Gunsmithing Howa 1500 re-barrel

[Bryan marks]

Has anyone sent there Howa 1500 to get re-barreled? I don’t like the thought of the barrel nut so I’m looking to get a shouldered barrel or has anyone had lick with the remage barrel nut system? I was trying to get ahold of Matt Hornback because he used to shoot Howa actions. I’m in Southern California.

 

[Elnicko]

Send it to LRI. They’ve done a few for me and did a good job with a reasonable turnaround time.

 

[Shooter71]

What barrel and chambering?

 

[Bryan marks]

What barrel and chambering?

I don’t know. I’m not looking for a top of the line barrel. Just a middle of the road SS barrel in 6.5 cm. 26” m24 contour

 

[Shooter71]

Check Bugholes for blanks. Good guy.

 

[wadebrown]

Barreling a Howa 1500 is no different than any other except the 'smith has to have a lathe that cuts metric thread and a willingness to do so. I am no gunsmith but I have rebarreled two of my Howas on our lathe. The barrels are very tight, but I heard the hact trigger models barrels are not as tight, I just cut a relife cut and they spin right off.

Howa 1500's make a great base for an affordable accurate rifle with a new barrel, they are usually very accurate with the factory barrel also.

 

[Bryan marks]

Barreling a Howa 1500 is no different than any other except the 'smith has to have a lathe that cuts metric thread and a willingness to do so. I am no gunsmith but I have rebarreled two of my Howas on our lathe. The barrels are very tight, but I heard the hact trigger models barrels are not as tight, I just cut a relife cut and they spin right off.

Howa 1500's make a great base for an affordable accurate rifle with a new barrel, they are usually very accurate with the factory barrel also.

That’s good to know. My factory rifle shoots 1/4 to 1/2 at 100 yards. The action is super smooth. Mine has a hact trigger.

 

[Danny1788]

I just rebarrel one, instead of cutting metric threads I bored them out and rethreaded the action with 1.062x16 tpi threads like a Remington. Worked out great.

 

[DRichardson]

I get it if your wanting a better barrel or something specific. But buying another barreled action from Brownells may be the cheaper option.

 

[jb0311]

I get it if your wanting a better barrel or something specific. But buying another barreled action from Brownells may be the cheaper option.

This was the dilemma I found myself in. I have a howa 1500 chambered in .22-250 that I have not used in years other than the 5-10 rounds of ammo to sight in. I would like to have it in a more useful (to me) caliber like .243 but by the time I have another barrel installed I could have just bought a barreled action for under $500 from Brownells. I believe my best bet will be to sell or trade towards a new rifle. I am fine with the level of accuracy with their factory barrels which was the deciding factor for me. With that being said, if anyone is looking for a barely used howa 1500 .22-250 in the austrian brown cerakote....

 

[BigdaddyWSM]

Had local gunsmith do mine, rebarreled with a heavy Krieger 8 twist 6.5 creedmoor

 

[tony413]

you can buy any barrel blank you want and have a good gunsmith finish the barrel for you.

shortactioncustoms.com would be my first pick option because they know Howa actions well and I would want a Bartlein barrel.

 

[Clark]

I have a Howa 270, but have not rebarrelled it yet. I made a chart of bolt action features from the simplest [Rem700 to the most complex 98 Mauser] The Howa is in the middle.

The metric thread I have done while rebarreling Arisaka rifles. My lathe is a Precision Matthews 1236.

http://temp.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-1236/

To go into metric threading it takes an extra 10 minutes to dig out a gear, put it on, and tighten everything.
Here is a picture of the gears I had to swap for the 1.5mm pitch barrel threads. Yes, I got grease on my hands.

 

[FaithlessSaint]

I have rebarreled my Rem 700 and my Howa 1500 LA with the barrel nut. It's no big deal. In my opinion t is way easier than cutting a chamber for a shouldered barrel.

 

[308pirate]

The following companies sell prefit, shoulderless barrels so you can do the rebarreling yourself:

• Criterion
• Preferred Barrel Blanks
• Shilen
• McGowen
• Southern Precision Rifles

A one time investment in the following: barrel vise, action wrench, barrel nut wrench, headspace gages, and you can rebarrel the action for the rest of eternity with whatever caliber you want that will fit the bolt face of your rifle.

 

[FaithlessSaint]

Also Oregon Mountain Rifle company if you want a fancy carbon fiber barrel.

 

[fdkay]

I don’t know. I’m not looking for a top of the line barrel. Just a middle of the road SS barrel in 6.5 cm. 26” m24 contour

ER Shaw will do it for a very reasonable price.
Their SS barrels are pretty good, just ask for the heavy varmint ( 3 1/2 contour).

 

[308pirate]

I don’t know. I’m not looking for a top of the line barrel. Just a middle of the road SS barrel in 6.5 cm. 26” m24 contour

$475 in bead blasted stainless from Preferred Barrel Blanks, including the nut wrench.

Add $75 if you send your barreled action for them to do it.

 

[fdkay]

The Howage - McGowen Precision Barrels

Howa 1500/Weatherby Vanguard nut system barrels - like the Savage and our REMAGE barrels We are referring to them as the Howage. This barrel has no shoulder and is similar in design to the Savage Pre-Fit barrel. It requires a lock nut to lock

mcgowenbarrel.com

 

[BadAccountant]

Has anyone sent there Howa 1500 to get re-barreled? I don’t like the thought of the barrel nut so I’m looking to get a shouldered barrel or has anyone had lick with the remage barrel nut system? I was trying to get ahold of Matt Hornback because he used to shoot Howa actions. I’m in Southern California.

LRI.

They can cut metric threads really easily (most smiths have to stop what they're doing and swap gearing on their lathes, not a problem with CNC) and can clean up the (already damn good) action a little more.

I also know they typically take a pass on the bottom of the action to square it up to be able to fixture it properly in the machines, so you might have to re-bed your stock if it's bedded because of the small amount of material removed from the action bottom.

@LongRifles Inc., do you have any videos of a Howa being worked over?

 

[jl937]

I just recently contacted LRI to inquire about getting my Howa rebarreled this winter. They said the metric threads were not an issue and could easily rebarrel a Howa but that they didn't currently offer a blueprinting service for Howa actions. Still going to go with LRI out of convenience since none of my local smiths want to work on metric threads.