Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Havak Element....Anyone own one?

I’ve been thinking about selling off my APR Custom 6.5 PRC and replacing it with this.



Staying with the same chambering - I’m shedding about 2.5lbs from my current build, which is attractive.

21” inch 1/8 barrel. CF Mag and stock.

https://seekinsprecision.com/havak-element.html

I’m curious what an owner, or someone who’s shot one has to say about it.

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Sexy sumbitch, bet you won’t be disappointed. 👍

You know my history with a Havak in 6.5PRC.

I'd keep the custom rig.

What happened?

Don’t have the Element, but my “regular” Havak PH2 is fantastic in every way.

I’d love the have an Element personally.

Dave

Spiral (puke) flutes (double puke)!

I’m a function over form guy, and the Havak has that in spades. I can’t say I love twisted flutes either,…but even those are by design.

Dave

We should try to be more inclusive

Call me a purist...

Spiral flutes are the epitome of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

I have one I hunted a bit this year. Probably around 10 days but that could be +/- a day or two....probably + a couple. Very neat little rifle. I'll list a few points on it.

1. Load workup was sighting in with a generic load. It stacked the bullets from 100 to 300 yards when I checked drops. Very accurate.

2. Very easy to shoot. Stock is comfy from prone to off hand. Handled recoil well but it wasn't much recoil with a 6.5 CM.

3. I love that it has flush cups. Only has them on underneath...wish it had them on the side. Flush cups rust quickly...but it spent a lot of time in the rain.

4. Love the integrated rail. The bubble level in the rail is useless once a scope is mounted, it can't be seen. It was nice to use as a reference to know when the action was square when mounting a scope and putting a bubble level on it.....but again, useless except for that since it can't be seen when shooting.

5. Barreled action is crazy light. I can't remember the weight but it was really light. Aluminum action/bot with minimal metal, light bottom metal, thin/fluted barrel. If the stock was truly light nothing would come close to it on weight.

6. Stock is heavy. I think it's a touch over 2 lbs. Feels more like injection molded than carbon. Still, to get a stock with that thickness at 2 lbs is pretty good. Very stiff and skim bedded. Free float is massive.....lots of room around the barrel and barrel channel will hold some water in the rain. I'm not a "camo" person but I like the color. Stock is a little thick, especially compared to most lightweight rifles. It's noticeable when carrying in the hand but it's not so thick that it's uncomfortable to carry 1 handed.

7. Balance is ok, very neutral. I prefer a little forward balance.

8. Bolt is VERY light. It doesn't move smoothly on working the action....it isn't rough but it has no momentum when working the action because it's so light and it has a larger than normal bolt body diameter. It came out of the box with a lot of lube on the bolt and action rails....it needs it. If you open the bolt and hold the rifle butt pointed to the ground the bolt will slowly slide open....any metal bolt in another rifle will slip open quickly with gravity.

9. Feeds well from AICS mags but you do have to pull/push the bolt.

10. Bottom metal is nice and the MDT 3 round flush fit works very well with it. Nice, hidden in the trigger guard, mag release. There are "ears" on the front of the trigger guard that guide mag insertion. I'd rather they were smooth with flush fit mags but makes no difference with a 5 or 10 rounder. They don't protrude enough to bother me when carrying.

11. Action is a different footprint from anything else so to restock it would be quite the task. I'd love a light stock on it and thought about trying to hog out a Basnser.....but I'm not sure how it would turn out. I like the factory stock just fine and it's stiff.....just heavy.

12. Barrel is threaded. It's very thin and I didn't shoot it with a suppressor so not sure how much difference that might make with balance and barrel vibrations.

Overall it's an impressive little rifle with pro/con you can weight out. I'd really love to see it in a 22-24 oz stock which would put the weight about 10 oz less. I'll try to find weights and take a pic or two. Probably won't be today but some time this week. If there's something specific you want to see let me know.

I’d be interested in they’d do LH.

How does this compare to the new Christensen FFT rifles?

I'd include that in a list of the ugliest guns I have ever seen.

Here's some weights for reference.

Element barreled action with APA lows and SWFA 3-9:


Compare that to an anTi with ~the same weight scope/rings, 20" proof barrel...maybe 1-2 oz's more for the S&B 3-12 with Seekins lows:


Element BM:


Element stock...about an oz ligher than I remembered, still not a truely light stock:

If you focused more on function and less on form Paul, maybe you could eliminate all of the "I had to send my broken gun back to the manufacturer" threads.

hahaha...just funning you a little. Shoot/mail whatever your heart desires.

Dave

Jay,
That’s an excellent breakdown from stem to stern. I really appreciate it.

You mentioned the barrel is “Thin” meaning walled? I figured, if that’s what you meant, wouldn’t that translate into fast barrel heat up?

With the stock barrel channel having Grand Canyon type gaping. Would it hold Proof Light Sendero tube? Just curious.

If you have time, would you mind showing a top picture of the barrel in the stock that shows the channel spacing?

Thanks again!

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How is recoil lug set up on these ?

Thanks

Happy to do it. 1/2 the stuff I buy/use is out of curiosity. I'm glad to pass on info.

Yeah, when I said thin, I just meant it's a very light contour and it's fluted. It's not a lot of metal. I'm sure it will heat up pretty quick. I haven't put a lot of rounds through it but what I did shoot was in a short amount of time and the groups stayed tight. I didn't pay attention to how warm the barrel got but the fluting may help there.

I'll try to get some pics of the stock's barrel channel with the barreled action in it and removed. I've got a proof sendero barrel I can compare it to but not a sendero light....at any rate it will give you an idea.

It will probably be Wednesday night before I get a chance to snap some pics but I'll post them on this thread when I do.

What you see in the pic acts as the "recoil lug" with bedding. The rear tang is pretty "hefty" and it's almost a recoil lug itself as it doesn't sit on top of the stock but is inlet down into it. When I take pics tomorrow night I'll get some of the action and bedding so folks can see it.

Hopefully Seekins isn't to pissed that someone's posting pics using APA rings on their rifle....my only defense is I have Seekins rings on the Defiance.