Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Howa 1500 rifles

Handled a Howa 1500 rifle today, first one I had seen for sale in awhile. I have always heard that they are very accurate shooters, but have never owned one. Are these rifles sleepers or are they just not popular with the masses?

I think they’re at least ‘as good’ as anything else in their $ range, if not better than just about all you can buy for their $

Agree with hh. Seem like quality products. A lot of folks are after lightweight. That, they are not. But my 6 creedbun shoots nice little groups.

But, then, I don't know schidt from shinola.

They're heavy. Otherwise as nice as about any rifle out there. One piece bolt, m16 extractor, two stage crisp trigger.

Vanguards are made by Howa.

HEAVY?? Unless you buy an Alpine model with a trimmed action and a Basner stock, then the rifles are light.

And if you don't like the Howa 2 stage trigger, then add a Timney and Bob's your uncle.

Considering pulling the trigger on this one. Never owned a Howa, but they sure carry a good reputation.

https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...action-rifle-65-creedmoor-22in/p/1696517

I bought a Howa Alpine Mountain, sweet lil rifle after replacing the suckazz trigger

The standard Howa rifle in the Hogue stock is just too heavy and clunky feeling. I cannot understand why they keep using that POS stock. Otherwise, Howa makes a good rifle.

Yup

Agreed. The current injection molded Vanguard stock is far better. The HACT trigger is a winner too. A guy could do far worse than an SS Howa/Vanguard. Aftermarket support aside, I’d as soon have one as a 700 in some applications.

Forged-steel action

Forged-steel one-piece bolt that takes down with a twist

The floorplates and triggerguards are aluminum, but work perfectly

Factory DMs are kind of cheesey, but work well. The release needs to be trimmed or replaced to prevent accidental drops. There’s a nice guard and release available for the Mini-action

Standard-weight rifles are heavy, but they have several light options now and one features a flush DM. The Carbon Mini weighs 4lbs 10oz. The long-action in carbon IIRC goes 6-4.

I have an Alpine in .243 and a Mini Grendel, and a Carbon .223 on the way. Been thinking about a Carbon .270.

I wouldn’t call them “nice” as some details are a bit spartan, like the safety lever. But they are solidly built of quality materials and work. According to custom smith Wayne York, they’re precisely made, so don’t need a lot of tweaking. He bases a lot of his customs on the Minis, and makes a very nice floorplate and 18oz stock for them.

Good solid action and bolt that feel like a bank vault when they close. The HACT 2-stage trigger isn't the best but is workable with a spring change or coil snip. The Hogue stocks are horrible on those models. The regular actions are not a lightweight but not super heavy either.

Amen to that! I like the couple I have. Rugged rifles and I like the 3 pos safety on them myself. Trigger isn't too bad at all with a simple spring swap.

Those Barreled action sales from Brownells offers a bunch of value when they are caught on sale. Wished they'd up the twist a bit on the 7-08 version, but otherwise it is kind of a nice way to get into a rifle. Alot of us junk the factory stocks anyhow, so not paying for that stuff just makes my life easier.

I like the barreled actions, but dislike the stocks and have swapped all of mine into B&Cs, McMs, or V2 take-offs.

I think that the V2s are a more refinded package because the stocks are so much better, but the V2s are usually a little heavier because their standard barrel length is 24" rather than 22".

In a light mountain rifle, I'd rather have a Kimber Hunter than a Howa Alpine when they sell for the same money.

I have one in an HS Precision stock. Good Rifle. Very accurate. Doesn't seem too heavy to me. About the same as my Tikka 595 and Ruger 77. I have no trouble carrying them around all day. They hold steady and balance well offhand.

I have a Howa 1500 .223 9 twist varmint barrel and factory hact 2 stage trigger. It shoots factory Black Hills .25” groups and hand loads same. I’ve shot it out to 700. My son has used it to kill a couple deer in addition to a schidt ton of prairie dogs. It has probably 1500 down the tube and can go 2-300 between cleanings. Maybe more but I clean it around 300 and it doesn’t foul too bad either.

Not able to add to anything here but have one in 204 and one in 25-06. Well satisfied.

I had a Howa semi-custom made up by my old, dearly departed Gunsmith. It was a Vanguard (Howa) action, a Gain Twist barrel from Montana (?) in a Boyd's stock. 338 RUM. shot like a varmint rifle with the Nosler 180 AB, 3500fps in a moderate(but again, very accurate/flat shooting) load. He had reworked the factory trigger. I popped a really nice Aoudad around 250yds (a chip shot) and the outfitter offered me twice my money for it! Well hey, since it was a super ugly rifle (the Boyd's Pepper Laminated/Weatherby style stock didn't do it for me, ha) I let him have it. I've had other Howa actions (Vanguards) all were nice when tweaked a bit.
The "first time" I saw a Howa action was on a S&W Model 1500, in 30-06. (early 80s) an acquaintance at work got one. It kicked the beJeebies out of him, wrong stock style for sure! ha

I like the two we have. I put together a faux Alpine .308 Win for my daughter, and I have a Brownell's $250 6mm Creedmoor barreled action in another Alpine stock. My Daughter's rifle tips the scale at 7 lbs with VX-II 3-9X40, and mine was 7.5 lbs before adding a Redfield 4-12x40.

There is a pretty big difference between the weight of the Howa LWT rifle I used for my daughter's faux Alpine and my barreled action. Her rifle has the lightening cuts on the action and the 20" barrel. My rifle has a 22" sporter barrel and no cuts on the action.

Have killed many deer with a heavy barrel 308, 20". Weighs a ton......prettied it up some with a B&C medalist stock......the hogue it came with way too ugly.