Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Howa mini vs browning x bolt

Any opinions? I’m in the market for a light weight compact rifle in .223. I had pretty much made up my mind I was gonna do a howa mini, then I ran across a thread with an 18” barreled x bolt now I’m wondering which is better? Thanks for your input.

There is not a lot of love for Brownings on the Campfire but they are a pretty good rifle in My experience. I have one xbolt and three abolt II's and never had a problem with them.

Depends on what you want. In their base form, the Minis are more like a rifle kit, but they turn out well with a generous application of green stuff.

I have a deep love and appreciation for the Browning X Bolts. Every experience I have had with them has been positive. Short bolt lift, smooth actions and great shooters...what's not to like. I own several. They are a turn key rig right out of the box, which is a good thing because for what ever reason good aftermarket support or custom stuff can be spotty at best for them. Only thing I have done to a couple of mine was swap out the trigger spring for a lighter option from MCARBO, and even that was elective and not necessary.

I have only recently been bitten by the Howa Mini bug since they started importing the SS versions. Initial impressions are pretty positive, but with that said, they are more of a builders/ kit gun. Good but not great from the factory, and a good amount of aftermarket support to throw greenbacks at to make it the rifle you see when you close your eyes.

One good way to gauge how well rifles are received and viewed by their owners is to look at the used market. If in your travels you see alot of a certain brand or model on the used racks..... generally there will be a reason. And there are alot of brands out there that are always popping up for sale used. You don't ofen see alot of Brownings come up used.

Not up on the Brownings at all so I took a quick look. That 18” model weighs 6# 2oz bare and costs $1400+ retail. My newly revamped Mini (6.5) weighs 6# 2.2oz with a 13oz scope, mounts, and sling. I have $1200 in it, optics not included. A Carbon Stalker would be about the same after you replace the magazine setup with something nicer. So the Mini, all tarted up is a bit cheaper, and a lot lighter. The X-Bolt may have a higher resale value if that matters. Anything else IMO comes down to personal preference. I like my rifles for small cartridges to be small and light, having owned several 9# .223s and a 6.5 Grendel that went about 8#.

Have fun!

My opinion, not worth much. Lefty x bolt 223. Accurate one day & not the next. Good about 5/8 to 3/4 handloads. Next day 1-1/2 to 2 inch. Yes I tried all the tricks!!! Love the bolt lift, one piece rings, safety & bolt release was cool idea, clip is flush fit but width of stock to house it is to wide, might as well be carrying something with an extended magazine. Depends what you like!?!?! I've had a rt hand howa mini in 6ARC worked great loved it but could not get used to the rt hand bolt. If they made a left hand, I'd own 2-3 one in 6ARC another in 6.5 Grendel & one in 17 fireball if a magazine would work. You can buy the mini at a bargain & add the options as you can afford. Imagine a carbon fibre bbl with the carbon fibre stock, maybe a light wt 2-10x40 on it????? Carry it to h// & beyond. Not that I carry anything far anymore but we can all dream can't we?? GWPGUY

If I had a rifle that doubled in group size or more, from one day to the next, with all else the same…..I’m not sure it would even cross my mind to blame the rifle. Scope, mounts, loader, or shooter would be far more probable suspects than a rifle that needs schizo meds. While I do like the Howa and have owned several minis, I haven’t kept one around. It does nothing noticeable for me in the size/weight vs preferred chambering arena that plenty of other standard short actions won’t. Losing 4” of barrel is far easier and more meaningful than shedding an inch of action length….to me.