The story about Steyr rifles finding their way to Iran and across to Iraq is false. It has been bouncing around the net for some time and various papers, etc have been forced to apologise to Steyr.
Interestingly, Brazil had placed a large order for SSG69's P2's with matching scopes for their police SWAT teams. They heard about the story and dropped the order. Steyr were not pleased
I've owned a pro-hunter 2. An excellent rifle that is spoiled by a nasty stock. I tried everything to re-inforce and strengthen the forend of the stock without success which meant that i couldn't use a bipod. The point of aim would shift significantly when rested on a bipod.
The last straw was when attending a 600yd shoot at Bisley i deliberately left the gun out in the sun. I measured the clearance down each side of the barrel before and after an hour in the sun. The stock had shifted noticably . Also consider the fact that it's quite hard to source an aftermarket stock and i'd opt for the Howa.
I also found the Steyr ammo fussy. I'm not putting Steyr down; i've owned a scout, pro hunter and wouldn't part with my SSG69 but the Pro Hunter has flaws which i and my cheque book couldn't solve meaning that i didn't have complete confidence in it.
Howa have actually been around for some time. The Japanese company has made rifles for quite a few companies including Weatherby (hence the confusion about them being the same). The are very similar but essentially the Howa is a Remington 700 clone (some argue with a better trigger than Remington). You won't have any probs getting aftermarket parts for the Howa.