Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Howa Alpine Mountain rifle 6.5 Creedmoor.

Got some bench time and rifle liked the 140gr A-Max's over H4350. I was surprised that it kept so tight for 5 shots. All my load development was done with three shots groups and letting it completely cool. Bellow was the last group (5 shots) I fired through it before I left the range today.

That's sweet!

Nice!

Nice rifle. I have one in 308 headed my way, so I'm REALLY glad to see it shoot that well.

Any idea what the rifle weighs?


Okie John

My bare rifle right out of the box weighed 5.7 lbs on a certified scale.

Probably my next rifle right there.

Nice shooting, BTW!

I was originally zeroed for my handloaded Hornady 120gr GMX's. It took three shots and two adjustments to zero for the 140 A-Max's and still shot a 3 shot group that was slightly over 1/2" with the Magnetto speed attached.

Anyone thats used a Magnetto speed knows, more often than not that they can seriously trash groups. It still shot tight but my point of impact was low with the Magnetto attached. Buisness as usual once I removed it.

Nice!

Almost forgot about this one. This was at 300 yards today. Up 4-1/2 MOA from my 100 yard zero. The load was exactly the same as the above but I tried it with a CCI 250 Magnum primer in place of the Federal 210 Gold Metal Match primer. I had a left to right switchy wind didn't adjust just held for the dot. I couldn't be happier with the vertical spread, the vertical is maybe .3. The rest was just wind. Anyone of them would have jammed up a Muley.

I was panicked, I was out of 210M's and nobody had them yesterday. Sinclair , Midway, Nacheez etc. Not even locally. So I wanted to see if the CCI Mags would shoot the same because I have a bunch of them. I was saved today at sportsmens warehouse. They got 2K delivered in last nights shipment so I grabbed them up.

Thats a keeper for sure.

Are the A Max magazine length?

Very nice I thought they had a magazine

They're single shots?

Extended mag I thought?

My rifle came with both a BDL floor plate assembly and a detachable magazine assembly but no magazines. I called Legacy Sports and they had a magazine to me (5 round) in a matter of days. I purchased a additional two magazines. (1) 5 round and (1) 10 round, the 5 & 10 are the same price, $52.00 each.

The BDL assembly holds four cartridges down and one in the pipe for a total of five rounds and my over all length of 2.880 isn't a issue. The 2.880 is a issue when it comes to the magazine which have a inside overall length of around 2.840 +/- a hair.

I have the BDL assembly installed due to the way I carry my rifle when hunting steep country. I always carry my rifles in my down hill hand and I cup the bottom metal with my thumb over the top of the bolt and beneath my scope. I figured this out 20 some years ago after dinging some nice rifles up when slipping on steep trails here in the Great North Wests high country. I keep my rifles on the down hill side if I slip or fall, I pull the rifle into me and my body is the cushion between it and the ground. With a detachable magazine I can't grip it the same.

very nice rifle. Love the 6.5s.

Who makes the stock for them? Or is it just one of there's and painted

It's a aluminum blocked Bansner stock. I believe they changed the company name or High Tech purchased Bansner. I'm not sure.

Very nice rifle. Looks perfect for long,steep hikes!

Can't beat the way it's shooting either.

Very nice. What model Vortex ya got mounted there?

I tried Vortex optics when they first came out and they SUCKED! Haven't purchased any since. A friend talking me into trying one again. Said they had come a long way since the beginning. So I picked this one up. It's a 4-16 HS-T with the MOA reticle. It's been OK, it's no Leupold or NightForce.

Getting ready to load up some of the 140gr A-Max's and some 120gr GMX's with some Superformance powder. Hit the range and check velocities.

That is a badazz little package.

Thanks.


Okie John

Was that with plastic or metal trigger guard?

That was with the plastic DM assembly and a 5 round mag.

Interesting rifle!

Nice groups too.

Does your rifle have the two stage trigger?

Very nice. I was eyeballing these before they actually were available. I bought my first Vanguard back in the early 80s. It still drives nails, literally. I used to put roofing nails in cardboard boxes at various ranges and shoot until all nails were driven through the side of the box. Standing, kneeling, prone.

Most do not realize that the early Vanguards actually cost about $50 more than M700s and M70s. But still a lot less than a Mark V.

The 1500 is an excellent action and has been for decades. I will take it over any Savage or Tikka, regardless of what the new wave of "rifle experts" say........

Is Legacy the only place that's got these? I'd like to pick one up.

Tanner

There's one sitting in the rack at Sportsman's Whorehouse right now....

I believe that is a Bansner, High Tech Specialties, or Legendary Arms Works stocks whatever they call themselves these days. Fantastic Stocks, Super light weight and no bedding block. I have a few of them on various rifles and love them. If you are relatively handy they are pretty close to a McMillan Edge in weight and about half the price or so.

Those are nice looking rigs and looks like the accuracy goes right along with that. Very nice, just might have to add one of those to the list.

It is a Bansner/ High Tech and upon removing the detachable mags set up and installing the BDL bottom metal that was included with the rifle. They do have a aluminum bedding block under the action.

Dammit! Went to one of my local shops today and they have one of these marked down to $900. Somehow I walked out of the store without it. If it keeps me awake tonight I may go back tomorrow.

Woah - that's right in Montana area for cost - close enough anyway that a person shopping for one would also consider the other.

Legacy is a distributor. You can find the rifles at most big-box stores.


Okie John

just fyi
Howa alpine mtn rifle whittakers

That link is a misprint and I believe the rifle is spoken for? They don't come with a scope.

You'll see changes tomorrow. All of our new Alpines will be $845.99. They ran some specials and I did some cost averaging. The 6.5's are in transit.

Will they be there Friday? grin

They will if you buy them all!

Hmmm....I should resist.

That's a good price! Mine ran me $1073.00 out the door with Washington States Wonderfull tax.

I sure like mine.

Thanks for the update and info. I am going to have to keep my eye on that.

I would like to hear some more accuracy results on these rifles..

Me too. Very interested in one.

Very nice

I gave the Hornady 129gr SST's a try today with Superformance powder. This was a 5 shot group at 200 yards. I didn't load enough of them to take it out further. I was useing once fired factory ammo brass, full length sized that I purchased from a member here. The group shows it wants to shoot. So I came home and just loaded up some Hornady brass that has been fire formed already to my chamber and I think I'll take it out to 300 yards in the AM and see how the load shoots. It shoots about 3/4 MOA flatter at 200 than my 140gr A-Max load.

Keep the reports coming !

Is the metal actually stainless which is then coated, or is it chro-moly?

Chrome Moly and it was a tough barrel to break in. Fouled like no barrel I have ever owned or shot and I own, have owned and have shot ALLOT of factory and custom barrels. I've only seen one barrel worse. A 6.5 (8 twist) $100.00 Green Mountain barrel a local kid used for a 6.5 WSM build. After 200 round a cotton patch on a jag still ratchets down it.

I have one in 6.5CM, with the metal bottom plate: 6.3 pounds with Talley lows installed.

I had originally planned on shooting the 140gr A-Max's this year for my fall hunting season until I purchased a bunch of 143gr ELD-X's from a forum member here.

I loaded some up with the exact same load as the 140gr A-Max load that has shot so well in my rifle. Same primer, case, charge and coal. Hit the range today and was quite impressed. The 143gr ELD-X shot exact point of impact out to 300 as my 140gr A-Max load, slightly tighter and had a lower SD of 6 for a three shot group.

I had 5 rounds of the ELD's left so I scrubbed the bore. Fired a 3 shot group at 100 yards that went a little over 3/4" inch. I let the barrel cool, came up 1.75 moa for my 200 yard zero and fired the last two rounds at 200 yards. These were the last two shots today at 200 yards. I'll leave the rifle as it is for my Mule Deer opener this coming Saturday.

The last two shots at 200 yards came in at .400

Couldn't leave the rifle well enough alone. Found some load data for the 143gr ELD-X's and RL-17. So I loaded up a handful and shot them to see how they would group at 100 and 200 yards. I had a switchy wind and wasn't going to shoot at 300 yards. I was packing things up and thought what the heck. I had four rounds left, I dialed my 300 yard dope for my 140gr A-Max load and sent the last four to the 300 yard line.

I was pleased with the results considering a tail wind at the bench and swirling at the 300 yard line. The four shots came in under MOA and none of the four were over a 1 1/2" from my point of aim. I'll take that in a light weight mountain rifle any day.

The load was.

6.5 Creedmoor
143gr ELD-X
42gr RL-17
Federal Gold Metal 210 Match Primer
2x fired Hornady cases
2.880 coal
2712 FPS
SD-12

Useing RL-17 with the 143gr ELD-X's. I crept the powder charge up today.

This was my last 3 shot group at 300 yards today. Using 43gr of RL-17 @ 2785 fps with a SD of 9. The group measure 1.754" center to center.

Great results there; just curious if anyone has shot factory ammo in one of these and how it did?

Thanks,
Tim

Why did you use such a small target?




Travis

I didn't that was a full sheet of paper. I had four sheets stapled to the board at 300. That was the bottom sheet the top to shot were on the over lap. I just folded it up.

For guys that use the 143 eldx do you find you have to seat it really deep in the case? Are you running compressed loads as a result?

Confidence

Not in my Howa. My COAL is 2.880 which is the max length I can fit in my mag box and it puts me 10 thou off my lands.

Before I had the rifle bedded. I was haveing issues with always a predictable third round flyer only with the 143gr ELDX's when shot over 2600 fps. The target bellow is three separate groups at 300 yards with letting the barrel completely cool between groups at a max velocity of 2785fps The main grouping is a little left because they were shot using my 140gr A-Max zero. If I were to load the 143gr bullets with the same charge of H4350 as my AMax load they would shoot right were my AMax's do at a little over 2600fps.

Once I had the rifle bedded the groups tightened up.

great write up smack, Ive got a howa mini in 223 and its shoots similarly as good.

Ive got a 6.5 Grendel Mini on order also and Im hoping mine shoots as good as your, Ill be grabbing some 100gr Amax after reading your report.

Did you play with the Trigger much ?

No I haven't even touched the trigger yet, I liked the trigger the way it was right out of the box. I took it for a walk for the first time yesterday. Sat and watched 70 or so head of deer on the wheat fields I hunt. Saturday's opener should be a good time. It sure was allot more pleasant to carry than one of my long range set ups. But as you can see in the photo, a guy can shoot deer as far out as he is capable in this country.

Smack,

Are you up above Moses Lake?

That almost looks like my spot near the TriCities.

DW

Badger Mountain, up above East Wenatchee.

In the pic bellow there's 30 or so head feeding inside the edge of the closest green wheat. About 575 yards out.

That's a nice looking rifle. I think I could really like that setup.

How is the thickness on the grip? The B&C grip is just to thick for me and yours looks thinner.

How did it group before you had it bedded? I don't want to have to fool with it much - or else I'll just buy a Tikka, but I like that looks of that rilfe more.

Thanks for posting your review. That is pretty country you live in out there.

How is the recoil with the 6.5? I am assuming it's not too bad, huh?

I think I am going to get one of these; they were not on my radar at all.

Not sure what caliber to get. I love a 7mm-08 but have never in my life owned a .308 and might like to have one....just don't want the rifle to recoil too bad to make it unpleasant to shoot.

The the grip is substantially thinner than any sporter B&C stock I have shot. I have never owned a B&C Alaskan or Mountain rifle stock. They may be more similar to the stock on the Alpine.

Here are some groups before I had it bedded. It shot well in the 2600-2655fps range. For some reason when I pushed the velocity up. My first two shots were spot on and tight and then it would throw the 3rd shot out, one MOA or slightly more right every time. Haveing the rifle bedded stopped the issue.

129gr SST's at 200 yards



140gr A-Max's in a switchy wind at 300 yards




I started out with the 140 A-Max's and 42gr of H4350 for my accuracy load, which were shooting modest 2605 fps. Light recoil accurate and the velocity would be fine for deer. The rifle was shooting so well that I was just going to stick to that load for the hunting season. I had to try the 143gr ELDX because Elk and Black Bear were going to be on the menu also. So the loaded the 143's with the same charge as the 140 A-Max's (42gr H4350) shot three over the Magnetto Speed 2612fps and they shot same point of impact at 300 yards and slightly tighter than the A-Max's.

Once I saw the rifle liked the 143 ELDX's. It was time to creep the velocity up. I switched to RL-17 and went with a starting load of 42gr. Shot some over the magneto speed and my velocity was 2709! That's a 104 fps gain by useing the charge weight (42grains) just switching from H4350 to RL-17. Then I started creeping my RL-17 charge weight up.

42.3gr RL-17 ( 2750 fps )
42.6 RL-17 ( 2761 fps )

There was only a 11 fps gain in a .3gr charge increase. This usually tells a guy, your at the point of diminishing return. I just had to bump it up a little more and see how it played out. I bumped it up to 43gr of RL-17 and got 2785fps. Which is a respectable velocity for a 143gr bullet , from a 20" barrel considering the chambering.

I started getting third round flyer with the higher velocities. So I had the rifle bedded and problem was solved. It has shot so well with the RL-17 43gr load that I'm going to leave it there for the season. I may creep it up a bit more charge wise later but see no real reason to other than curiosity. The cases and primers still looked good and extracted smooth with the RL-17, 43gr, 2785 fps load.

do you have any photos of your loaded rounds?
Edit: not sure why that didnt quote, @ Smack

143gr ELD-X

Thanks mate. I was concerned that when loaded it was too deep in the case. What's your load powder wise?

143gr ELD-X
43gr RL17
Fed 210 Match primer
Hornady case
2.880
2785 FPS 20" barrel

2785 FPS 20" barrel

That is impressive. Is Reloader 17 the optimal power for getting that many FPS from a 20" tube?

Damn Verry nice. I'm getting the same fps but with 123amaxs and a suppressor.
Hard to get RL17 here but I might have to look harder.

I love hunting the farms of eastern WA. Was back in the woods in the Blues this weekend, and 99% of the deer we saw were on the farms on the way to our spot.

So far RL-17 has given me the best speed. 42gr of H4350 with the same bullet only leaves the barrel at 2612 FPS.

I was going to try creepy the powder charge up with H4350 and see what speeds I get.

Thanks, I have been following this thread and thinking that the Alpine would be more appealing to me with a longer barrel to get a few more FPS....

I have a .260 Low Wall I'm going to be hunting with this year... Still I keep coming back and reading this thread...(grin)

I agree, as a persenal preference and balance. What would 2" of barrel matter on the Alpine weight wise? Then again, will a Mule Deer be just as dead with a 20" barrel as he would with a 22" barrel?

I hope to have one of these very soon

Nice to see someone actually shooting their Alpine.

20in versus 22in barrel gives right at 25 yards "extra range" in velocity at SAC..... All the way from 700 yards to 725 yards for 1800fps...... I'll take a shorter barrel.

Yep. 20" is a sweet spot for a Creedmoor in a hunting setup.

Any updates? Anyone else get a Howa Alpine?

I've held and fondled these rifle many times now and every time I say damn these feel great....

I'm thinking about trying one, I'd like a 6.5 CM in either a Kimber Hunter, a Kimber Montana or an Alpine. I've handled all three at the local SW, I think I like the Alpine's stock and floorplate magazine setup better, but I would prefer a 22" barrel. It seems like in terms of getting an out of the box shooter the Howa might be the best bet.

SMACK,
You said that your Alpine had a rough bore and coppered badly, has that stopped with continued shooting or is it still a problem? Are you able to shoot a reasonable number of rounds before the fouling affects accuracy?

My 308 has arrived, but have not been able to take delivery due to work and home commitments. Soon, though....

I did have on in my hands that belongs to a buddy. If it shoots as well as it seems to handle, then some other much larger rigs might be put out to pasture.


Okie John

I want one too

I bought one but have not popped off a cap yet, real soon!

Any updates? Can we get a review? These look like dandy hunting rifles.

We've lost some time to family health issues, so I just picked it up yesterday. Hope to mount a scope and get to the range this week.


Okie John

very nice

I bought this Howa Alpine from SMACK and it is an absolute joy to shoot! I haven't spent a lot of time shooting paper to try and get the best groups but I sighted it in shooting factory Hornady 143 ELD-X and it's damn sure accurate enough for me

Glad to see it's shooting well for you also!!! That barrel was a bear to break in! Took 70 or so rounds before it settled down and cleaned up well.

Did the barrel smooth up nicely now? What was "wrong" with it to start with? And are all the Alpines suffering from that same affliction?

What's the barrel diameter at the muzzle?

It took about 70 rounds to break in and settle down. This particular barrel was rough out of the gate. I can't speak for any other " Howa Alpine's". Once it settled down it shot super well and cleaned up quick.

I can't recal the muzzle diameter. Huntsonora may jump in here and give you that dimension. Since he is the new owner. It went to a good home, I foresee it dirt napping some cool stuff in the future.😊

I got a Howa Alpine Mtn rifle in 308 to shoot quite well. That was with factory Federal GMM and Black Hills. Don't recall if it was 168 or 175 SMks. I ended up running some Tubbs Final Finish through it. Eventually it settled into a nice shooter. Didn't feed real well with the detachable mag though. Worked great with bottom metal. I really love the feel of the stock.

This is an interesting thread and that's an impressive hunting rifle ... after bedding anyway. I prefer two-stage triggers and the ability to lock the bolt closed makes the Alpine very appealing. As another point of reference, I also use Reloder 17 for my 6.5 Creedmoor handloads with 140gr A-MAX or 140gr ELD bullets. I have a 24" barrel on an AI AW and am up around 2,900 fps suppressed and 2,850 without the suppressor with no pressure issues. Here are two 5-shot groups at 100 yards with the velocity data from a CED M2 chronograph and with a Dead Air Armament SANDMAN-S attached.

Very good shooter. I have a Vanguard S2 in 6.5 Creedmoor, good shooter also.