IE, a few Tubb2000's and a re-crown.

 

[freeflight]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Tag for later

 

[HOWAdoing]

Re: Howa 1500 build

ditto

 

[desertrat1979]

Re: Howa 1500 build

Get yorself a Hornady COAL length guage. They are cheap and they work.

You just made up my mind on what rifle I am gonna use for my next build. Only diff is I want to rebarrel for a .260. I got my .30 cal rifle already. Just want to expand my collection.

 

[Someidahoguy]

My Howa 1500 300 Win Mag Build

I've been lurking on these forums for some time. After lots of reading, and finding myself with some money, time, and the sad realization that in 20 years I will be 40 and haven't done very many "stupid" things in my life, I decided today to blow all of my money on a rifle...

I decided to purchase a Mossberg/Howa 1500 in .308 with the regular barrel and wood stock, used for $275 shipped to my door. From there, I went to Stocky's Stocks and purchased a Bell and Carlson Medalist A2 in olive drab with black webbing and the aluminum bedding block. I pulled up Midway USA and ordered a Bushnell Elite 10x40 (since I was surprised that they had them in stock, I couldn't resist) scope, a pair of rings, an EGW 20MOA scope base, and a 9-13" pivot bipod. The total for the whole package including rifle came to about $875 give or take.

I feel like I made out pretty good, considering the Howa package on SniperCentral is $1150 or something like that. Should I be concerned about not having a heavy barrel? Also, has anyone cracked open the Howa trigger set to see where the pull can be reduced? Care to share your Howa build and what you think of it?

I should have everything by the end of the week, and I will post some pictures up when I get a chance. I've been working with my Marlin 925, practicing range estimation and shooting to 200 yards. Hopefully I can get some scrap I-beams turned into steel targets and set them up a few hundred yards out this weekend to see what my new rig is capable of.

-Travis

 

[Trigger8mm]

I have a hunting rifle in .270 win. One of the best buys I've ever made.

 

[flatland1]

This is the latest Howa I've done for myself - a 260 Imp 30* on a Krieger 1-8tw in Rem varmint contour. Used sniper gray CeraKote to finish the metal parts, including PTG DBM, which I think goes well with the 70% black/30% medium gray marble of the McM A5 stock. This one's got the Howa HACT trigger - adjusted to 2lbs - which I felt was good enough to stay on the action. Only thing about the Howa that I don't care for is slightly heavier bolt lift than a M700, which only bothers me while shooting fast, such as when engaging movers. I may yet do something about it by machining down the stock bolt knob, threading the stub, and adding an extended bolt knob - if I ever get enough spare time. Otherwise, it shoots great, and I like the way it handles.