We took my brother's new stainless out Saturday afternoon. Swapped it into his Pendelton stock/BM that his 22" blued was in. The dang thing felt so good that it has me seriously considering letting my Montana go and getting a couple of em. Shot about 50 rounds of 108 Scenars over Lever that he had been shooting in the blued on, and they were basically doing one hole at 100, after the first 4 shots. Bolt was super gritty at first, but was smoothing up nicely by the end.
I noticed the bolt on mine being a touch gritty, and also that it seemed to smooth up with the little time I've spent with it. It's leading me to think the action/bolt may be coated rather than stainless. I can't confirm that, just a feeling. I'd prefer the action be stainless but I care less about it than I do the barrel. Howa can be clear as mud on details regarding their specs/materials.
I'm catching up on farm chores that were put off during hunting season so I still haven't spent time much time with it but I'm anxious to. The Stocky's I put it in was touching the left side of the barrel pretty hard and it showed when sighting in with horizontal stringing. I'm very curious to see what it does when cleared.
