Howa 1500 .223 Laminated

My son has a Howa Varmint .223. A very accurate rifle but the trigger was garbage. I replaced it with a Timney. Now the accuracy comes with less strain on the trigger finger.~Muir
 
Similar to Muir, mine has a Timney. Superb rifle, made better with a mag conversion. Happily does foxes out to 300 yards. My ONLY criticism is that it's a heavy beast but solid and reliable. Excellent rifle for the price tag.
 
ive also got 1 in .223 ,just the standard blued version ,once lightened i didnt find the trigger bad at all for a hunting rifle and another bonus its shot hornady,sako and winchester ammo all whithin an inch @ 100yrd but when out to 200 yrd the hornady 53gr superformance opened up to 2" but both sako 50 gr s/p and winchester 55 gr s/p both were still under 1" , i think they take a bit of beating for the money mine was only £300 second hand
 
ive also got 1 in .223 ,just the standard blued version ,once lightened i didnt find the trigger bad at all for a hunting rifle and another bonus its shot hornady,sako and winchester ammo all whithin an inch @ 100yrd but when out to 200 yrd the hornady 53gr superformance opened up to 2" but both sako 50 gr s/p and winchester 55 gr s/p both were still under 1" , i think they take a bit of beating for the money mine was only £300 second hand

Just an FYI

I got the factory trigger on my son's Howa adjusted down to a good pull but when I did, the gun would discharge when the safety was slipped off. It wasn't that the trigger was set too light (I don't like light triggers) it was a mechanical foible of that trigger. The Timney is adjusted to sweet pull with no problems. ~Muir
 
Just an FYI

I got the factory trigger on my son's Howa adjusted down to a good pull but when I did, the gun would discharge when the safety was slipped off. It wasn't that the trigger was set too light (I don't like light triggers) it was a mechanical foible of that trigger. The Timney is adjusted to sweet pull with no problems. ~Muir
no probs mate i dont doubt the timney trigger is better but for me the factory one was good enough , but maybe i was just lucky with the rifle i got as ive never fired another howa to compare it to,i think its just as good as the trigger on my old mans tikka t3
 
no probs mate i dont doubt the timney trigger is better but for me the factory one was good enough , but maybe i was just lucky with the rifle i got as ive never fired another howa to compare it to,i think its just as good as the trigger on my old mans tikka t3

In fairness, my son's HOWA is fairly old: 15 years maybe? They had a reputation for junk triggers back then. No shortage of accuracy, tho.~Muir
 
The newer Howa rifles are much better, I bought my son a 1500 in 308 heavy barrel which has the Howa Actuator Controlled Trigger (HACT), it's a two-stage-stylesystem and is pretty good.
 
Have been looking at a Howa 1500 in .243 today, seems lovely for the price.

Thing I can't decide on is what barrel to put on there, so many choices

Is there a real advantage to the fluted ones?
practicality is screaming stainless to me...

I can either go for a blued 20" fluted sporter weight, or a 22" non blued Stainless sporter barrel, I just can't decide between the two!

For reference, I'm planning to build up with wildcat mod, standard green hogue stock, bipod and I'll be putting my swaro 6x42 on top

if they did a fluted stainless then I wouldn't hesitate, but if anyone has experience of the blued fluted 20", I'd love to hear it

cheers in advance.
 
I sampled both in the shop and went for the 20'' blued fluted barrel. I prefered the shorter barrel as I was putting a T8 moderator on it so it still ended up quite long. I also thought that the blued barrel looked a lot better than the stainless one and I also went for the black stock. In my opinion it is a lovely looking rifle. It did add a bit of weight by the time the moderator, scope and bipod were coupled with the fluted barrel but it is still not bad.

Mine fires 100 grain RWS or Federal power shock rounds exactly the same achieving sub 0.5'' groups no problem. That is the rifle straight out the box no modifications at all, just zeroed the scope.

I can't fault it for the money.

Good luck with what ever you opt for.
 
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This is my Howa 1500 lightening (light barrel) in .223, its a brilliant fox (and scottish roe) basher; I bought it when money was tight a few years ago but for the money its been absolutely cracking! Like some of the other guys have said, the trigger is far too heavy out of the box but I adjusted mine myself (its really easy to do) it now is very light and crisp.

The synthetic stocks are brilliant, they are over-moulded which makes them very comfortable. They have a rubberised finish which makes them very grippy in wet conditions and the stock is very hard to scratch or mark because of the rubber.

Mine "was" the stainless finish but I it sprayed because the barrel shone like a piece of tin foil when out foxing on the hill, I've also got the magazine conversion kit which converts it into a detachable 10 shot.

My particular rifle shoots Sako 55gr the best at 1/4" but Winchester 55gr, Sako 50gr and Federal 40gr all shoot sub 1" groups.

Overall its a great rifle for the money!!!
 
Have been looking at a Howa 1500 in .243 today, seems lovely for the price.

Thing I can't decide on is what barrel to put on there, so many choices

Is there a real advantage to the fluted ones?
practicality is screaming stainless to me...

I can either go for a blued 20" fluted sporter weight, or a 22" non blued Stainless sporter barrel, I just can't decide between the two!

For reference, I'm planning to build up with wildcat mod, standard green hogue stock, bipod and I'll be putting my swaro 6x42 on top

if they did a fluted stainless then I wouldn't hesitate, but if anyone has experience of the blued fluted 20", I'd love to hear it

cheers in advance.
Have a look at the Bell & Carlson synthetic stock for the Howa , a far better stock than the Hogue imo.
 
watch the twist rate, they are 1 in 12 good for varmint shooting but not with heavier rounds for long range target work
 
Thanks for the pointers - Think I'll go for the fluted one - I can always get a fancy stock in the future when I've got some spare cash :oops:

cheers
 
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