Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Howa mini build

6mm ARC would be the bomb. Use a Grendel/7.62 ruski magazine and you are ready to go kill stuff. I wouldn't be shocked to see LSI/Howa release a 6mm ARC Mini next year.

These, or 6/223 = 6x45 on your existing rifle.

The 7.62/Grendel magazine is very different to the 223/204/222 magazine box.

Yes, but apparently Howa only offers one magazine for both cartridge families and it works.

For a flatter shooting handy rifle, 204, 20 Tac, or 20 Practical.

+1 on the 20 Practical I'm shooting 40gr NBT's it is a pelt hunters dream come true. Someone is making a Remage style barrel for the Mini Howa. Mine is in 6.5G, too much for coyotes.

Not a Howa Mini but a 20P at work.


Mini Howa doing it's thing, odd posing is because you don't want to see the other side.

No. The 223/204/222 box won't hold a 7.62x39/Grendel round.

The 223/204/222 box is designed for 10 rounds.
The 7.62x39/Grendel box will only hold 5 rounds. But a little surgery can get you up to 7.

The two magazine boxes look identical at arms length, but for the moulding which has cartridge types moulded into it, quite clear, very legible. See attached photo.

To retain the .223 bolt, rebarrel to .204, rebore or rebarrel to 6x45 or 6x47/6x.204.

Get the Oregunsmithing floorplate to rid yourself of the crappy, prone to loss mags and plastic guard. $165. Have to specify .223 or 7.62x39/Grendel cartridge family.

If you want to be really different, Wayne York at Oregunsmithing has a couple of wildcats based on the 6.8 case.

http://www.oregunsmithingllc.com/index.html

Pappy348 beat me to the punch. 24 or 25 York are pretty impressive wildcats.

Thanks, Dinny

Wooters 25 Copperhead
GreggH

Leave it as is and enjoy what you have.

Yup. Tarting it up with something like the floorplate, a new stock, or optics would ease the boredom and be easier and cheaper than some other options. Hard to beat the utility of a .223.

The little 223 has been hell on the coyotes here lately. Might just leave it alone or punch it out to 22-204

I have a Howa short-action M1500 that I bought as an action. I barrelled it with a 20" 1:10 #1 contour. I bought a 6.5 TCU reamer without a throat(because the TC chamber made the OAL too long for the magazine) I then cut the chamber with a throating reamer so it would fit better in the rifle.
I would like to get another, probably on a Mini-Howa action.
It would make a GREAT truck rifle.
Have fun,
Gene