How good are the Howa bolt rifles?

[ArmedBear]

They're very good.

I have a Weatherby Vanguard Sporter in .30-06 built by Howa, and it shoots very well. Not a bit of plastic on it, very nice gun, small groups, good price (think Remington 700 CDL with a better safety, a trigger that the factory encourages you to adjust, and a nicer finish for $200 less).

Also know an avid prairie dog shooter who used a Howa heavy barreled action from Legacy to build a varminter on a hand made high-grade figured walnut stock. It looks like a gorgeous custom sporter (with a thicker barrel), but shoots like a varmint gun.

BTW, there's really no reason to consider the Howa an "entry level rifle" unless you also consider Remington's 700 and 7 to be "entry level rifles," and the Howa is arguably a better action, now with an unarguably better 3-position safety design. The Howa is very solid and accurate; it's not at all cheapened like the "entry level" guns are.

 

[ArmedBear]

dupe

 

[hice56]

Just received my Howa Varminter Supreme (Blue with Nutmeg stock) Yesterday. Fit and finnish excellent, trigger is crisp, action is smooth. It will be topped off with a Swift 4.5-14X44mm mil dot scope with leupold base and rings. If it shoot as good as it looks, I will be one happy camper!

 

[xring3]

I have a howa 1500 varmitter in 22-250 that I use for coyotes and prarie dogs...I really like it and am impressed with the accuracy...I would like to have one in 6.5x55 Swede and use 140 grain bullets to buck the Oklahoma winds....Mike

 

[DIM]

Worse rifle ever so far…

I bought my Howa .308 1500 thumbhole sporter 4 weeks ago, on the first trial from the bench I got 10” group firing 5 shots at 100 yards… WOOW… so I move target to 50 yards, it made 4” group, I thought it was my scope I had cheap NC Star, I switched to Nikon, same results, checked my rings bases, ammo, I tried factory and handloads with different bullets, well handloads made 3” groups at 50 yards verses 4 when I used factory, last week I took it back to the gun store, this guys didn’t believe it, so they took it out with the same results, they say this gun is walking every time it shoots bullet progresses +1 inch or higher with every shot. What can I say it is very poor quality rifle and poor workmanship. The rifle is send back for the repairs, what a disappointment…

 

[WNTFW]

Dim,
Sorry you have a bad one. I've never had anything shoot that badly.
Hang in there, it might turn out good when you get it back.
I have a Vanguard in .270 & it is a pretty nice rifle & shoots well.

 

[eye5600]

Check out the weight of the Howa rifles compared to the other suggestions. I think they are on the heavy side (which may matter to you, or it may not).

 

[Gator 23]

No southpaw models kept me away from the Howas...good quality and accuracy for the money seemed to be the consistent theme in my research. I'll stay with the affordable and accurate Rem 700s.

 

[DIM]

Can I get my money back?

It’s been more then 4 weeks since I send Howa for repairs, it seems that good old days when Howa made quality product and provide good service are over, all they can do is to blame it for taught times with the economy, cheap chinese labor and materials, and who knows what. When I called their repair shop they told me that they haven’t even looked at it and that it might take another 3 weeks before they do, my advise if you planning on buying Howa, if you going to get lucky as me, I would recommend you to stay with Savage, good accuracy for its price.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Howa / Vanguard

They're generally very good. Only complaint is that the safety does *not work* when you adjust the trigger all the way to where it's half-way decent (at the far end of adjustability).

cheap Chinese labor

Hmmm, so what are they doing now - making a bunch of Chinese laborers commute each day to the factory in Japan? I guess they do have some fast trains, but didn't know they had a causeway.

 

[DIM]

I guess you, mistaken them for south border residence no Japan is an island and no train will reach them, but they don’t have to, Japan as an Island nation depends on the raw materials, which in fact comes from china, because it is close just few hundred miles by sea, and it is cheap, however I don’t know for a fact, but I have strong feeling that raw materials were processed before reaching the island, by Howa’s machines of course

 

[DIM]

I’m not going to argue, maybe they are good, but the one I got was junk, even my SAIGA in 308 can do better groups, and I’m not going to compare to Savage which holds below 3/7 inch groups. The ordeal with Howa is done, wouldn’t buy one ever again, and I wouldn’t recommend either. I got my money back, and I don’t want to know what’s is wrong with it, I told that dealer on the 1st day after the range it’s the barrel, instead he gave me run around about my scope which I replaced, then story about riffles like women either they like ammo either they don’t, at the end he took it out to the range with mach ammo and returned with +5 inch groups at 100 or maybe 50 yards.

 

[454c]

A tip for others that may bump into a misbehaving Howa, check that the front action screw is tight and the mag box isn't in a bind.

 

[DIM]

Got 11 BTH Savage in .308 and took it out to the range today, got nice 1/2" groups using 155 gr Nosler BTHP, not bad for hunting riffle ;-)

 

[A-FIXER]

Trust my .308 howa, great rifle quality included....

 

[Mauserguy]

I have a Howa 270. It's a great gun. It's a push feed, so if you are fine with that, it will serve you well. They are great rifles right out of the box.
Mauserguy

 

[MountainBear]

What can I say it is very poor quality rifle and poor workmanship. The rifle is send back for the repairs, what a disappointment…

Every manufacturer is going to have a lemon slip through the cracks now and then. Short of one at a time custom gun manufacturers who can test fire everything before it leaves their shop, bad guns get out. Sorry this guy had a bad gun, but I wouldn't let that scare anyone from Howa/Vanguard/S&W 1500 rifles. They are generally very good products. I would rather have a Howa 1500 than any number of US rifles including new Remingtons, Winchesters, and definitely more than any Savage. All of the above make acceptable rifles, I just prefer the Howa. When I build custom rifles, it is my preferred action, due not only ot its availability, but also its quality and features (such as accepting a readily available scope base set for a Rem700).

 

[groundhog34]

I have a Weatherby Mark V made in Japan by Howa. Very good quality. The post that compares Japanese rifles with their auto is correct.

 

[pat86323]

my old man shoots one of the old ones with the s&w rollmark on it and it is a shooting machine. Hes had it for like 20 years and lost count of how many animals it has dropped its insanely accurate and though a little on the heavy side i think that the weight doesnt so much matter after you carry something for a while.....you get used to it. The weight does help with the recoil as well keep in mind.

 

[my64bit]

Howa .223

I used to have a Howa .223, I built it up from a barrelled action with a custom made walnut stock with rosewood & ivory tip. After it was all built the first round of test shots produced groups that "walked" the group pattern would walk up & right as you kept fireing. I took it to a ballistics expert, who found that when I glass bedded the stock there was a small area lightly touching the middle section of the barrel, causeing a cold spot as the barrel heated up. He removed the high spot in the glass bed, got the barrel fully floated, and guess what? .5 MOA @ 100 yards. I am currantly planning to build my son a .308, and myself a .338 magnum both useing the Howa barrelled actions. I really do not think I will ever buy anything else for a hunting rifle again, I loved the Howa. They build a nice product with a smooth trigger, a great finnish, and good accuracy. My .223 Howa's poor shooting was the direct result of my own mistake. It was a simple fix that resulted in a wonderful shooting rifle. For the price, I personaly do not think the Howa can be beat.

 

[Uncle Mike]

I might get spanked for this but...

Keep your money in America, support American business...

I have not seen a Howa outshoot a Savage or Remington for that fact... as long as the Remington was a "older" gun.

We sell some Howa's, in the beginning, a lot, but word of mouth and problems have curtailed their selling.

Buy a Savage... you won't be dissapointed.

 

[ArmedBear]

Keep your money in America, support American business...

Cerberus can suck it. (Well, okay, I'll buy a Marlin or two, but that's mainly because Marlin can still build a rifle. Not for long, if Remington gets too involved in North Haven.)

We sell some Howa's, in the beginning, a lot, but word of mouth and problems have curtailed their selling.

So you've been lying about them?

Actually, I don't know about the Howa-branded stuff. Weatherby doesn't seem to let lemons by them, that I've heard about.

It may be that Legacy Sports doesn't have a brand name to protect, so they don't care.

 

[HOUNDDAWG]

I signed up to tell you folks two things:

A year ago I read about the recall on Howa 1500 rifles here and I sent my bolt to Illinois and they replaced the whole back end, returning only the original bolt sleeve, and the rest is all new and high gloss blue. The gas shield is shaped differently than the original S&W, but the replacement (presumably the new HOWA bolt shape) isn't bad looking. And, the important thing is the mod was performed and I have peace of mind.

This 30 year old S&W-Howa .30-06 is a delightful rifle and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. I bought it from a friend who harvested deer in PA every season with it, and even with the original Japanese K-Mart 3X9 scope it's a real shooter.

My neighborhood smithy lightened the trigger for me, and it required some skill to re-manufacture components, necessary because the older triggers just don't have the adjustment range I required. (it's a crisp, clean, consistent three lbs now. I still do most of my shooting off a bench so I prefer a light trigger.)

That same day he received a call from another customer asking for a trigger job on another used, recently purchased Howa! "What are the odds?", he said. He went from never doing a trigger job on a Howa to doing mine and receiving another inquiry right away.

As luck would have it this smithy has a complete machine shop and the requisite skills to do most anything, and he lives four blocks away from me. (Doesn't everyone have a class A gunsmith in their neighborhood?)

Like all Howas this rifle has the beautiful, classic lines that I love, and the barreled action is meaty in the right places and still streamlined to keep it from being too heavy. (like a SMLE Enfield, which is arguably too heavy because of unnecessary metal)

So, with the installation of a Pachmayr white line recoil pad and 200 hand loads assembled with five different powders I'm ready to go in search of that sweet spot hand load!

The good news is the gun shoots great with all of the loads and they all pattern as well as any factory ammo. It may take a while to find a load that groups any better than the rest....

 

[miker557]

I have a Howa 1500 Varmint Rifle in 223 I purchased several years ago that lovesWinchester 45-grain HP ammo. I managed to put 4 bullets into one ragged hole (with the 5th shot opening it up to .643") at 100 yards. My older brother bought a LA in 30-06 that he uses for deer hunting, and it shoots better than my customized Mauser. I'ved picked up a S&W 1500 to use for a custom project, if only I can figure out how to cut 1.5mm pitch threads on my Rockwell lathe .......

 

[tango2echo]

I'm on my third one now.

Two are .308 and one is a .30-06.

I adjusted the trigger on the first, pillar bedded action, and worked up a load using the Hornady Amax 168gr and Varget. It's better than 1/2 MOA. I'm happy to say the least. Even better, it has cleanly killed 10 deer in ten shots and a headshot coyote at over 600 yards.

Anyone that talks trash about a Howa is automatically suspect in my mind.