I'm going to start by saying that I'm a competative Palma shooter. I have a very nice barnard with a kreiger barrel that punches 1/4 MOA groups with handloads. I have high expectations when it comes to accuracy. However, I want a "Farm" rifle, and I really don't want to spend more than I have to. Its duties will be vermin out to around 300m, and I'd love to bowl over coke cans up to around 4-500m for fun (don't expect a guaranteed hit). I want a .308 as I have about 2,000 once fired brass sitting in the corner so it will be cheap to feed.
Here in Australia, Howa's are about the cheapest brand new rifle you can get. From cheapest to most expensive, it would tyically go Howa - Savage - Remington - Tikka. My dad has a Weatherby Vanguard (same thing re branded) in 22-250 that I can punch around 1" 3 shot groups with when its cold. Second 3 shot group starts to go all over the place. The barrel is not free floated and I know its resting on that crappy plastic stock... I blame it. The trigger on the old mans rifle was awful, but I worked my magic and it now breaks just as good as an after-market trigger... I'd prefer a 2 stage though. Overall, I'm quite impressed with the amount of rifle you get for the money.
The local shop has a Howa 1500 in .308 with a heavy fluted barrel, and an MDT LSS stock. Its more of a 'tacticool' stock, but I do like the aluminium chassis system, and the fact the forend is nice and close to the barrel. It allows AR furnature so I'm sure I can get a nice grip and butt for it too. I think its a winner! Just wondering what people have to say about the Howa and how much accuracy I can expect. I don't want to go to the extent of blueprinting or re-barrelling, but I feel the MDT stock will go a long way to addressing the shortcomings of a standard plastic stock. Just to put it in perspective, I can get this rifle+Stock cheaper than a TIKKA or Rem (with standard stock), and I could pay slightly less for a savage with the standard stock. Seems like a good deal. I'd like a 1 MOA all day shooter (20-30 shots) with no fuss - I'm not expecting bench rest accuracy.
Any feedback would be appreciated (also, I did do a lot of reading first on the forum, and there are a lot of different thoughts on the howa, but it was generally quite positive)
Here in Australia, Howa's are about the cheapest brand new rifle you can get. From cheapest to most expensive, it would tyically go Howa - Savage - Remington - Tikka. My dad has a Weatherby Vanguard (same thing re branded) in 22-250 that I can punch around 1" 3 shot groups with when its cold. Second 3 shot group starts to go all over the place. The barrel is not free floated and I know its resting on that crappy plastic stock... I blame it. The trigger on the old mans rifle was awful, but I worked my magic and it now breaks just as good as an after-market trigger... I'd prefer a 2 stage though. Overall, I'm quite impressed with the amount of rifle you get for the money.
The local shop has a Howa 1500 in .308 with a heavy fluted barrel, and an MDT LSS stock. Its more of a 'tacticool' stock, but I do like the aluminium chassis system, and the fact the forend is nice and close to the barrel. It allows AR furnature so I'm sure I can get a nice grip and butt for it too. I think its a winner! Just wondering what people have to say about the Howa and how much accuracy I can expect. I don't want to go to the extent of blueprinting or re-barrelling, but I feel the MDT stock will go a long way to addressing the shortcomings of a standard plastic stock. Just to put it in perspective, I can get this rifle+Stock cheaper than a TIKKA or Rem (with standard stock), and I could pay slightly less for a savage with the standard stock. Seems like a good deal. I'd like a 1 MOA all day shooter (20-30 shots) with no fuss - I'm not expecting bench rest accuracy.
Any feedback would be appreciated (also, I did do a lot of reading first on the forum, and there are a lot of different thoughts on the howa, but it was generally quite positive)