Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hoping it ShootsAs Good As It Carries..New Howa S.L.

Bought.This a Few Weeks Back and Still Haven't Gotten a Chance To Play With It..Hope It Shoots as Good as It Carries.. Howa Super Light In 6.5 Creed..(Already Thinking About Rechambering it To 260).Since I Have a Tons Of Lupa Brass.. O Well. I Still Have Several Hundred 100 TTSX as Well As 127 And 300 129 LRAB.. Hopefully Something Will Shoot Well..Can't Beleave How Light..Bare Gun Came in a 4.76 Pounds And 5.10 Scoped with Swarovski AV 3-10.

Few Pics..

Looks amazing and great weight!

A few here in Aus have recommended bedding due to loose fit in stock, normal practice for me.

Look forward to seeing shooting results. Did it come with that stock finish?

I have one in .308 Win and probably should have gone with the 6.5 Creed.

Mine is about 4 ounces heaver than advertised.





I went with a heavier optic, but that was always the plan.



My goal was 8.5 lbs or less suppressed, and I chose .308 Win because my suppressor is .30 Cal. I beat that in spades, but I'd have probably been better off with the CA Mesa FFT. I was lured by the price, I got the SL for just under $900 after shipping and FFL fees.



I've shot 125 to 168 grain bullets in mine, suppressed the recoil is manageable and it's quite sharp without it. Especially with anything over 150 grains. I actually gave up shooting it unsuppressed, it just wasnt any fun from the bench.

The issues I've noticed with my rifle.

Accuracy, yes it will print a group for 3 shots measuring MOA or less with factory ammunition. It will not print the next 3 shots on top of the previous group, after letting the rifle cool completely. It also usually throws the first cold bore shot, and settles in after. On a good day behind the trigger I'm at 1.5 MOA for 5 or more shots, usually closer to 2.25 MOA. The rifle seems to like 168 grain SMK and Horn HPBT bullets the best and that's what I shoot the best.





There is no extra room in the magazine. Howa shortened the 1500 action on this rifle to reduce weight, I can't load a round longer than 2.8" and feed. Think Remington model 7, so IMO 6.5 Creedmoor will be a better fit than the .260 Rem. Plus I think you'd have to rebarrel to do it, as a .260 reamer won't clean up a Creedmoor chamber because of body taper.

Feeding is hit or miss. The rifle feeds flawless with dummy cartridges. Under recoil I can't always pick the next round up from the magazine. Thats with slow deliberate fire as well as rapid cycling of the bolt. I don't think the spring retention is enough to keep the mag in the proper position 100% of the time. Pushing up on the magazine fixes the issue. It will usually fail to pick up any of the 3 rounds from the mag, so running it 3+1 rounds, 3 rounds from the mag only, or 2 rounds only doesn't make a difference on feeding reliability.

Polymer bottom metal, magazine, with screws weighs 2.8 ounces, so it is extremely light. I'm torquing to 35 in-lbs on the front screw, and that makes me worried I'll crack it as it is extremely thin. I've contacted OG, JO, and DIP and there are no plans to build an alloy bottom metal like they do for the Mini action at this time. This would IMO fix my feeding issues having alloy BM with an internal magazine.



Ejection, as the rifle just dribbles the cartridges out. It doesn't fail to extract, but the cartridge barely clears the port. I've tried removing and cleaning the ejector, but it doesn't help. It'll take a stiffer spring to fix and I haven't ordered any.

Forend flex, it's an extremely petite and light stock. Even though it is carbon fiber there is a good amout of flex. Anything attached to the forend will more than likely introduce a POI shift from POA, especially if attached to the sling stud.

I do think the rifle has potential, and that I need to learn to shoot it better. If I can get fix feeding issues and get it to eject better it'll make a solid hunting rifle on game inside of 400 yards. Jefferson Outdoors was the only company that said they might in the future build a bottom metal for the rifle.

That said, I'm debating sending the rifle back to Leagacy. Just for the feeding and ejection issues, but I'm not sure it'll do any good. It meets their accuracy guarantee, so they may say it's good to go.

Taylor thanks for the detailed report. I wonder if you could find someone with a 3D printer to replicate the bottom METAL for you?

I probably could, or just pay my GS to build it on his CNC mill out of billet. Either way it will probably be expensive, and get me closer to the price and weight of the Mesa FFT. You can see the spring that puts tension on the mag in this picture, I believe it is the main culprit of the feeding issues.

Mull,(and taylorce1)

Good feedback on this rifle. I’ve been so tempted since they came out to buy one in .308 and listen to the sick little bazterd in my head and send it out to JES to rebore it (if he could and would)to .358 Win. Not a super practical idea by some’s standards, but my mind is a strange place. Hope you get the feed and eject issues cured and start critter killin with it. 😎

Looks like a nice honest report on this rifle. With those issues, I’d probably send it back and hope they can correct the problems. Hopefully you get it back and it works like a well oiled machine.

Nice rifle.

Who makes the stock?


Okie John

The barrel measures .576" just behind the threads. I don't know what JES requires, but you're looking around .109" of material left with a .358 bore. It would be quite lively spitting 200 grains plus of lead and copper.


I have one rifle sent back to Legacy right now, a Citadel Trakr in .17 HMR with a bad chamber. It's being replaced, but I started the process back around middle of March, and told not to expect my new rifle before middle of August at the earliest.

I'm not saying the warranty isn't there, the process just moves very slow.

The stocks are factory, made by Stocky's according to Legacy.

I figured someone might ask so I took some pictures.

Lets call the stock 1 lb 1 oz, had to weigh the studs separately since they're off the stock at the moment.





Barreled action and trigger weigh in at 3 lbs 5 oz.

Sorry for your troubles. I’d have a hard time recalling all the Howa/Vanguards I’ve owned, still have two Minis, and not a whisper of trouble from any of them. They had a winning formula for a light rifle in the Alpine, but gave it up over supply issues with the stocks. Too bad they didn’t just get another supplier and carry on. The standard alloy floorplate works perfectly; they should’ve kept the standard SA and used that.

Here’s hoping they sort yours out promptly…

I talked with Legacy, and I'll pay a GS to sort it out. I called them to order a new ejector spring and magazine, and said they're at the mercy of Japan and Long Beach port. Then told me to call back in 5-6 weeks and see if the parts I wanted are in. I'm not ready to give up on the rifle, and I'm sure the issues I have can be fixed.


My daughter hunts with a 7 lbs .308 Alpine, and I shoot an 8 lbs 6mm Creedmoor in an Alpine stock. No issues with either of those rifles. I like Howa 1500 rifles, and still think there is potential in this SL rifle of mine.

Finally Got Out and Put Some Round Through The Howa.. Cleaned It Good With JB Bore Ckean and Let It Eat.. Was Very Pleasantly Suprized.. NOT Crazy about The Bolt Slop,Seem To Have a Good Bit..But It's a Shooter..Shot Winchester 125 Deer Seasons And Norma 143 Golden Target.. Was Looking To Reload 129LRAB.. As Good As It Shoots I May Just Hunt It With The Cheap Winchester.. The Groups Post are Only at 75Yds. THE Winchester Is a 3 Shot And The Norma a 5 Shot..I Think It Did Pretty Good...The Barrel Was Pretty Warm On The 5 Shot Group..

Great shooting! The Creed probably would have been a better choice for me as well. The barrel does heat up in short order.

@taylorce1 - thank you for all the info you posted, pic's of the rifle, weight, and groups.
Looks like this will be really handy rifle.

Good luck
R