Howa super lite, the saga begins

Gunfighter14e2

Hunter/trapper of Remora's
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Jul 9, 2002
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So everywhere on the net it shows the 20" super lite with a pic rail, but I wanted a 16 1/4 which shows either not mounting at all or base/ring combo with a cheap ass Vortex. OK I shit can the Vortex and see if my scope w/ an IR laser attached will work, if not just order a rail. Assuming, made an ass out of me.

My scope w/ ir attached no work'y (spacing issue) call Howa to order a rail. Howa says none of those rifles come with a rail, really? photos all over the net show they do. Nope they are wrong, call Wayne in Or, he can make you one. Called Wayne, what did they say??? I have 2 20" super lites with rails on them that I am looking at right now. Call Howa back an convey Waynes comments, nope we do not & have never had rails on them. Ok fuck this shit I'll go a different route.

Started thru my junk, found a Weaver Rem 700 Long action base that the front holes are right, fits action well but rear holes way off,...But there is enough base left once I cut it to length to get a single screw in correctly. Checked it with Persian blue, OK this dog will hunt, so proceeded to fab & mount it up. Do to the weaver base having a relief cut in the center, the contact foot print in GTG.

Unscrewed the factory muzzle brake to install one I whittled out long ago, that I opened to 0.323 and it was so sloppy I grabbed the dial calipers. The major muzzle threads are 0.479 OK WTF is with this? That's about 0.017 - 0.019 less that I would like, so now have to custom fit some threads.

Bolt operates and sounds like sand paper on sand paper, so once another muzzle break is whittled out & fitted that gets attention next. The joys of a new gun. With the scope on, 3 down & 1 up she is 5lbs 12 oz ready to go bang, so far. Won't shoot her until I've done some polishing.

The joys of a new rifle, but to get something you have to give up something. Saving that much weight is a huge plus to me as the bulk of everything shot these days in the field is 250 yds an in, w/the bulk being 50yds & under.
 
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I ended up cerakoting the howa mini I bought the boys. Made the zipper less noticeable.

Other then that it's a $350 gun with a $400 stock so don't expect the moon and you'll be ok.
Your kinder than I, was thinking a $125.00 gun with a $400 stock.
I'll get it to my liking at some point, but with some headaches along the way. Between the rail issue & totally wrong threading job, not including the sandpaper feeling action, I'm not impressed with Howa at this point. Guess this is the reason no one stocks them to allow customer fingering prior to. Their C/S not knowing how some of their guns are configured, is interesting as well.
C/S was supposed to call back today, that did not happen, which is just confirming, what I now suspect they are about.
 
Their C/S not knowing how some of their guns are configured, is interesting as well.
C/S was supposed to call back today, that did not happen, which is just confirming, what I now suspect they are about.
That's the worst part. Any product can have a QC problem that can be addressed. But when C/S doesn't know there own stuff...

Man, they had one job, to know the inventory. Nope, can't do it.

Good luck, anyway. It's almost as if you would have gotten better results if you literally built by hand with a barrel blank and just started milling or cutting away.

Sad, because I have seen a few people have good results with the Howa 1500 series.

"I guess nothing lasts forever. Even cold November rain..."
 
I'll get to my liking, never seen one I couldn't, but this one might be a longer road than I thought it would. The threading job is the most worrisome to me. Its bad enough I don't think it would hold a break or can very long. The other issue was the very front screw holding the front combo ring/base down was to long & was hitting the barrel threads. Instead of correcting that the normal way they had what looked & acted like auto bondo between the receiver & ring/base. That used to be a common issue 20-30 years ago but in today's world? Trying to space it with bondo is telling. Needless to say its not like that now as even this Plow boy, knows better than that.
 
So what's the problem then? I have 3 howas and regardless of rail or no rail, you just order up howa 1500 or howa mini (you don't say which action you have just that it's a super lite) from your favorite online gun parts store and boom! You have a perfectly fitting rail.

The zipper sound while running the bolt happens in one of my howas only. It's fairly new and I assume that will eventually wear itself out with use.

They're still decent options for the price they come in at.
 
So what's the problem then? I have 3 howas and regardless of rail or no rail, you just order up howa 1500 or howa mini (you don't say which action you have just that it's a super lite) from your favorite online gun parts store and boom! You have a perfectly fitting rail.

The zipper sound while running the bolt happens in one of my howas only. It's fairly new and I assume that will eventually wear itself out with use.

They're still decent options for the price they come in at.
The super lite receiver is totally different than the other two. Decent for the price,... 1200+bucks and they can't even thread it correctly,... laughing.
 
I had never heard of the Superlite until I was looking at bases for my mini. Howa has always been bad at knowing about the guns they sell here. I knew a guy doing some of the stateside assembly for Legacy and it sounded like a total shitshow.
 
I knew a guy doing some of the stateside assembly for Legacy and it sounded like a total shitshow.
I'll second that commotion, as that has been my experience as well, so far.
I just can't help but feel at some point, some one will have the supplied brake or installed can blow off, do to their B/S threading job their QC dept passed & allowed to be shipped.
 
So talked to Loctite about product recommendation & shear strength. Based upon the barrel threading numbers they say to use their 638 product that has a shear of 10K on 0.008 gap or less.

So now I'm thinking of just cutting the ID adapter to 0.005 gap, over present 1/2 threads, and cutting a std 5/8 x 24 OD thread and lock tightening it on. This is a subsonic only gun, but based upon what Henkel is saying it should not fail even with full power max pressure loads.

Remember the thread minor is 0.4595 and the major is 0.4791
What say the threading mines of the Hide?
 
So everywhere on the net it shows the 20" super lite with a pic rail, but I wanted a 16 1/4 which shows either not mounting at all or base/ring combo with a cheap ass Vortex. OK I shit can the Vortex and see if my scope w/ an IR laser attached will work, if not just order a rail. Assuming, made an ass out of me.

My scope w/ ir attached no work'y (spacing issue) call Howa to order a rail. Howa says none of those rifles come with a rail, really? photos all over the net show they do. Nope they are wrong, call Wayne in Or, he can make you one. Called Wayne, what did they say??? I have 2 20" super lites with rails on them that I am looking at right now. Call Howa back an convey Waynes comments, nope we do not & have never had rails on them. Ok fuck this shit I'll go a different route.

Started thru my junk, found a Weaver Rem 700 Long action base that the front holes are right, fits action well but rear holes way off,...But there is enough base left once I cut it to length to get a single screw in correctly. Checked it with Persian blue, OK this dog will hunt, so proceeded to fab & mount it up. Do to the weaver base having a relief cut in the center, the contact foot print in GTG.

Unscrewed the factory muzzle brake to install one I whittled out long ago, that I opened to 0.323 and it was so sloppy I grabbed the dial calipers. The major muzzle threads are 0.479 OK WTF is with this? That's about 0.017 - 0.019 less that I would like, so now have to custom fit some threads.

Bolt operates and sounds like sand paper on sand paper, so once another muzzle break is whittled out & fitted that gets attention next. The joys of a new gun. With the scope on, 3 down & 1 up she is 5lbs 12 oz ready to go bang, so far. Won't shoot her until I've done some polishing.

The joys of a new rifle, but to get something you have to give up something. Saving that much weight is a huge plus to me as the bulk of everything shot these days in the field is 250 yds an in, w/the bulk being 50yds & under.
Gunfighter14e@, I have a factory pic rail from my Superlight that you can have if you want it. I took it off and replaced with Talley's. PM me with your address if you want it.
 
Finished the 1/2 x 5/8 adapter, triple checked the alignment and she is now nialed, using the loctite 638.

Next is correcting the sand paper on sand paper feeling & zipper noise when running the bolt.

I'll never ever will buy anything Howa again, after this experience. I put them and Savage in a tie for the worst operating guns I've ever owned. That is saying a lot as i have own many a different mfg'ers from my first one (H&R Targeteer 22LR dad gave me in 1957) Over the years most all had to be smoothed up some, as I like smooth & when quiet operating. I thought a Winchester Model 100 in 308 I bought in the mid 60's, was the worst POS until I bought this Howa.

If I had not been stupid and sold my little Rem 600 in 308 long ago this FUBAR could have been alleviated. Never again will I buy any gun w/o finger fucking it first. Nor will I ever believe a gun rag or on line review ever again, they're all paid fucking liars.
The next quest is a 223 under 5lb loaded & ready to shoot, that should be interesting as well,...
 
Sorry, forget to post the factory muzzle thread numbers once I could see decent again, (had cataracts removed)

Major/Minor threads from abutment to muzzle in three locations
Major,......Minor
0.4815,... 0,4551
0.4823,... 0.4546
0.4801,... 0.4540 still do not know how a CNC fucks them up that bad?