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Rebarrel and true my existing Howa 1500 or start a new build?

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giannid

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Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 20, 2017
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Chagrin Falls, Ohio
I've got a factory Howa 1500 in a Bravo stock in 6.5 cm. The gun shoots ok but think I want to take it up a notch. Called S.A.C in Ohio and they told me it's be about $1100 to true tha action, install barrel and thread barrel. Seems like a good deal of money and not sure if I should do it. Lead time is almost 15 weeks also.

I've got a range at the house and shooting this rifle has been one of things I enjoy to do. I also reload and have been developing various loads. I've got other rifles but enjoy shooting the 6.5 cm the most and it's economical to shoot. I'm even entertaining the ideal of doing a few PRS matches.

Should I just build a new custom gun or just upgrade what I have? I understand Howa's aren't the fanciest and smoothest actions around. I'm not a fan of throwing money at something if it doesn't make sense. Is the Howa action something that I won't outgrow if I decide to get into PRS?
 
If the Howa shoots then keep shooting it. I can understand rebarreling it but don’t think it’s worth trueing. If you are serious about upgrading and at that quoted price, I would sell the Howa and get an Origin SA, PVA or Keystone shoulder prefit, trigger, and Bravo.

If you get serious about PRS then you will out grow the Howa but don’t think you will need to upgrade just to shoot a match. Go shoot a match with the Howa before you make a decision.
 
To me its all up to you and what you want . If you like the gun and it just needs another barrel then why would you not spend the money . 1100 is not that much but I do wonder are you getting a custom barrel or a another factory barrel if you had that the first time I don't know ? Me I totally plan to go back through mile high if they are still around after the election to get my 6.5 creed re barreled when its time , and maybe have them put together a barrel and another action and another trigger but in 7mm saum I hope all at the same time . Good luck with yours and may it be better than you hopped it will be .
 
The howa was an acquired taste for me. It’s hard not to like an inexpensive factory rifle that shoots sub moa groups. However $1100 is nearly what you could get a custom barreled action from keystone accuracy for. Their entry level barreled action is $1225 for a bighorn origin with a green mountain barrel or $1425 with a Krieger barrel.
If you’re gonna compete get a custom rig. You can offset the cost by selling the howa if you want. However I’d keep it and change to a barrel nut setup later on when it has some loss of accuracy. You’ll really like the look and feel of a custom rig if you’re like me. Good luck
 
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I’ve had several Howas rebarreled by LRI without being trued and they all shoot well. Just use a good barrel and you should be good to go. I think they’re great actions for a budget build. The only other thing I would change is the trigger because I don’t like the factory safety. A Timney is a quick fix though.
 
I have a similar setup. It’s branded “Weatherby” but....same same. I had Krieger sell me the barrel, chamber it, thread and time the brake and spin it on to the action....as far as I know they didn’t do anything to the action. (I personally would not even consider spending extra to have it “trued”). At the time, the cost for that Barrel and work was $700. Having that done got rid of the factory barrel and turned the rifle from a 1” gun to a more consistent and softer shooting .5” gun that wore a heavy barrel and a brake and I started messing around with f-class and PRS matches. My point is, the platform you have can absolutely get you started in competition shooting. You’ll probably outgrow it if you get really serious but if a less expensive re-barrel gets you where you want to be, it seems like the place to start. Maybe shop around a little more for re-barrel options.
 
I'll have to do some research still obviously. SAC is local to me so that's why I called them. Problem with starting from scratch is I'm no a gun builder. Haven't really messed around with bottom metal and putting it all together before. I have rebarelled a savage in the past and have an action wrench somewhere for a savage that I bought from Northland. I just don't want to go backwards on this rifle and that's why I'm asking.
 
What places should I check for to do a rebarrel? I'm hoping to find a place that doesn't have a crazy lead time. Like I said, I've rebarreled/headspaced a savage with a barrel nut in the past but don't have the right tools for this action. Those carbo fiber proof barrels look really neat. Worth the money?
 
I'm at the point that I will not true any more factory actions. They'll all get barrel nuts and a pre-fit from here forward. Once you open up threads, you're most likely committed to sending the receiver off every time you need a new barrel. Some 'smiths will provide barrels once the receiver is in the shop once. Either way, it limits what you can do in terms of putting a barrel on yourself once threads are opened. If it were me, I'd put a Criterion pre-fit on it and roll on. It will meet or exceed your accuracy expectations.
 
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spife7980 said:
Put a howage (barrel nut set up) on it yourself for 450.
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C4B088C9-DFC0-4A18-A4E9-0171867A05A4.gif
 
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Matt_KJ said:
IMHO, shoot the crap out of it until the barrel is toast and then figure out what you want to do.

@ThreeBravo has the same gun and he has great success with load development.
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Agreed. Run the barrel till it's a 6.6 creedmoor then do a rebarrel with the howage for cheap and do it again. I have just under 1300 rounds on my stock barrel and it's doing great still. I have shot about a half dozen or so local prs matches and I've never felt like that rifle held me back from doing better. Spend the cash on a separate custom action/barrel and keep shooting the howa while you finish that build.
 
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giannid said:
I have rebarelled a savage in the past and have an action wrench somewhere for a savage that I bought from Northland.

Like I said, I've rebarreled/headspaced a savage with a barrel nut in the past but don't have the right tools for this action.
Click to expand...

If you have the action wrench and nut spanner from Northland Shooting Supply, you have the tools to to remove the stock Howa barrel and in install a Howage barrel. You just need to get longer bolts and flip the top cap upside down to fit the flat part of the Howa action. The hardest part is removing the old barrel when you re-barrel them. As far as truing the Howa action, I never have, I just lap the bolt lugs to make sure I have full contact with the receiver.

I would recommend that you buy a chassis instead of using a stock and a DBM lower metal. Look at KRG Bravo or MDT XRS.
 
I shot my Howa 6.5 Creed barrel out at around 2400 rounds, then rebarrelled it in 6BR while I wait on my Defiance Ruckus to arrive in Australia (7 months so far). I have a custom rifle in my safe as well but the Howa is now my “go to” again for PRS. I had no truing work done, only turned down the firing pin and bushes the bolt face and it shoots 0.3s consistently at 100m, took it out yesterday to 700m and shot a 0.5MOA (4.16”) 7 round group off the roof of my truck. Howa’s are an extremely underrated action.
CFC3FB69-8CC5-45E0-9021-519284FCC3FE.jpeg
 
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If you haven't done it already, buy a cheap trigger-spring for your Howa off of eBay or wherever and drop the trigger down to ~1lb. Since you reload, you can turn that $300 you saved by not having to buy a TriggerTech Diamond or whatever into ~600 6.5 Creedmoor rounds (if you have/can find primers).

I see all the tricked-out actions out there too, there are so many it's dizzying almost, but in the end they're all just a variation of some sort of improved Remington M700: usually with tighter tolerances, better machining, some integrated recoil-lug and/or bolt made from one solid piece of steel, maybe an M16-type extractor, maybe can be stripped easily without special tools... um, just like the Howa 1500 action.

The lowly Howa 1500 shoots/runs fucking great.
 
Last edited:
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You can just pull the Howa trigger out and clip the trigger spring to lighten it up. 1st stage on mine is 7 oz, 2nd stage is 1 pound. Think I clipped 1 3/4 coils, might have been 2. Google it or or I think there's a video or 2 on youtube.
 
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My Howa shoots great with its Criterion prefit barrel! I have a heavy Palma ready to go when this one burns out.
7849423A-CACB-4DBD-8224-3D46453DC06D.jpeg
 
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Who makes Howage prefits. I see McGowen does and now they offer a cut rifled version. Has anyone used there cut riffled barrel?
 
Howas are underrated actions. I put a cheap ibi barrel on this one and it's a consistent .5moa rifle.



BB3DDBFB-7290-4166-B4C8-46690934206E.jpeg
 
Hunt said:
I like that a lot! What stock is that and what contour barrel?
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It's a McMillan A3 - It has the highest comb of any of their stocks which is great if you don't want the weight of an adjustable cheek-piece. The contour is the IBI Medium Hunter Profile and the total weight is 9.25lb as pictured. If this was going to be for higher volume shooting I'd opt for a beefier contour - for it's intended purpose (hunting) the balance of components here is great
 
jcmullis2 said:
The howa was an acquired taste for me. It’s hard not to like an inexpensive factory rifle that shoots sub moa groups. However $1100 is nearly what you could get a custom barreled action from keystone accuracy for. Their entry level barreled action is $1225 for a bighorn origin with a green mountain barrel or $1425 with a Krieger barrel.
If you’re gonna compete get a custom rig. You can offset the cost by selling the howa if you want. However I’d keep it and change to a barrel nut setup later on when it has some loss of accuracy. You’ll really like the look and feel of a custom rig if you’re like me. Good luck
Click to expand...

Thanks for the referral I've been looking for barreled actions using the Origin, it's a great value custom action.
 
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