howa mini 7.62x39

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high country said:
Oh, and I ordered the stock in nutmeg. Seems fitting for a classic stock, while having the durability of laminate over wood. I will strip it for reshaping, then put an oil finish on it.
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i have to look at some pick of the colors of the stocks to see. the fored does look to long for the 20 inch barrel maybe by a inch or 2. id like to he if there i the wood to do a shnovel forearm. it just sucks to do work on a $140 stock. i will call Richards micro fists to see if they did any yet.
 
adcoch1 said:
Me too if you promise to not tell my wife... I may be talking MYSELF in to one of these rifles.
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The stock situation is really the only thing stopping me. The wife might be upset knowing I bought two guns this week, but it will take a while to get the rifle finished.....
 
I did another stock from boyds for a 39a that I redid, and citristrip took the finish right off, no problem. I will just do my shaping, then use citristrip to take off whatever is left. Yeah, sucks to spend 140 bucks then have to rework it, but the time saved by boyds getting it close is worth it to me, and in the end between the stock and the barreled action, I will still be almost $100 less than a Ruger American with a Tupperware stock.
 
I was going to cut down the forend, since as you mention - it is for a longer barrel and action. But then I noticed a big void under the barrel nearly to the end, so I figured taking off 1.5" wasn't going to gain me that much in weight savings. Still might do it though. I tried to remove the recoil pad. I was going to drill out the buttstock to lighten things up a bit. But that recoil plate and pad won't budge. So again, I just left it on.

7 lbs. 1oz. scoped is the same as my other hunting rifles, so I'll probably just leave it as-is. With a bipod, this thing makes a terrific, affordable range gun.

I woke up early this morning to pull the action out of the stock. Yes, I went ahead and bedded that stock last night. I couldn't stand it. ha, ha. But early this morning I realized I hadn't plugged the action screw holes or taped the recoil lug, and then panic set in! LOL Fortunately for me, the release agent did it's job, and I got a super tight bedding job and was able to get the bedding compound out of the screw holes without too much trouble. When I put it back together, that action sucked into that stock like a glove. I mean no wiggle at all. Can't wait to get it back to the range and see what she does now. As that barrel breaks in, and with that bedding job, I am not going to be surprised if this is a routine sub-MOA rifle.
 
high country said:
I did another stock from boyds for a 39a that I redid, and citristrip took the finish right off, no problem. I will just do my shaping, then use citristrip to take off whatever is left. Yeah, sucks to spend 140 bucks then have to rework it, but the time saved by boyds getting it close is worth it to me, and in the end between the stock and the barreled action, I will still be almost $100 less than a Ruger American with a Tupperware stock.
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This is exactly what I was thinking. I like the idea and design of the Ruger American, but honestly I'd rather have the Howa Mini in a Boyd's stock.
 
Newtosavage said:
I was going to cut down the forend, since as you mention - it is for a longer barrel and action. But then I noticed a big void under the barrel nearly to the end, so I figured taking off 1.5" wasn't going to gain me that much in weight savings. Still might do it though. I tried to remove the recoil pad. I was going to drill out the buttstock to lighten things up a bit. But that recoil plate and pad won't budge. So again, I just left it on.

7 lbs. 1oz. scoped is the same as my other hunting rifles, so I'll probably just leave it as-is. With a bipod, this thing makes a terrific, affordable range gun.

I woke up early this morning to pull the action out of the stock. Yes, I went ahead and bedded that stock last night. I couldn't stand it. ha, ha. But early this morning I realized I hadn't plugged the action screw holes or taped the recoil lug, and then panic set in! LOL Fortunately for me, the release agent did it's job, and I got a super tight bedding job and was able to get the bedding compound out of the screw holes without too much trouble. When I put it back together, that action sucked into that stock like a glove. I mean no wiggle at all. Can't wait to get it back to the range and see what she does now. As that barrel breaks in, and with that bedding job, I am not going to be surprised if this is a routine sub-MOA rifle.
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nice i will bed it to. the but pad maybe glued on were there any screws. 1 inch maybe plenty. if more is needed u can do a forend peace. i use kiwi shoe polish for the stocks works good for case lube to.
 
high country said:
I did another stock from boyds for a 39a that I redid, and citristrip took the finish right off, no problem. I will just do my shaping, then use citristrip to take off whatever is left. Yeah, sucks to spend 140 bucks then have to rework it, but the time saved by boyds getting it close is worth it to me, and in the end between the stock and the barreled action, I will still be almost $100 less than a Ruger American with a Tupperware stock.
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yes true id like to try to keep the price half of the price off cz id like makes me feel better. then i think if i just save up for a month i can get one lol.
 
Yea, Kiwi brown shoe polish with a light shot of One Shot case lube. Seems to always do the trick. I've never had to fight to get an action out of the bedding, even when screwing up like I did last night.
 
Newtosavage said:
Yea, Kiwi brown shoe polish with a light shot of One Shot case lube. Seems to always do the trick. I've never had to fight to get an action out of the bedding, even when screwing up like I did last night.
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if it ever stick just shoot it some they will pop loose. i have to get some more Devcon for my bedding but gb weld works ok.
 
Newtosavage said:
Funny you should post this. I just got back from the range, breaking in my new Howa Mini Action 7.62x39 in a Boyd's stock.

Here are my impressions: The barreled action is an absolute steal at that price. It's a bit stiff and the safety needs to be smoothed out through use, but I'm sure it will get there. The trigger breaks real clean, but is about 1# more than I'm used to. But it's a clean trigger, so I can still shoot it well. Like others have said, I'm not a fan of the mag release position. The plastic bottom "metal" hasn't given me an issue though. I torqued down the action screws by hand as much as I would any other rifle, and no problem.

I'm not thrilled with the weight of the Boyd's (Classic) stock. It's heavy. I am used to light synthetic stocks now, in the 22-25 oz. range. This stock is 2 lbs. 12 oz. or nearly 2x the weight of the stocks I'm used to. The other thing is the action fits a bit sloppy in the stock. They overcut it, no doubt in response to people who were complaining about having stocks that were not inlet enough early on. I figure I'll eventually just bed the front recoil lug and rear tang.

The whole rifle (empty) with 2-7x33 Leupold scope weighs in right at 7 lbs. 1 oz. - about the same as most of my other hunting rifles.

Having said that, straight out of the box, this thing is a shooter. Even in the "sloppy fit" of the Boyd's stock. I used an abbreviated break-in period using steel-case hollow point ammo, cleaning it after every shot for the first 5, then after every 3-4 shots after that. Despite it being a brand new barrel in a loose stock, it still shot very, very well. 1-1.25" at 100 yards with the steel case hollow points, and just over 2" at 200 yards with my handloads. I made no attempt to let the light contour barrel cool down, and I was still fine tuning the scope. Given a good break in and if I let the barrel cool a bit more, I can see this thing easily holding MOA or better at 200 and 300 yards.

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If you could please be more specific it would be helpful. In what areas of the stock are the inletting sloppy? I am assuming you are speaking of areas other than the barrel channel? The mag well? When you say the safety needs broken in, are you saying that it doesn't function properly? In my view a stiff safety is a good thing.
 
mshootnit said:
If you could please be more specific it would be helpful. In what areas of the stock are the inletting sloppy? I am assuming you are speaking of areas other than the barrel channel? The mag well? When you say the safety needs broken in, are you saying that it doesn't function properly? In my view a stiff safety is a good thing.
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i think the inletting problem was with the bottom metal they were to deep and a little fat on the inlet. i think that have fixed this. he mostlikely means tight witch i think is ok to.
 
mshootnit said:
If you could please be more specific it would be helpful. In what areas of the stock are the inletting sloppy? I am assuming you are speaking of areas other than the barrel channel? The mag well? When you say the safety needs broken in, are you saying that it doesn't function properly? In my view a stiff safety is a good thing.
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"tight" is not how I would describe this stock for the mini Howa. I'm not saying it's bad, just that there is more than enough room for everything. It's not too deep either. There is a noticeable gap around the bottom "metal" (plastic) and the recoil lug position and action area had enough room that you could move the barrel side to side at least 1/8" - easily touching either side of the stock in the barrel channel. So bedding this stock is almost a must IMO. Thankfully that's not hard (or expensive) to do, and only takes 10 minutes if you know what you're doing.

My knock on the Boyd's stock isn't the loose inletting. It's the weight and length for a stock that's designed for a mini action and 20" barrel. They should have scaled down their model a bit. Nobody who buys a mini action wants a 2 3/4 lb. stock, I can assure you.

Having said that, it's the only game in town so I don't think they have any incentive to change. I called Hogue and they don't even make the stock for the Howa mini. It's made by a 3rd party who does injection molding. And they won't sell just the stock for the mini. So, that leaves us with this one option from Boyd's unless you want to spend $300+ on a custom glass/kevlar stock, and who would want to do that for a $200 barreled mini action?

I'm not unhappy with my end result. It's still a more affordable option than the CZ or even Ruger American, and IMO looks better than the American at least. Shoots great too. So it's definitely a keeper.
 
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Oh, and about that safety...

It is stiff to move. Not nearly as smooth as I'm used to with my Savage/Tikka/Ruger rifles. Almost feels gritty. But like I said, I'm sure with some use it will smooth out. The whole Howa barreled action reminded me of early Swedish Mausers that had never been out of the cosmoline. Very tight tolerances in metal with no polishing or previous use will need some break-in time to smooth out. That's all. Not a knock on the Howa. Just a statement of fact. My Winchester 94ae was no different. It had a few years to go before it ever caught up with my pre-64 model.
 
I'm trying to remember right now, but I think I actually took the safety apart on my 1500 and rounded the detent pin because it was so bloody stiff.
 
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