old walnut howa varmint

[pre64marksman]

This is probably best suited to a varmint or bencrest forum, I apologize if its out of place here though I know many folks here shoot the small critter guns.

Does anyone remember the old (1980s/early 90s catologe) walnut-stocked Howa varmint? It may have been called Howa Lightning Varmint as I believe the only other rifle was the Lightning sporter with early synthetic stock, and maybe a Safari rifle as well. Also It may or may have been marketed as a Weatherby Vanguard varmint if there was a Vanguard varmint in the 80s. The rifle I speak of had a plain-jane linseed walnut stock but no forend cap like Weatherby Vanguards had. It may be the exact same rifle Sears or JC Penny imported earlier although I believe those had more deluxe checkering and stock finish. Anyone know about these, how common they are etc.? I love the Remington 700/XP100 etc but I also like the Howa/Vanguard actions although I don't know as much about the history of these.

 

[SDWhirlwind]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

Smith & Wesson was actually the first importer of these rifles that I am aware of? Believe they started in early 80's and it was called the 1500. They also had a 1700 with detachable mag in some of the LA calibers. I owned a 222 Varmint for a short time which was a super shooter. It had a gloss finish stock. Can't remember for sure what others were in HB but they made a oil finished stock for LE etc in 223 and 308. IIRC S&W had 222, 223, 243, 308, 270, 06, 300WM and 338WM. Later and other importers included different calibers. Would think a Blue Book might have calibers?????

In about 86ish Smith & Wesson quit importing them and Mossberg started. Still called them the 1500. After a few years Mossberg lost or quit importing and Interarms imported them with the Howa name stamped on them. Few years later I think the Legacy or whatever importer came about or was started by Howa to get their rifles into the US.

At least that is how I remember things????

 

[The_FNG]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

In Australia they were called CMC Mountaineers.

 

[pre64marksman]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

Thanks for that clarification as to them being imported by S&W. I don't know why I said Sears or JC Penny. I mention a simple oil finish on the stock because I had seen that type of stock in an old Gun bible from around 1990, and the listing may have been for the LE gun because even though it was called varmint in that book, the calibers listed were only 223 amd 308 if I remember correctly. Interesting to hear they had a gloss stocks. The laminated thumbhole styles Howa currently utilizes on their varmint guns are great stocks, but I'm not really a fan of wooden thumbhole stocks. The closest thing I've seen recently to the old Howa "vanguard style" varmint is the Weatherby Vanguard Varmint special, though I wish they offered it with walnut stock rather than synthetic.

I don't have the disposable dough at the moment but in the future I might have to look one of these up and maybe do a wildcat conversion and a mild accuracy job on one. Classy older gun. I'll have to check average prices on them, If I do a wildcat conversion, It may end up cheaper and easier to get a Howa action by itself and find a Vanguard style stock and get a good tube on it.

I'll have to look up the CMC version.

Was Lightning just used to designate the sporter version or was lightning applied to the varmint version as well?

 

[TenZero]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

I have an older Howa Weatherby Vanguard in 7 Rem mag. It has the super glossy stock like Wby's, but without the forend and pistol grip caps that you see on Wby Mark Vs from the same era. Also has a satin finish on the barrel, not the high gloss of the Mk V. I think I bought it new around '92-'93.

 

[SDWhirlwind]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

Think when Legacy started being the importer they come up with Lightning handle.

Smith & Wesson actually had the standard model and a Deluxe model with skip line checkering and higher gloss finish. Can't remember what else was different

As mentioned the 223 and 308 HB's had an oil finish but can't remember if they were checkered or not?

Also my old memory recalls there being a 7x64Brenneke imported at one time? Think it was S&W yet and not Mossberg? I have either owned or shot 222,223, 243, 308, 270 and 300WM in S&W and/or Mossberg. Never had one that wouldn't shoot really well. Just refinished a super nice A Fancy walnut stock for brother-in-law that I put on a Mossy 223 originally for my older brother and delivered it this week. Nice rig and looks super.

 

[pre64marksman]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

Sweet, I'll have to look up older Vanguards as although I like the Weatherby stock shape, I don't like the forend and grip caps.

It was around '90, maybe '91 that I had an old gun bible that listed the lightning definatley for the sporter but not sure if the ligtning name was for the varmint. Currently they are varmint supreme? If I remember correctly that oiled stock maybe had checkering on it but I could be mistaken as I don't have that gun bible anymore to reference. I've seached around and haven't found any images but I'll look it up under 1500 LE or something similar. I can picture the stock as being oil finish for sure. It didn't say oil finish but the very matte apearance of the stock in the photo I could tell it wassn't a gloss finish. The action and bbl looked mate finish as well.

http://www.elks.com.au/hunting/rifles_used.htm
on down the link a ways is a couple mountaineers, the wood stock version has high gloss with white spacers. It doesn't have a forend cap but it has grip cap. Looks like a nice little gun. I'd prefer it not have the grip cap but its still nice.

 

[pre64marksman]

Re: old walnut howa varmint

Well I searched and found far more S&W references to the older walnut stock than I did searching for Howa 1500 walnut varmint, etc. This doens't mean that the S&Ws are more common but since Legacy Howa currently sells the 1500 varmint in various modern guises, that's what is showing up when searching. The old S&W guns look real nice! I may end up saving for one sooner than later! Whether or not one would end up as a wildcatter that would remain to be seen. Nothing wrong with shooting one as is for a while and seeing later if I want to do a different caliber. The old 222Rem is a fav of mine, It would be nice to find one of those!

BTW the S&W guns I'm seeing on searches(guns sold through GA or other sites have a more intricate basketweave checkering. The Howa 1500 Varmint I mention as listed in the old gun book I used to have didn't have basketweave checkering; if it had checkering it was fairly basic. Again I can't recall exactly if it had checkering or if the stock was plain but I'm about 80% sure it had a simple checkering pattern on oiled stock.