Howa Mini Pencil Accuracy

[Lavender Energetic Whale]

Hello,

I bought a Howa Mini 6mm Arc barreled action with the 22" Pencil Barrel as lightweight backup rifle for small game. The stock for it i made my own of top walnut wood. Aluminium Pillars and epoxy Bedding...there is absolutely no play and no barrel contact. Allready made 110 shots from 66gr Barts with N133 up to 90gr Eldx (29.4 gr N540 @ 2950 fps no overpressure signs) but the best i can do is 2 Moa. 3 shot strings and also cooled down after every shot. Glued Talley Rings- 2 different scopes.

Did i got a melon? I was looking forward to chop down the barrel to 20" and M14 thread for my suppressor.

 

[jbuck88]

How did it shoot in the factory stock? Seems like the stock could be the wildcard. Have you tried bedding the action? Or I've heard some pencil barrels like slight upward pressure from the tip of the fore end to get them to group. Ive never seen one first had that made a difference though.

Also how much load development have you done? I don't have a tonnof experience with the mini and only in Grendal. My 10yo at the time did 100% of the load development and shooting with me over his shoulder. He has no problem holding 1moa or less.

 

[hewlett260]

Having had several Howa rifles, I have to ask, how committed are you to the factory barrel? My experience with Howa factory barrels haven't been great. A 308 that would shoot great at 100 yards but went to shit for grouping at anything past that, and a 6.5 Grendel that barely held 1 MOA with anything.

On that 308 I sent several thousand rounds downrange and it only got worse over time.

I would try some different powders, specifically Varget and BLC-2. If either of those don't tighten things up, I would pull that barrel and put a Bartlien Brux or Krieger on.