Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Kimber - How they can build the "perfect" hunting rifle.

The Howa is a fun rifle, but it’s not as good of a start as the Kimber. This is a 20” barreled action mini 1500 in 6 arc. The action was placed in a Pendleton carbon fiber stock with the Pendleton bottom metal. Scope is a Vortex 2-8


Rifle with Hybrid 46

Rifle without Hybrid 46


As you can see here, the rifle itself is heavier than the Kimber with supressor. Kimber also has a bigger scope. I will say this. The Howa is a friends rifle. It shoots really well. When he first brought it to me to test, I told him I didn’t like his idea (the idea I’m advocating for now) and wasn’t going to like the rifle. However, I absolutely fell in love with the concept (obviously). The Howa shoots very accurately. That Pendleton stock feels very nice. Trigger isn’t very good though. I feel like I’m fighting with it every time I shoot it. The safety feels cheap and breakable. Nowhere near as nice as the potential for the safety on the Kimber. The Kimber could use some cleanup on its detents as well. The bolt handle is too short on the howa without as easy an option for lengthening it. That hurts the feeding. The action feels coarser and feeding is rougher.

Also, do not discount the lack of stainless being an option. I would have bought one of the howas when Brownells got that run of stainless, but I had already latched on to the Kimber as the next step in this rifles concept. Also, I didn’t care for the 7.62x39 ( I don’t like the .310 bullet options. Case capacity is good though) or the 6.5 Grendel for this rifle concept. I have to take steps to take care of this howa I don’t have to take with the Kimber. I don’t abuse my rifles, but they get used. Before a typical hunt for me even starts, a rifle is probably going to be covered in talcum powder consistency dust. Having a rifle that has to be oiled to not rust compounds this. The threads yesterday when I mounted the suppressor had rust. I had to brush them and oil them. A non-stainless bore is much harder to care for in Texas dirt and humidity. Especially if you factor in taking a rifle out of air conditioning into humid air.

Also, cost. The barreled actions are $400–$550 for the stainless. I bought my Kimber from buds for $775. By the time you buy stocks and a bottom metal that isn’t trash for the howa, you have paid enough to buy the Kimber and cut and thread your barrel. The howa can be nice too, but legacy has so far failed to acknowledge they need to bring in a stainless barreled action and offer it with a better magazine system. There’s a thread here on this forum discussing the stainless howas and their deficiencies.

I like the howa. I like the potential they represent and the fact they are close to the concept I’m advocating for. However, I have had both in hand today even, and will tell you the Kimber is better for me. Your uses may be different than mine.