Re: Rebarreling Howa 1500
I bet I could get the barrel off faster without a relief cut, just Kroil and 1000 foot pounds with a Mauser action wrench, than you can get the lathe set up to cut the barrel threads.... The action thread is 1.020"x 1.5mm. For those of you in Rio Linda, that means you need to find those metric gears that came with the lathe and get some grease on your hands.
I got a Howa 1500 270 at a gun show for $200.
I wish it had a .223 bolt face.
I got a Rem700 22-250 for $180 at a gun show.
I typically pay $300 for a Mauser ready to rebarrel.
Here is my Howa 1500 action schpeal:
The 98 Mauser has:
1) flat bottomed receiver to take torque from rifling
2) controlled feed
3) claw typed extractor
4) safety on firing pin, often modified to be 2 or 3 position M70 type
5) multi stage gas filter on firing pin hole for safety
6) bolt handle is integrally forged as part of bolt body
7) safety lug below rear bridge
8) integral recoil lug
9) knife ejector in bolt lug slot
10 an inner C ring to put the tenon threads in compression
The rem 700
1) receiver made from round tubing
2) push feed
3) little wimpy extractor
4) safety on trigger
5) simple bolt
6) bolt handle tacked on with screw and solder
7) nothing for safety if bolt lugs fail.
8) recoil lug is a modified washer that is captured by the receiver and barrel
9) plunger ejector
10) No inner C ring, so the only thing holding the barrel to the receiver is the tenon threads in tension
Of the ~100 bolt action covered in the above book, they seem to all be on the spectrum somewhere between the simple Rem700 and the complex 1898 Mauser design.
The Howa 1500:
1) flat bottom receiver
2) push feed
3) short claw extractor is bigger than rem, but smaller than M98
4) three position bolt safety
5) simple bolt
6) Integral bolt handle
7) nothing
8) integral recoil lug
9) plunger ejector
I would give the Howa Mauser scale = ~50% Mauser
I would give the Howa Rem700 scale = ~50% Rem700
