HOWA rifles seemed to be priced reasonably. I understand they are made in Japan under license from the USA. What do you think about them? What are their weaknesses? Are they a value for money buy or not?
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HOWA rifles seemed to be priced reasonably. I understand they are made in Japan under license from the USA. What do you think about them? What are their weaknesses? Are they a value for money buy or not?
I believe that they are not made under licence from the US. Weatherby rifles used to be made in the Howa factory. They, as I understand it, are built on a Sako type action. They appear to be very good value for money. Those I have spoken to who have shot them raved about their accuracy.
Ditto
Velly Velly Good from my country Japan.
Trying for a while now to get the agents to supply .308 Varminter Supreme in SS and Pepper laminated stock.
Will shoot the ticks off a dears arse at 300m.
Here an article by Zak Smith on a Howa Axiom, which is a heavy barreled .308 tactical rifle, with a stock that looks questionable in my opinion.
http://demigodllc.com/articles/howa-axiom-burris-xtr/
I really enjoy Zak's reviews, so find this an interesting read, which may contradict some of your thoughts on it accuracy.
If you ask me, I would say that the problem is with the stock system and it seems that it was just bolted "on" and not designed "into"....
2MOA for a hunting rifle is fine. Most shooters cannot shoot a MOA rifle into MOA in any event.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
Its good value for money and probably at least as accurate out of the box as a 700.
The reason why I posed the question about Howa rifles is that I had one a couple of years ago but lost interest and sold it. Recently I have been contenplating to obtain a rifle again and was considering it again. As Howa rifles seem to be priced quite competitively, I am considering again to go for a Howa but wanted to know about peoples experience with it. The one I had was a 30-06 and I it had a variable Bushnell Scope on it.
I remember once being able to obtain a grouping on one of those targets where you have the blocks on 2.5cm x 2.5cm (I think). I did a 5 shot grouping at 100 meter using a sandbag and in prone position. The ammo was reloaded ammo using 160 or 162 or 165 grain hornady bullets.
I had two shots that overlapped cutting the left vertical line on the bottom area of the line. On shot was just inside the corner formed by the left vertical line and the bottom horizontal line. The other two shots was just above the bottom horizontal line roughly in the middle of the line also just touching one another.
I did patch this up and at home re looked it and did cut it out but later on lost the piece of target. Other groupings was not far off from this type of grouping, but for this specific grouping I really took my time. Grouping at 200 meter remained good but I think it could have been better, but better with a better monkey behind the rifle.
I also used this rifle to shoot the Huters Association shooting test and obtianed 'silver' with it (I think that eqates to 80%)
The rifle was bough of the rack but was not a production line rifle. The dealer imported the barrels and actions and fitted it to his own manufactured stocks. Today I want to kick myself for selling that rifle...
Hi Corne
I recently acquired a licence for a Howa (1500 Lightning model in .308, stainless steel with a synthetic stock), which I topped off with a Leupold VX-1 (3-9x40) and I am MOST impressed with this loose copy of the Remington 700!  I’m still working up a load for the 22” barrel, but with certain (slower) loads I’m regularly getting MOA (it LOVES Sierra's 180 grainer in front of 36.5gr of S335 and Sierra's 150 grainer in front of 41gr of S335).  I’ve hunted twice with this rifle now over the last few months and it’s a light, well balanced piece, which makes extended walk and stalks that much easier.  From my experience I would unreservedly recommend Howa to anyone and to boot, the back-up that I got / get from AHS is awesome.
So what if the thread is a bit old, it remains valid and open for any newcomers to add their bit....
I can attest to dhignett's rifle; it is sweet and shoots luvverly and made me think twice about that .375 I want!!